Heating a barn in winter is essential to keep your livestock healthy and comfortable and to create a conducive working atmosphere. Yet maintaining ideal temps without going bankrupt can be difficult. If you take the proper steps, you can successfully and efficiently heat your barn while minimizing your energy expenditures.
The Basics
There are a few things to think about before you even start shopping for barn heaters, including whether or not your barn genuinely needs extra heat and, if so, which parts of the barn should be heated and which shouldn’t.
Livestock
The health and safety of your livestock should be your top priority while heating a barn if you keep livestock there. Cattle horses and other animals are very tolerant to cooler temperatures, and providing excessive additional heat may harm their well-being. There are, however, certain exceptions, chiefly chickens, turkeys and pigs. Suppose a supplemental heat source is the best option. In that case, you must consider the demands of the animals you maintain and the usual winter temperatures in your location.
How To Heat A Barn
Insulation
Ensuring your barn is insulated correctly is the best thing you can do for it. If your barn is uninsulated, it increases the chance of condensation formation. Condensation and humidity cause long-term damage to your equipment and barn’s structure and serious health problems for your animals because of the extra moisture in the air and on the walls, floors, and bedding.
If you are trying to cut heating costs, adding additional insulation is one of the best ways to do this. Increasing the efficiency of your buildings can save you hundreds or thousands of dollars.
The Size Of The Heater
The bigger the space, the more BTUs are necessary. Figure your square footage, and add BTUs if you have large garage doors, high ceilings, or poor insulation. Our units can be linked together to accommodate nearly any building no matter the size.
Type of Fuel
There are many fuels to choose from oil, gas, propane, coal, and wood, to name to most common ones. Gas and propane are most common for poultry barns. Gas and propane produce a lot of moisture as they burn. Hard coal is a much better alternative. Anthracite coal keeps the humidity where it needs to be and is a fraction of the cost.
Call us today to get pricing on your barn heater and to see how much you can save by switching to anthracite coal!