Reloading room ideas

[C.Smith]

Well I recently moved to a bigger home and had to move all my reloading stuff back into the garage, bummer. So I'm in need of ideas how to best heat the garage so I can comforatably reload. Its a 3 car garage. Wood stove is out of the question, hoping to find a good electric heater that would do the trick, I do have 220 out there.

Corey

 

[CatskillCrawler]

I would get a kerosene heater. They are nice to have around during power outages and burn clean with little maintenance. You say that wood stoves are out o the question. Does that include pellet stoves?

 

[C.Smith]

Yes more than I want to spend to heat out there at the moment

Corey

 

[AzDak42]

When we were looking at 3 car garaged homes awhile back, I'd just about talked my wife into letting me build/frame out the 3rd car garage with temporary stud walls as a shop. Smaller area that could easily be heated as needed with electric baseboards and a way to keep it all enclosed.

 

[Guest]

AzDak has a great idea - even if you just cordoned off a smaller portion of the third bay, say 8x10 or so, you could build the walls and just screw them together, and maybe tie them to one wall of the existing garage with a few screws. Don't even bother with a roof/ceiling, other than some joists, and just glue foam insulation board to the top to hold in the heat. A little insulation in the walls (foam or fiber) and a couple of cheap light fixtures, and you're all set. Get the kind of lights that plug into an outlet (fluorescent shop lights available at Lowe's/Home Depot) and you won't even have to run electrical. Just include some portion of the existing garage wall with a couple of outlets "inside" your new shop. Put a solid core door on it, with a lockable knob, and you can sell the wife on "safety" of having it secured. You will eventually want a window air unit, but again, not terribly expensive or difficult to deal with. Might even just buy a window air unit that heats and cools, and install it through the wall when you build it, just venting to the rest of the garage. Instant man room!

 

[Elkman]

I also built mine in the back end of the garage. I put in a stud wall, with a door to separate it form the garage. Then insulated, sheet rock and a 220 base board wall heater with a controller.its a big room,(it also holds treadmill and bow flex ), but the baseboard heater takes it from 40 to 65 in about 40 min. The downside of this baseboard heater is that you can't use the area close to it. In another room I have another in wall mounted electric heater with a fan. They also work great. Both units were bought from Home Depot.

 

[cloverleaf]

My wifes uncle built one of those small tool/ garden sheds to do his reloading in. Kept his rifles in there too which I would not do but he made it work. Easier to heat. CL

 

[hunting1]

Mr. Heater 2-burner and propaine tank can get you in shorts when it is 20-outside.

 

[duckcreekdick]

I heat my 30x40 insulated shop with an overhead propane unit I bought from Northern Tool. Takes about 30 minutes to heat things up when its' cold. Since I have an open ceiling I need a fan up there to blow the warm air down and circulate it better. Otherwise, this arrangement works just fine. I spent all day today out there rebarreling a Ruger 77 to .220 Swift. I first tried a ventless heater but it caused too much condensation. Kerosene heaters I would not trust to leave alone.

 

[FOTIS]

I have something very similar to this

http://www.lennox.com/products/garage-heaters/LF24/

 

[bbearhntr]

My wifes uncle built one of those small tool/ garden sheds to do his reloading in. Kept his rifles in there too which I would not do but he made it work. Easier to heat. CL

I have OFTEN mulled that same idea over in my mind.

 

[C.Smith]

I have something very similar to this

http://www.lennox.com/products/garage-heaters/LF24/

What's a unit like that run?

Corey

 

[tjen]

First and the main heater a unvented gas heater, I use a ceramic infered with a hydralic thermostat. Next is a electric Quarzt patio heater which is infered too. The 220V is better.

I heat a 24x32 foot garage with a 3-burner gas set on low to keep it above freezing. Which veries between 40&60F in the winter. When I want to work out there on week ends I plug in the patio heater. Mine is only 110v and it works great. You feel the heat even with the infered and do not need fans to move the heat around.

This is northern Michigan Last week was -10 to 15 degrees all week. Concider a split AC unit for summer to keep the humitiy down.

 

[C.Smith]

Thanks for all the ideas.

Corey

 

[rquack]

I installed a small Empire vented gas furnace in my 12x16 hunting cabin. Works great! Available in natural gas or propane. Comes with/or without a blower. I mounted it at floor level and it heats very evenly using the supplied microvolt thermostat. Supplied by FN Cuthbert, Inc in Toledo, OH; cost about $575 back in Jan 2012. I found that the vented models are more expensive but they also put much less humidity into the air. I wanted a vented unit due to the small area being heated and my concern about breathing CO exhausted into the air while sleeping at night.

 

[300WSM]

Corey,

That heater listed above can be a little pricey. They are a nice unit but expensive.

And will require a bit more work than just buying one. So there will be a bit more expense than just buying the heater.

Here are three that would be ideal to heat just a corner of a garage when you need it. View attachment Liquid+Propane+Cabinet+Heater.jpg
That first one uses propane from the tanks you can exchange at a convenience store.



The second one here uses ordinary kerosene.

They both work good. Kerosene unit has a little bit of odor but if you aren't sensitive to that no worries. Which one is more convenient for you? How close is a place that you have to exchange propane tanks as opposed to a place that has a kerosene pump. If you have a gas grill then maybe you would just want to do the propane thing because that is the tank they use.

This last heater you might laugh at but it really works too. It is ordinary electric. Plug into the typical receptacle and enjoy

 

[vodekzz]

Any chance you can work at home? Less humidity. No extra heating cost.
My reloading room is a part of basement storage. Size 6x8 feet even with my wife's upright freezer it is enough room for my stuff. I would afraid to see my reloading dies get rusted.
Vodekz

 

[300WSM]

Any chance you can work at home? Less humidity. No extra heating cost.
My reloading room is a part of basement storage. Size 6x8 feet even with my wife's upright freezer it is enough room for my stuff. I would afraid to see my reloading dies get rusted.
Vodekz

I used to reload in a basement because it was the only usable space I had. Moisture was a concern of mine and what I did was keep those little silicone bean bags ...the ones you get when you buy something and the mfg wants to make sure it stays dry....yes those little ones...I would keep one or two in each of my die sets. It worked great, no rust. At times it was crazy damp there. No rust with the help of those little bean bags

 

[tjen]

Mine is just an emprier wall mount unvented and run depending on the number of burners (1-3) from $120-$180. They run 1-5 burners but I replace a 5 burner with the 3/thermostat model.

For a garage the unvented is fine. They have O2 sentors and will shut of in the O2 drops off. I have fuel and vehicles in my garge and never a issue. You mount them with the flame 18" off the floor in case of gas fumes from fuel leeks.

The mitsubeshi split ac unites are very neet. I may put one in my garages attic 16x32x7. Its one room with real stairs. I trussed it with 12 pitched roof and insulated the walls roof and up stairs ceiling.

I dout I use more than 150 gallons of propane to heat the garage from novmber to april. You would triple that if you keep it 68 f 100% of them time.

 

[elkeater2]

I'm setting up a new room as well. Heat is not an issue, but I'm looking for cabinet/storage/shelf and lighting ideas. I've got 8' x 12' to work with. This is a room built inside an insulated quonset I own.
As far as heat goes, I think insulation is the key to a small space. Heaters which move a lot of air can effect digital scales.
I have two benches and a couple bookshelf units, plus one metal cabinet. It is almost overwhelming to have all this space, sure want to make the most of it. :lol: