• If You Are Having Trouble Logging In with Your Old Username and Password, Please use this Forgot Your Password link to get re-established.
  • Hey! Be sure to login or register!

Hanger Heat

behindpropellers

behindpropellers

Registered User
NE Ohio
Want to add heat to my hanger.

1. I have to run a propane line around 100' or so. Is there anything besides black pipe that I can use?

2. Any furnace advice? Its just a T hanger, relatively well insulated.

Tim
 
I just installed two 125K btu radiant heaters in my hanger. Luckily the gas was there I just had to reconfigure a few lines and add about 14 feet to each heater. I did find a flex line available at Ace but not our local store so I just went with black iron pipe. It is nice in my drafty, poorly insulated hanger now when it is 21 degrees outside although it is 70 degrees today.
heaters.jpg
 

Attachments

  • heaters.jpg
    heaters.jpg
    92.4 KB · Views: 1,776
I heat my 55' x 60' x 14' hangar with a single high-efficiency gas fired unit heater. It's -22* outside this morning and I was walking around the hangar in stocking feet. I do need to add a few ceiling fans to move the warm air down.

Above ground I've used black iron pipe. Underground the gas guys use a jacketed flex line. Your local plumbing supplier should have both.
 
I recognize that stuff. it's tough. I dug one up with a loader a couple of years ago. After that it's amazing how diesel fumes smell like natural gas!
 
Ask the gas company what to use outside.
My hangar is 32X45, I heat it with a 35k btu Modine hot shot heater mounted in one corner on the ceiling. I leave it on 50 when I'm not there, I get it 70 in 1/2 hour when it's 10 outside, like this morning. 31/4" foam board, walls and ceiling

Sent from my Pixel 2 using SuperCub.Org mobile app

p.s. Your wing in my unheated garage !
 
Last edited:
tempdoug said:
i went with a mr heater but only been in a week from northern tool. so havent come up with a opinion yet. these are fan heaters. radiant heaters are another deal, know nothing about them. just giving ideas, right or wrong?https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=76881
Click to expand...

I have a Mr. Heater like that in my garage. Great service from Mr. Heater. Control board in it went out, they sent a new one no questions asked.

Tim
 
Consider the space and how you utilize it when choosing a heat source. Radiant is great when standing underneath it and then you get cold when you move away. And in my shop if we leave things under it? Those things get hot. Ours is limited to the loading dock. It works great in that location. In a big space with a single heat source you need air movement. Probably more than just the heater's fan depending on the space. With a tall ceiling you need to move the air down, too. The thermostat at 4' AFF will have your body comfortable, the high space is hot, and the floor is cold. I'm adding ceiling fans to reduce the furnace run time. Stir it up, so to speak. Think about the thermostat location, too.
 
theres thousands of miles of copper line still doing the job, but some of the propane truck drivers are getting touchy. and i only have 2 options for a supplier.
 
My propane dealer used the bare yellow plastic line underground. 60ft to a 100k btu heater. He used a big torch to heat a heavy chunk of iron to melt the ends, then quickly jam into the fittings. A propane dealer would insist on doing this themselves anyway. Interesting mention of copper, it leaves the tank in copper, splices to plastic underground. Copper coated ground rods and bare copper wire do fine underground. Wonder why its falling out of favor.
 
one thing, copper carries electricity. and these new generation heaters without the pilot light they use a spark plug to start and have power fan venting where you can go out instead of up, so you dont have to put a hole in your roof are cool.
 
Last edited:
For inside, run black steel. The metallic flex stuff is not lightning friendly, it lacks sufficient conductivity which perforates it.
 
Last edited:
Our main shop heat is a 150000 btu waist oil furnace... burns about 8 gallons of used motor oil a day... only main issue is getting oil to burn in it...

Brian


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
By accident (aka science?) I came up with a pretty good waste oil burner, in a plain ol' barrel stove. Just a container set on the bottom, with a relatively large height to width ratio - 2:1??. Fill with waste oil and build a wood fire around it. Because of the relatively large side surface area to top surface area, the oil gets hot, even boils, and burns pretty clean - no visible smoke out of the stack. I'm running out of waste oil too. What a nice problem to have!
 
stewartb said:
Consider the space and how you utilize it when choosing a heat source. Radiant is great when standing underneath it and then you get cold when you move away. And in my shop if we leave things under it? Those things get hot. Ours is limited to the loading dock. It works great in that location. In a big space with a single heat source you need air movement. Probably more than just the heater's fan depending on the space. With a tall ceiling you need to move the air down, too. The thermostat at 4' AFF will have your body comfortable, the high space is hot, and the floor is cold. I'm adding ceiling fans to reduce the furnace run time. Stir it up, so to speak. Think about the thermostat location, too.
Click to expand...

Are you using high intensity infrared at your loading docks? Low intensity infrared is a little different and works well in large buildings. My hanger is 65'x80' with 15' walls. 20' x 80' of that is a shop, paint booth and office with standard 8' walls with open space above. I am tired of being cold and less motivated to go in the hanger early in the morning so I contacted John Mead (Flying Miss Daisy) because he is in the heating and air business and has been to my hanger and knows its limitations as far as insulation and drafts. He hooked me up with these folks http://www.progressiveenergyinc.com/infraredbasics.html who got me with a local dealer. I did a lot of reading and research and so far I am happy. 91 cents an hour to run both heaters. At 21 degrees the other morning and the hanger in the high 30s i was in shirt sleeves in an hour. I did find out it is better to maintain a constant temperature over night than to try and warm up a completely cold building. I intend to keep working on sealing up the hanger and a Big Ass fan as well which I am told can help even in the summer down here. I am not missing being cold or listening to and smelling the torpedo heater but we did get some warm weather after I installed them so I haven't used them much.

