120V garage heater

[VW KEVIN G]

I live in a condo in Northeast Ohio with no ability to run gas or 240V to the garage. I need to work with the standard outlet I have. The garage is an attached, one car unit. 22x13x9 with an insulated ceiling and garage door. Not sure about whether the one outside wall is insulated or not.
Can anyone recommend a heater that I can use to make the garage comfortable enough to work in during the winter? I cannot spend any more than a couple hundred bucks but I am still open to more expensive options if those options merit the extra money. I know this is most likely a tough order but thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Mystic142]

You better have more than one circuit available. My 2 cents says you will need a minimum of three. The best 120v heaters I have seen give 5K BTU 1800 watts.

 

[Gary S]

Electric heaters are pretty much all created equal. They are all 100% efficient. You can spend $30 or $300 and you get the same heat from them if they have the same wattage rating.
But, as already stated, the best you can expect from an electric heater on 120v is 5,000 btu. It will take quite a bit of time in a decently insulated garage for 5,000 btu to warm it up.

 

[Icky1911]

I've got a 28x30 fully insulated garage along with a 18ft insulated garage door. I use electic heat (220V) and its pretty expensive. I just picked up a propane torpedo heater and it works great. I fire it up for 30-45 minutes and than shut it off and my garage holds the heat. Have you considered a propane heater?

 

[jvitez]

+1 on the propane heat. Can you confirm what you mentioned: you only have one circuit in the garage? 15 amps?

You're probably going to need a propane heater to use to warm up the place along with whatever 1500W plug in 120v heater you like. Once it's up to temp shut off the propane heater and keep the plug in heater going till you're finsihed in the garage. Don't leave a plug in heater on all the time in a garage.

Now, burning propane needs combustion air or you get gassed by carbon monoxide, but you can get in enough air by cracking the garage door an inch or two. Burning propane also puts quite a bit of moisture in the air, but I don't think you have much choice otherwise. You'd need a minimum of about 2500W to properly heat your space with electricity alone.

 

[darcyh]

How about a kerosene heater? The basic ones put out ~ 9000 btu and will run for about 12 - 14 hours on a gallon of kero. Last time I checked kerosene was selling for about $4 a gallon. Anyway you look at it a 120 volt heater will only do ~5000 btu. It's simply the law of physics.

 

[machine_punk]

At 110 volts, you are really talking about the equivalent of a hair dryer (with a slower motor), or a toaster (with a fan). That probably isn't going to help in Northern Ohio, deep in the winter.

If you are determined to try it, go to Ace Hardware and pick up a Milk House heater. The large one is $40, the small one is $20. Get the small one. All the working parts are IDENTICAL to the larger one, in a smaller casing (which is metal, by the way). Here's the one I picked up...
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Kev

 

[dave67fd]

You better have more than one circuit available. My 2 cents says you will need a minimum of three. The best 120v heaters I have seen give 5K BTU 1800 watts.

I think you need to redo your math slightly. 1800 watt heaters come in around
6k+ Btu's, are typically in wall type heaters and require a 20 amp circuit minimum. They are also fairly expensive.

For the OP your only heating 286 sq/ft, You could opt for a Infared heater as an option. Their relatively inexpensive and should heat your area reasonably well. The one thing i like about them the have a bit larger blower for distributing the heat quicker. http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200485278_200485278

2 small ceramic heaters at each end would easy warm your area as well but probably need seperate circuits. Consider a ceiling fan at your 9ft to keep the heat down.

 

[dave67fd]

We're installing a ceiling mounted heater in an attached double garage. The garage is wired for a ceiling heater with thermostat. Inside the electric box on the ceiling there are 2 sets of wires. Both are 120 volt. I'm assuming the other set, tied together with marets, are to carry power on to other fixtures. This is in a particularly cold part of the country, it seems strange that the builder used only 120 v for a heater. The circuit on the circuit breaker panel says 15 amps. Is there a way to use a 240 volt heater without running more wire from the cb panel? Any other options? We don't need a toasty warm heater, just looking to raise temp from -40 to say 0.

As a polite jesture, you will get many more responses to your question if you start your own thread on the subject.

Regards

 

[sixball]

The problem with a kero or torpedo style heater is the OP is in an attached garage in a condo. The fumes are going to get into the unit and possiblly other units. In a detached garage with no 220 you can run a torpedo to get things up to temp, shut the door, and run a kero heater to maintain temps. But again, with the OP being in an attached condo thats not possible.

With the small size of a 1 car garage, a propane dual top Mr. Heater should heat it well. I don't think they smell as bad as a torpedo or kero heater ? You could also use the Milk house heater along with the propane top to suplement the heat.

Just a suggestion to look into


Sixball

 

[dave67fd]

a propane dual top Mr. Heater should heat it well. I don't think they smell as bad as a torpedo or kero heater ?

Will heat well but they still produce as much CO2 and moisture for a given Btu as a torpedo or any other unvented heater. Blue flame wall heaters run @ 99% efficiency and are ok in the garage as long as it's not too tight. Know a guy that was put to sleep in his shop because of the Co2 and was awoken by the falling of his wrench from his hand. Was barely able to crawl out of his garage. As said, ok for bringing up to temp, Use a Co monitor as well.

 

[sixball]

Will heat well but they still produce as much CO2 and moisture for a given Btu as a torpedo or any other unvented heater. Blue flame wall heaters run @ 99% efficiency and are ok in the garage as long as it's not too tight. Know a guy that was put to sleep in his shop because of the Co2 and was awoken by the falling of his wrench from his hand. Was barely able to crawl out of his garage. As said, ok for bringing up to temp, Use a Co monitor as well.

That brings up another idea. With the attached garage, it should be possible to tap into the gas hookup from the Condo if that is allowed. Most water heaters are in or near the garage, and if gas, then there is a line to easily tap into.

I'm no electrican, but again would it be possible to run an extension cord from the 220 dryer hookup for a 220 garage heater? It too is probably located close to the garage.

And with it beingi an atached garage, it is likely isualated alot better than a detached unit, so I think heating it won't be to hard or expensive.

Sixball

 

[Falcon67]

Dual burner Mr. Heater - $100 @ Northern Tool
7.5 lb (30 gallon) propane tank - $100 more or less
Floor fan - $20 @ Walmart.

27K BTU heat output.

 

[#1SomeGuy]

My 1.5 car garage will stay ok to work in down to about -5c outside temperature with just a 120v heater...door is not insulated, nor are the two side walls. You have to wear a sweater or jacket but it's managable and the fingers don't get too cold.

Also if I'm working on like suspension or something on the vehicle, take the car for a little trip to warm it up, the heat from the engine when you park it and turn it off helps to warm things up faster.

 

[anthony666]

the part of canada i'm from we don't need heaters, the memory of the one warm day per year is enough to sustain us