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Author Topic: Shed temperatures during winter months  (Read 2400 times)

dpbarry

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Shed temperatures during winter months
« on: December 03, 2020, 08:44:58 pm »

Hi Folks.


First proper look at how I need to heat my shed now that winter is starting to set in.


Current temperature here in Newcastle N. Ireland is 1 degree outside. Temp inside shed is around 3-4 degrees. I have just installed and switched on an 80W single tube bar heater normally used in Greenhouses/conservatories and possibly going to add a second one in.

My query is, does anyone leave something like this on overnight and ideally, what should I really be looking to keep the temperature above?

I do have 2 x 2.5kw heaters and they work fine if I’m in the shed but are a bit costly to run and wouldn’t want to run them like that overnight so looking advice

Shed is made of wood and is wall insulated. Roof is aluminium with anti drip coating. Flooring is also tiled with square rubber backed carpet tiles But not sure is 3-4 degrees is sufficient.

Regards


Declan
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Tug Fanatic

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2020, 08:57:28 pm »


Does an 80w heater really make any difference in a workshop? I am lucky as our central heating boiler is in my workshop.

I suspect that it might be more about humidity and condensation than temperature if we are talking about protecting tools etc from corrosion unless you are going to keep the workshop consistently above outside temperature.
 
The only temperature that would worry me involves preventing things from freezing. A frost stat on one of your 2.5kw heaters will sort that and be used surprisingly infrequently and even then only for a short time to increase the temperature to something safe. Something like this that you have made sure is safe with the load from the heater. Set it to a minimum safe temperature & be protected.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Corgi-STTRFSN-C-Frost-Thermostat-White/dp/B00LSV03O8/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=heater+with+frost+stat&qid=1607029635&sr=8-2
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Des

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2020, 10:25:00 pm »

Wow - you guys think you've got a problem.  Try 40+C outside, plus another 5 or so inside the shed.  At least styrene & fibreglass don't soften at these temperatures, but I definitely wilt.
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Peter Fitness

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2020, 10:26:47 pm »

Wow - you guys think you've got a problem.  Try 40+C outside, plus another 5 or so inside the shed.  At least styrene & fibreglass don't soften at these temperatures, but I definitely wilt.


And summer has only just started O0


Peter.
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barriew

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2020, 07:02:26 am »

From November to March I keep a 120w tubular heater running 24/7. I also have a 2Kw fan heater and a 600w wall convector heater. I used to use the fan to get a reasonable temperature when I was in the shed, but had to keep turning it on and off for comfortable conditions.
I have now installed a 'smart plug' for the convector. This is set to come on about 90 mins before I plan to use the workshop. I find this gets a comfortable temperature to start. If I decide not to use the workshop I can turn it off via WiFi.

I am a bit of a creature of habit and tend to use the workshop for a couple of hours in a morning, so this routine works for me, but of course I can also turn the convector on and off at any time via WiFi.

Barrie
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Baldrick

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #5 on: December 04, 2020, 10:05:59 am »

  Not just temperature but relative humidity's also an issue. Even in a good shed this time of the year RH will be about 80% because that is what it is outside .This makes you feel even colder and rusts your tool (s).  I have found a good desiccant dehumidifier will make life a lot more comfortable , not only quickly bringing the RH down to below the dew point but as a by product giving out a useful amount of heat. I bought the Meaco junior   meaco-dd8l-junior-dehumidifier from the Marine Store and have been astonished by the volume of water it takes out of the air and the difference in comfort it makes.  It has automatic settings that allow you to adjust the fan speed but also the moisture level you want it to maintain,I set it at 50%, just leave it on and empty the tank once a week.
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Tug Fanatic

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #6 on: December 04, 2020, 10:17:24 am »

  Not just temperature but relative humidity's also an issue. Even in a good shed this time of the year RH will be about 80% because that is what it is outside .This makes you feel even colder and rusts your tool (s).  I have found a good desiccant dehumidifier will make life a lot more comfortable , not only quickly bringing the RH down to below the dew point but as a by product giving out a useful amount of heat. I bought the Meaco junior   meaco-dd8l-junior-dehumidifier from the Marine Store and have been astonished by the volume of water it takes out of the air and the difference in comfort it makes.  It has automatic settings that allow you to adjust the fan speed but also the moisture level you want it to maintain,I set it at 50%, just leave it on and empty the tank once a week.

Agreed.

For it to work well the workshop needs to be reasonably well sealed. If the air keeps changing you will never reduce the humidity effectively.

