Dave,
Since you already have propane for the house, if the house propane tank
is not too far from the shop, and the house tank is big enough, you
could run a copper line from the tank (or house) to the shop and run
both buildings off of one tank. We have just that setup here in Texas.
The copper is 5/8", and we have a 2 stage regulator system, one
regulator at the tank, and a another regulator at each building. to drop
the pressure to what is needed. If you have to buy new regulators they
should run about $50 each.
Some installations have only a single regulator at the tank, but that
would require a larger gas line than 5/8" to not have a pressure drop
when you are heating the shop and the house is using gas also.
Our house has gas water heater, cook top and furnace. The shop has a
central heat/cool system, and the apartment on top of the shop also has
a heat/cool, plus stove and water heater.
We run out of a 250 gal. tank and require about 3 fill ups a year. If
you can run for longer than several months on the house tank you
shouldn't have a problem getting at least a month of usage with both the
house and shop running.
Peace,
Pat
David C. wrote:
>
> I'm getting ready to order a Mr Heater Big Max 75,000 BTU heater for
> my shop. The shop is a 24 x 48' pole building, with partially (badly)
> insulated walls and some insulation in between the rafters and the
> metal roof. I only plan to heat it when I'm actually working out
> there. Right now I use a 40,000 BTU propane torpedo heater run off a
> 20# tank, which works ok to get the chill off, but it won't raise the
> inside temperature much above 45 degrees when it's in the low 30s
> outside. It's also noisy as hell.
>
> Does anyone have one of these heaters, or a similar one like a Modine
> Hot Dawg, Modine PD, etc? I'm mostly concerned about noise and
> safety, and I would prefer one without a standing pilot light as I
> only plan to operate the heater when I'm in the shop, mostly on
> weekends. Any gotchas on mounting or plumbing? I plan to use a
> horizontal vent through the wall, and I may not even run a thermostat,
> just an on-off switch. Also, how big a tank should I buy? I know the
> 20# tanks are way too small, and I suspect a 30 would be, too. Since
> we heat our house with propane, should I just get a 100 gallon or so
> tank and have the propane delivery guy keep it full?
>
> thanks
> Dave C
>
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