Wood shop heatsource
Wannabegreenbuilder
| Posted in Mechanicals on
Hello, I am building a wood shop as an addition to an unheated (but insulated) 3 car garage In climate region 6B. It will have a dust extraction system but of course they are not perfect. Would it be foolish to install radiant heaters over the workbench? I’m worried about the possibility of fire due to wood dust carried by air. Would a small forced air heater installed in the garage and sending heated air into the woodshop making a completely heated workspace be a better/safer idea? This space is for a hobbyist and will be used only intermittently during winter.
Thank you for any advice or insight.
Andy
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Replies
Radiant heat is probably the least likely to be a fire risk since you have no open flame, and the heating "element" is typically running at a lower temperature compared to other types of heaters, assuming a radiant panel type unit or something like that.
It's somewhat traditional to heat a shop with a wood stove, so it's possible to heat such a shop safely even using very basic heating equipment. I personally would consider either a gas or electric "garage" heater (Modine's Hot Dawg or similar) for a shop though.
The biggest issue I'd worry about wouldn't be the wood dust as much as any fumes from finishing materials.
Bill