Heating a Small Area

[DobiePaws]

Hey All,

I need to heat a 14' x 18' room (so aprox 250 sq feet) in Central NY  for animals to stay warm in the winter, I'd like to keep it at a constant 62 degrees F.

In the past, at my last home, I used a Propane furnace at a cost of aprox $700 in gas for the season - this room had a draft and a doggie door and was 10' x 30' (300sq feet). My new room will be pretty well insulated and no doggie door. My question is would electric heat be a resonable option finacially, I hear electric heating is very expensive - but it's a small space, and well insulated.

I thought many of you may heat your smaller wood shops and have experience doing so - or someone might actually be in the heating business?? Either way I thank anyone with thoughts on the subject in advance.

Also brand names would be appreciated if you are happy with a specific heater.

DLD

[Marcellarius]

u shouldn't use propane or any other open fire because of 2 hazards.
1 it takes your oxygen away, 2 Carbon monoxide (CO) can kill you without noticing.
electric is perfect.
in your case in a small room I would take an electric heated oil filled radiator.
It's small and doesn't blow the dust around.

[Wandascroller]

I had some electric heated oil filled radiators & the little darlings liked to peeeeeeeee on them and they rusted. So some way to have then up off the floor would also be good. Cords out of chewing reach also. They were great otherwise.

[GrayBeard]

I have a 10' x 14' room that I heat with a oil filled electric heater. With thermostat control it works great to maintain 70 degrees. If set to run on HIGH and constantly it will literally drive you out of the room! The room has a sliding patio door that is dual pane glass and not all that well insulated due to aluminum frame. The 'pet preventive' steps would seem to be a good idea.

~~~GB~~~

[Russ C]

A propane heater will fit your needs and be more cost efficient. I use one in my shop and it works great. We also have a propane fire place in the living room. Use it every winter. Take it from a retired Firefighter/Specialist it is safe and only a few precautions to take. First, oxygen the propane heater would go out before it consumed all the oxygen. A propane heater uses about the same amount of oxygen as a couple of people. It will not consume all the oxygen in a room. You just need a little ventilation. Carbon Monoxide is what you need to look out for. Just buy two Carbon Monoxide Detectors (not expensive) Put one in the room and one inside near the bedrooms to keep you safe. Most new propane heaters burn very efficient. Electric heating is more expensive. Hope this helps. 

[DobiePaws]

Thanks for the input - I'm still undecided however - and now a little leary of the propane because the animal building is not attached to a house - so no one would necessarily hear a CO detector going off...... I need to keep the little guys warm all winter (or they will freeze to death) but I'd like to do it efficiently and economically also. I think I'd really like to go electric but be assured it should not increase my electric bill by say more than $50 - $80 per month for less than a 300sq foot area............

Thanks for all input

DLD

[Marcellarius]

I don't know of the next information is sutable but...

i heard of a project that makes incubators from toyota landcruiser parts.
one "toyota" incubator cost about $ 500,-- where a normal incubator cost $ 40.000,--
they use the car lights for heating.

if you are handy you could think of making your own heating system of carparts.
their al 12 volts, so you could connect them to a solar panel with a couple of big batteries.
I don't know of it's profitable to ingrease the size to a system that will fit to your dimensions, but it's an "out of the box" solution

[DobiePaws]

Just an update: I did decide to go with a electric oil filled radiator which cost about $29.99. I've been running it constantly since the weather got cold heating the area to 60 degrees and my electric bill is about $20 - $30 more per month than the previous year. (I ended up staying with the 10' x 30' space). This is a great savings over Propane and I am very happy with the decision.

[Russ C]

During our winter months, December thru February, during our coldest winters I used about $40 for the whole winter. Usually about $20, last year was really cold for us here in Florida.

[Mainewoods]

What kind of animals are we talking about?  How many?  This info can be a factor in deciding what'd work best.