Shop humidity and heating
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Hi All,
After moving house I now have an old brick built barn for a workshop, the volume being about 500m3. My previous shops have been attached or within a house so heating and humidity wasn’t a problem. Anyone have experience of heating and moisture control in a similar space? I’m in the north of the U.K.
I have been looking at Air Source Heat pumps, again anyone with experience?
TIA!
Hej Glynne,
Working in an unheated not insulated shop at near rainforest climate comes with a number of issues – humidity being the most challenging. To avoid corrosion I had to keep my tools in the house, take them out to the workshop, and then, when day was done, bring them back with me again.
“Furniture-dry” wood was not think about; though to be honest, I had none of the seasonal dimension changes that are there now, with the new humidity controlled environment. A dehumidifier keeps the relative humidity <55%, and as the temperature in my new shop does not go <10 °C, the dewpoint is never reached.
Heating the old workshop (a cowshed) had to be limited to the work area. I used a 3 KW heat fan. It wasn’t too bad, at least my feet were kept warm. Gluing could be problematic, so I used a “winter glue” during the cold season of the year. Cyano-acrylate glues were not impacted by winter, but became useless as they did not endure the heat under a tin roof during summers.
An idea I entertained for the cowshed was to build a proper insulated workshop inside it. Perhaps that is an alternative for you. As for temperature and humidity, it would at least be a less energy consuming alternative.
Sven-Olof Jansson
London, UK; Boston, MA
Sorry, missed on heat pump.
Our croft is kept warm by a ground heat pump. It has two counter pulsation exchange tubes going 260 m down into solid rock. When it was installed, it was calculated for a 160 sqm house, but despite the croft only being 56 sqm there are days when the temperature falls to 19.5 °C; consequence to that it’s a draughty log house, which is not protected from winds coming in from SSW. The outdoor sensor and those on the radiators all agree on that the temperature is the stipulated 21 °C, as they don’t react to draught.
Air-air heat pumps have exactly the same problem: they require good insulation, or heating can become costly. Assuming that your floor area is 170 sqm (ceiling height of around 3 m) and an effect need of 70W/m (older Finnish/Norwegian/Swedish house), there would be a need for a 12 – 12.5 KW heat pump. If your barn is not insulated a 20 KW pump might perhaps be required.
Sven-Olof Jansson
London, UK; Boston, MA
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