Condensation in Heating a Garage

T. J.

My question revolves around a new 400 sq.ft. shed/garage with insulation in the ceiling, but not the walls. A 35,000 BTU natural gas ventless radiant heater has just been installed and I'm worried about possible condensation that will form on woodworking power tools like it did when a propane bottle heater was in use (so much so that some power tools started to rust).

Does anyone have any ideas or advice to mitigate condensation issues in a non-consitently heated garage?

Mt. Falls Mikey

It probably will condense...

Especially as the outdoor/indoor temps get colder. I can't remember the name of the spray that is made for table saws,planers,to protect the bare metal surfaces. I use WD-40 or PB Blaster on mine. Check out www.woodworkers journal.com or www.woodmagazine.com.I use a kerosene space heater,and crack a window/door open slightly while it is warming up.

Al Letellier_9

condensation

the key word in your description is ventless....there is a lot of moisture in gas and it should be vented outside. You will experience the problem again with that heater.

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JackFre

The moisture from one gal of LPG

flue gases is approx 1.1 gal. On hi fire your vent free unit will put this amount into the air. I'm assuming this is an infrared (and a big one). The problems with vent free in a shop are number one, and greatest in my mind, the open flame. Wait until you do some finsihing. Whatever chemical is airborn will go over the flame, which will modify its smell, generally not for the better. You will have the door open or you will be evacuating. When you heat up the space to a comfortable level and then shut it down the temp swings will occasionally cause condensation on the tool surfaces. You will actually get that with some spring days with no heat and storms and temp swings. I got tired of watching my CI woodworking tables tops (unisaw, drill press, band saw, etc) rust that I finally painted them with POR-15 (www.por15.com). I have been using it for car restoration in the floors, rockers etc and it is an outstanding product. I had some clearance issues in the miter slots but took care of that. If I want to take it off, I do the same thing I did to remove the rust. A stiff wire cup brush on a small grinder. I have used VF heaters in shops and do not like them for that application at all. Sealed combustion, DV is where it is at for shop heating, IMHO!

T. J.

A dehumidifier?

It seems so obvious from your descriptions of the problem.

As the heater is just installed, I really don't want to replace it with a vented unit right now, but would a dehumidifier help the wetness issue?