what is a good brand radiant tube heater??

roaddog359 · Dec 11, 2009

I am looking at using radiant tube heaters for my morton 30x48x12 building that will have a 10x48x8' attic storage 3- 10' high by 9' wide r-19 insulated doors, 1 man door and 5- windows. the walls will be r-19 and ceiling is r-38. I am looking at re verber ray and superior so far. Are these good units or is there better out there? Spoke with re verber ray today and they recommended 2- 20' 50,000 units one mounted on each side wall at 45 deg. I am also looking at a two stage unit. Is his recommendation a good one and are those units sized right for my building. I want to get the temp. in the 70 or 80 range if I really wanted to but most times it would be around 50 -60.

krooser · Dec 12, 2009

I heat 1100 Sq. Ft. of my 30X50X10 with an 80K Superior... way too big... but it would be about right with it mounted in the center of my ceiling if I had a 12' ceiling.

Mine's mounted along the front wall hanging at a 45 degree angle... the front of the shop gets warmer, of course... the back has maybe a 5 degree F difference... but I have a wall across the shop, too.

It would help if we knew where you are located... Florida and Minnesota may require different heaters...

s_ontario · Dec 12, 2009

I have the Re Verber Ray HL-40 Natural gas 150 - 105 two-stage 40'
building is 48 x 40 x15 love it recovery after door has been open is fast since it will kick into two stage mode

roaddog359 · Dec 12, 2009

Sorry I thought my location was under my user name. I am in Northwest Indiana. The engineer that i spoke with at reverber ray told me that with my 12' ceiling ht. the heat footprint would be 15' wide and that is why he recommended 2 tubes on on each side wall at 45degrees to give even coverage. The building is 30'wide and 48'deep the heaters would be on the 48' walls. I did not want to mount one in the center since I am going to get a 4 post car lift to store some cars. The engineer stated that I would need a 5' down clearance from the heater. Are both of these brands quality or are there some better brands to look at? Remember I also want some of the heat to go into my 10'x48' attic storage space and I have 3 large overhead doors. What makes you think that yours is overkill? Does it get too hot to fast or what? Thanks for your input!

jptbay · Dec 12, 2009

I have an overhead radiant from http://www.combustionresearch.com/

My garage is 24x40x10. I use a single run down the 40' length, about 6 feet in from the wall, angled 45 degrees.

I could not be happier. Best heating system ever. Dealing with combustion reasearch was great. Top notch product and at the time I purchased 4 or 5 years ago, they had the best prices by far.

Hope that helps, John.

roaddog359 · Dec 12, 2009

Any of you guys got some pictures of your mounted radiant tube heaters. I have seen some on here but I am sure there are some more that can be posted. Interested in the mounting positions and distances. Any pics of them running? Do the tubes get red hot or what? I have no experience with this type of heat so all the knowledge you can share the better informed I can get thanks guys. :bowdown:

mustangcrazy77 · Dec 12, 2009

Here is a pic of mine. It's an old Gordon Ray out of a Ford dealership that I got for cheap. It wasn't originally designed to be mounted at a 45*, but I made it work. It's way over-sized at 100,000BTU's for my ~950sqft garage, but the recovery time is fantastic. They look the same running as they do non. These are low intensity heaters, so they won't change color but will radiant a good amount of heat.

oldtractors · Dec 12, 2009

I had a Superior radiant heater in my 30 x 32 x 12' shop. It was the residential 45k btu -10' long model. It worked great. Even the far corner of the shop was warm. It warms up the concrete and that is what evenly heats the shop. I am in the process of installing a Superior radiant 30' tube heater in my new 30 x 52 shop. Just hooked up the electrical tonight and the propane gets hooked up Monday.

Jim

Fueler · Dec 12, 2009

I have the reverberay HL series 2 stage in a Morton 40x40, 12 foot to the beams. I have a U shaped deal, about 25 down, 25 over and 25 back. Pretty much centered in the building.

In hindsight, despite the engineers confidence I think I would have been better off with 2 separate burners and tubes for efficiency sake. I may change it one of these days by purchasing another burner assembly and thermostat.

Better zoning in other words. Other than this minor detail it works great. Floor, benches, etc all at the same temp, give or take a nickel.

Keep an extra ignitor in stock. That's the thing that glows and fires the gas. Easy to change. They last quite a while but trust me they don't go bad in the summer but always on the coldest, windiest day. :headscrat

roaddog359 · Dec 12, 2009

Fueler said:
I have the reverberay HL series 2 stage in a Morton 40x40, 12 foot to the beams. I have a U shaped deal, about 25 down, 25 over and 25 back. Pretty much centered in the building.

