Need Recommendations for Temporary Heat

[Skellyii]

Just moved into my last house a couple of weeks ago. I bought it for the oversized three car garage, approx 900 sq ft, 12 ft ceilings. The long term plan is to install either a higher end mini-split, or a cheaper mini-split supplemented by a natural gas heater.

However, I need something to get me by right now as I outfit the garage with cabinets, workbenches, and start maintaining our vehicles. The walls and ceiling are insulated, but 2 of 3 of the current garage doors are not, and they're not expected to be delivered for another 4-5 weeks.

I don't have 220v yet, the plan is for a subpanel to be added, but that's another month or so away. I do have a separate 20A 120 circuit that could be used.

I don't need fulltime heat, just heat for the days I'm working in there, I'm comfortable working around 50-55 degrees.

Possible propane with a blower? Something that doesn't require venting. This is an attached garage, and codes in my area do not allow wood/pellet or attaching to the home HVAC system.

Suggestions?

 

[PoorUB]

Knipco style heaters can be found in kerosene and LPG models, but they stink. As well as the wick type kerosene heaters. Depending where you have a 230 volt outlet in the house you could buy a heavy cord and a larger electric portable heater and plug it into the range of dryer outlet.

 

[Junkdrawer Dog]

I used propane for emergency heat just to avoid the stink factor. As a plus, you can always use the bottles for your grill.

 

[joel_400]

I've always heated the garage with a cheapo used salamander heater. I've found if you have k1 close by its not bad at all. The red kerosene stinks. But premium on road diesel fuel works pretty good too as far as I'm concerned. It has smell to it but it will make heat. It's tolerable if you've worked in a shop all your life as I have but the wife doesn't care for it much. Just my two cents. Good luck
Joel

 

[PWC Repair]

I have had one like this for years--->https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dyna-Glo...05169f7443291b338604fcfbae0fb01e&gclsrc=3p.ds

I use it when I want to bring shop temp up quickly by 5-10 degrees. Point a small fan in your direction and go to work. Lots of misinformation BS on these stinking. They only stink for the first minute or so after you light it while it heats up. If it's stinking constantly then it's NOT burning right and probably has a bad wick. You can also buy additive so it makes the whole place smell like potpourri or pine or.....whatever. Mine will go a solid 8 hours on one gallon of Kerosene.

 

[sonoronos]

900 square feet, 12 foot ceilings is a very large space.

For temporary heat in a partially insulated 24x24 garage in Minnesota winters, I have only ever used propane. I usually cracked one garage door a few inches open to exhaust any CO2 and CO accumulation. Heat loss was immaterial as my ceiling was not insulated.

I tried smaller "cannon" style forced air propane heaters with less than 60k BTU. I found that these did not work well enough to heat the garage.

I tried an 80k BTU convection propane space heater (the kind without a circulating fan) and it worked much better than the smaller forced air units. The only downside is that you have to respect the minimum standoff distance between the heater and any flammables as the flame seems more "open" if you get my meaning.

I would say that the 80k BTU was about the bare minimum for me for a 24x24. I would look at something with >80k for a garage your size.

 

[nadogail]

Temporarily Barbecue in your shop.

 

[Skellyii]

Temporarily Barbecue in your shop.

Well...considering I live in the KC area, where we have the best BBQ in the world, that's not a completely bad suggestion.

 

[Jackfre]

Rinnai EX38 will do the job. Simple install and a permanent install. It will eliminate the need for “temporary heat”.

 

[Nvrplzd]

In this situation My first go would be a salamander, however if you’re wanting to go different routes without 220 I’d suggest one or two oil filled radiant heaters to supplement?

