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Quietest forced air garage heater

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gsuit11

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Aug 11, 2010
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So I've been the owner of a Modine hot dawg HD60 for the last 6 years that I use to heat my insulated unattached 2 1/2 car garage. Its a great heater, the one issue I have with it is the fan noise. I spend a lot of time working in the garage and would be willing to sell it and buy a new heater if I knew that the fan would be quieter. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I am considering either a mr heater big maxx 50,000BTU or a beacon/morris 45,000 BTU.

Thanks guys,
Gabe
 
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Showkey

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Think they are all about the same for noise as they all use a similar design and often share many of the moving parts. The noise comes from the combustion blower and the heat circulation fan.
 
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yeldogt

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I use an Empire Sealed Combustion propane unit to heat my 1700sf studio 37-40k BTU's -- it uses a double squirrel cage blower. Makes some clicking noises and you can hear the fan -- they are designed for interior use so it's not very loud.. Rinnai make a modulating one.

They look like a narrow cabinet -- mine sits on the floor -- outside wall w/ concentric vent through the wall. They are very easy to install. The heat blows out of the bottom and across the floor.

Mine was around 2k .. so about twice the cost of a typical utility unit
 
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D45

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My old HD 45k was pretty quiet....

I just installed a HD 75k and in 2 months I will see how it compares
 
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gsuit11

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thanks for all of the feedback. Based on D45's comment, is it safe to assume that the less BTU's put out, the less noisy the circulation fan??? All of the heaters Im looking at are 45,000-50,000 BTUS. My hot dawg is 60,000 BTUs and I'm starting to wonder if that is why its so loud. Ive been reading reviews on Mr. Heater Bigmaxx and beacon/morris heaters that are 50,000 BTU's and under and people claim that they are fairly quiet. I wish I knew someone with a less powerful heater that I could compare my modine to
 
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D45

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My old 45K used a 1/15 hp and 1,550 rpm motor

A 60k has a 1/12 hp and 1,625 rpm motor

With the larger motor, the fan also increase......I believe the 45k uses a 10" and the 60k jumps to a 14"

Is yours heater loud like it is not mounted solid or is the fan motor loud?
 
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gsuit11

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Its just loud as in the fan is loud, its mounted directly to joists with 1/2 inch drywall in between. No vibration or rattling whatsoever. My fear is that if I by a Mr. Heater or Beacon/morris, it will rattle and vibrate, I also have been reading stories of other heaters fans being out of balance and hearing all sorts of other annoying noises. My modine is great, I would hate to buy a different heater because of the loud fan and end up dealing with all of the above issues.
 
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D45

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Check the back of the heater and make sure the fans mounting screws are tight
 
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G

gsuit11

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Just did, they are. Im fairly certain its not an issue, its just a generally loud heater.
 
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finn

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I suspect that you'll have to go to a house type downdraft furnace, mounted above the work area, with a variable speed motor and ducting to make a substantial improvement to the sound level.
 
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Jackfre

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It is surprising how the audio side impacts comfort.The quietest gas product is the Rinnai Energysaver. For your space, assuming good doors, windows, insulation, for 2 1/2 bay garage I'd go with an EX22 8,200-21,500 BTU, 33-42 dB(A). Now, as you don't indicate where you are (Minot or Miami) you might need a bit more and that would be the EX38. 13,200-38,000 btu,39-46 dB(A). Simple install, bulletproof in operation and extremely durable. Pricey, but you get what you pay for.
 
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James-W

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I suspect that in order to get a super quiet heating system for your garage you will need to spend some big bucks. I have a Hot Dawg 60K heater in my garage and I don't find the noise level to be all that loud. It does make some noise but I don't find it to be excessive. I can talk normally to someone and when they talk I can hear them just fine.
 
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gsuit11

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So to follow up with my first post, I replaced my 60,000 BTU Modine Hot Dawg with a 45,000 beacon morris. It was the smartest decision I've ever made. First off, I have realized the benefit in the proper sized heater for square footage. The hot dawg was simply too large for my 3 car garage. It moved air to quickly and powerful through the space, creating a luke warm breeze and short cycling often. It was louder than the bejesus. The beacon morris blower fan is sooooo quiet, hardly even notice it running in the garage. The air coming from the heater is not moving as quickly and forcefully, making the garage feel much warmer, the heat coming from the unit is pretty intense. I also think the beacon morris is a hell of a deal because of the separate combustion feature. I ordered the concentric vent kit and could not be happier considering I use a lot of solvents in the garage. If anyone is considering the beacon morris heater sold at Menards, I would say go with it.
 
