obviously something that won't kill me like burning wood or something
What's the most cost effective way to heat a garage?
- Thread starter tea LC
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
garage size?
constant heat, or only when you need heat?
garage contents? ie: two stall with vehicles in there, or door opens/shuts all the time...
insulated walls/door?
I use a propane 75k BTU HotDawg forced fan/forced vent ceiling mount heater. Great for instant heat, takes the shop from 30-60 in short order, thermostat controlled. My garage is 4-car, insulated well, and the missus does take her car in-out daily. I only use it when needed.
(BTW: this has come up before, a quick search in Outfitting should net you some results)
constant heat, or only when you need heat?
garage contents? ie: two stall with vehicles in there, or door opens/shuts all the time...
insulated walls/door?
I use a propane 75k BTU HotDawg forced fan/forced vent ceiling mount heater. Great for instant heat, takes the shop from 30-60 in short order, thermostat controlled. My garage is 4-car, insulated well, and the missus does take her car in-out daily. I only use it when needed.
(BTW: this has come up before, a quick search in Outfitting should net you some results)
The Hot Dog that Woodys's talking about is made by Modine.
The Hot Dog is a propane direct vent unit heater for garages. Can be mounted directly to the ceiling and runs off a thermostate.
I've installed them and they work great.
Here's a link to their site.
http://hot-dawg.modine.com/?src=overture&OVRAW=mod unit heater&OVKEY=unit heater&OVMTC=advanced
The Hot Dog is a propane direct vent unit heater for garages. Can be mounted directly to the ceiling and runs off a thermostate.
I've installed them and they work great.
Here's a link to their site.
http://hot-dawg.modine.com/?src=overture&OVRAW=mod unit heater&OVKEY=unit heater&OVMTC=advanced
There are the passive architectural aspects such as a square shape .. thermal mass etc
And then the geographic aspects .. moving to SC
You can also do as I have done in the past , and block off a portion of the garage that you work in , and heat only that with a space heater .
TY
And then the geographic aspects .. moving to SC
You can also do as I have done in the past , and block off a portion of the garage that you work in , and heat only that with a space heater .
TY
lets not complicate it to much... Pick yer poison I love 'em all
http://www.mrheater.com/
just don;t forget to crack a window for oxygen
http://www.mrheater.com/
just don;t forget to crack a window for oxygen
If you just have to heat like a single car type space and arent gonna open the doors a lot do what I do. I have a $25 space heater from walmart electric plug in. Raises the temp up from like 40-45 to about 60-65 degrees in the time it takes me to eat breakfast then I go to work and turn it on or off as needed.
I'm no expert on garage heat but I'll throw in my two cents. A lot of it depends on what you want to do in the garage. A flame type of heat might be good and cheap but if you are going to be applying furniture finish which is flameable, it might not be a good idea. We put an old standup woodstove in a garage and since we cut firewood for the house heat it was cheap to heat garage when needed with this and the stove was a giveme. Now when I need heat, I've got a kerosene heater that I got from a garage sale somewhere. It heats well and the fumes stink a little, but was made to be used even in a house. Kerasene is fairly cheap. If you can get the heater cheap, it might do for you.
When in construction we sometimes used a gas powered heater that looked like a jet engine. It put off a lot of heat really fast but made a roar.
Both of these worked a lot better than any electric heater I've ever used. When I worked in Steamboat, we used to install natural gas powered heaters in some of the condo's garages. They had a vent and thermostat so you could set them where you wanted. They worked great. Some hung from the ceiling, and others mounted onto the face of a wall with hole through wall for the vent piping. These are still being used today and we installed them over 13 years ago.
When in construction we sometimes used a gas powered heater that looked like a jet engine. It put off a lot of heat really fast but made a roar.
Both of these worked a lot better than any electric heater I've ever used. When I worked in Steamboat, we used to install natural gas powered heaters in some of the condo's garages. They had a vent and thermostat so you could set them where you wanted. They worked great. Some hung from the ceiling, and others mounted onto the face of a wall with hole through wall for the vent piping. These are still being used today and we installed them over 13 years ago.
Note: NEVER turn on the heater or have a pilot light on while anything flammable is pervasive in the garage
Want cheap? Heat lamp. No ventilation issues. No flammability issues (unless you break it).
Takes as much electricity as a normal 200W lightbulb. Heats a small area real hot real quick.
Put it in a clamp-type droplight fixture and position it where needed.
Takes as much electricity as a normal 200W lightbulb. Heats a small area real hot real quick.
Put it in a clamp-type droplight fixture and position it where needed.
