The Truth about Radiant Tube Heaters

Hello, folks:

I’m just doing a bit of research here and hope some of you can help me out.

I was recently speaking with a gentleman about a radiant tube heater system, powered by propane. He is considering it for his two-car garage workshop. We talked about some of the pros and cons, etc. But one of the most difficult questions to answer is how efficient it is and what the actual cost of running it will be. Speaking to the people who sell the units isn’t exactly unbiased and you usually get answers like “it depends on how much you use it”. Very true, but I would like to get some concrete stats on this from real users, not from the manufacturers.

I would love to hear from people who actually own these systems. If you could answer the following questions, it would be very helpful to me.

1) What is your shop size, including ceiling height?
2) What is the insulation situation in your shop (e.g. concrete slab on grade, 2 large windows, 2 garage doors with R10 insulation, R40 in the ceiling, R13 in the walls, etc.?
3) How many BTUs is your radiant tube heater?
4) What did it cost you for the heater, including installation?
5) How many hours do you tend to work in your workshop on average (per week, per month, etc.)?
6) How many heating months do you have where you live (average temperatures in the colder months, etc.?)
7) How large is your propane tank?
8) How many litres of propane do you typically go through in a heating season?
9) What seems to be the average price of propane in your area these days?
10) What would be your estimated annual cost to run your radiant tube heater?
11) How does the unit heat your shop compared to other systems you’ve tried (i.e. does it only heat certain areas and leave many cold spots in others?)?
12) Would you buy it again and why or why not?

People can email me at [email protected] if you prefer. Or you could post the results on the forum if you think others might benefit from it.

I should mention that I don’t own one of these systems myself and I’m not planning on it anytime in the near future. But I would like to collect more information that I can pass on to my students or during any seminars that I do.

Thanks a million.

Hendrik