Block Garage Needs a Real Heater

[-Brent-]

Block Garage Needs a Real Heater - Salamander is Trying to Kill Me!

I've put it off long enough!

Here's the story:

My garage is 506 sq feet. Half the shop has a low, eight-foot ceiling where there's an insulated attic above. The other side is open and the ceiling height goes up to 14ish feet max. Door is insulated, too. I did what I could to help out but the CMU block walls just let out the heat. So, whatever I have in there will probably keep running.

It's cold in there and my kerosene/diesel salamander/torpedo heater is going to kill me. This morning I am really feeling the effects of being out there for a few hours. I want to work out there and not have to deal with the CO, the fumes, and the cost.

I've been searching and reading but I'm not certain what would be the best for my situation.

When I wired the shop, I planned for a heater. So, the wall space and wiring are set up with 220.

I'm considering an electric heater or a mini-split.

With the coldest month in Utah coming, I'd like to put in something that will take the edge off.

January's average is 25 degrees.

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I'm not going to insulate any further. I'll have to deal with the shop as it is.

 

[Jagmandave]

No natural gas?

Electric heat in there will probably be pretty expensive, even a mini-split won't be very efficient in that kind of cold, especially at night.

If you have nat gas, then a Hot Dawg or similar will make that place nice and cozy for reasonable gas cost.

 

[-Brent-]

No natural gas?

Electric heat in there will probably be pretty expensive, even a mini-split won't be very efficient in that kind of cold, especially at night.

If you have nat gas, then a Hot Dawg or similar will make that place nice and cozy for reasonable gas cost.

Our home is natural gas but there is nothing run to the garage. I'd rather not run a line and redo irrigation lines and such.

I know it's not an ideal situation. I just need something better than running a torpedo.

 

[AldeanFan]

Re: Block Garage Needs a Real Heater - Salamander is Trying to Kill Me!

I have a block garage and the trick is to keep it warm all the time.
Once those blocks get warm they stay warm, when they’re cold they stay cold and it takes a lot of energy to warm them up.

The first winter I heated my garage I would let it cool down to just above freezing when I wasn’t out there and only turned up the heat when I was working. The furnace ran almost and would short cycle and the walls never got warm.
The second winter I just left or at 64F and my heating bill went down and it was always warm to work out there.


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[Don1357]

Depending on how you work there (moving around vs. fairly stationary). an infrared radiant heater will keep you toasty, is like being under a warming lamp. The nice thing is that it is heat on demand: it costs more to heat but not if you are doing sporadically.

Even at 25f dressing for success and pumping a bit of heat goes a long way.

 

[marinusdees]

Our home is natural gas but there is nothing run to the garage. I'd rather not run a line and redo irrigation lines and such.

I know it's not an ideal situation. I just need something better than running a torpedo.

If you want to rule out natural gas, why did you ask??

 

[-Brent-]

If you want to rule out natural gas, why did you ask??

Because I was considering electric or a mini split.

Because I don't want to run a gas line... for $ reasons, for tearing the **** out of my yard/irrigation/avoiding the sewer main line and my power running to the shop reasons and because our cold season isn't long enough. 2 months is pretty much all I need to take the edge off....

... and also, because my first consideration was to come to this end of the forum and search out a solution. There are a lot of great minds, here.

 

[PugetDude]

Brent, I went with a hybrid mini-split in my 3-car garage shop; we used a Mitsubishi compressor outside and a conventional air handler feeding an exposed 14" overhead trunk duct with registers. It cools the space right down in the summer and warms it up even quicker in the winter. The ductwork really spreads the conditioned air around the room quickly.
Easy install, only took the installers a day.
Turned a garage that was unusable in the summer into a comfortable place to work year-round.

 

[GraySkies]

If you want the cleanest air with no moisture problems and such, no fumes, and no oxygen depletion, I would suggest a sealed combustion propane heater. These units also do not create negative pressure in the building, so they work more efficiently. You will have to get your propane filled up periodically, but for a space that small it won't be very often. If it pulls combustion air from outside, and exhausts outside, you will feel much better.

