Garage heater?

[swamp rat]

Getting tired of using a 1500 watt space heater in the garage that barley heats a 7' area in my garage, i do plan on stringing up a temporary paint booth made out of plastic so I'm looking for a heater that's safe to use regardless of if I'm painting or using other chemicals ect.

I have seen propane forced air and propane inferred but didn't know about the safety aspect of using these in a 2 car garage.

Any other electric heaters i could look at?

Want to know what you use.

[Marty68]

i heat my garage with a nat gas house furnace. build a stand for it so it is up off the floor. i think code said flame must be 18 inches off floor. you can use a torpedo heater. in my old place i set up a line voltage thermostat controlling the outlet the torpedo was plugged into. worked good. remember if you saturate the air with flamables anything can be unsafe.

[slowcpe]

I use 1-2 kerosene torpedo heaters currently. I got one of the bigger infereds a couple of years ago and my garage is just too big for one. Doubt it would heat a 2 car.

I was going to go with a wood burner but it would take up too much room.

While a little more expensive I'm starting to consider one of the Mitsubishi units that heats and cools. I've been quoted $2200 for a unit that is super efficient and can cover up to 2000 sq ft.

[Marty68]

slowcpe i doubt one of those would heat a garage. garages arent insulated as well as a house. if you aren't heating your garage all the time i would over size the heat system to allow faster recovery (warm up) and have head room for exhausting air if painting. my place has a wall seperating a 30x 24 area from a 30 x 22 area. i have the furnace in the large area ducted into the small area with a cold air return in each side. that way i can draw "clean air" from large side. i also have a dampeer on a 6" supply in large room. the furnace i have is 100k btu. walls and ceilings are insulated but only 2x4 so only ?r-13? my old place i put a oil furnace in burned kerosene out of plastic barrel. that cost $5 a day to heat... 20 years ago.
these are a very good unit. http://www.totalhomesupply.com/Modin...dine-hd100.htm

[flashed]

I use a 200,000 BTU propane chicken house furnace that hangs from the rafters on small chains like a porch swing .My shop is 34x48 and well insulated and heats up in about 15 minutes and then I turn it off .

[cableguy0]

Originally Posted by Marty68

slowcpe i doubt one of those would heat a garage. garages arent insulated as well as a house. if you aren't heating your garage all the time i would over size the heat system to allow faster recovery (warm up) and have head room for exhausting air if painting. my place has a wall seperating a 30x 24 area from a 30 x 22 area. i have the furnace in the large area ducted into the small area with a cold air return in each side. that way i can draw "clean air" from large side. i also have a dampeer on a 6" supply in large room. the furnace i have is 100k btu. walls and ceilings are insulated but only 2x4 so only ?r-13? my old place i put a oil furnace in burned kerosene out of plastic barrel. that cost $5 a day to heat... 20 years ago.
these are a very good unit. http://www.totalhomesupply.com/Modin...dine-hd100.htm

I 2nd that heater. We got a stupid good deal on one at 125 bucks with the piping to vent it. Unit was practically brand new. It heats a 28x28 wood frame insulated garage with no issue. We use a standard grill propane bottle with it. Makes it real easy to deal with. Can literally walk and get another bottle for it from my brothers house. It brings the temp from the 30's to t shirt in about 15 minutes. Usually end up turning it off after an hour or so. Then cycling it every so often. It both conserves propane and keep it comfortable for working.

[evan396]

X3 on propane heater. No smell at all, not like the kerosene heaters. We have a hot dawg propane heater in our garage. The garage is a two car and the heater is rated for a two and a half car garage. Heats up quickly in is on a thermostat. Has a 100lbs tank located outside behind the garage. And no, we won't paint anything in the garage with the heater on!

[cg285]

i open the doors if it gets cold inside

[jetmech85]

Please be careful when using propane bottles indoors. They can actually vent propane when they heat up. If full there is no place for the gas to expand and can vent to the atmosphere. If possible put the tank outside.

[frankslagoon]

I use a monitor 441 in the garage. 600 sq. 9 ft. ceiling heates up in 30 minutes when its 0 out. they are a bit expensive. toyo laser are the same thing. the nice thing is they draw air from outside so ya don't have to worry about setten off gas or paint fumes as much and they use about a half gallon a day if you leave em on 45 degrees.

