Heater for 2 Car Garage

[cagullett1]

My 2 car, attached garage is 20' x 20' with 8' tall ceilings. I've been looking to add a gas or propane heater that will warm the garage up while I'm out there working on weekends and evenings. My hot water heater is in the garage so I immediately decided to use NG and had been eyeing the Big Maxx heaters at Northern Tool. I know this isn't the nicest of heaters, but this is our first house so money is tight and its not a huge space to heat. I started searching online (haven't contacted anyone to make sure), but I have read that these heaters have to be mounted atleast 8' off the ground. If so, this heater is out. Would a mini split be the best solution?

Any suggestions for something that will not create a ton of moisture? I live in Texas, so it will only be used 3 months out of the year.

 

[dipper]

45k btu mr heater from northern tool would be sweet.

 

[soapii]

I had a 25K BTU radiant Mr Heater in my 22x22x9 garage and it worked perfect. Garage was insulated and drywalled.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_25606_25606

--Joe

 

[klwolff]

I am running this heater in my 20' x 20' garage with 8' ceilings, 1/2 of the garage is insulated. It does a great job. 220V, 30 amp circuit.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XOZN7A/?tag=atomicindus08-20

-Kurt

 

[Scott NJ]

My 2 car, attached garage is 20' x 20' with 8' tall ceilings. I've been looking to add a gas or propane heater that will warm the garage up while I'm out there working on weekends and evenings. My hot water heater is in the garage so I immediately decided to use NG and had been eyeing the Big Maxx heaters at Northern Tool. I know this isn't the nicest of heaters, but this is our first house so money is tight and its not a huge space to heat. I started searching online (haven't contacted anyone to make sure), but I have read that these heaters have to be mounted atleast 8' off the ground. If so, this heater is out. Would a mini split be the best solution?

Any suggestions for something that will not create a ton of moisture? I live in Texas, so it will only be used 3 months out of the year.

I was in the same scenario as yourself. I have the same dimension garage with the NG water heater stored in the garage too. I was thinking of doing a NG heater but I couldn't grow the balls to drill a large hole for the vent. I ended up with with a 240v Dayton G73 heater 5k watt heater and haven't looked back since till my daughters were born, now there in the garage with me from time to time so I upgraded to a 7500w heater. Both feel the same to me

Good luck

 

[JakeKohl]

what kind of climate do you live in?

 

[cagullett1]

I had a 25K BTU radiant Mr Heater in my 22x22x9 garage and it worked perfect. Garage was insulated and drywalled.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_25606_25606

--Joe

I am running this heater in my 20' x 20' garage with 8' ceilings, 1/2 of the garage is insulated. It does a great job. 220V, 30 amp circuit.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XOZN7A/?tag=atomicindus08-20

-Kurt

My concerns with these 2 types of heaters is ventilation. Would this really be safe in an enclosed garage?

I forgot to mention that it's already drywalled and is half insulated. I wish the builder would have given me the opportunity to insulate the whole garage before they threw drywall up.

 

[cagullett1]

I live in a rather humid climate (north Texas). Its warm most of the year, but we have some crazy storms that roll through and it can be extremely cold. We are expected to stay in the 20's for the next 5 days... that is like an artic storm to Texans.

 

[cagullett1]

45k btu mr heater from northern tool would be sweet.

This is the exact heater I have been eyeing. I guess I need to find out if code will allow me to install it with ceilings only being 8' tall. I read somewhere that the bottom of it must be 8' from the ground. Any experiences with this?

 

[soapii]

My concerns with these 2 types of heaters is ventilation. Would this really be safe in an enclosed garage?

The heater I bought said "vent free" on the box. There was never a time in the 8 years I lived in that house that I had an issue with fumes. The garage was attached to the house too. I did a lot of work in the garage during the winters so I ran the heater a lot, never an issue.

And to be honest, if you have a roll up garage door, you are going to have a small amount of fresh air constantly being vented because there is no way to tightly seal the door along the sides.

--Joe

 

[toyotadriver]

I have a Mr. Heater vented garage heater and love it. It's in my future shop. My current shop is heated with a torpedo kerosene/diesel heater or a kerosene tower heater. It was nice at one time because in my younger days I spent a lot of time working on vehicles outside or in a drafty and uninsulated shop. However, I really hate unvented heaters and once I move to the new shop (gotta sell my current house and build a new house first) then I plan to never again have an unvented heating system.

