DUX

What are you guys (who live where it's cold) using for garage heat?

In the old house with a small attached garage, I used to let an oil-filled electric radiator run and it did a nice job of keeping things around 50 degrees.

The new garage is stand-alone, with four outside walls and an open stairwell leading to the attic. I don't think the radiator heater will do the job.

I'd like to keep the garage heated at around 50, and plan to install a nice propane unit one day. For the time being, I'm thinking portable. Something I can run when I'm out there working and that will warm it up nicely in a short period of time.

Ideas?

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SheepOfBlue

I have a infrared unit that sits on a 30lb propane cylinder. Though are heating challenges are a bunch lower than yours.

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DUX

Like this?

Tractor Supply Company - Mr. Heater MH12T Radiant Propane Heater, Single

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DUX

How about this one?

Reddy 60,000 BTU/Hr Kerosene Forced Air Heater - R60A at The Home Depot

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SheepOfBlue

Very similiar.

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Hammer

I had the A/C guys put a vent in the garage when they installed my Heat Pump system. Works great! But before that I had a baseboard heating element in there. Worked well and no open flame to catch shit on fire, like when the room is filled with paint vapors.

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ND4SPD

That's what my dad uses. Works like a charm. The fumes can get to you after a while but it'll heat the garage up relatively quick so you don't need to run it for a long time.

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gt702

I used to use a similar one with a plug in thermostat that would cycle it on and off to maintain a temperature. it would get a little noisy (I had over 100,000 BTU with a big blower, so the smaller one might be quieter; the big one let me do a motor swap in a driveway in SE Michigan in January and February without freezing my fingers ) but worked well. I would get a whiff of smell when the catalist plate was cold, but after warmed up, no smell. Might be able to "duct" it in to keep the blower noise outside, but be careful of clearances and temperatures.

For my larger garage, I have a wall mounted natural gas unit with the blower option that works well. They sell those at Home Depot or Lowes and it works pretty well for a large garage.

Good luck

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08silvercbr

On that subject DUX, I had a friend whose son was painting his race car in the garage with a wood stove. (sealed unit) Long story short his daughter found him sizzling in the snow bank outside of the garage already dead. Being an automotive painter I've been guilty several several times of painting small stuff with a similar heating set up to what you are thinking of using. Never knew how many parts pr million it took before talking to the osha guy..just took it for granted it would be ok. So if you do stuff like that, even rattle can enamal, know it is possible.

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ND4SPD

Do the fumes filter into the house through the vent?

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Hammer

Not really. I vent it out pretty quick anyhow with a blower unit. When painting you have to get the vapors out of there, or the paint will wrinkle/lift.

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seamus

How big is the garage?

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08silvercbr

or you could buy one of these, which is what I use

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sinfuldragon

I only have a one car garage, lucky for me its packed with bikes and the car/truck are outside

I use a kerosene heater when I'm working. Start it 30 - 60 mins before I go out and its pretty damn warm when I get out there

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Hammer

Actually, I do have access to one at the local Chevrolet dealership. But for what I do my set up is fine.

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08silvercbr

The Chevy dealership where the fricked up your truck? Yeah, I'm spoiled

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Hammer

No, the one where we buy on average 8 trucks a year, and also the one that we helped during the flood with pumping out their building.

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SomeStrangeGuy

I have a reddy heater 35kbtu and a 75-100kbtu unit. For a 28x30x11 (insulated walls ceiling and doors and cement floor). the 100kbtu warms the place up in about 15 minutes. The 35kbtu maintains unless its below 30 outside, then I fire up the big guy every now and again.

All propane - kerosene reeks too much for my taste. I have 2 tanktop IR heaters, but all they do is heat objects...be it you, be it the ground or a wall, or something else radiant...they do not heat the air (very well). My "40kbtu" tanktop IR unit will bake the hell out of a frozen pipe, plumbing fixtures, bodywork I really need to work on...but I'll freeze my ass off in the process.

I recommend waiting till new years and visiting Lowes for the best deal. I got my 100kbtu unit there for 60$ IIRC in 2007 on clearance. This year I am thinking of looking for one of those 100kbtu convection heaters if they are on clearance.

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HondaGalToo

I've got a Mr. Heater propane unit. The blower type. It's ok, I haven't used it much and I have trouble getting it to stay lit. It does an ok job of heating. My garage addition is insulated, but it's 2 floors, so it would take a lot to heat it up. I probably should do something to close off the upstairs, but for as often as I need to work out there in the winter, the Mr. Heater is sufficient.

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slickwill

How do you use a propane heater without worrying about CO inhalation? I have a VERY small one car (three bike) garage that I need to heat. I'd worry about my health though if I was running a propane heater. Is there something I don't know? I generally just run a small electric space heater and huddle up close to it while working.

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SheepOfBlue

I crack my garage door just a bit after getting it up to temperature some. The key to mine is that it is radiant heat and you heat objects so they then also radiate heat. Once you get that working the air temperature has less effect. Though we seldom get below 30º making it easy to get to 70º I also have a ceiling fan to install when I get some time to push the hot air down

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SomeStrangeGuy

I do the garage door trick as well, I actually pull my garage door off the lift/opener and stick a 2x4x6 under one of the doors, leaving 2' x 3" open. Fill the 2' half way with a scroll fan blowing out, and the rest of it open and voila - fresh air intake/exhaust.

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DEPO

I close the garage door and run my truck for a couple of hours with the heat on.... It is very nice..... It becomes so nice in there that my wife has to shake me violently to wake me up because I am so comfortable.



Please note: The above was fictional and any idiot (or Hammer) that would do the above should live in the middle of central Indiana with a bunch of rednecks living around them and paint motorcycles in a one car garage.



I have a 1500 Electric forced air heater that keeps my radiator on my bike all nice and toasty and I just suck it up like a real man.

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luvtolean

I have an oil filled radiator that does help some, but I'm going to try and snatch up one of the deals like SSG mentions this year.

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evl_twn

50,000 BTU Ducane house furnace. One of these days I'll get around to adding ductwork, but for now I just run it with the ceiling fans on when I need it to circulate the air. The garage is attached, so it never gets below freezing unless we have several days below 0* F in a row.

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HondaGalToo

Ditto, I crack a window open when using it.

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slickwill

Generally just getting it up to 30 degrees would be a huge improvement.

I actually derail mine as well every now and then when I need to. However, a lot of the time even a one inch gap would mean exposing myself to the arctic blasts that the Canadians keep sending down my way.

and yet

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If it has wheels, I've crashed it, and some things that don't skis, snowmobile, card board box, giant tube, sentra, dirtbike, lawn tractor, grandmas bread tray, kayak, canoe, raft, bicycle, waterskis, tobaggan, horse, ATV, Now my CBR (women)

Mojave954

The sun. We moved to where it is no longer cold.

BUT, for those of us that have "resided" in the cold, I used an oil filled radiator. The lifers up there had some sort of jet engine looking thing that ran on propane.

ND4SPD

Mr. Heater Portable Kerosene Heater — 50,000 BTU, Model# MH50K | Kerosene | Northern Tool + Equipment

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gt702

Add one of these Mr. Heater Thermostat for Item# 177810 (check the accessories link) and it will run itself while plugged in.

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