[_Ogre]

used 80,000 btu house furnace off of craigslist
cheap and works well

[Marty68]

ogre that is the way to go.

[JointTech]

i have a 15000 btu propane thingy that screws on a grill bottle. Its has no fan but it take the nip out of the air in my 25x40 shop. When I say nip I mean it must be down around 55 or so which is just unbearable here in cali. my blood has thinned. Since my roll up door isnt sealed Im thinking about getting a 60000btu propane for $99 from home depot. But then it was 80 today so... Kind of like my wiper blades. The 3 times a year it rains I really know I need blades, but then it doesnt rain for another 3 months....

[_Ogre]

south of LA you need to get the ''nip out of the air'' ???
can't you fart indoors and call it a day ?

5*f was the high today; that cold enough to make pee freeze before it hits the ground
got to break it off in pieces

[swamp rat]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, i found what i'm looking for.

[kaycee]

What did you get I use one that hooks up to the bottle also takes the chill off .

[pwdcougar]

That Hot Dawg heater looks like a good unit especially since it vents to the outside. At over a grand though it is way over budget. Presently I'm using a 110K BTU kerosene torpedo heater in my 24 x 24 uninsulated detached garage. Heats up quick but cools down quick too. I'm buying a roll of insulation every week at Home Depot and slowly doing the walls.

The big problem of course with any of the torpedo heaters, kero or propane, is that they are dumping carbon monoxide into the air. I've got two sensors in the garage to be safe.

A buddy told me that it would be best to use the heater to try to heat up the floor instead of the air. Since you can't point them down, I took an old rusty 70 front inner fender and propped it up a couple feet from the heater. It deflects the hot air down and seems to reduce the cycle time.

Even with that it has been in the low teens at night and it is too darn cold to work out there!

Paul

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by kaycee

What did you get I use one that hooks up to the bottle also takes the chill off .

I didn't buy it yet because i want to talk to my electrician about it first, I have a pretty full electrical service, no real room to expand without serious thought of going to a heat pump or something else. I have a 220V 30 amp breaker/plug for my welder and i found a wall ceiling mountable heater that is enough to heat up my 2 car garage, the only problem is it say's it needs to be hard wired, i don't see much of a problem installing a plug on it instead but won't commit until i can talk to my electrical guy, he's old school, no email and no text messages so i need to print up the spec's and get them to him soon..(i have been swamped with other things at the moment) Spec's say it pulls 20.8 amps, i want to be sure a 30 amp breaker will be ok as well.

http://www.air-n-water.com/product/g73.html#resp-tabs2

There are a couple other options that have a plug but they don't have the wall /ceiling mount brackets

[blazer2007]

I saw a gel fuel heater for sale in a local flyer,in or outdoors.Never heard of one but does anyone know if there good ?

[Marty68]

30 amp breaker will be fine and using your welder circuit is a good idea. UNLESS it is a long distance. using existing electric is a good idea. then the wife wont know how much the garage is costing to heat. keep in mind an electric heater wont recover as fast as gas forced air. but should keep the chill off.
you may find that one is not enough. but then you can fire up a torpedo heater to get up to temp. You probably dont get as cold there as we do here in western wisconsin.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Marty68

30 amp breaker will be fine and using your welder circuit is a good idea. UNLESS it is a long distance. using existing electric is a good idea. then the wife wont know how much the garage is costing to heat. keep in mind an electric heater wont recover as fast as gas forced air. but should keep the chill off.
you may find that one is not enough. but then you can fire up a torpedo heater to get up to temp. You probably dont get as cold there as we do here in western wisconsin.

Not too long, maybe 6 to 8 ft max.

I think i just ran into a problem, Amazon sells this heater also and when you open the link it states customers "Frequently bought together" they list a 4 wire pig tail and plug, i have a 3 prong plug for my welder.. One of the reviews did say he used a 3 wire lead, anybody know if this is ok? I imagine this would be a common problem.

Amazon.com - NewAir G73 Electric Garage Heater -...

There are a few more heaters of this type i'm still considering:

Amazon.com - Dr. Heater DR966 240-volt Hardwired....
.
This one has a remote thermostat

Amazon.com - Electric Garage Heater Stelpro RUH5....
.
TPI Corporation HF686TC Fan Forced Portable...