In hindsight, despite the engineers confidence I think I would have been better off with 2 separate burners and tubes for efficiency sake. I may change it one of these days by purchasing another burner assembly and thermostat.

Better zoning in other words. Other than this minor detail it works great. Floor, benches, etc all at the same temp, give or take a nickel.

Keep an extra ignitor in stock. That's the thing that glows and fires the gas. Easy to change. They last quite a while but trust me they don't go bad in the summer but always on the coldest, windiest day.

Copy that on the ignitor!! That is why the engineer I spoke with recommended 2-20 footers as they are more efficient. and I can have two zones for better control and less chance of cold spots.

Are these electronic ignition or to they have a always on pilot light?

Fueler · Dec 12, 2009

BTW Attention Radiant tube owners
Sooner or later you will want to clean the reflector. This was the year for me.
After standing on a tall ladder for the first arm length section I decided that this was too much like work. hmmmmmm. Time for a little hot rodding 101.
After a break the solution occured to me.

Take one of those little hand pump weed sprayer bottles. Fill it with some purple cleaner or other of your choice. Adjust the nozzle to a pointed stream and Hose er down while standing on the floor. The nasty stuff just runs off.

Over bare floor you get the dual advantage of having the opportunity of moping the floor. Over important stuff that can't be moved use a tarp.

I did it in sections and then fired up the tube to dry up any lingering drips. Shut it down and moved to the next section.
Works real well and looks shiny new again.

Indiana: They are electronic.

mustangcrazy77 · Dec 12, 2009

All are an electric ignition, but not all use the same type. Mine for example uses a multi-spark ignition rather the the glow style ignitor.

roaddog359 · Dec 12, 2009

mustangcrazy77 said:
All are an electric ignition, but not all use the same type. Mine for example uses a multi-spark ignition rather the the glow style ignitor.

Is one type considered better or more reliable? Pro's or con's?

roaddog359 · Dec 12, 2009

What is hot surface ignition? I think that is what the re verber ray uses if I read it right on the website.

mustangcrazy77 · Dec 12, 2009

roaddog359 said:
Is one type considered better or more reliable? Pro's or con's?

The resistance style hot-surface seem to be considered more of a consumable than the multi-spark. You may have to replace the ignitor every 5-10 years with the hot-surface while the multi-spark will likely last 30 years or more. I just replaced the ignition in mine as it was a bit sporadic and inconsistent with ignitions. Considering it was made in the early 80's, I'd say it lasted long enough. The new version is much more sophisticated in comparison as it has 3 spark cycles followed by a lockout and re-attempts while the old one would just attempt the once. It also has a MUCH more intense spark than the old and has multi spark discharge while the old was much slower.

Anyways, they both have been proven...so I wouldn't give much thought on the subject.

krooser · Dec 13, 2009

here's my set-up... 40' Superior 80K... I shortened the tube two feet so it would fit...

I say my heater is too big simply because if I turn the T-stat up to 3 (out of 5) the heat will melt your face... it would be better if it was higher but my ceiling is 10'... I think a 45k would run more often but my shop has good insulation and would be fine with a smaller unit. The sales guys sell you heaters for the "worst case scenario"... they'd sooner have you too warm than freezing...

roaddog359 · Dec 13, 2009

mustangcrazy77 said:
Here is a pic of mine. It's an old Gordon Ray out of a Ford dealership that I got for cheap. It wasn't originally designed to be mounted at a 45*, but I made it work. It's way over-sized at 100,000BTU's for my ~950sqft garage, but the recovery time is fantastic. They look the same running as they do non. These are low intensity heaters, so they won't change color but will radiant a good amount of heat.

Mustangcrazy77, How high is your ceiling and what is the distance from the heater to the car? That is one of my concerns that you have to maintain a large distance of 5+ ft. How hot does the car, side wall, and ceiling get when it is running full speed? What type of clearance is needed for mounting? I am going to put a 4 post lift in mine and I want to make sure that the car on the lift will not get too close, but I do not know how close I can get stuff to it without it having a heat issue?

mustangcrazy77 · Dec 13, 2009

roaddog359 said:
Mustangcrazy77, How high is your ceiling and what is the distance from the heater to the car? That is one of my concerns that you have to maintain a large distance of 5+ ft. How hot does the car, side wall, and ceiling get when it is running full speed? What type of clearance is needed for mounting? I am going to put a 4 post lift in mine and I want to make sure that the car on the lift will not get too close, but I do not know how close I can get stuff to it without it having a heat issue?

