re: heating uninsulated space in winter.
Don't do it. I tried such a thing with a detached 2-car garage while living
in Schenectady, NY in the 80's. I had a 100,000 BTU kerosene "bullet"
heater (one of those things that looks and sounds like a rocket on wheels).
I could get my garage (eventually) up to around the 50's with the outside
temp well below freezing. It takes quite a while. Plus, if you are using a
combustion heater, you must leave an opening so you get fresh air,
otherwise you risk dying from carbon monoxide poisoning (a combustion
product).
Aside from this health hazard, the main thing I learned is that another
byproduct of combustion is water. As long as the air is relatively warm,
the relative humidity is low enough (because you have heated the very dry
cold air) to hold the combustion byproduct water vapor in the "warmed air".
BUT, as soon as you turn off the heater and the air begins to cool, the
relative humidity increases (cold air cannot hold as much water vapor as
warm air) and when the temperature drops below the dew point.....guess
what?
You get condensation on everything that did not get heated up above the dew
point (which will be just about everything in your space, unless you had
the temperature up for a very long ---like many hours --- time, long enough
for everything to have warmed up in spite of its thermal mass.
So, very soon after, all metal objects very quickly developed RUST.
Including the vehicle. And since the combustion products are acidic, the
moisture is VERY AGGRESSIVE and will rust just about everythng in site.
Roy
techman@metrolink.net
'60 TR3 TS63103LO
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