temporary heat source

antman

Hello all, it has been quite some time since I have been able to come to "The Wall", hope all is well.

With the COLD weather around the corner, and chilly weather here now. I was wondering if there is something out there that is a good source of temporary heat for a single family residence when doing a renovation to a heating system late in the season or boiler replacement that takes more than a day, mostly for the 1st. Fl. which are usually open, something that is obviously SAFE for the people living in the house, or do you just use multiple electric heaters. If so, which would you recommend.

Thanks for the input.

Ant

Oh yeah.. Go Yanks!

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wayne_11

I have never been real comfortable using any unvented fuel/flame type heaters (kerosene propane ect.} We do use them on constuction sites but only in the rough stages and never unattended. Electric heaters with glowing elements also make me nervous unattended. My favorite is an oil filled radiator style electric. It puts out a good bit of heat for it's size (one room) and has a thermostat control as well as a tip over safety shut off. There are switches to select the wattage as well 600, 900, or 1500. The 1500 setting pretty much requires its own circuit or you risk a circuit trip. The hottest 110v electric unit I have used is a quartz tube heater with a small blower on it. It is truly amazing for heat output but it does have a wire caged element that could be a fire concern. You can light a cigarette on that thing. The little ceramic disc cube heaters are pretty good too.

Matt Undy

I would be very careful about using electric heaters. Unless an electrican has checked out the circuit you are plugging it in to there is a good chance you'll find a bad connection in the circuit somewhere that was just used for lighting and other small loads. If you're lucky it will just burn out the connection, if not it'll start a fire. I'm inclined to say its a good idea to just have an electrican set up a temporary circuit right out of the pannel and use that, a very high wattage 220V heater and a heavy extension cord built for that 220 V circuit. Another potential source would be a circuit for a large window air conditionerr or dryer but I would be very concerned about electrical fires in impropper or deteriorated(actually it usually wont' detereorate if it was done propperly to begin with except those dman push wire things that no one can quite explain why they're ul listed or certain aluminum wiring)

I wonder if something could be rigged up with a propane powered vent high efficiency appliance through a window. I'm a EE and I still feel fuel burning appliances are much safer than electric apliance because of the risks of fire from poor electrical connections.

I saw where they had rigged up an air handler with some pex and quick connects on this old house that looked interesting. perhaps get the new unit to the point where it will run that or place some sort of portable rig outdoors with a propane cylinder.

If your only looking at spring or fall you don't need that much heat, some lower wattage space heaters might be a good idea. Remeber you really should only load a circuit to about 80% of its overcurrent protection.

My basic point is, be very careful where you plug in elecric space heaters and try to stay under 1300 watts or so. If you have a brand new kitchen where there are several 20A small appliance circuits then heavy extension cords (12 ga) and space heaters aren't a bad approach, just be sure youkeep the cords in good shape.

I like the convector type heaters, either the finned element baseboard type or the oil filled types becuase they won't have a problem with voltage drop over long extension cords, they will just reduce output a bit. Fan motors will have problems if you drop voltage over a long cord or circuit from the panel. I wuld in no case use a cord smaller than the rating of the circuit, 14Ga for a 15 A circuit and 12Ga for a 20 A circuit. You will need havier cords if the heater is fan forced.

Matt

wayne_11

I would say Do not use an extension cord at all with any electic unit. If you cant heat the area with a direct connection to an outlet look for another means. Even then your concern is what else is actively on that circuit. By that I mean that even though you plug into a 20 amp kitchen circuit, you will not be able to use that microwave on that same circuit if the heater is drawing 1500 amps. From your post you are talking about a boiler update so tapping a temp off of the permanent heat source is out. We have located iron radiators all over the place as temp heat for periods that are going to last weeks but that means the boiler must remain active and the plumbing involved must outway the time-frame. The job I am completing right now involve me locating a few iron water rads away from the walls to drywall and paint. When the work is complete we will run the new baseboard and install the new boiler. This works perfectly for me in this case but the time frame is weeks not days. I would have used oil filled 110 electric if it was a matter of a day or days. I have a garage cluttered with temp heat sources from being in the remodeling trade for 20 plus years. Each had/has it's place. You have to choose what is not only safe but practical for your situation. If you are having a boiler updated/replaced it will certainly not involve enough down time to justify the time and expense of setting up a vented temp fuel based system or altering your permanent source (if that is even possible) to use as temp. Oil filled radiators at the correct wattage or ceramic disc sound like the practical solution "in your case" Just live with the inconvenience of not overloading the circuit you are using for the heat. A hair blow dryer can use 1500 watts.

Firedragon_4

Okay, imagine this!

One of these small utility trailers like they sell everywhere now.

On it is an Armstrong Oil-Pak unit with a 50 gallon fuel tank. They then took a transition from the plenum opening to round flexduct like the phone company uses in manholes and through the window. Where they went from there I don't know. This was parked in the driveway with no one around, but it was running last spring off an extension cord (12 AWG).

Regretfully, I did not have my camera and haven't seen it since and they did not even have a sign on it (stupid, really). If I see it again I'm gonna find out who owns it, FACT!

Anyone want to fess up???

Marty_2

Forgot the name of the company but these came from a place that mainly rents out large tents

Jack_21

Rinnai 606

this is a vent free heater. I have a lot of fuel companies in ME, NH and VT using them when heating plants fail. It is not a "construction" heater but does well as "temporary" heat. 6,00-21,000 btu, modulating gas valve and blower. T'stat and ODS equipped.

David Efflandt

heater electronic thermostat note

Something to be aware of for any portable heater with an electronic thermostat, check what happens if the power goes out. Many (if not most) may default to OFF (no memory).

So mechanical thermostat/switches may be most reliable if unattended.

joel_19

How fast???

How fast how big???? We have a Monitor with internal tank and the window vent system up and running half hour tops but it's only 21k BTU. Any boiler with a little planning can be up and running in 1 day. If your biulding a boiler wall that will take time just zip ssome pex to an Air handler like First Company that runs on 115 volts plug er in and your done. I like the furnace on a trailer idea. Or better yet the boiler IN a trailer got it all figured out one of these days I'll get round to biulding it. Anybody interested in renting one???