My ceilings are a hair over 10ft and while the car gets warm (as it's supposed to), it certainly does not get hot. As for my clearances, I just followed the clearance to combustibles on the manufacturers website. I believe it was ~ 10-11" requirement from the top of the tube to the ceiling and slightly more to the wall (or vise versa). When I pull my f150 in, the nose of the truck bumps the foam you see behind the jack and again, it gets warm but not hot at ALL. Another thing to keep in mind is that the farther away from the burner you get, the closer combustibles can be to the burner as the heat gets less intense.

roaddog359 · Dec 16, 2009

Well I just got back from the Planning commission meeting so I can get 3 variances approved to build my building. All went well, no complainers and all 3 got approved. Now if my wife can get back to work in March from her lay off, I can start my build. :bounce:

SteveP · Dec 17, 2009

roaddog, did you make a decision on your heater yet? I have about the same building as yours, but mine is 14' high and only 2 overheads. I've called the three biggies and am kinda getting the run around. 90% of the places I called only sell to contractors. Where are you getting yours from? What was the price from Reverberray if I may ask? They were the nicest to deal with- recommended a single 40' 2 stage unit for app. 14-1500, but need to find a local contractor to go through. I'm not to far from you- west of Chi-town. Maybe we can get a package deal from somewhere...

s_ontario · Dec 17, 2009

I'll try to get some pics of my 105000-150000 two stage Re VerBer Ray 40' this weekend need batteries for the camera

it works really well just make sure they use at least 16" of flex pipe for the intake as it heats it grows about 2 1/2 inches

roaddog359 · Dec 17, 2009

SteveP said:
roaddog, did you make a decision on your heater yet? I have about the same building as yours, but mine is 14' high and only 2 overheads. I've called the three biggies and am kinda getting the run around. 90% of the places I called only sell to contractors. Where are you getting yours from? What was the price from Reverberray if I may ask? They were the nicest to deal with- recommended a single 40' 2 stage unit for app. 14-1500, but need to find a local contractor to go through. I'm not to far from you- west of Chi-town. Maybe we can get a package deal from somewhere...

I have not decided who to buy from yet but re verber ray is the brand Ilike best so far. They have a new 2 stage series 3 coming out in 2010 around spring that I am looking at. You have to by from one of there contractors and they will ship it to you. Re verber ray was only able to give me list prices which was around $1,000 to $1,100 for 20' 65,000 btu i think I did not write the exact pricing and sizes because iI am not getting it till 2010. Iam cool with a deal if we could find one. I am thinking of mounting in the wall corners so my lift will not put a car to close to the heat. They recommended to for even heat distribution. Remember you need to keep it away from your overhead doors as well. What city in Il.?

SteveP · Dec 17, 2009

roaddog359 said:
I have not decided who to buy from yet but re verber ray is the brand Ilike best so far. They have a new 2 stage series 3 coming out in 2010 around spring that I am looking at. You have to by from one of there contractors and they will ship it to you. Re verber ray was only able to give me list prices which was around $1,000 to $1,100 for 20' 65,000 btu i think I did not write the exact pricing and sizes because iI am not getting it till 2010. Iam cool with a deal if we could find one. I am thinking of mounting in the wall corners so my lift will not put a car to close to the heat. They recommended to for even heat distribution. Remember you need to keep it away from your overhead doors as well. What city in Il.?

Sounds like we are in the same boat. I am in the process of insulating and putting up walls and the ceiling- hoping to get the ceiling done over the new years weekend. Once that is in I will get the heater hung. Right now just looking at options but would like to have a decision made before then. I did find a place on the north side of Chicago, who deals with Reverberray willing to sell me one. Gentleman I talked to there was very helpful; a couple of others seemed like I was asking for a kidney or something.

I will need to talk to whomever to get the final mounting location- would like to mount on my far wall, away from the doors at a 45 degree angle, but would need to know if this will be the best. Like you, I will eventually put a lift in.

As far as where I live, I'm about 20 minutes southwest of Morris, which is west of the big city.

roaddog359 · Dec 17, 2009

I would think that if you only mount one in the back wall then there would be some cold spots up front, if your building is long. Also everything I have been told is you should mount where your building is the coldest like west side do to cold winds or over windows or overhead doors. Thats why I decided on 2 run down the length of the walls.

