OT - space heaters
Turbo Mini Forums

just looking for your thoughts - we've got a gas fired space heater in the workshop but it goes through gas at an alarming rate and at £72 for a re-fill, its a luxury.

were now looking at one of the diesel/ parafin burning units. Second hand ones are hard to get hold of at reasonable money, particularly at this time of year so we're looking at new ones. Seen a Sealey unit on fleebay for £219 plus delivery which seems reasonable.

Anyone got any comments on these heaters in general or any other ideas?

cheers

Rob

Get a wood burning stove in there!

thought of that already but i'm not allowed near fires any more after the last one I lit to keep warm!!

how big is your space heater?

we had exactly the same problem! we had a mahoooosive one that could chugg a large bottle of gas in about 4hours!!!

we have since brought a mini one and is pretty much just as warm, doesnt guzzle, and doesnt blow the heat so hard that it creates a whirlwind straight back out the door like the old one!

oh and at £80 it was worth a try!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LP351-SEALEY-SPACE-B...%3A1|240%3A1318

bingo, thats the new mini one i think (ours is silver rather than red but im pretty sure its the same!)

Edited by James_H on 21st Jan, 2009.

I have one like that, but it gave me a problem with moisture and everything in my garage started going rusty

Definately consider the wood burning stove if you are ther efor long hours.

I had the small Sip fireball in my garage...although TBH didnt use it that often.

It gave off ok heat, but the noise was a PITA, which is why I rarely used it. I actually just sold it before xmas.

If I was doing another heater, I'd get a stove. At least its silent.

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

I tried one of those diesel/parrafin jobs and it stunk me out.. my eyes were watering..it was old though. In the end went for an LPG one, still smells a bit but I can stand it.

BTW how big is the bottle?at 72 quid it must be huge, or is LPG expensive there as well?? I pay 16 bucks for a 15lb bottle..

terry

Edited by Turbo Tel on 22nd Jan, 2009.

website:- http://www.terryhunt.co.uk

Small wood burning stove, got to be the way to go. If you run out of wood burn the fence/shed/three seater

I've recently bought the smallest diesel space heater machine mart do (at VAT free day)

I'm chuffed with it, only need it on for 20min or so to take the real chill off and then as long as I'm working its comfortable. Can always pop it on for another 10 min if needed. Only downside is that it is a little bit noisy, but then you don't need it on constantly, and if its a big workshop it wouldn't be too bad.

I was thinking about getting one of the Propane jobbies as I have the gas bottles already.

However, latest MiniMag reviews them and is critical of them for gas use and condensation.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

condensation is a problem with propane, that is one of the reasons for going for the oil burner - that and ease of getting fuel;

conveneince is a big issue too - the whole intention is to make it easier to go up to the shed for a hour at a time during the week to suplement the weekend; everytime I go up at the moment to spend a bit of time on the car, its too cold and I end up going home after a short while.

wood burning would be ok but can't be bothered spending half my time setting a fire for the sake of 1hr working

Tom, interesting what you say about noise - the current heater isn't quiet but i see there are slighly more expensive units which are claimed to be quiet running

Tel; its a 46kg bottle we have - think we have the same problem as James had - probably too large a heater for the space we are heating

Its not horrendous- just a bit of a roaring noise. My my garage which is big it is fine- just in a single garage for example I think it would be too noisy, but in a big workshop I don't think it will bother you. With it half way down garage i can still hear radio etc

Hi,
I've got an Eberspacher water heater and some old central heating rads :)
Nice and warm, nice and quiet. Can be fired up remotely or on a timer.
Cheers,
Gavin :)

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i have a sealy X55 15 kilowatt
it runs best on kerosean but the carbon monoxide bangs my head off in 15 to 20 mins

runs ok on red but alot more smokey

i've got one of them old calor gas fires on wheels, wicked bit of kit.

I always ran my Sip fireball 550 on red diesel. It was never smokey, and wouldnt say fumes were a big deal.

Alhtough my garage is circa 24' x 24' and quite a tall roof...so eprhaps the fumes went up.

But as I say....I sold it. If only working for 1 hour...heat is hardly an issue if properly dressed.

Quilted overalls are great, and worth buying. Although I havent even wore those when working for a while.

You could also consider the infra red style electric heaters. Possibly cost more to run, but they work quite well too.

I'd still go for the wood burning stove next time around if I ever felt I needed heat.

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

the problem with wood burning stoves (dont get me wrong, i think theyre great) is that 1, you need space to keep the fuel, 2, disposal of ash, 3, the building involved, i.e youll need to install a flu etc, 4, and can cost a fortune for a decent one

for a workshop i would say the cons outweigh the pros unless youre in there all day everyday.

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