[dwcsr]

I've had this one for several years now and it warms up 2000 sq feet from 26 to 55 60 on a half tank of gas a day. Barbecue size tank.

http://www.heater-store.com/radiant_..._2723_prd1.htm

[Marty68]

if you calculate needed heat for a space you need http://www.moorepage.net/heatloss.html the heater dwcsr linked is 25,000 btus per hour. the electric heater you referenced is 17,000. i am thinking you will need a MINIMUM of 40k btu. you might get by with 2 of those electric heaters or 1 electric and a torpedo heater.
a 3 prong 240 volt outlet has 2 hot legs and a ground. a 4 prong outlet it is using a neutral also. so you would need a different outlet for the heater. but it could run on the same breaker as the welder, but you couldnt ever use the heat and welder at the same time. you likely could move some circuits around in the panel. to create another dedicated circuit for a second heater. your best bet would be get "torpedo" heater then save for a heater like the hot dog, and feed it from a 100# cylinder outside the building. hot dog is quality unit, simular ones can be bought cheaper at farm fleet / tractor supply etc. or watch craigslist for used propane furnaces.

[swamp rat]

I probably should have laid out more information when i started this thread to give a better picture.

My garage is 22'X20'X8' 440sq ft. Temps rarely dip into the 20's. I'm not expecting it to be 72 degrees in the garage but just take the chill out of the air, right now its about 42 outside and the garage is probably 35 deg. The 2 outside walls are R-11, the garage doors don't seal the best and are uninsulated but I'm hoping to replace them in the near future with insulated doors to equal R-11, i know that does not make the new doors very energy efficient but it will be better. 2 walls are against the house and a master bedroom above the garage as well, the ceiling is well insulated. Fumes and carbon monoxide are a concern as we use the upstairs daily, i have tried a kerosene heater and i don't like the fumes. I do not have room in my garage for a large free standing furnace so it needs to be ceiling mounted.

As much as id like to have something like the Hot Dog i have some limiting factors, one is i don't want to punch a hole in the side of my house for a vent as if i decide to move i'd want to take it with me, the other is i don't have the room outside for a 100# tank on the garage side of the house so it would have to be in the back yard and against the house with a line routed thru the crawl space to the garage, probably 50'. Honestly I'm not too fond of the idea of a 100lb tank next to my house or having to pack it around the other side of the house thru the grass to fill it. I really don't want to have to pack a 10-20 lb propane tank to be filled every week.

So short of having the entire house converted to a brand new heating system like a heat pump that can also heat the garage that leaves electric, and yes my plan would be to unplug the welder and run the heater, then when needed shut off the heater and plug in the welder when needed.

I know i when i bought my new range for the kitchen they asked if i had a 3 or 4 wire 220V service then provided the pig tail plug i needed, so am i correct in assuming i can wire one of these free standing units ether 3 wire or 4 wire?

Thanks for all the help!

[Freddo]

My garage is about 750 sq ft. (Approx 24x32x10 ft ceiling) The doors are insulated and I have about r-11 in the walls & r-19 in the ceilings. I looked hard at natural gas. (Didn't want to run the pipe or cut holes in the wall for venting. I was watching my budget too. I settled on a faranheat (sp?) 5000 watt electric from Amazon for about $250. I cut the Sheetrock & ran about 25 or so feet of #10 wire (If I remember correctly) up to a spot on the wall about 8 feet up, close to where I had mounted the heater. I also bought a 3 prong plug. I had an electrician come in, hook the wire to the plug up close to the heater, & hook the wire to a 30 amp breaker in the box. By cutting the Sheetrock, it only took 30-40 minutes for the electrician to have it up & running. He charged me $50 for his labor which I thought was extremely fair. Most of the calculators I used indicated I needed 7500 to 10,000 watts for the size of space. I just didn't want to spend the additional money & figured I would wear a coat if needed. I was pleasantly surprised that this has worked really well. There were several days temperatures out side dropped to between 10-15 degrees F. I turned the heater on & set the thermostat up to about 3/4's. After about 45 minutes, I came out to shirtsleeve temps. Your mileage may vary but it was a great solution for me.