Many dehumidifiers allow for the possibility of replacing the tank with a hose to the outside.
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grendel

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2020, 03:27:45 pm »

From November to March I keep a 120w tubular heater running 24/7. I also have a 2Kw fan heater and a 600w wall convector heater. I used to use the fan to get a reasonable temperature when I was in the shed, but had to keep turning it on and off for comfortable conditions.
I have now installed a 'smart plug' for the convector. This is set to come on about 90 mins before I plan to use the workshop. I find this gets a comfortable temperature to start. If I decide not to use the workshop I can turn it off via WiFi.

I am a bit of a creature of habit and tend to use the workshop for a couple of hours in a morning, so this routine works for me, but of course I can also turn the convector on and off at any time via WiFi.

Barrie
wow, that must be one smart plug to know 90 minutes before you do that you want to go into your shed.
:-)
my shed is also my conservatory, so generally settles midway between house temperature of 21 degrees and outside - so at the moment about 10 degrees.
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barriew

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2020, 06:14:03 pm »

wow, that must be one smart plug to know 90 minutes before you do that you want to go into your shed.
 :-)
my shed is also my conservatory, so generally settles midway between house temperature of 21 degrees and outside - so at the moment about 10 degrees.


Grendel - I did say I was creature of habit, so I normally go into the shed at 9:30am daily. If I decide not to, I just switch off the plug from my phone %%


Barrie
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davejo90

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #9 on: December 04, 2020, 07:09:44 pm »

My shed is not very big at 3m x 2m I have a variable heat seletion switch on a convector heater that has a timer on it. So I have it set to go on at 09.00 and off again at 16.30. I'm not always in the shed for that long but I only have it on the 750w setting anyway so not mega pounds to run.
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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #10 on: December 05, 2020, 11:47:12 am »

At current energy pricing, if you leave an appliance on 24/7, it's electricty costs about the same as it's Watt rating.         So a 500W heater left on all year would cost about £500.           If you divide by the amount of a day or year you use it, you can get a pretty close estimate of your heating cost.
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Tug Fanatic

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #11 on: December 05, 2020, 02:40:42 pm »

At current energy pricing, if you leave an appliance on 24/7, it's electricty costs about the same as it's Watt rating.         So a 500W heater left on all year would cost about £500.           If you divide by the amount of a day or year you use it, you can get a pretty close estimate of your heating cost.

You have got a really good price there. I calculate it as nearer £625 or more conveniently a 500W heater on 24/7 is £50 per month plus change.
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dpbarry

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #12 on: December 05, 2020, 03:00:43 pm »

If you don’t mind me asking, what is your unit price per kWh?


Here in N. Ireland, it is 16.9 pence per kilowatt hour


Declan


At current energy pricing, if you leave an appliance on 24/7, it's electricty costs about the same as it's Watt rating.         So a 500W heater left on all year would cost about £500.           If you divide by the amount of a day or year you use it, you can get a pretty close estimate of your heating cost.
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grendel

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #13 on: December 05, 2020, 06:10:13 pm »

spent most f the afternoon in my shed (conservatory) temperature was about 9 degrees, perfectly acceptable.
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warspite

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #14 on: December 06, 2020, 11:16:34 am »

Ours is a standing charge at £69.83 per year (£0.19 per day) + £0.13 (12.38p) per KW, missed the martin Lewis recent mass switch after the two year deal we were on came to an end, though to be honest was not sure it would have been any better, Every Saturday I take a reading of the meters and record them on an excel sheet where each week we try to stay close to a predicted meter read i.e. 20 units for gas and 63 units for electric (though this year there is no chance of keeping the electric down as 5 of us compete for broadband use and subsequently the electric over 600 units above the predicted use due to C19)  >:-o
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Buccaneer

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #15 on: December 06, 2020, 06:57:56 pm »

Surely you wouldn't want to leave a heater ion 24/7 365 days per year.  October to March should suffice.


John
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dpbarry

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Re: Shed temperatures during winter months
« Reply #16 on: December 06, 2020, 09:08:10 pm »

Me? No.

From April to mid September is usually mild enough to leave nothing on although as this is my first year with the new shed, I’m gauging what I need and as SWMBO pays the leccy bill, I don’t want to arrive home at end of January and find a face like thunder and arms crossed with the leccy bill sitting on kitchen table.🤣🤣

Hence why I have the leccy app on my phone (and SWMBO’s) so I can see what is going on.😎😝

In fairness, she has said to go ahead a heat it whatever way I need. I’ve started to top up on the credit on the leccy account. 👌

Summer time is the opposite - I need a fan to cool down ☺️


Declan


Surely you wouldn't want to leave a heater ion 24/7 365 days per year.  October to March should suffice.


John
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