Glen-L.com

Well my garage is starting to get cold. I have a wood stove to but in there but I don't know if it is alright to have it around the epoxy and saw dust. If not what kind of heat can I use.

A wood stove will provide plenty of heat....I use it for my guitar building. The problem is keeping it heated for the length of time you need for typical marine-use epoxy to cure. If used on a guitar (or similar sized project), the drying time is 1-12 hours. for a boat, I gather from what I have read that it is more like 24. Do you want to keep a wood stove going that long?

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Ken Hundley
http://www.nocturnalguitars.com

So, my big brother was playing guitar and I figured I'd try it too.
- Stevie Ray Vaughan

I can keep it going for however long it takes. I'm worried about the fire being close to the epoxy and sawdust. Don't know if the epoxy is flamable. Is an electric heater or propane heater a better idea?

I used a propane garage heater. It is unvented, so there is no flue installation required. 30k BTU heated my 20 X 22 workshop. Held 60 deg F when curing epoxy on a single digit day. Paid $200 plus for it online.

BTW, when I shut it down, I blew the burner off with an air hose before lighting again. Wood dust does get sucked in there.

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"It's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
Abraham Lincoln

The propane heater was my next option but, I wasn't sure an open flame around sawdust and epoxy was safe. From what your saying I guess it is, which is good. What else did some of you guys use?

In my shop at the last house, I used a wood stove with an oooold oil furnace for evenings. No problem with either ( at least I didn't blow the place up )
Any dust that lands on the top of the stove just chars and can be cleaned off every day before start up. Obviously one has to be safe with combustibles near by.
My shop at the new place now has a "Hot Dawg" overhead gas heater that I love.
When I plan on doing any painting or using thinners, I open the door and turn the heater off till the fumes clear out. I also throw wipers outside to dry.
Doug

I have an 80K BTU propane heater that'll heat my 3 car garage to 105 even if it is 0 outside. I usually keep it turned to low and cycle it on and off once it hits about 75. My 100 lb propane tank will last about 3 weeks if I work in there every day for about 6 hours a day. Saw dust is extremely flamable so I do take some caution. I also usually keep the attic access cracked open so as to not affixiate myself.

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Bill

I told my wife we needed a three-car garage for my projects...she told me to ask her for permission next time before I buy a house.
http://www.unitybuild.net

Didn't the old New England boat building shops always have a pot bellied stove for heat?

Course, back then that's all they had!

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Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

Well wood stove it is. Thanks for the help.

I just turn off the air conditioning when it gets down to 72.

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John Amundsen
Monte Carlo
Winter Haven, FL

Maybe it will be done by G6 and maybe not.

Now thats funny.

NO IT's NOT
Doug

Wood stove should be fine. Back when I was selling Fiberglass and resins to the Maine boatbuilders I was amazed at the number of builders who heated their shops with woodstoves. And the stove was not too far from the boat! The woodstoved heated huge barns and they did not seem to be to concerned about fumes or dust or anything! Kind of New England romantic I would say!

And yes they all had potbellies. (Not the stoves....the builders!)

STeve