 

[jeep63]

I use 1 or 2 wick-type Kerosene heaters with K1 kerosene. I grew up with these heating our 'club basement' and have never noticed an odor. In fact, one of mine is the same one my Dad used in our basement! They will smell when you turn them off or when they 'burn dry', but that is all; at least I don't notice otherwise. I also crack a window when using them. I only use 2 in late January/February when it is pretty cold, or if I want to heat up the garage fast. I have a box fan high in the corner that I run on low to move air. it helps keep the heat distributed, and with your ceiling height you want something or the heat will all be up high.

Your space is much larger than mine though, but this is a temporary solution that may work.

 

[ducatithunder]

I would grab a 75Kbtu or larger forced air blower. Sell it when your unit comes. These will burn a varity of fuel from K1 to diesel. I have mine tuned to run on diesel. It doesn't stink if tuned correctly. I think most that complain about the smell or a itchy throat likely never adjusted the fuel pressure or have issues with the burner. Grab a CO alarm if your worried about not having a door open or ventilation. That is going to be your best bang for your buck for heating. Given they are on the louder side but you will only need to run it long if you have insulation. Mine heats up my 1300 sqft garage up in less than 15 min. Then I turn it off. I had to heat the garage to cure some epoxy on a table for a couple days. I let the thermostat maintain 65deg and it stop and started as needed. No issues.

 

[PoorUB]

Temporarily Barbecue in your shop.

Well...considering I live in the KC area, where we have the best BBQ in the world, that's not a completely bad suggestion.

As rediculous as it sounds a propane BBQ grill would probably do it, but get a CO detector and open the door a bit!

 

[drmarkr]

Torpedo. My 150kbtu heats my 40x45x16 in 10-15 minutes when outside temp is 30 (we don't get a lot lower than that in Tucson). But a 75k is going to turn your space into an oven in half that time, no matter the outside temps.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Unvented propane releases a LOT of moisture into your space.

 

[PoorUB]

Unvented propane releases a LOT of moisture into your space.

One reason to open the door a bit.

I wouldn't recommend the BBQ grill to heat the place, but if he has one, and just needs some temp heat for a few weeks it would work.

I worked on construction sites with million BTU non-vented LPG heaters just blasting away in the space and the only fresh air was when someone walked through the door. Very common for construction. It was ugly!

 

[dcg9381]

Unvented propane releases a LOT of moisture into your space.

Seems to be a regional problem. I've used 20k and 30k ventless propane heaters with great success...

 

[dave*99]

Temporarily Barbecue in your shop.

I tried using my NG grill right outside my fully open garage door. The CO alarm in the garage went off before I put dinner on the grill.
It's a Weber Summit in good condition and appears to operate normally.

 

[dave*99]

We used this to heat the garage up to about 90 when mudding drywall. Big garage. Little smell - basically none.

 

[Lightning rod]

I you are not trying to heat the whole garage but just an area where you are working,
I use two of these on my workbench area
i have a 3 car uninsulated garage and it gets cold here in January but I can cope for a couple hours at a time

https://www.costco.com/presto-heatdish-plus-tilt-parabolic-heater.product.100805849.html

i have been saying that I will insulate one day for 25 years

 

[4x4Pete]

I you are not trying to heat the whole garage but just an area where you are working,
I use two of these on my workbench area
i have a 3 car uninsulated garage and it gets cold here in January but I can cope for a couple hours at a time

https://www.costco.com/presto-heatdish-plus-tilt-parabolic-heater.product.100805849.html

i have been saying that I will insulate one day for 25 years

This is a excellent idea!!
I forgot that I used a couple of these before insulating my shop. They actually work well for close heating. I used them to keep me warm rather than trying to heat the space. It was around -5F. I kept two of them pointing at me or set up close by to stand near to warm up while installing electrical boxes and wiring. Worked pretty good!

 

[Jackfre]

The moisture release is real, but in a cold climate where everything is so dry a bit of moisture can be beneficial. Of course then one day you walk into the garage and there is a puddle in your tool box drawers. One gallon of lp, oil or NG will release about a gallon of water, so a 30kbtu vent free will give a qt+