SteveP · Dec 17, 2009

That's why I'm debating on the two. The wall opposite the overheads is the west wall, but it think it would be more efficient to run two 20 footers the short way (my overheads are along the 48' side). Also it won't interfere with the lift as much once that goes in.

Also, just got a qoute from a local contractor for $3900 to install one 40' Enerco brand.

roaddog359 · Dec 17, 2009

I could be wrong but I think a 40' tube may not be as effective. as 2 20' tubes.

SteveP · Dec 17, 2009

roaddog359 said:
I could be wrong but I think a 40' tube may not be as effective. as 2 20' tubes.

That is what one of the crabs I talked to said.

Did you call Reverberray directly or did you talk to a wholesaler/contractor?

roaddog359 · Dec 17, 2009

SteveP said:
That is what one of the crabs I talked to said.

Did you call Reverberray directly or did you talk to a wholesaler/contractor?

I talked with one of the engineers at re verber ray directly. We spoke for over an hour he was very helpful and I even told him in was not buying until next year and he was still more then helpful. He explained everything to me and took all my measurements, doors, windows, temp i want to acheive ext. and made several calculations before recommending what he thinks I should get. I stressed that I want even heat without cold spots and that is why he said use 2 heaters to equal the heat out. Their new series 3 model looks nice if you can wait a couple months for its release. I am looking at the HL3 series model on their site. http://www.reverberray.com/products/hl3.html I really like the time he spent on the phone answering all my silly questions.

Fueler · Dec 17, 2009

roaddog359 said:
I could be wrong but I think a 40' tube may not be as effective. as 2 20' tubes.

I can confim that. Check my earlier post on the first page.

roaddog359 · Dec 17, 2009

Fueler said:
I can confim that. Check my earlier post on the first page.

Thanks Fueler, I forgot about reading your post. I guess the engineer is correct with the even heat distribution and not just trying to convince me to buy 2 heaters. What do you think about the quality of your heater? Do you have any pics of it? I think you would have been better off with 2 units in a building your size, but I guess you found out the hard way. I cant believe that stupid engineer told you 1 would heat that building evenly. Especially with 12' ceilings that would reduce the size of the heat footprint to the concrete.

Fueler · Dec 17, 2009

I don't blame it on the engineer. Wait ////it was actually one of their wholesalers. Anyway they gave me the info about how it's hottest toward the burner end and less the further you go. Probably even gave me a breakdown on it. It was my final choice and this was the longest they felt would be useful. Mine works fine. Walk around with a temp gauge and it's even all around.

What I meant about efficient is that I could have done better by going the 2 burner route. I would use less gas overall I believe with 2 burners. I was being too thrifty. As I said earlier other than that I love the radiant tube deal.
I would buy another reverb if the occasion ever arises......after seeing what the market offers at that time.

Tip 1: If you are half way handy and can read the instructions you can put these up yourself. My then 13 year old and I managed to get this big U shaped thing up with a combination of hotrodding 101 and Egyptian engineering.

Tip 2: Leave a long cord to the thermostat. Experiment with it's placement to get the room evened out versus run time. Case secenario: The further away from the hot end will make it run longer and make it boiling hot under the hot end....until it shuts off and everything settles down. That may be a good thing if the hot end is near a recently opened big door. I fooled with it for a few days off and on and found a happy spot. Anyway don't make it's placement final until you have it for a while. I finally shortened my wiring up 2 years later.

roaddog359 · Dec 17, 2009

Thanks for the advise on the wire length. I plan to put the burner ends by the 2 overhead doors. I am wondering if I should go with 20' tubes or 30' tubes the engineer says 20's would be fine. But I wondering about the back corners of the building and if the heat would radiate to them or if I would have cold corner spots?

Fueler · Dec 18, 2009

Unlike forced air these things don't really have cold spots. The only cold spot would be a draft. I can leave the door open to the bathroom and it arrives at the same temperature as the rest of the open building. Leave it closed and as it is against an outside wall it will be colder. The "radiant" part is the trick. It bounces from piece to piece as advertised. Floors, benches, tools,etc all at the same temp, give or take. I think the shop dog appreciates the floor.
Makes it nice in my case for accurate, repeatable machining measurements year round.

Had a BIG forced air hanging heater before this. It never shut off and it never got the place anywhere as comfortable as radiant and used a heck of a lot more fuel. Definitely had cold spots with it. Heck, the only place comfortable was right in front of it in the air stream.