I'm running this heater plumbed for natural gas. I love it. I turned it on a few nights ago when it got to below zero around here, just to keep things thawed out.
http://www.mrheater.com/productdetail.asp?id=696
Chris
http://www.mrheater.com/productdetail.asp?id=696
Chris
- Thread starter
- #11
Woody, you'll have to bare with the steep learning curve to your catagorization! and i always forget about the magic of 'search' when the idea is fresh anyway, as for heat, i like your idea of the hotdawg for large structures and it sounds similar to Bryans ideas -- ill probably do something like that for the barn
the garage in question is only about 20x25, 2 car, 2 side windows, 2 garage doors, and an entry door to the house -- its south facing which helps reduce some of the fierce winter winds and chill -
Having said that, i think Clemson55's idea might be the best to minimize start-up costs as well as be sufficient for the intended purpose of working on the fj8o and carpentry stuff
i figure i'd only be working for a max clip of 4 hrs at any given time -- i can still bundle up with gloves, thermals and hat to help too if need be
what do you guys think?
thanks for making me think into this project which i thought would be a snap solution
anyway, as for heat, i like your idea of the hotdawg for large structures and it sounds similar to Bryans ideas -- ill probably do something like that for the barn the garage in question is only about 20x25, 2 car, 2 side windows, 2 garage doors, and an entry door to the house -- its south facing which helps reduce some of the fierce winter winds and chill -
Having said that, i think Clemson55's idea might be the best to minimize start-up costs as well as be sufficient for the intended purpose of working on the fj8o and carpentry stuff
i figure i'd only be working for a max clip of 4 hrs at any given time -- i can still bundle up with gloves, thermals and hat to help too if need be
what do you guys think?
thanks for making me think into this project which i thought would be a snap solution
- Thread starter
- #12
i like
hj60 said:
- Thread starter
- #13
i did a walmart search and found this for $99
full description
can kerosene kill me? also, doesnt say if it can be used indoors?? lastly, where the hell do you buy kerosene and how much is it???
full description
can kerosene kill me? also, doesnt say if it can be used indoors?? lastly, where the hell do you buy kerosene and how much is it???
If its possible, (not working on the block itself) pulling a warmed up truck in and opening the hood really helps a ton.
A buddy and I were working on his truck at his house cause my immobile 40 is filling up mine, and we just took his truck for a 10 min spin, pulled it in, and got to work. Warmed the entire two car garage at least 15 degrees.
On the other hand, working on a hot engine sucks. We were doing wiring so it didn't matter.
A buddy and I were working on his truck at his house cause my immobile 40 is filling up mine, and we just took his truck for a 10 min spin, pulled it in, and got to work. Warmed the entire two car garage at least 15 degrees.
On the other hand, working on a hot engine sucks. We were doing wiring so it didn't matter.
Bailey, if it were even slightly cold where you are that wouldn't be worth a hill of beans!
Its all physics. Size, heat sink, insulation, etc. Passive solar contribution palpable as well.
I use a 60000 BTU space heater of the sort that the construction folks use. If it starts out at 20 degrees F like it did this morning, and I run the heater for 4 hours before I start working, and the outside temp comes up into the 30s, I can work without gloves for a while. If it starts out near zero, like a week ago, about all I can do is keep my compressor-sandblaster lines from freezing if I aim the heater just right. I can run it all day and just barely have working temps.
I use diesel fuel in my heater (for all intents and purposes that is kerosene). It stinks a little, and there's probably some slight carbon monoxide buildup, but not like you have with a gasoline burning engine. Technically, if I am doing that I should have the doors open, but then I would just contribute insignificantly to global warming and insignificantly to warming the shop.
Its all physics. Size, heat sink, insulation, etc. Passive solar contribution palpable as well.
I use a 60000 BTU space heater of the sort that the construction folks use. If it starts out at 20 degrees F like it did this morning, and I run the heater for 4 hours before I start working, and the outside temp comes up into the 30s, I can work without gloves for a while. If it starts out near zero, like a week ago, about all I can do is keep my compressor-sandblaster lines from freezing if I aim the heater just right. I can run it all day and just barely have working temps.
I use diesel fuel in my heater (for all intents and purposes that is kerosene). It stinks a little, and there's probably some slight carbon monoxide buildup, but not like you have with a gasoline burning engine. Technically, if I am doing that I should have the doors open, but then I would just contribute insignificantly to global warming and insignificantly to warming the shop.
Those kero heaters are weak and smelly and dangerous.
tea LC said:i did a walmart search and found this for $99
full description
can kerosene kill me? also, doesnt say if it can be used indoors?? lastly, where the hell do you buy kerosene and how much is it???
Yeah, propane would definitely be a good way to go.
97% clean Wish I had a propane well in the backyard
Wish I had a propane well in the backyard 