 

[Scott NJ]

The heater I bought said "vent free" on the box. There was never a time in the 8 years I lived in that house that I had an issue with fumes. The garage was attached to the house too. I did a lot of work in the garage during the winters so I ran the heater a lot, never an issue.

And to be honest, if you have a roll up garage door, you are going to have a small amount of fresh air constantly being vented because there is no way to tightly seal the door along the sides.

--Joe

Do you have a link?

 

[Kurt V]

I am running this heater in my 20' x 20' garage with 8' ceilings, 1/2 of the garage is insulated. It does a great job. 220V, 30 amp circuit.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XOZN7A/?tag=atomicindus08-20

-Kurt

I just bought this off of Amazon and hope to get it installed this weekend. Hoping between this and a small propane heater I can start working in my newly insulated garage! Last weekend was in the teens and the propane heater and two 1500 watt electric heaters could barely get it up to 50 degrees!

 

[soapii]

Do you have a link?

I had a 25K BTU radiant Mr Heater in my 22x22x9 garage and it worked perfect. Garage was insulated and drywalled.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_25606_25606

--Joe

--Joe

 

[indomwe]

On the radiant is moisture a problem in your garage??

 

[JTG]

I picked up a heater like this last year and it's been great. My garage is 22x24 with 10' ceilings and it really heats it up well. I was looking to install a ceiling mounted unit myself but after the unit, gas plumbing, venting and running electric it was adding up and busting my budget. So I found this heater on craigslist for $40 and figured I'd give it a try. It heats the garage fast and doesn't use a lot of propane.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Dyna-Glo-50K-80K-LP-Convection-Heater-RMC-LPC80DG/202895381

 

[chevroletfreak]

cagullett and I seem to be in the exact same situation.
- 8' ceilings and minimum height
- attached garage concerns for proper ventilation

I too have been eyeballing heaters from Northern Tool as well.

My research:
The minimum height for the Big Maxx is listed in the installation manual as 8'. Additionally the noise of the fans seems to be a concern to most that have them. With the size of those units and noise to the family inside, I have removed them off my list.

This has moved me to the infrared tube systems...also from Northern Tool. In particular I am planning on purchasing the Sunstar 45k BTU. What I like about them is that they are much thinner to maximize headroom and they are much more efficient and completely silent. These are also the dual tube (or U-shaped) systems so the heat is more even from end to end. These also do not have an open flame so I feel slightly safer in the event of fumes. My only concern with them (besides price) is that I am not sure how well they will be able to disperse heat throughout the entire garage at low levels.

 

[y'sguy]

I have a 24 x 24 with 9 foot ceilings. before I put a ceiling in it and insulated and sheetrocked it-I installed a wall heater somewhat like this Although I actually got it at Lowes. It did a great job when the garage was bare. AND Now that it's all tight with insulated garage doors too it gets nice and comfy in there and I can dial it waaay down. It also has a thermostatic fan which can be turned off or on. I'm in Tulsa, Oklahoma so we know what humidity is as well, although this setup doesn't have that problem at all.
At first I was against having a wall heaters but I think it outdoes my BIL's by a mile.
Also my neighbor asked me about it and went out an got one too. He loves it, has no insulation in his garage, just sheetrock.
If I were to have to replace this one now I would be able to buy the smaller version since I am now insulated so well. Also works with propane as an option.

 

[vartz04]

I have a Cadet the hot one 4000 watt electric heater. Keeps my 22*24 garage that is insulated at any temp I want it between 40 and 80. I usually leave it at 40 and kick it up to 55-60when I go out there

 

[Rigoberto]

I had a 25K BTU radiant Mr Heater in my 22x22x9 garage and it worked perfect. Garage was insulated and dry walled.

 

[BillK]

Cag,
Your garage sounds almost identical to the attached garage on my house except mine is a touch bigger, probably 25' wide and 22' deep. I have a 5000 W electric heater hanging on the wall and it works just great here in Maryland. Last night when I got home from the shop, I pulled in the garage, shut the door and turned the heater on. By the time I went inside and had a bite to eat it was 75 degrees in the garage. It was probably 30 outside. I have used this heater for at least ten years now and to be honest with you I cant see any difference at all in my electric bill. I have my ham radio stuff set up out there and an electronics work bench and I am out there almost every night for a couple of hours.

