one monkey typing

I've been working for a couple of weeks at modifying the garage to make one bay into a shop. So far the wall between the bays is up, insulation is up in the ceiling, most of the ceiling is covered, and the wiring is done.

I was planning on using natural gas heating but I was somewhat daunted by doing the install, and also I can't find anything in the small (tiny) range I need (3000 to 5000 BTU) that isn't a little vent-free non controlled piece of junk.

So this morning I ran some numbers, determined that as best I can tell, even heating to living temperatures an electric heater will cost about $40/month for the winter months, probably less than half that since I only need to keep the temp up a bit above freezing most of the time.

So I'm going to get an electric heater. They're cheap enough that if after the first year I decide that it's too expensive I can switch and not be out much.

I want to build my own thermostat system that will measure how long the heater is on so I can track energy use. It would be really cool to have it actually calculate dew point and such because the real reason for the heat is to keep moisture from condensing on the machine tools. There must be an algorithm for that.