UPDATE: see post # 27 How long will heated tack room stay warm after heat is turned off?

[danacat]

I just remodeled my previously unheated tack room from the ground up. Now has 2 new insulated windows and door + very well insulated walls/ceiling + new wiring. Room is 12x15, 8 ft ceiling – is in the middle of center aisle barn on east wall.

I plan to keep it heated with one of those oil filled space heaters. What to do overnight?

Ideal situation would be to leave heater plugged in overnight on low setting regulated by thermostat. Or leave plugged in and set the timer = off late at night; on early in the morning.

​​​​​​But for complete safety it makes sense to unplug heater at night = off for 12 hours approx. In anyone’s experience will room be ice cold in the morning when outside temperature is below freezing – or will room retain some heat?

This is my first heated tack room so I don’t know what to expect.

I have an oil filled heater that I leave plugged in 24/7 in my garage – on thermostat/timer – and it has never failed or caught fire, but barn is a different story. Can’t get my head around leaving anything plugged in.

[FitToBeTied]

We have an oil filled baseboard heater and it is left on all the time. Our water lines come up in the tack room. I wouldn’t want them to freeze in the winter. That is much more efficient than turning it on and off. The room will retain heat but that also has a lot of factors. Our tack room is on the northwest corner of the barn. So when the winter wind blows, it is hitting the tack room. On cold nights it would get cold easy.

[Obsidian_Fire]

The one in our tack room is a space-type heater installed into the wall but the electrical goes thru metal conduit over to the outlet. It is set on low and comes on and off. knock on wood never been a problem.

[WhiteOakFarm]

Get a thermostat that you can plug the heater into to come on at a set temp. It will then cycle on and off to keep it the right temp. I use one of these:

https://www.grainger.com/category/line-voltage-thermostats/hvac-controls-and-thermostats/hvac-and-refrigeration/ecatalog/N-yweZ1z0r596

[Guilherme]

How long after you shut off the heater the room will remain at a serviceable temperature (above freezing, I presume) will depend on my factors (construction type, insulation, air movement, etc.). You seem to have pretty well built structure. That will help a lot.

On really cold days in our almost 100 year old farm house I use a couple of oil-filled electric heaters in “strategic” locations and they do a good job. IMO they are about as “safe” a space heater as you can get. You don’t need to unplug them at night. They still have to be treated with respect, however!!!

The heaters I have would not work on an external timer as you have to push an on/off switch to start them once they turn off. One has a built-in timer but I don’t use it. If it were in a remote location like a tack room I might. One thing you can do is set the temp controller on the heater for a low temp that will keep the room serviceable. That will save on electricity but do the job. When you’re active during the day you can turn up the controller to more comfortable level.

Sounds like you have a good setup!!!

G.

[js]

I plug mine in at night and unplug in the morning. As well insulated as your tack room sounds it should stay comfortable for at least a few hours.

[mellsmom]

I have a small electric heater that is thermostatically controlled and set at 40. My tack room is small and seems to be somewhat insulated. It hardly ever comes on when I am in there unlessit’s really cold and I leave the door open. We are just about to hit a cold snap so we will see. I added it to keep my security camera DVR from getting too cold to work.

[RAyers]

Well, let’s see:

The volume of the space is 1,440 cu. ft. Now, the heat capacity of air is C[SUB]p[/SUB] = 1.006 kJ/kg K (equal to kJ/kg [SUP]o[/SUP]C) at a constant pressure. Of course, the heat capacity changes based on the actual temperature. So we need to know the temperature extremes such that we can establish the boundary conditions for the system.

We need to assume that the room is imperfectly sealed so the system is not closed, mass and heat are exchanged with the outside world.

What are the materials surrounding the room? What type of insulation and construction materials are used? Is the surrounding environment also in constant flux or can we assume the barn volume is sufficiently large that it is a constant heat sink? It the room exposed to the outside?

If you want an accurate answer you will need to provide much more detail in order to develop the heat transfer equations that will give the time loss of heat from the room to the surroundings.

Otherwise, you can do a rough guesstimate using Fick’s second law, assuming that the heat flow is constant.

dU=−nh[(1/V(delv/delT)P,n −1/H(delH/delT)P,n] dT

[FitToBeTied]

The other thing to consider are medications that may be in the tack room. Some medications don’t tolerate cold. I think the ones in my tack room say to story above 50 degrees. So my thermostat is set to keep the tack room at the minimum for the medications.

