shop heat options

[ed kerns]

For better than 10 years I've had a Modine (natural gas hot air furnace) Hot Dawg hanging in my shop. It doesn't owe me a dime. Over the years I've had 3 or 4 service calls, but it's on the fritz now and it looks like it's nearing the end of its life. The cost of a new Modine is about $625. There are other less expensive brand options available. The most appealing, strictly from price point is Mr Heater at $350 there is also a Beacon Morris unit at about $500. These are all about 45000btu heaters. My question to ya'll with first hand or HVAC experience is, are the more expensive units better in some significant way?  I'm not a heating/cooling guy and service calls can add up real fast. Opinions on these 3? Others I should look at? All but the Hot Dawg are available at my local Menards. I can't touch them there because the displays are hanging 8' off the floor, and the sales help weren't particularly helpful. Thanks!

[chips ahoy]

Check with Blackhat.

Mel

[blackhat]

Why would you suspect a 10 year old heater to be near the end of its useful life?  Ordinarily it should be twice that.  Of the others, there is little difference, check the warranty being offered and go from there.  I would look hard at a repair of the current unit.

[ed kerns]

Why would you suspect a 10 year old heater to be near the end of its useful life?  Ordinarily it should be twice that.  Of the others, there is little difference, check the warranty being offered and go from there.  I would look hard at a repair of the current unit.

Thanks guys. The service guy I had look at it estimated about a $300 repair, including the gas 'smart valve'. That's half or better the cost of a new one. I've replaced the terminal board once a couple of years ago and a pressure switch and a sensor of some sort last year. Just seeing a pattern that makes me think it's time has come. I have to say I'm surprised that a $500 unit heater could go 20 years in a wood shop.

[daddo]

Depending on what you do in your shop, a sealed combustion heater may last longer and be safer. Combustion air with a lot of moisture, chemicals or toxins can rot the heat exchanger pretty quickly and a sealed combustion won't have a large exposed flame.

Modine or Reznor. Can argue all day which is better. Don't know about other brands.

If I had a large shop and needed 45k btu's (Output?), I'd use a central furnace with a 15-25 heat exchanger warranty and 10 year parts warranty with a 1" pre-filter and 4"-5" pleated merv10 filter to keep it clean. Could add cooling to it later.
The cfm can be controlled by blower speed to meet the required static and stack temps.

[blackhat]

That Honeywell smartvalve was definitely not one of their shining moments. It is failure prone and pricey. I don't believe anyone is using them in current models but I would avoid it like the plague. Sealed combustion is reassuring in a shop environment. The numbers you mentioned are close or below my wholesale price on those so I don't know you'd do much better that way. As with so many things today, the electronics in them are the really vulnerable portion, dirty power can kill them pretty fast.

[fredhargis]

I had a Sterling Garage Guy in my last shop. I chose it over the others mostly because at the time it was the only one I could find that was direct vent. The downside of that is their direct vent kit is several hundred dollars and a PITA to install. Even so the heater worked like a champ for the 6 years I used it before we moved. In the current shop (just being completed) I choose the same one, only a size larger (60K BTU). I skipped the direct vent kit, thinking I would just do something on my own to vent it from the attic. Anyway, they are very well made...suggest you look at them as well. I did look at the Mr Heater and the Beacon Morris at Menards, decided to pass on them.

[ed kerns]

I had a Sterling Garage Guy in my last shop. I chose it over the others mostly because at the time it was the only one I could find that was direct vent. The downside of that is their direct vent kit is several hundred dollars and a PITA to install. Even so the heater worked like a champ for the 6 years I used it before we moved. In the current shop (just being completed) I choose the same one, only a size larger (60K BTU). I skipped the direct vent kit, thinking I would just do something on my own to vent it from the attic. Anyway, they are very well made...suggest you look at them as well. I did look at the Mr Heater and the Beacon Morris at Menards, decided to pass on them.

Thank you again guys. I will be sure to avoid the Honeywell smart valve. I  assume Modine no longer uses them, but I will be sure. Fred, doing some internet sleuthing suggests that Beacon Morris and Sterling are the same heater from the same manufacturer (this from a 'garage journal' forum). I'm not inclined to believe everything I read on the internet, but the individual there claims he was told so by the manufacturer. I haven't found a local distributor yet for Strerling, but will continue looking.

[fredhargis]

They are both owned by the same parent company, but I think they are run as separate companies (operative word: "think"). If you compare them side by side they don't look the same, the Sterling looks much better made. Of course they may be identical in the internal parts, which is what counts. I really like mine, and have no second thoughts about buying it. I bought both mine from Little Greenhouse. They are plug and play (maybe the others are as well). Hang them, wire in the power and thermostat, and hook them to gas...heat's on! The Sterling is made in NC; no idea where the BM plant is, maybe MA.

[CLETUS]

If I can tack onto this thread... I'm looking at moving away from wood to propane for the shop.

A 30,000 vent free Mr. Heater is good for 750 sq ft. My shop is 600 sq ft. Will I be able to get the shop HOT? Gimme the run down on vent vs. vent free.