My garage has insulation in the walls but none in the ceiling. The door is a fairly new insulated steel door and it is sealed up pretty decent.

I will post a picture of the heater later on this evening. The same heater was on sale at Lowes last weekend for about $250

You will need a 220 volt outlet for it in the garage. I am lucky because my service entry and panel is in the garage and I just ran a circuit to an outlet for the heater.

No fuss, no mess, no chimneys and no moisture

Just a thought,

 

[Cjk]

I had a 25K BTU radiant Mr Heater in my 22x22x9 garage and it worked perfect. Garage was insulated and drywalled.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_25606_25606

--Joe

I have been using one like this in my garage, had it about 10 years. It heats a 24x32 nicely. I was concerned with carbon monoxide at first and put a detector in the garage. The alarm never went off.

 

[jvitez]

So, it sounds like you want intermiitant heat for 3 months a year. Assuming your garage is well insulated (if not, don't waste money on heating until it is), and that you live in humid Texas, you choices are forced air unit heaters or radiant heat, fueled by NG or electricity.

The proper way to decide is to determine your NG and electric rates, and the installed cost of each heater. NG will be cheaper to operate but more expensive to install. How long do you plan on staying in this house?

The cheapest capital cost and easiest install would be any 5kW forced air unit heater, like this:

http://www.ouellet.com/residential-heating-specs.aspx?i=17

You'll need a 30 amp dedicated circuit using 10/2 copper NM wire or equivalent in conduit or AC. I had a 4800 watt construction heater in my 22x24 well insulated garage here in Canuck Siberia and it heated fine.

Electric radiant heat is also possible, like this:

http://www.ouellet.com/residential-heating-specs.aspx?i=96

or this:

http://www.ouellet.com/commercial-heating-specs.aspx?i=21

Your NG options are either a small unit heater like Big Maxx, Sterling, or Reznor(30,000 btu will be fine, even 45K is too big if you're well insulated) or a radiant tube heater like this:

http://www.easyradiantworks.com/ezdoz.htm

Radiant is better than forced air, but the heaters are bigger and placement is critical, so you need to decide if your garage is in its final configuration, then do some basic calculations. Any heat is better than no heat!

 

[BillK]

Cag,
This is the one I have:

http://www.heater-home.com/product/muh35.aspx

Turned it on about a half hour ago. Its 35 Deg outside and both my Wife and I brought both of our cars in after they sat outside all day at work. After 30 minutes of running, it just turned off at a comfy 70 degrees

I will say that if you are going to run power, a mini split might be even better, especially since it will cool in the summertime

 

[cagullett1]

cagullett and I seem to be in the exact same situation.
- 8' ceilings and minimum height
- attached garage concerns for proper ventilation

I too have been eyeballing heaters from Northern Tool as well.

My research:
The minimum height for the Big Maxx is listed in the installation manual as 8'. Additionally the noise of the fans seems to be a concern to most that have them. With the size of those units and noise to the family inside, I have removed them off my list.

This has moved me to the infrared tube systems...also from Northern Tool. In particular I am planning on purchasing the Sunstar 45k BTU. What I like about them is that they are much thinner to maximize headroom and they are much more efficient and completely silent. These are also the dual tube (or U-shaped) systems so the heat is more even from end to end. These also do not have an open flame so I feel slightly safer in the event of fumes. My only concern with them (besides price) is that I am not sure how well they will be able to disperse heat throughout the entire garage at low levels.

I have decided against the Big Maxx as we do not plan to stay in the house more than 5-6 more years, and it is not something that I would be able to easily remove (mostly because of the required venting).

Because it is not FRIGID cold very often here, I've debated going the simplest route and buying a Mr. Heater Big Buddy and connecting it to a couple 20lb propane tanks.

My other 2 easy solutions is one of the 5kW forced air heaters, or a Pro Com Wall heater:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200485121_200485121

Concerns: The 5kW makes me wonder what could happen to my electric bill. The wall heater makes me concerned about moisture.

 

[y'sguy]

The one you have listed from Northern tool is similar to the one I have that I mentioned in my earlier post. You might check with a local Lowes or home depot out of convenience as well.

I don't quite understand your issues or concerns with the humidity? If you use a heater like this as an example-shouldn't it help to reduce the humidity? At least with the NG model.

