Workshop Heating

I switched from electric to gas heating in the workshop only yesterday, in order to heat it quicker and hopefully a bit cheaper. It didnt go quite to plan! I have quick release gas lines for oxy and propane at various places in the shop so I can unplug, move and replug my gas torch as required. So I thought i'd just pop a fitting onto the gas inlet for the heater and use a spare gas inlet - simple? I plugged it in, connected the small space heater and turned it on. Oh my goody lord, the flame came out of the heater a good four feet, it was so intense that I didnt dare go near it and feared the items near it would very quickly catch fire so I ran outside and shut the gas off. The moral of this srory is to not run a 300 millibar space heater off a 2 bar gas line! I was shaking for ages.

If you are into building electronic items I have a design for en event logger, It is based on a PIC16F877, a 2 line by 16 LCD dispaly and an 8 pin EEPROM. I built one about 10 years ago and I have just built another one to monitor when a hedgehog enters and leaves it's house. Let me know if you wouldlike the information on it.

Les.

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 25/11/2017 17:19:02

Hi,

My solution; Mechanical counter, activated by a mains relay or solenoid, coupled with mechanical linkage.**LINK**

Of course, it depends what's in your 'Junk stock'. Plus the safety issue.

I can stoop pretty low, maybe a solenoid out of a washing machine, (Water inlet control).

Good luck, bear..

I switched from electric to gas heating in the worskshop

Direct heating by gas (or oil) will require ventilation - both for the oxygen supply (think here carbon monoxide poisoning) and because water as a product of combustion. Not good if the temperature drops to below dew point or dew point is raised above thd target temperature.

When considering temperatures near to single figures (Celsius) I don't think that is the best soution. Indirect heating is the way to go with the fuel burning options in those scenarios.

I have a couple of those Lascar loggers somewhere, without LCD they used to be cheaper. I kept on in my work bag for a while and it would register the change in temperature as I left the house, the car warming up inside as I drove, getting out when I arrived and the reverse on the way home. I was able to time my journey and work hours from it.
You can also get 1-Wire logging buttons which we have used at work but you need a special interface to read them.

See what you've done now? Had to venture near to Maplin today whilst gathering the weekly provisions and ended up getting one of those TP Link HS110 wifi controlled plug with energy monitoring. It was almost inevitable I suppose.

Mixed result. It allows you to control the power on a socket anywhere within range of your wifi network, from anywhere in the world, assuming you have a broadband connection. You can also toggle it on and off manually with a button on the front. You can only use a smart phone (iOS or Android) for remote operation / monitoring - no PC yet. This version (with energy monitoring) reports the current (instantaneous) power usage and also the cumulative energy usage today, this week and last 30 days. That's pretty interesting perhaps but you don't have any means of displaying the power against time or exporting the data - hardly surprising, although it would be good to see it happen at some point.

For me it's not a massive disappointment. I have a 3300VA site transformer down in the workshop to run my various 120V machines from (bandsaw, belt sander, Bridgeport power feed etc) and like to make sure it is turned off at the end of the day's play, as it gets quite warm, even on standby. It's a PITA to have to head out there to see if I've forgotten, so this allows me to see if it's on, to turn it off from the comfort of the lounge - and also to set the timer to automatically turn it off at a fixed time or after a period of operation.

The HS110 claims to be rated at 3kW /13A load. The switching element is a relay, judging by the clicking noise.

Murray

Edited By Muzzer on 25/11/2017 19:02:41

How about rigging up a light in parallel with the heater where you can see it from the house. it would give you some idea, not brilliant granted.

A light in parallel with the heater, a good idea, but sadly could only be seen from the kitchen and not when I am reclining on the sofa. Maybe an electronic door bell, there's food for thought. I'll get back on the sofa and think about it a bit more.

Edited By Donald Mitchell on 25/11/2017 20:00:19

Would one of the products from Efergy suit your requirements?

Ed.

I use one of the efergy monitoring the electric for my pond it will show graphs of usage against time so you would see when your heater is on and how long. Mine has a transmitter that I clip around the live feeding the pond the receiver is a mobile unit to see the graphs you have to download the data to a pc. I find it very useful to monitor when air pumps have been turned on etc.

I don't use heating in the workshop since I insulated it, on a really cold, frosty night it occasionally dips slightly below 10C, but a 5.4Tb RAID5 NAS box prevents it getting really cold, lights, a PC, me or a machine running soon gets it much warmer when I'm working.