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Adding gas heat to shop - $?

Posted By: topside

Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/12/22 10:48 PM

Anyone here done this recently ?
I'm looking at a couple places that have unheated shops.
Wondering what the approx cost is to trench and run say 100 ft of NG pipe from the home and into the shop.
I can price heaters, and should probably annoy a couple HVAC guys, but wondering what real-world costs are nowadays.
It's such a different world now than back in 2004 when I needed 50 feet and a 120K BTU heater for the current place.
Might be a lot cheaper to go propane, but access to the tank could be a problem, and I'd prefer natural gas.

Thanks in advance.
Posted By: bigdad

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/13/22 12:20 AM

Put central air / heat in my 38 x 32 , guess now it was 6 years ago, I keep it nice in there year round , last year propane was high so, that stunk ..

It was around $5000.00 for everything
Posted By: bigdad

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/13/22 12:20 AM

pic of it

Attached picture bigdadshopcarsoutside.jpg
Posted By: Stanton

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/13/22 12:34 PM

Did mine about 17 years ago and running 100' of line and furnace hookup was $1000 "cash". I rented a trencher and dug the trench. The install included about 10' of steel pipe along the side of the house, hook into the existing meter, the copper line to the shop and the line in the shop hooked up to the furnace. I installed the furnace and the chimney. Pricing heaters, in my opinion, is a waste of time. Find a reliable brand the size you need and just buy it. But check out installers first - many won't install lines to furnaces they don't sell or install. Also keep in mind you're going to need B-vent exhaust which isn't cheap and everything should be installed to code. Lastly, you will need a fresh air supply for combustion or your shop will fill up with exhaust. I would be surprised if "all in" you get it for less than $5k unless you do a lot yourself.
Posted By: Sniper

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/13/22 01:34 PM

Location will have a large effect on price.

Pretty sure the costs in a place like CA will far exceed what it would cost me in west Texas. Not that lack of heat is really a concern out here, we have the opposite problem. Fortunately for me swamp coolers are sufficient.
Posted By: 6PakBee

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/13/22 01:41 PM

Definitely go with natural gas versus propane. Propane pricing is all over the map and is always highest in the winter when you need it.
Posted By: topside

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/13/22 01:53 PM

Thanks, guys.
Agree on the regional price differences, though up here people are now charging Calif prices.
Used to be a lot less expensive, aside from the recent increases on everything.
IIRC I had abut the same thing done 15 years ago here for about $2000 including the heater.
But it's a different world now...
I usually use 1 guy for the whole job, for better communication & responsibility.
Posted By: bigdad

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/13/22 02:22 PM

My town does not have natural gas option, we all have tanks
Posted By: 6PakBee

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/13/22 08:00 PM

Originally Posted by bigdad
My town does not have natural gas option, we all have tanks


Neither does mine. (sigh) whiney
Posted By: bigdad

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/13/22 08:34 PM

Myself , i like it better this way .. my home and shop are both pretty efficient , normal year 2 , 500 gallon shots make it easy thru the winter .. My local co-op fills at moments notice
Posted By: poorboy

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/14/22 01:32 AM

When we lived in the "country" 20 years ago, we had propane for heat. We could fill the tank in early fall when the price was the cheapest, the we could contract a 2nd filling at the same cots, if paid for at the time. We saved up all summer so we could do that. When we needed the 2nd tank full, they showed up within a day and filled it up, we would have to pay the going rate for anything more then we contracted, but if we didn't use it through that winter, they would come by in about April and drop off whatever was left, or they would credit the account for what we didn't use. It worked out well as long as the 2 tanks made it through the winter, which was easy unless the winter was really bad cold.
Doubt that do that contract thing anymore.
Posted By: bigdad

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/14/22 01:50 AM

Sure , you can still contract .. propane has dropped a lot since last year ..I had never had a problem with pricing until last year , kinda got caught a little ( whoops)
Posted By: cudaman1969

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/14/22 03:38 AM

Pellet stove, cheapest by far, in your area I’d say two tons will do the winter. Nothing like a wood stove to sit by, just need 110 to run auger and fan. Power goes out a small generator will keep you going. A friend has his set on 4 and refilled every two days to heat his whole house (hooked into AC ducks)
Posted By: justinp61

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/14/22 02:00 PM

Not recently, but my shop has heat and air. The unit is not really big enough, but it keeps it more comfortable than it is outside. If I were doing only heat, I'd use radiant infrared tube heaters. Propane here too, no natural available.
Posted By: poorboy

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/15/22 01:51 AM

Originally Posted by justinp61
Not recently, but my shop has heat and air. The unit is not really big enough, but it keeps it more comfortable than it is outside. If I were doing only heat, I'd use radiant infrared tube heaters. Propane here too, no natural available.


Those radiant infrared heat tubes have to have a iminium height to be installed, they have to have 3' above the vehicle roof or they could damage the vehicle roof's paint. I looked into it before I bought my furnace for the garage and was told I needed at least an 11' floor to tube clearance.
I did work in a shop that had the radiant heat, as long as you didn't need to work directly under it, it was great heating. It gets really hot under the heating tubes.
Posted By: pittsburghracer

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/15/22 02:05 AM

I put a wall mount natural gas unvented radiant heater with a fan and 1-5 heat adjustments and love it. Radiant heat warms the bones so nicely on a Pa winter day.
Posted By: topside

Re: Adding gas heat to shop - $? - 07/15/22 12:42 PM

In my case I just want to keep the vehicles & shop contents at a reasonable temp during winter - I usually set my shop thermostats at 52.
I'm thinking it may be much easier to just have a propane tank set rather than the trenching & NG hookup expenses.
It'll depend on access and distance, of course.
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