You're probably looking at some thousands of $ for a pro installation, though, so perhaps that's a show-stopper...

Mini-splits also seem to be popular, but I don't have any experience with them. There is no need for air conditioning where I live.

 

[jvitez]

How about electric radiant heat? Quiet, comfortable as it heats you and objects directly, can be used intermittently, no blowing dust around the garage.

What size electric wire/breaker do you have wired in for a heater? Do you have a subpanel?

Check out these options:

https://www.stelpro.com/en/products/radiance-cove-heater-scr/

https://www.stelpro.com/en/products/zenith-infrared-radiator-asirh/

 

[Shop Specialties]

Electric heaters are cheap and install is quick/easy.

 

[willhollin]

Set up the diesel heater outside in a weather proof shelter and duct the warm air in through the wall.

 

[D45]

What about a larger propane tank outside the garage?

Run a line from the tank to a hanging LP heater?

Just an idea

 

[Will S.]

Before you do anything, go to Lowes or HD and buy enough 4' x 8' x 2" thick foam board, and some caulk-gun tubes of adhesive, and insulated those block walls (and insulate the ceiling if it is not already.

If you don't do this, you will be throwing far more money away trying to keep it warm, than what the insulation project will cost. Far more.

 

[75gmck25]

I agree that foam board on the walls should help a lot, but I believe that to be code compliant you then need to install a flame barrier on top of the foam board. Drywall works fine, but then you need framing to support the drywall. Its a good solution, but takes quite a bit of work.

Bruce

 

[allinon72]

In your situation I wouldn't even consider electric, with what you describe it will be running constantly and will be very expensive. I know running a gas line ***** but the best way IMO is a regular ole unit heater.

 

[loganb]

Re: Block Garage Needs a Real Heater - Salamander is Trying to Kill Me!

If AC is a desire minisplit is how I would go. If its not as important a propane heater running on a 100 lb cylinder is how I would do it, would definitely get one that vents exterior vs an internal vent. The internal vents are easy to install but put a ton of moisture into the air which could cause problems when the heat goes off and things start condensing.

Almost all heaters that can run nat gas can be converted to propane so when you run the gas line in thr future you just get the conversion kit and go. Reznor and HotDawg are two very common brands, look up sealed combustion chamber units as they give extra piece of mind IMO for Grage junkies like us who may have some fumes in thr space at times. Think the Reznor model I was looking at prior to moving was the UDAP 30 or 45



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[ericm]

Mini splits lose heating efficiency as the outside temp drops. One that is 8x efficient at 55 degrees might be only 3x at 35. But it's still better than the maximum of 1x for direct electric heat.

Some minis do better at low temps than others. If you want to use a mini, check the specs carefully, along with your weather data. If you want to run a manual J calc to figure out the capacity you'll need, there's one at loadcalc.net.

 

[dandan111]

We’re you thinking of a 5,000 watt hanging heater?

 

[Will S.]

I agree that foam board on the walls should help a lot, but I believe that to be code compliant you then need to install a flame barrier on top of the foam board. Drywall works fine, but then you need framing to support the drywall. Its a good solution, but takes quite a bit of work.

Bruce

He could use 1" or 2" thick foam board from Lowes/H.D., then cover that with Comfortboard or a phenolic foam insulation board. Both are non-flammable, so would provide a code-approved insulation w/o framing.

But it might be cost effective to just frame out a non-load-bearing 24" O/C frame, glued or nailed to the block, and fill it with fiberglass roll insul, and a quick and dirty DIY sheetrock job. No spackling needed and half inch rock should be fine, since it's not a firewall separating garage from house?

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

I'd do everything you don't want to do, that is insulate and run a gas line. Depending on the situation the gas line can possibly be installed without much trenching.
IMO propane would be a better option than electric. If it's just a few hours, a couple times a month I'd go with a tank top unit.