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yeldogt

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gsuit11 said:
So to follow up with my first post, I replaced my 60,000 BTU Modine Hot Dawg with a 45,000 beacon morris. It was the smartest decision I've ever made. First off, I have realized the benefit in the proper sized heater for square footage. The hot dawg was simply too large for my 3 car garage. It moved air to quickly and powerful through the space, creating a luke warm breeze and short cycling often. It was louder than the bejesus. The beacon morris blower fan is sooooo quiet, hardly even notice it running in the garage. The air coming from the heater is not moving as quickly and forcefully, making the garage feel much warmer, the heat coming from the unit is pretty intense. I also think the beacon morris is a hell of a deal because of the separate combustion feature. I ordered the concentric vent kit and could not be happier considering I use a lot of solvents in the garage. If anyone is considering the beacon morris heater sold at Menards, I would say go with it.
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Glad it worked out .. sizing is so important. Bigger is not better .... with NG available a proper sized heater maintaining a garage space does not cost very much to operate .........like the BM units and always go sealed combustion. Putting some effort into getting the building sealed up is the answer over a larger unit. People don't understand that a large unit with standard combustion is creating negative pressure in the space -- it's making drafts -- bringing in cold air that then must be heated. Big heaters also overheat the air -- the higher the ceiling the more stack effect in the space -- this also ***** in more outside air if the garage is not tight.
 
T

trythis

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kTHREE said:
Why are infrared heaters so widely ignored on this forum?
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Dunno:headscrat, I have an overhead radiant and it barely makes any noise at all, doesn't blow dust around, has fresh air intake so fumes don't damage the burner tube, and makes everything in the shop warm. It feels like you are out in the sun when its on. I love it.

If you have a 7ft ceiling, not gonna work though.
 
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Brian_WK

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kTHREE said:
Why are infrared heaters so widely ignored on this forum?
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Ceiling height and terrible recovery when the doors get opened are the 2 main issues. They are great in a shop when you never open the big doors, as they warm objects not the air. It has comparable recovery as infloor heat.

Brian
 
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burleyfarm

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Brian_WK said:
Ceiling height and terrible recovery when the doors get opened are the 2 main issues. They are great in a shop when you never open the big doors, as they warm objects not the air. It has comparable recovery as infloor heat.



Brian
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This is not entirely correct. The objects and floor retain heat when doors are opened. There is little heat loss from the objects and floor, just the incoming air is cold. Recovery time is excellent. No hot air blowing through the shop. Just a quiet hum of the burner and exhaust fan. Once the doors are closed the stored heat from objects and the floor help the space to recover its temp along with the radiant tube operating. I heated a 1000 sf garage with one in northern Michigan and found it to be second only to in floor radiant heat. I set my system up with a digital, seven day programable thermostat. Set at a consistent 40 degree Fahrenheit. Thirty minutes before I wanted to work in the garage I would set the desired temp and it worked great. I programmed the thermostat with 4 hour increments so that no matter what it would always return to 40 degrees after 4 hours, unless I set it to "Hold".

Height is a problem with ceiling hung tubes. The higher the better. Mine was 10' and it would have been more efficient if it was higher. Hope this helps.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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kTHREE

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burleyfarm said:
Height is a problem with ceiling hung tubes. The higher the better. Mine was 10' and it would have been more efficient if it was higher. Hope this helps.
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Did you mount it above center or a ceiling corner at a 45 degree angle?
I'll be in this semi same situation shortly but I have 11' ceilings in a 640 sq ft garage. Thinking of mounting it on the back wall ceiling facing down at a 45 towards the front of the garage/middle of floor.
 
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burleyfarm

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kTHREE said:
Did you mount it above center or a ceiling corner at a 45 degree angle?
I'll be in this semi same situation shortly but I have 11' ceilings in a 640 sq ft garage. Thinking of mounting it on the back wall ceiling facing down at a 45 towards the front of the garage/middle of floor.
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My garage was 30' deep by 36' long so I mounted it lengthwise. I used a 30' tube. It hung straight down due to the shape of the walls in the garage. I would have hung it on a 45 degree angle if I could have. A word of caution. The first section of tube gets very hot. You won't be able to park a vehicle under the first section unless you angle it. You'll want to check the clearance chart before you decide.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
K

kTHREE

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MN
burleyfarm said:
My garage was 30' deep by 36' long so I mounted it lengthwise. I used a 30' tube. It hung straight down due to the shape of the walls in the garage. I would have hung it on a 45 degree angle if I could have. A word of caution. The first section of tube gets very hot. You won't be able to park a vehicle under the first section unless you angle it. You'll want to check the clearance chart before you decide.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
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