Mark's Museum & Buick Barn

[Mark Shaw]

Just over ten years ago, I hired a contractor to put up a pole building attached to my home.  It is two cars wide and two cars deep.  The photos show the basic construction and two circuit radiant heat system. There is a 1000# electric jib hoist mounted above the ladder on a 4X6 post that allows me to lift engines,store parts in the loft. etc. The left side has a 4 post lift that allows me to service & store up to five cars in this shop. (But when there are five cars in there, I don't have room to work on them.)  So, I store the finished cars under cover in my Buick Barn along with my little Shaw tractor & trailers.

 

 

 

 

 

[MrEarl]

So what are the dimensions of the "Buick Barn"?

Is the floor heat all you use to heat the first one. You don't see that much down south here.

Is the Buick Barn heated?

[JohnD1956]

I love your Buicks Mark!  The storage barn is great too!  But the Garage is sublime!  That's a perfect setup.

[Mark Shaw]

Lamar,

I converted an old oil burning house heater to burn used crankcase oil to heat the 40' X 60' Buick Barn.  It doesn't provide  enough heat to be comfortable during freezing weather, but it does take the chill off and keeps the cars from freezing. I am thinking of adding a blower to get more heat out of it, but it isn't a high priority for our moderate climate here in the Northwest. 

 

The Buick Barn also has an insulated 15' X 20' office in one corner that has a small electric heater with a thermostat & takes about an hour to get up to comfortable temperature. That's where my automobilia collection will eventually be displayed. I started on it, but I still have one more Buick to finish before I get to finishing that. The radiant heat in my home shop is regulated by the natural gas heater thermostat.  It takes a full day to make temperature changes because the floor slab is a big heat sink.  I keep it around 60 degrees for a comfortable working  temperature.  An added benefit from radiant heat is that it completely dries a wet car in about an hour.  That's important if you live in the Northwest.

[MrEarl]

Just curious, what are your sources for the used oil. I bet the warm floor is nice for crawling and rolling around under those Buicks too

[Mark Shaw]

Several of my car buddies have contributed used oil; one of them has airplanes too and brought over ten gallons.  The rest came from my own oil changes.

 

I will have to take some more photos to show the oil heater.

[Thriller]

Sweet! Somehow it all looks vaguely familiar too, like I've been there before or something

[Mark Shaw]

Lamar,

     This is the oil heater in the Buick Barn..

 

 

 

[MrEarl]

That looks a lot like one that was in a house I rented back in the early 70's that used No. 2 heating oil if I remember correctly. Pretty sure mine had a fan though. Fairly efficient if I recall. What did you have to do to "convert" it.

[Mark Shaw]

Lamar,

    The fan that just blows air around the burner is on the other side. I bypassed the original carb. and have a copper tube feeding directly into the burner. 

 

I use a spin on filter between a hand pump and a small elevated day tank with small ball valve between the day tank and the heater to control the flow. 

 

I may add a blower later with the tube inside the blower pipe to keep the copper tube cool & preventing burnt oil from clogging the tube.  

 

Adding more combustion air will also provide more heat if needed. 

Edited November 18, 2015 by Mark Shaw (see edit history)

[Buicknutty]

 Really nice looking set up, Mark. I love the radiant floor heating, that would be my goal to have in my next garage. A lift would be nice to. As I get older, the floor is nearer, but it seems to be bigger climb to get back up!

 Keith