Safety setting up a reloading room

I will be getting a building dedicated to all of my reloading, swaging and my lathe. I will be moving everything out of my basement. Being that winter is around the corner, and fall is already here, the nights are much cooler. The wife and I was looking at some propane monitors and thinking of getting a 100 gallon propane tank to heat my building while I am in there working. Now, I know that powder is safer than gasoline and everything else. I do plan on having the monitor closer to the front of the building while all my reloading powder and primers are to the rear of the building.

Does anyone here think that this may cause a problem? From all the propane monitors I have seen, the flames are not very big at all nor do they come outwards. I don't think there is much concern here, just looking for re-enforcement.

Thanks guys oh and gals

I just use a radiant heat dish in my reloading room (10'x16'x14'). i go down and turn it on about 10-15 minutes before I plan to reload. i don't know how big your shed is going to be, but that works perfect for me.

right now I am in the works on trying to pipe my reloading room into my homes vent system so I can have heat and AC.

The shed is going to be a 10'x16' if I do not decided to have them go ahead and make it 10'x20. The reason I want to go with the propane monitor system, I believe it will be cheaper than adding an electric heat to my already what seems to be high electricity bill. I have been reading and they say some that runs off a 20 lb tank, depending on the settings you use, will run for about 30 hours some a little more. I tihnk one I seen said 96 hours? My thinking is, a 100lb tank should last me for a bit. I don't plan on spending long long hours down in the building. The longest times will be spent doing lathe work. The other times will be like 4 or 5 hours depending on what I am reloading or maybe even swaging. I will have electric hook up in the building once I run my wiring and such.

I know that the biggest worry is open flame, and that is if the powder comes in contact with it. For the heat to ignite the powder, I do not think I would be able to stand that much heat to worry about that...

Am I wrong in my thinking? Should I be looking at it from a different angle?

The heater will not be running 24/7. More than likely, I will go to the building, turn the heat on, come back into the house for a bit to do some stuff till it warms up. Then when I am done for the day. Turn the heater off and come on inside.

If there is no heat in the building, is there something I should worry about with concern of my equipment being left out there for when temps gets low low at nights. Should I plan to have a dehumidifier to wisk the moisture away in the winter to prevent rusting or is that something that should be left to worry about in the summmer?

Thanks again

i HATE propane and nat gas. I'm a wood stove guy if i have a choice most wood stoves are in the corners of the shed and you generally work on the COMPLETE opposite corner cause they work too well for most sheds i start a fire, wander away and do some chores, come back when it's toasty and cut off the air to seal it in. work till its cold again hours later and i'm usually done before it's cold.

wood stoves cost money though. the only down side so far that i can see is the initial cost. they look cool too.

just my $.02

i think it's the idea of an invisible explosive gas that scares me to hell an back

tommy, danziger has a shed about that same size.. he uses a mini propane heater, which normally runs off of the 1 gal tanks you buy at walmart.. he used a small adaptor to plug it directly into a 10 gallon tank, which lasts for what seams like forever.

his shead was framed, so he was able to put insulation into the walls between the studs.. the lid is not insulated.. just running the little heater for 10 min, that shed gets good and hot and stays 80+ degress's for a long time after the heater was turned off..

when running propane indoors, like in a shed, it is EXTREEMLY important to get a heater that will burn the propane at a rate that will not cause a huge CO2 spike in the room.. whenever you burn propane, it causes CO2 exhast. so be very aware of that..

CO2 poisoning, look up the symtoms so you reconize them.. at slight elivated levels, it can cause nasia, and dizzyness, but at "just a little higher than low levels" it can cause you to pass right out.. and if you dont get fresh air soon, you'll die.

CO2 is heavier than air.. meaning it will settle at the bottom of the room where you are.. the heat will cause it to rise but it will drop right back to the floor after the heat disapates and moves around in the room.. so ventalation at the top of the shed may not be good enough.. have lower ground level fan ventilation if you can.. doesn't have to be big, but a small 8 incher with a fan will do wonders..

as far as open flames in the same room with reloading powders.. i wouldn't worry to much as long as you keep the powder away from the flames.. and make it impossible for anything to spill on the flame or fall on it.. you'll be ok..

i love the wood stove idea, but you may have to get permits for when you have it installed or when you install it.. you could face stiff penalties if you dont get proper permits. but in any case, the wood stove can act as a smelter when you need it. and it can even be a half assed kelm.


Dan

I love the woodstove idea and have an extra woodstove and was going to go that route. My problem with the woodstove route, it is already going to cost me almost 600 bucks for a chord of wood to start the season to heat the house. I was getting my wood for free, however, all the wood I had cut, I lost when I lost my job as my idiot brother will not allow me back on the property to gather all the wood I had cut. Long story....

So the idea behind this propane monitor system was so that I would not touch the wood that I would have to use for the house. Can't really afford to pay that much and then have to share between the 2. A chord might get me through half the winter before I will have to get another. I will get more wood again as I keep looking in the trading post for people who has downed trees they won't to get rid of..

As far as the propane heater, the one I am looking at for 130.00, it is a cabinet type, holds a 20 lb tank inside it's own cabinet on wheels so that I can roll it around. Was thinking of 100lb tank which I might do later. It is the vent free design so that you will not have to vent it. I already have a couple good co2 detectors that are in an unopen box as I was going to mount those in the shed in different locations. The shed does come equipt with 3 windows, a house door with a slide window in it as well. So at any time I can roll it under a window and crack the window open a little bit if need be. I guess I could have mentioned all of this before hand. Everytime I read the responses, I come up with more ideas and more safety ideas as well. Thanks for the responses and if there is anymore, please let me read them if missing anything else.

vent free type is good. co2 detectors good.. you'll need at least 2 of them.. one at the roof and one at the floor level. windows are great as well..

i wouldn't worry about the flames, as long as you dont heat up the powder at all.


dan

keep everything lubed up good tommy.... i had a open flame heater in my shed b4 and moisture was a problem... just my 2 cents...bill

I know your dilemma DW, I have a small building out back, it is insulated with electric that would be perfect for my reloading area and such. What is keeping me from moving up from the basement to out there is the heating issues in the winter and the cooling issues during the hot humid summer.

