Heating the garage?

C

citizen arcane

New member
I saw a thread in the summer months for cooling but have no need; I can take the heat and humidity we have along the Gulf Coast. However, these old bones are having probs with days like today - 51 degs, 79% humidity and a North wind of 18-25 mph. I struggled through two traditional washes and it wasn't too horrible once the blood started pumping but with the arrival of ONR soon I'm looking at supplement heating for the garage.



For those of you who have portable heaters I'd like some recommendations. I'm leaning towards a propane unit like this:



2151873.jpg




that attaches to a 40 lbs propane cylinder. Overkill for my 26x20 garage? Any other suggestions welcome.
 
How many BTU is that lil' puppy dog? That's what matters...





I guess you wouldn't want to watch me wash 2 or 3 cars in a row when it's right around 32F :D:sign
 
Is your garage will insulated? If I've learned one thing while constructing mine it's that you're much better off (at least in a cold climate) spending money to insulate properly, than on heating.
 
I have this construction heater in my 2 car garage that is reatively insulated. Gets her up to over 70 degrees pretty quickly even on very cold days. Its 4800 watts or 16,000 BTU/h. It does requrie a 240v plug however is well worth it for the 50$ or so i paid.



15329.DCH4831A_Construction_4.jpg
 
tom p. said:
How many BTU is that lil' puppy dog? That's what matters...
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Capacity 3,000 sq. ft.; BTUs 55,000; Safety Feature Automatic Shut-off - I'm guessing I can turn it to off once the garage heats up.



tom p. said:
I guess you wouldn't want to watch me wash 2 or 3 cars in a row when it's right around 32F :D:sign
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I'm acclimated to the southern winters and around here 32F during the day is extreme!



Picus said:
Is your garage will insulated?
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the house is 40 y.o. construction and while the garage is insulated all around it's prolly not up to modern R values.



Downgear said:
I have this construction heater in my 2 car garage. It does requrie a 240v plug however is well worth it for the 50$ or so i paid.
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I really don't want to rewire for 220v.
 
If your using anything other than electric, be mindful of potential fumes and carbon dioxide. Electric is convienient and clean but can be costly as well.
 
I think that propane heater would be a bit overkill for that small of a space. IME those type heaters make a lot of noise as well. I would probably go with a regular kerosene heater.
 
MichaelM said:
IME
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That's what I love about these forums, being able to draw from others' experiences!



Kerosene - I know nothing about it: Is it relatively clean burning? How does one go about buying it?
 
Kerosene is good because it heats quickly, but it tends to smell. We ran one while we were constructing the garage, and it put out a ton of heat, but if we closed it up our eyes started to burn a little.



Have you thought about a couple radiant heaters? Costco/Sams club sells ~12,000 btu ones for $80 around here, but they require decent insulation since they heat slowly.



If you're not using it every day propane is probably fine, though. At least it'll heat it quickly. :)
 
If you're going to burn anything for heat, (propane, kerosene, etc) you MUST vent fumes outside.

If your garage is insulated as you say, an electric heater would do fine for your purposes.
 
Check northern tool. You can get a decent heater for around 500 bucks that will use propane or natural gas. They even have vent free ones for less, not sure what the deal is with it being vent free though!
 
citizen arcane said:
BTUs 55,000;
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I've got a 70,000 BTU kerosene unit that I use to heat my triple bay garage (w/14' ceilings). Within 1/2 hour, I can get the temp to 70F, even on a very cold day.



Downside is fumes and noise. They're noisy. I'm sure the propane unit must produce fumes that would be of concern, probably no odor.



If you're looking to keep it simple and cheap, a small 50/55 thousand BTU kerosene unit is likely to meet your needs for many years without spending a bunch of dough.



I buy my kerosene at the local hardware store. I just bought a 2.5 gallon container for $20 last week. That might last me 1 year. I'd never go thru more than two of those containers.



You can get syn kerosene that's burns with virtually no odor. It's an Exxon/Mobil product, I've found it at Home Depot a couple of times.



You can also purchase kerosene at a few gas stations. It's far cheaper, but is not as clean as the stuff I buy at the hardware store...it has a lot more odor. The stuff from the hardware store burns very clean, minimal odor.



Personally, I think I'd rather fool around with kerosene vs. propane...unless you have a good source for propane.
 
Tom p., I think you are correct about kerosene over propane. I use 20 gal. propane tanks, and go through way too much. Filled 2 of them and went through almost both of them detailing 5 vehicles. Cost: $34
 
driving impress said:
Tom p., I think you are correct about kerosene over propane. I use 20 gal. propane tanks, and go through way too much. Filled 2 of them and went through almost both of them detailing 5 vehicles. Cost: $34
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Yeah, but how many hours did you get?



I get my air temp up to where I want it and then power my unit off. The noise would be a bit too much to listen to non-stop.



I really don't know how long my unit would last on a full tank. Maybe 2 - 3 hours continuous. I suppose it holds about 2 gallons of fuel. I have a nice thermostat for it but I don't really use it any longer. The thing heats so quick that I don't need to run it much.



I had another similar unit 50,000 BTU prior to this one. This new one is much cleaner, seems to heat much faster. Very little in the way of fumes from it.



It really is handy to have. I can work, wax/detail or wash at just about any temp. I cut off my washing activities around 20F...just too much icing.
 
BTW, I think propane is $18 for a fill on my BBQ tank in my area.





This is virtually identical to my 70,000 BTU unit:



master%20heater%20b155t.jpg
 
I actually run it continuously, otherwise gets too damp and cold. So maybe a push. I agree though, the noise is annoying to say the least. I am thinking of going with an electric heater. Cleaner, cheaper and quieter.
 
I have 17K watts of Metal Halide lighting in my shop. Not only does it let me see every possible swirl and smudge, but it also heats the shop. It's December in Seattle, and I didn't turn on the heater today.







John
 
But isn't metal halide lighting kind of prohibitively expensive? I could be wrong, I just got that impression when I saw some of the spotlights going for ~1k a shot.
 
I just broke down and got a full blow shop heater on CL. Best way to heat the garage/shop period. I can work on the cars when it is -10 and snowing with a t shirt on. you can find good ones between $200-500 used.





For your situation though, this might be overkill. Ventless propane heaters are a good option because the are can be put anywhere, but they aren't that powerful. If you don't mind noise of a jet engine, you could go with one of those heat cannon style heaters and just turn it on long enough to warm up the area. Electric is easiest and quietest but you need 210. Craigslist is your friend.
 
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