Hangar.jpg


20191111_093642.jpg


20200110_083236.jpg
 

Attachments

  • Hangar.jpg
    Hangar.jpg
    304.9 KB · Views: 1,285
  • 20191111_093642.jpg
    20191111_093642.jpg
    95.1 KB · Views: 1,285
  • 20200110_083236.jpg
    20200110_083236.jpg
    121.8 KB · Views: 1,279
Some of the heated hangars at my airport use propane-fired boilers & in-floor hydronic heat.
Some use propane unit heaters.
A couple use electric furnaces.
The maintenance shops use waste-oil furnaces.
There's also a couple that use ductless heat pump, popular for home installation.
Anyone using one of those in a hangar, and how do you like it?
 
I was in Indiana las winter getting a plane. While I was in a hangar there was a nasty blizzard that hit the area. Ended up have to stay a few days. The hangar was huge, as in it could easy hangar a dozen aircraft. The owner had installed the type similar to what Steve Pierce showed in his post. I was very impressed with the heat and very well dispersed output. Seemed warm throughout the hangar. I was working at removing the tail/wings, etc. in basic T-shirt and jeans.
In my own hangar I installed radiant lines in the floor but have yet the get the hangar insulated and a boler hooked up.
 
I have the infrared heating in my shop, same size as hangar, and love it. Very economical and even, but it does ‘work’ differently than conventional forced air heat. It only heats what it ‘sees’, meaning when you crawl under something to work on it, it feels colder because the radiant doesn’t see you. I would believe that the fans to move the air would help solve this issue. You are able in most cases to vent out a wall and not have to go through the roof. Two thumbs up!
 
I work in a 1,2 million sf wearhouse with over 100 overhead doors and 50'+ ceiling. Gas tube heat hangs from ceiling around the outside walls in about 10' from the wall. 65f everywhere in the building even at -20 below

Glenn
 
I’ve experienced the hydronic floor heating in a Northern MN hangar and it’s really nice. Heat at the floor level where you need it most. Only drawback is when the big door is opened - needs about 15-20 minutes for the hangar to heat up again.
 
MartyC said:
I’ve experienced the hydronic floor heating in a Northern MN hangar and it’s really nice. Heat at the floor level where you need it most. Only drawback is when the big door is opened - needs about 15-20 minutes for the hangar to heat up again.
Click to expand...

When I built my shop back in 1990 I designed my own system using the black poly tubing that you would normally run from your well to your house. Everyone said it wouldn't work because it didn't have an oxygen barrier. Used a cheap steel boiler and the system is still working today, boiler lasted 25 years and was still fine but swapped out for a propane high efficiency one. Shop had 2 12x12' overhead doors and returned to normal temperature within a few minutes after closing doors.
My house has been radiant since 95 and gets its heat from a coal stoker boiler. Modern radiant and 1920s technology that works awesome

Glenn
 
I too have been a long time user of self installed radiant floor heat. Not rocket science, though some of the pro installed systems I see would make it seem so, as in lots of components and whiz bang gadgetry. Opening up large shop doors,like I do when I pull my crane out of it's building, doesn't cool the 5" slab down at all, and that's where my thermostat is, in the slab, set at 50. Lately, I have electric boilers in both my home and crane shed. NO combustion losses being the main reason, that and free electricity thanks to a big PV power system. One of these, super simple to self install: http://www.electromn.com/gen/emb.htm What I have found over the 30+ years of heating a shop or hangar with radiant floor is it's easy to keep it well above freezing, like mid 40 to low 50 degree temps, but then, with just a bit of another heat source, since the slab is not ice cold, it's easy and quick to get it t shirt comfortable. My alternative heat sources are wall hung and portable electric radiant heaters, and a super efficient wood stove in the house. I could supply 100% of the needed heat with either the aux heaters or just the rad floor, but find the combination of the two being the most responsive, economical, and comfortable. Right now, my hangar air temp thermometer is reading 45 degrees, but I can get it to 60 in an hour or so, not having to fight the heat sink of a cold slab.
 
hotrod180 said:
BTW for those who don't know, Big Ass Fans is a brand name!!
Click to expand...
Absolutely love mine, that’s a “Basic 12”. I run it so you barley feel air moving in the winter (about 30% on the VFD) to de-stratify the air which works great with radiant floor heat and summer it will blow papers, dog hair and the occasional empty box around when run at 100% Typical summer setting is 85% and keeps the hanger comfortable to work on stuff well into the upper 90’s.

DCBAE670-6428-4D48-968E-2DBAE36589CE.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • DCBAE670-6428-4D48-968E-2DBAE36589CE.jpeg
    DCBAE670-6428-4D48-968E-2DBAE36589CE.jpeg
    138.5 KB · Views: 191
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

acroeric
Heating Your Hangar- how to?
Replies
26
Views
1K
MartyC
M
jon s. blocker
Rock Port, Tx. hurrican
Replies
15
Views
5K
180Marty
180Marty
Klondiker
Cold Weather Questions
2
Replies
38
Views
16K
cubdriver2
cubdriver2
S
Robbing carb heat for cabin heat.
Replies
19
Views
10K
Senior
S
westwind
Black Paint and Fabric???
Replies
16
Views
6K
nanook
nanook
Back
Top