Also I see no reason why you couldn't disconnect and take it with you if you move.

At any rate good luck, and get it warmed up in there. Makes all the difference in the world!

 

[nwav8tor]

cagullett and I seem to be in the exact same situation.
- 8' ceilings and minimum height
- attached garage concerns for proper ventilation

I too have been eyeballing heaters from Northern Tool as well.

My research:
The minimum height for the Big Maxx is listed in the installation manual as 8'. Additionally the noise of the fans seems to be a concern to most that have them. With the size of those units and noise to the family inside, I have removed them off my list.

This has moved me to the infrared tube systems...also from Northern Tool. In particular I am planning on purchasing the Sunstar 45k BTU. What I like about them is that they are much thinner to maximize headroom and they are much more efficient and completely silent. These are also the dual tube (or U-shaped) systems so the heat is more even from end to end. These also do not have an open flame so I feel slightly safer in the event of fumes. My only concern with them (besides price) is that I am not sure how well they will be able to disperse heat throughout the entire garage at low levels.

I have a BigMaxx NG heater in my garage and am happy with it. The fan, while you can hear it, is not what I call noisy. It's ceiling mounted and only about 10-12 feet from my bedroom and I don't hear it from the bedroom when it's running.

As for the minimum mounting height, my building inspector only required the bottom of the unit to be higher than the highest point of the garage door opening to insure that a vehicle couldn't hit it and damage the gas line.

FWIW,
Paul

 

[cagullett1]

I have a BigMaxx NG heater in my garage and am happy with it. The fan, while you can hear it, is not what I call noisy. It's ceiling mounted and only about 10-12 feet from my bedroom and I don't hear it from the bedroom when it's running.

As for the minimum mounting height, my building inspector only required the bottom of the unit to be higher than the highest point of the garage door opening to insure that a vehicle couldn't hit it and damage the gas line.

FWIW,
Paul

Paul,

This is the only issue we are running into with lower ceilings. There is only about 12" of room between my ceiling and the highest point of the garage door opening so the 45k Big Maxx NG heater would be out for me.

 

[cagullett1]

The one you have listed from Northern tool is similar to the one I have that I mentioned in my earlier post. You might check with a local Lowes or home depot out of convenience as well.

I don't quite understand your issues or concerns with the humidity? If you use a heater like this as an example-shouldn't it help to reduce the humidity? At least with the NG model.

Also I see no reason why you couldn't disconnect and take it with you if you move.

At any rate good luck, and get it warmed up in there. Makes all the difference in the world!

Some of the heaters mentioned have to have venting ran either through the wall or through the roof to the outside. Given this fairly permanent installation, I'm not sure it would be worth removing unless I just left the ventilation and put a cap over the hole in the garage ceiling.

Many on here have discussed how NG combusts with ogygen creating water/condensation. If you are curious, he is a decent explanation how this occurs:
http://www.arizonaenergy.org/Analysis/FossilFuels/By-products%20of%20burning%20Natural%20Gas.htm

The only way of getting around this issue and use NG, is having a vent connected to the heater.

 

[y'sguy]

holy moly, my eyes glazed over by the 3rd paragraph. Maybe it's from the unvented heater in my garage!
Science on the internet wins again. I guess I learned something new!
Sounds like your in a dilema though, hope you come up with a good solution.

 

[cagullett1]

Is the moisture a measureable issue, or just a scientific notion that most blow out of proportion?


It's down to:

Fahrenheat 5000W (no moisture, least cost effective):
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_595_595

Mr. Heater Big Buddy (simplest/temporary solution):
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200307957_200307957

Pro Com ventless (moisture concerns):
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200485121_200485121

One interesting thing about the Fahrenheat electric heater is that 5000W converts to only 17k BTU. It seems that people have been very happy with this heater, but it seems like the BTU conversion is low. Is the Big Buddy really more powerful?

WHY DO I ALWAYS OVERTHINK THINGS!?

 

[jvitez]

Well, for $120 I'd get the Big Buddy and see how it goes. If it puts too much moisture on your tools/walls/stuff, you can always sell it and get a 5KW electric heater and wire it in. It can be a selling point when you move: Bonus! Heated garage! Buy this house!

Yes, 5KW is 17Kbtu. 1 watt=3.413 btu.