Hi there Guys, this is a great sub forum the shop talk section been reading alot of the threads, very useful! There are a few threads going around with guys building new shops etc, and i have been following them with great interst, so its time to show of your shops! At the minitue im working out of a fairly small workshop, but do field service mostly anyway! But im thinking about builing a new one in the new year sometime (Wait thats almost here, maybe there following new year ) well in the near future! I would like to see more of what you guys use, Big or small, new or old spotless or messy no one cares what there like, but i think it rest of us could pick up a few ideas! Look forward to seeing them! Cheers Aiden
Well, here's the only one I have on my computer at the moment Aiden. Have two bays with 14 x 16 doors, one bay to right of pic with 16 x 16 and one with 14 x 16 door. 10 Ton overhead bridge crane, covered wash bay with grease/dirt pit and 1,000 gal oil/water separator tank. Along with a few handy tools to work with. I get by fairly well.
Only shop pic that really shows some of the shop. we have 12 bay doors that open to an L shaped area. 7 overhead cranes with 2 cranes covering the same bays and a single crane in bay 12 that is the weld bay and is walled off from the rest of the shop. we have 7 different bulk oils all on hose reels in 5 locations that will reach any part of the shop. Many air hoses on reels. Movable work benches and tables. Waste oil tank is outside with a drain area inside that pumps into the tank. We have just about every tool available, presses, parts washer, solvent tanks, media blaster, recoil bench, tool room, computers etc we recently got rid of our waste oil burners and got a new radiant heat.
why did you get rid of waste oil burners?
yea, yea, yea... but are your floors heated, and how thick is your cement?
LoL, naw, no heated floor, can't remember how thick the concrete is, just know it's plenty thick.
more trouble than they were worth. They always needed maintenance, never really heated the shop in the far corners. they were noisy. We removed them and sent them to our other branches. The natural gas radiant heaters are very efficient and the different parts of the shop can control their own heat.
Hmm, interesting. We've been using a clean burn for 3 winters now starting #4 this winter, not a single issue. Of course, I built a waste oil sink in the wash bay room that has a big filter on the pump line going to the tank outside to filter the oil. Seems to work well for us, and the big advantage I've noticed over the gas radiant heaters we used the first winter is the fan on the waste burner circulates the air. It used to be warmish at floor level, and blistering warm at ceiling level. Now with burner, heat is more uniform from floor to ceiling. The main reason we installed the burner was the gas bill was outrageous.
We have thick concrete. it is a special mix because it has metal particles in it. it is very dense and magnetic will stick to it. Inside the bay doors there are railroad rails set upside down in the concrete so the tracks don't grind down the concrete. These are very useful and i have actually welded eye bolts to them to use with a come along to move the equipment that was parked over it.
The two waste oil heaters were about 15 years old. They seemed to get clogged with ash all the time and the HVAC contractors were always there. The 1000gal waste oil tank is outside so the oil was very cold and thick. The oil types varied and it could get 80/90 which really thickened it, they did put a small storage tank inside to warm up the oil before burning in. They did blow hot air but our shop is 40' tall inside so that is where the hot air went even with fans blowing it down. At floor level it was cold and on top of an excavator you would be sweating. Now when a bay door opens the cold air rushes in and the hot out. open 2 doors and it is worse. We have the doors opening and closing all day. Now with the radiant it heats up the floor and equipment so it is warm to the touch. Sure when the bay doors open it gets a cold blast but then the floor and equipment radiates it back along with the heaters that run the length of the shop. I would use waste oil heater in a smaller shop, just not in a large space like we have.
Makes sense to me, I guess it all depends on the building layout and the size. For our shop, which is much smaller than yours, it works perfect. And is a much on the utility bill, that gas bill was killing us. And I am picky about the oil that goes in the tank. Contaminated oil goes in the waste oil drums, gear oil gets diluted with some diesel.
I'm jealous. my shop (10' ceiling) ain't big enough to get a Cat in ,so i have to do things outside. Engine rebuild is done inside however.You would not believe a 1/2 ton chainhoist would lift this 5000+ Lbs engine,but it did
Leeonline, I've had several friends who have radiant heater in their shops and loved them on day one but the love ended shortly after wards, seems the diesel smoke goes to the ceiling and coats the heaters tubes and shields and they are constantly having to clean the entire length of heater several times a year to keep the heat radiating down to the floor, if they are not shiny they don't work or throw heat down, welding smoke, dust, about anything does the same thing to them, it took a long time for them to figure it out though, so now they spend a lot of time cleaning the heaters and they complain constantly about it, just a heads up from what I've heard from others, just something to keep in mind.
Show us your shops May Add Shop Space This Winter. Thinking About Waste Oil Boiler And Heating Tubes In Floor ? Anyone Doing This ?
Heat in floor = very satisfied workers. Would not do it any other way.
All that just to keep your Shelby warm?
Have had the radiant heat in our building now for 7 years and once...maybe twice a year took a hudson sprayer with simple green in it and sprayed it on and quick hose off and done. If i were building a new building i would most likely go infloor but for an older building its a great way to go. The key there is to just get into a routine of cleaning them and for us it doesn't take long...however only one run of about 60 feet. Trbo
Just built new shop. Have both overhead radiant and also put the radiant in the floor. Only reason for both is got a whale of a deal on the overhead. Still finishing shop so heating is not operational yet. The overhead will be LP Gas fired. The in floor will be oil fired. Since we make biodiesel out of used cooking oil will burn about an 80/20 bio to fuel oil mixture. Everyone I know with the in floor loves it.
I agree floor heat is Great. I have a small shop now that i put it in and geting ready to break ground on somthing a bit biger and will have floor heat. Worked for united airlines and our hanger floor was heated. Recovery time is realy short after having the door open to move an airplane in.
floor heat vs radiant there is no competition. IMO nice to have the heat coming up around the bottom of the machine rather than trying to fight its way down to you, and melts a frozen machine in 2hrs. May Add Shop Space This Winter. Thinking About Waste Oil Boiler And Heating Tubes In Floor ? Anyone Doing This As it was said before they take alot of maintinance so dont make it your only source of heat. We use a high efficientcy boiler for floor heat aswell a radiant used oil burner to catch up when we open the doors and it seems to work great, if one goes down you still have heat. Aswell we get big rebates and our furnace should pay for itself in two years if we burn enough oil.
Not my shop but some pictures of the Atlantic Cat building in Sydney N.S.
Make sure you spend $300-400 and get someone who knows hydronic floors to build you a plan for placement of the tubes...(diameter, location, boiler size, water temp. etc)) You'll never want anything else.
Ohhh, exhaust hoses!! I would kill for those, In fact I think I'm killing myself without them.Here is my little hamster wheel that I run in each day.
I've used plain 6" ADS flex drain. Just ran it out under the door. Exhaust tips not hot enough to melt the plasitc
Here is a few of my buddies shop. Notice the Clean Burn waste oil furnace. Those are two different 621's.
...
Thought I'd try my hand posting a few pics, heres some of the old hangout...
quite an assortment!
Muffler, I never get bored, if I do I go home or work on my own junk!!!!
I know a lot of guys who wrench all week and then wrench on their toys all weekend. I'm getting away from that, granted I do have a 38 year old daily driver, but I only do enough to keep it running. I get a kick out of my neighbor who works at a desk all week and then is so excited to work on his jeep on weekends. His buddies come over and they all take turns getting greasy hands. I split wood or play with my kid but do anything to avoid grease.Of course it is in my blood, so maybe if the right project came along......
My new workplace for 2 years now