[Janet]

@RAyers

dU=−nh[(1/V(delv/delT)P,n −1/H(delH/delT)P,n] dT

Show off!

[RAyers]

@Janet

Show off!

Hey! They asked the question and I am giving them the actual answer.

[2DogsFarm]

The oil-filled heaters are about as safe as they come.
I would not worry about leaving one on 24/7, just dial temp down at night (why waste heat?)
Just wipe the dust off regularly, barns accumulate dust like nobody’s business!

I used a single oil-filled to heat a 12X16 tiled bathroom that was below grade, so below the frostline too.
Not only did it keep the room toasty, but doubled as a towel-warmer.

[PeteyPie]

@RAyers has the correct idea, but since some of the data are missing, such as the R-factor and the temperature, you can do the simple thing: turn off the heater and check it early in the morning. Make note of the outside low temperature on the day you monitor it. If the tack room is super cold the first time you do this test, check it two or three hours earlier the next night. Or turn off the heater in the early evening and check it at midnight.

Other than simply using the heater to keep the room warm, you could use a thermal mass to preserve heat. Or get creative and use bunnies. I read an article about a guy who had cages of bunnies in a room next to his living room and their body heat kept the house warm.

Personally, I would use the heater.

[candyappy]

I would not use a plug in heater at all . Too many fires happen with small space type heaters . Can you not have a gas line run and put in a small wall heater?

Or have electric installed and put in a baseboard heater or wall heater like those used in homes? Both are safe in houses and have thermostats.

[PeteyPie]

Okay, danacat, I know you are not looking for ridiculous solutions to your problem, but I cannot help myself:
Christmas lights.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2497814/Meet-man-heats-home-thousands-FAIRY-LIGHTS-Twelfth-Night.html

[danacat]

Thanks everyone for all the great answers! – the funny (a billion xmas lights and bunnies) as well as the rocket science serious.

@candyappy: Unfortunately I can’t do a gas line/tank because I have an indoor jogging track around the barn + other issues that make an outside propane tank etc. impossible.

I think I’m going to give the oil heater a go – 24/7 – low setting at night. Will unplug whenever my horses spend the night in the barn which is rare.

[2DogsFarm]

Turning off the heater is not going to keep pipes from freezing.
Horses’ body heat in a closed barn isn’t sufficient either.

IIWM, I’d rather trust the oil-filled heater than deal with burst pipes.
If no water lines in your tackroom, nevermind

[HungarianHippo]

@RAyers

Well, let’s see:

The volume of the space is 1,440 cu. ft. Now, the heat capacity of air is C[SUB]p[/SUB] = 1.006 kJ/kg K (equal to kJ/kg [SUP]o[/SUP]C) at a constant pressure. Of course, the heat capacity changes based on the actual temperature. So we need to know the temperature extremes such that we can establish the boundary conditions for the system.

We need to assume that the room is imperfectly sealed so the system is not closed, mass and heat are exchanged with the outside world.

What are the materials surrounding the room? What type of insulation and construction materials are used? Is the surrounding environment also in constant flux or can we assume the barn volume is sufficiently large that it is a constant heat sink? It the room exposed to the outside?

If you want an accurate answer you will need to provide much more detail in order to develop the heat transfer equations that will give the time loss of heat from the room to the surroundings.

Otherwise, you can do a rough guesstimate using Fick’s second law, assuming that the heat flow is constant.

dU=−nh[(1/V(delv/delT)P,n −1/H(delH/delT)P,n] dT

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[HungarianHippo]

@danacat look hard into QMark’s cove IR heater. It will directly warm the objects/people in the room (rather than warming the air–and by extention the objects/people feel warmer). In a drafty space (let’s face it, a tackroom is not airtight, heating the air is a fool’s errand. It’s just going to escape to the un-conditioned air outside the tackroom. An IR heater offers much lower operating cost and no risk of overheating any materials that might cause a fire. We have the QMarks in some smaller spaces like our mudroom and bathroom, and it’s such a wonderful warmth. Very efficient and inexpensive over the long term.

[YankeeLawyer]

What about a ductless mini split heat pump?