Heat Pumps and Electric Heating - Heating outdoor "watershed"
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Divekennene
11-13-08, 06:50 AM
Hello All,
I have a "watershed" of sorts that I need to heat. Basically I have a small "shed" that is attached to the exterior of my house. It contains our water softener, 25 gallon pressurized water tank and whole house filter unit. This little "shed" is insulated, however, because it was an add on and is attached to the outside of the house, it does not have any heat source from the inside of the house. Right now I am heating it with 2 60 watt light incandescent light bulbs, which work OK but occasionally they burn out, sometimes in the middle of the night when the temp outside drops below freezing which has caused my waterline in the "shed" (which is where the main waterline comes into the house) to freeze. I would like to put a small ceramic heater out there instead, as I think it would be a more reliable source of heat. My biggest concern with this is the safety of it. I don't want to burn my house down trying to keep that "shed" warm. The "shed" is about 4 feet wide by 6 feet deep and the ceiling in there is about 6 feet high. Would it be safe to put a ceramic heater out there?
I have a "watershed" of sorts that I need to heat. Basically I have a small "shed" that is attached to the exterior of my house. It contains our water softener, 25 gallon pressurized water tank and whole house filter unit. This little "shed" is insulated, however, because it was an add on and is attached to the outside of the house, it does not have any heat source from the inside of the house. Right now I am heating it with 2 60 watt light incandescent light bulbs, which work OK but occasionally they burn out, sometimes in the middle of the night when the temp outside drops below freezing which has caused my waterline in the "shed" (which is where the main waterline comes into the house) to freeze. I would like to put a small ceramic heater out there instead, as I think it would be a more reliable source of heat. My biggest concern with this is the safety of it. I don't want to burn my house down trying to keep that "shed" warm. The "shed" is about 4 feet wide by 6 feet deep and the ceiling in there is about 6 feet high. Would it be safe to put a ceramic heater out there?
dac122
11-13-08, 11:05 AM
What about doing what you are doing plus wrap all the water lines with heat tape.
Divekennene
11-13-08, 11:44 AM
That is an option I have thought about. My only concern with that is I have my water softener in the shed as well, and it will be a little difficult to adequately wrap the parts that need to be. My whole house filter is another item that would be a bit of challenge to wrap, mainly because I change the filter about every 2 weeks which requires me to take off the housing, which would also need to be freeze protected. I just figured a ceramic heater, if it is safe, would be an ideal solution.
Dooze1402
11-13-08, 01:33 PM
I'd go with a Delonghi style heater. They run on a 120v circuit, they have a t-stat you can adjust and med.& max switches. They're also a sealed unit which makes them very safe to use.
doug321
11-14-08, 08:52 PM
The small ceramic heaters are cheap, and I have used them in the past as a temporary heat source with no problems, but I think you should go with something that will deliver over the long haul without having to worry about it. Buy the smallest piece of 120 volt electric baseboard you can find. Wire it up with a mechanical t-stat that will allow you to set it at 40F or so. You should be good for a long time.
-Doug
-Doug