Sunfire Heaters

Cold and Heat

The cold never bothered me anyway…

Don’t tell the kids, but Elsa is a liar! Cold bothers anyone who has to work in it every day! People that work in cold conditions know two things. Everything takes longer when it’s cold and, everything is COLD! We have all tried different ways to keep things warm and make working more comfortable. The problem?  Most of them do not work or do not work well. Have you ever…

1. Spent 3 hours in freezing wind to drag something inside for a 30-minute repair.
2. Set up an elaborate system of tarps to keep heat confined to the area you are working in.
3. Screamed to communicate with others because the heater is too loud.
4. Found out your last bottle of propane ran out yesterday, the nearest replacement will take 2 hours to get, and the sun will be down in 1!
5. Almost passed out and needed 14 Advil to get over the headache from the fumes your heater generated.
6. Realized the project is just 20ft further than your extension cord.
7. Decided the effort isn’t worth it!

The problem with most of the portable heat systems is the same.  They are loud, they generate noxious fumes, they are expensive, and worst of all…they just don’t work that well.

If you have to work in a cold shop or outdoors in the winter, we would like to invite you to check out our new Sunfire 150 portable heater at Warehouse Supply! The Sunfire 150 is a quiet, virtually odorless radiant heat system that operates on standard diesel and is rated for outdoor AND indoor use.

How Heat is Transferred

There are three primary ways heat is transferred, conduction, convection, and radiation.  Conduction is how a pan gets hot when it is setting on a stove burner.  The burner heats up and directly conducts the heat to the pan. Convection is how the water in the pan warms up. Not all the water warms at the same time. The water at the bottom of the pan warms first and moves up, (heat rises) cooler water on top moves down. Radiation is how the sun heats the earth.  We don’t actually feel the heat from the sun transferring through space. Heat is transferred through the atmosphere by infrared wavelengths. The air isn’t heated, but the objects that encounter the infrared wavelengths are.  Just like your microwave oven, the energy is transferred directly to the target objects with ‘waves’ of energy that do not lose their energy (heat) to the surrounding air.

Standard Heaters

Standard heaters rely on two of these principles to warm up an area or object.  The heat source heats the air and then pushes that air toward the objects to be heated.  The air then conducts the heat to the cold object.  This might work well in a confined space like your office or living room.  The problem in a shop or outdoor environments is that air is a good insulator.  That is another way of saying air is a poor conductor of heat.  We will need to spend a lot of energy (and money) to heat and move enough air to transfer that heat to an object.  In an outdoor or drafty shop setting, we end up transferring a lot of that energy to air that never gets to opportunity to transfer its energy to our target area.

The Sunfire 150 Heater Difference

This is where the Sunfire 150 stands out.  It utilizes the same principle as the sun to radiate heat directly to objects with infrared waves. These waves pass through the air without transferring their heat until the infrared waves contact a solid object.  That object can be equipment or even people.  Not losing heat to the surrounding air makes this method very efficient! The Sunfire 150 infrared waves pass through the wind and air to heat the objects!  Isn’t that what we really want? To warm up the objects??? Especially us!

Radiant heaters all have several common advantages to traditional heaters. Besides being efficient, radiant heaters are also quiet and virtually odorless.  The Sunfire 150 has even more advantages over the competition:

• Nealy 150,000 BTU’s of heat.
  • One of the highest in portable heating units of this size.
• Low emissions. Emissions exceed OSHA standards.
  • Allows the Sunfire 150 to be used indoors!
• Runs on standard No. 1 or No. 2 diesel.
  • No need for expensive (and sometimes hard to find) kerosene or propane.
• Wired for an optional thermostat.
  • Makes it easy to maintain a constant temperature without constant adjustments.
• Up to 19 hours run time.
  • Long enough to cover most working days without stopping to add fuel.
• • Easy for one person to move around the job site.
• Compatible with Generator or power inverter (requires pure sine wave 800 watts)
  • Most construction/trade vehicles have a compatible power supply onboard.
  • Low power needs (120v 2A)
• Heated fuel filter for quick cold starts.
  • Prevents fuel gelling in the filter for quick cold morning starts.
• Heavy-duty steel construction.
  • The welded steel tank and heavy-duty construction limit the potential of job site damage.
• UL listed
  • Ensures safe operations.
• MADE IN THE USA.

If you have to work in a cold, drafty shop or outdoors in cold and windy weather, you need a good heating system.  Let Wearhouse Supply show you how the Sunfire 150 can meet those needs! Call or stop in at Warehouse Supply and check out our demo unit!

Closing Thoughts

What a year! 2020 has reminded me of my first ride on a roller coaster. I was excited to start the ride in the early months of the year. I knew there would be some ups and downs, but I was also sure I was ready for them.  Then we arrived at the first big hill, climbing higher and higher…until the drop! I had been told it was coming. I thought I had prepared for it. I was wrong! We crested over the top of the hill; I could see everything clearly for a second…until everything changed! I felt like the world had fallen out from under our feet. For months it felt like there was no end to the drops, the twists and the turns…until summer! As summer arrived, things leveled out. There were hills and valleys but nothing as dramatic as that first one.  We got this!  I was wrong! We approached the end of the year and the end of the ride! Like all good roller coasters, there was going to be a grand finale!  A final drop, twist, loop, and turn to remind you that you are not in control of everything!  It now feels like we are approaching the platform. As I reflect on the past year and I have mixed feelings. I feel more confident in my team’s ability to handle the unexpected but less confident in my ability to see what is coming.   I feel we have gotten better at what we do, but also less sure about what we need to work on next.  I am sure we have made it past the hardest part but I also fear that we may miss the platform and take another loop!

I started this blog with a quote from a Disney film. I will end it with a quote from Walt Disney. “The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it.”  I hope everyone will have a better future from the lessons in 2020!  See you in 2021!