If you come up with a cure that works...let me know .

billarrington wrote:keep everything lubed up good tommy.... i had a open flame heater in my shed b4 and moisture was a problem... just my 2 cents...bill

yea, moisture is a big problem at my place as well.. i use bearing grease on everything to prevent rust.

Thanks guys will defintaly keep the moisture and stuff in mind. I have a problem in my basement with things rusting as well and need to keep them oild and lubed up. I have been so busy tho, I have not even been in my reloading room and a while. I am sure it is missing me tho....

I have a 12'x16' building for my loading and gunsmithing.....

now I insulated the heck out of it when I closed the walls and ran the electrical wiring, and plumbed the air lines etc.....

I used 1" Styrofoam with the foil side facing in, then went with r-30 pink stuff....

I do not know about where you are but here in Oklahoma we get ice cold wind everyday of winter, and if you have a draft it will find it....

I use a 7-fin sealed electric radiator heater from harbor freight.... It has high, med, low..... I turn it on low and the shop heats up overnight..... and stays a balmy 72 degrees all winter.... It cost me about $2.00 a month to run the electric heater 24/7 on low and it has a thermostat.... I just plug it in.... and move it to the center of the shop.... I also dedicated a plug for it on the floor when I was building the shop.... and it shares a breaker with my A/C unit..... of course I do not run them both at the same time so there is never an overload issue.....

I have never had any of the moisture issues and keep all of my loaders and dies and everything else grease free and never have any rust issues.... I did install a vent with a blower motor that I can circulate the air in about 10 minutes..... I did insulate the ceiling just like the walls.....

I built a painting (duracoat) and smelting area so I can smelt and cast lead all year around indoors.... removes all the fumes and no worries about dangerous fumes.... did not cost me much to build either....

Insulation is the key.... spend a little more when you close your shop up and it will pay you back for years.... not to mention I got tax write offs for the insulation as home improvements.... we were adding insulation to our attic as well....

As for my dads big loading shop he uses natural gas heaters.... huge ones that I do not like, the moist heat, condensation, etc..... but he built the shop in the 1950's and his natural gas is free, (comes off the gas well on our property) So if I got free natural gas that is what I would use as well....

hope this helps you out.... and get the bigger shop as they seem to shrink really quick.... hehehe

Thanks for the tip. Insulating is defintaly high on the list. I have a nice military army cot that I had picked up. If ever a night I am working out there and it is pretty late, I want to be able to open the cot and lay down and go to sleep without coming into the house and waking the wife or kids up.

I will keep these things in mind. I have also been drawing diagrams trying to come up with a way using a range hood filter system to place over my casting pot to draw out the fumes. Thought about building a box that attaches to one of the windows. Mount the Range Hood Filter jobby the end of the box just over the casting pot. Then reach up and turn the range hood on hi when I start the pot up. Also, get the one that has the lights on both ends to add a bit of an extra light..

that is exactly how I built my fume hood was with an old range hood I got from craigslist.... I got the idea from instructables web site..... they have a build using one of these to make a lab hood....

but basically it is an old range hood from craigslist.... $15.00
plywood back and sides..... 4x8 sheet
high heat caulk down the seams....
and a piece of plexiglass across the front leaving about 10 to 12 inches in the bottom for me to work inside the vented area .....
the fan in the hood draws all the fumes up and out of my shop through a small range hood vent I bought like the ones that go on mobile homes....
I have a micron filter I cut to fit and change them when they get dirty so I do not spray duracoat all over the outside of my shop....
and has a super bright light to boot.....
radius the open edges so air flows unimpeded and you have a fume less vent for casting painting etc....

I had a futon in my shop for about three days till I needed the room for other items..... like the hood vent...hehehe

Sweet thanks again... At least I know I am on the right track now lol...

yeah best part is you can cast paint or work with any stinky, smelly projects and the vent works like a champ....

I will pm you the link for the instructable I used.... I do not know about posting links to other websites in the forum.....

I wish I could take the credit for this but I was trying to figure out how to do this when I stumbled across these plans.....

kev

that range hood idea sounds great. My reloading area is in my farm house basement so i need to get something. guess i could go out to the barn but really dont want to. Do you all think that i could rig the vent exhaust into my wood stove exhaust so it goes up the chimney? I have other options but that sounds the easiest

Reload3006 wrote:that range hood idea sounds great. My reloading area is in my farm house basement so i need to get something. guess i could go out to the barn but really dont want to. Do you all think that i could rig the vent exhaust into my wood stove exhaust so it goes up the chimney? I have other options but that sounds the easiest

YES..... in the instructable the people that came up with the idea actually put this in their basement and fabed a hose to their stove so it got sucked up the chimmney.... I think they ran it to their ash door cleanout or something.....

If no one would get mad I will post the link??? If that allowed???

If it is not allowed let me know and I will take it down...

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-small-fume-hood-for-stinky-projects/

This works well for my needs.....
keven

Links are fine as long as they are helpful

ok good I like this forum seems like a bunch of good eggs and I do not want to be the first rotten one.....hehehe

Thanks, I am glad people are liking the forum and enjoying themselves. Means everything is going the way it should...