New shop radiant heat

[LS short box]

The plan for next spring is building a new house and shop.
Shop will by 48 feet wide x 40 feet deep. Work shop area will be 24 feet x 40 feet deep. 8 or 9 foot walls.
Not going to do in floor heat. I'm considering either forced air or radiant heat. Leaning towards radiant heat. I haven't had radiant heat in a shop.
Any advice would be great.

[Ziegelsteinfaust]

I have dabled in radiant heaters, but they are not terribly efficient. But they can be used in a smaller area which is nice. A worm tube or drywall heater in my opinion is better since they are more directional.

I live in the LA area, and do commercial hvac. I see the stuff, but you live in the Great white north.

One option to consider is hydronic heating. You use a recirc pump off of a hot water heater through a coil with a blower motor. It is very efficient, but seriously drags in recovery time. Meaning if you turn it on when you need it. It is going to be a few hours before it is warm. Where as it is very effective to turn on, and just leave on. Especially in a shop. Set it at 50*, and let it roll. That way a sweater is comfortable to work in. Just use aqua pex to run the lines with decent sweeps when turning. Copper with 90's will pin hole in several years, and be annoying.

[FishEyes]

I live in the great white north, and went with radiant heat in my shop. I chose that way because of the heat recovery time in the winter and nat gas is cheap. My heater is 40ft long so there is good heat distribution down the center of my shop. When i was researching i read that radiant heats up the objects, instead of heating up the air then blowing it around using FD. That was also taken into account. When i leave the shop in the winter turn heat down to 42. When i go in turn i turn it to 65 and its there in 15mins. Thats my 2cents

[_Ogre]

Smart man to partition the building into a space you can heat. My 50*50 barn has a 20*30 shop I heat all winter. I chose a used 80+% house propane forced air furnace cuz the old dairy barn has 8 foot ceilings and the furnace was cheap. Going on 20 years with propane, I like the instant on heat, I keep the thermostat on 45° and turn it up to 65° when I'm out there. I have 1" foam and sheetrock on the walls and 8" blown in cellulose overhead. Detroit area

[Rickysnickers]

I've been thinking about this topic recently. I was contemplating a radiant floor heating system, but I don't have it in the budget, and it would take a while to save up. I was looking at using a pellet stove in my shop.

[MySons68C20]

Originally Posted by Rickysnickers

I've been thinking about this topic recently. I was contemplating a radiant floor heating system, but I don't have it in the budget, and it would take a while to save up. I was looking at using a pellet stove in my shop.

Put the pipe in the floor and finish once with the boiler etc when you can.
The pellet stove would be cool I love wood heat.

[67C10Step]

Originally Posted by MySons68C20

Put the pipe in the floor and finish once with the boiler etc when you can.
The pellet stove would be cool I love wood heat.

My neighbor has two shops and one of them has a wood stove in it. Love to just go sit by the stove with him on some of the really cold days. The heat and the smell of a good oak fire are hard to beat.

I have been using some kerosene heaters in my shop but just bought a couple tank top radiant heaters for propane bottles. Figure I'll use them more and the kerosene less this winter.

[allchevy58]

We took out the propane furnace and put in an used oil furnace. Works great. Shop is 40' X 50'