How do you store your tracksaw between cuts?

[Michael Kellough]

I saw some diesel heaters at a farm show in York, PA last month - they were massive. I noticed these are smaller and can fit inside a car? What about the emissions like carbon monoxide?

These were developed in Germany nearly a century ago to heat truck cabs when the engine was off (called parking heaters). They’re usually mounted behind the cab and the heated air hose is routed into the cab.

They’ve become very popular here (since inexpensive Chinese knockoffs are available) with the winter camping and RV folks because the heat produced is dry rather than loaded with moisture like the result of air heated with propane. In these diesel heaters air is blown across a sealed combustion chamber so there is no exhaust included. There is a separate exhaust hose which is routed outside the space you want to heat, as is the separate air intake hose.

The units I have are “all-in-one” in that the fuel tank is inside the enclosure making it totally portable, about the size of a typical tool box. The design is a little lacking in that the exhaust and intake hose exit the bottom so you have to be careful what you set it on because of the exhaust heat, or you can add some risers to the legs. There are more compact versions where the fuel tank is separate and both can be mounted on a wall projecting only five inches or so into the space. The exhaust tube can be routed through the wall via a marine port that shields the wall from excessive heat.

Lots of info and use cases on YouTube. Based on what I learned about these things I bought the 5 kW version rather then the 8 kW units because the consensus is that all of them have the same size combustion chamber and the 8 kW version just has a slightly faster fan resulting in a more realistic rating of only about 6 kW.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

My biggest concern is fire. My shop is 100% wood, much of it nearly 100 years old.
I still have the electric resistance heater that used to be in there, but it is horribly inefficient. It won't hurt me to take some time off. Once it gets back into the 30s, everything is fine. It has already made it there, so as long as it holds...

 

[Michael Kellough]

My biggest concern is fire. My shop is 100% wood, much of it nearly 100 years old.
I still have the electric resistance heater that used to be in there, but it is horribly inefficient. It won't hurt me to take some time off. Once it gets back into the 30s, everything is fine. It has already made it there, so as long as it holds...

I bought the heaters for a shed in a back corner of the yard. No risk to the house but my wife just won’t tolerate the idea of “burning fuel”.
We had a fire in the house about 40 years ago but it was from an electric lamp.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I bought the heaters for a shed in a back corner of the yard. No risk to the house but my wife just won’t tolerate the idea of “burning fuel”.
We had a fire in the house about 40 years ago but it was from an electric lamp.

I get it, but I have been through 2 very serious fires. It is devastating, taking years to recover.