The better the insulation and sealing the more efficient this or any heat system for that matter will work.
Mine is a pole barn and I can attest that these things are far from leak free. As time goes on I discover and fix leaks. The bottom outside edge of the sheeting seems to be a big source even though it has the original insulation there. Some spray foam and caulk fixed that.

For what its worth, my previous shop was steel framed and it was just as bad if not worse about the leaks but fuel was dirt cheap back then so I never got as serious about all this stuff as I am now.

Length: I come up about 8 feet short of the walls from each end. Side to side I eyeball it at about 11 ft to the edges of the U shaped tube system. I don't feel I need to be any closer in my case. That part worked out fine in my opinion.

With 2 units you will have 2 thermostats which I think will be the real advantage.

IF I ever do another shop build it will have serious under floor insulation. I don't think this one has any (didn't build it). It will have the hot water tubing deal in the floor and a radiant tube up high as a backup/supplement.

FWIW I originally made my decision based on 3 or 4 auto and ag shops in the area. I hung around in each for a couple of hours in a bad, windy winter. They definitely had big doors opening and closing and the recovery time and comfort level in the ones with tube heat was impressive. Their shops were much bigger and taller than mine also. I have since noticed that virtually every body shop in the area is tube heated (for safety reasons first).

I have a big door but my work dictates that I may only have to open it once a week...grudgingly. Sometimes, if I am quick about it, the heater never has to kick on as the heat is held in the objects, not the air. For car shop guys I recommend a door opener with a remote. Get in and out quick.

Anyway, you will be happy with whatever radiant you wind up with. It's the perfect solution for big spaces (or small), especially with opening doors off and on all day.

Fueler · Dec 18, 2009

Here is some little things.
I have Metal Halide lights supplemented by fluorescents around the perimeter and strategic spots. The Metal Halides put out some heat in addition to great light.
If it's above 35 degrees outside, doors never opened and no wind the radiant may only kick on twice a day due to the excess heat generated by the lights.
The halides had the option of a little fan to blow the heat down. I sometimes think I should have gone for and tried the fan option.

It's always a good news/bad news tradeoff. The halides make my air conditioning work harder in the summer. I am considering mounting some more fluorescents for summertime and leave the Halides off.
Have to figure out if I can actually save anything powerwise.
The air conditioning adds about a 100 bucks a month to the bill at the moment. Worth every penny but I would prefer fewer pennies going out.

Fans: I have those big fans in the ceiling. Great for helping spread the cooling around in the summer but so far I can't find that they do any good with radiant in the winter. The temp above the rafters isn't enough higher than below the heaters to make a difference and the blowing air seems to cool things off. Built in draft I suspect.

roaddog359 · Dec 18, 2009

Fueler, Thanks for the details, that was very helpful.

SteveP · Dec 18, 2009

Thank you Roaddog and Fueler- lots of very useful information!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

s_ontario · Dec 18, 2009

Pictures
burner

exhaust end

door opener protection

keeps my shop 40 x 48 x 15 at 55 and it didn't even start up today
but i have 9" thick concrete floor

one man door
one 20 x 12 exterior insulated over head door
one 24 x 14 sliding door with man door that goes to cold side of shop building is 48 x 120 overall
3 windows

krooser · Dec 19, 2009

The one end gets hotter than the other is really a non-issue for me. Yeah it's maybe 5 degrees cooler at the far end of my shop at the end of the wall but who spends their time in the corner?

My burner is above my service door... 10' over is my welding table and my heater will melt your face if you crank it up... but I'm only 4' or so from the tube. The back wall of my 30X50 is maybe 5 to 8 degrees cooler.... my heater is on my front wall hanging at a 45.

Fueler · Dec 19, 2009

I should add something about the hot/less hot end deal. I may have made it sound like an huge issue but it's not.
Mine is a dual stage.
It's utilizes the low stage 100% of the time if the doors haven't been opened for too long. The difference end to end is not all that bad. It's obvious but not killer or intolerable under the hot end if you have a work station under there.

There is a definite difference when the high stage kicks in like if the door has been open too long or you just kicked it up several degrees. Then you usually run and stand under the hot end for a couple of minutes anyway.

Once it reaches a certain point it knocks back down to the first stage.

roaddog359 · Dec 19, 2009

Do the tubes need to be vented for intake of fresh air also or do you just have to worry about venting the exhaust?

what is a good brand radiant tube heater??

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