eHeat anyone?

[AndrewBigA]

so my buddy that does ac & heating finally gave in & told me what he thinks i should buy. he kept trying to sell me a mitsubishi dual unit, heats & cools for $1,700 & then i would have to work out the installation with him as well, maybe detail his car. now is not the right time for anything expensive like that. im saving for an engagement ring & i just started to put away $ to prepare myself for snow storms.

he told me to get 3 of these uints & it will be good for the garage. i have 492 sq ft a few inches short of 18ft deep by 29ft wide.

can anyone explain how this system works & if its going to be good or not for my size garage.

does anyone have one?

should i buy? or wasste of money?

help,

thanks =)

 

[787B]

Linky no worky...

"You are not allowed to use the messenger feature on this board "

 

[trythis]

http://www.eheat.com/pages/Products.html

These things?

at 120 bucks on that web site for 450 watts x 3 your looking at around 5000 BTU.


Going here:
http://www.heatershop.com/btu_calculator.htm
I entered your shop and you really need a lot more than that for 30 degree temp change even with "great insulation" according to that calculator.

However, I have an uninsulated shop that the calculator said I would need 3x what I have. I have a 100K heater and it calls for 383K BTU. I keep my shop around 45 or 50, but my heater could certainly go higher, it hardly runs on the 70K btu setting.

 

[dankicksass]

Those wall mounted electric heater things look real gimmicky. That calculator said my similarly sized, poorly insulated front half of my garage would need 450k BTUs for a 35deg change without changing my insulation, which would put it at where I'd want it to max out in the winter on an average day. I'm not sure if I'm using it right. It suggests I'll (and you too) save a lot of heating costs by insulating better and putting in a proper ceiling, which is a no-brainer. The only insulation in my solid block shop with huge single-pane non-insulated divided lite windows is some paper faced fiberglass batt in the roof which is falling down and becoming a bother. Roof shingles are new, insulation is old, thanks last guy who owned the place. But insulation is kind of useless if your furnace doesn't work so I have to get on that first. 70deg this weekend so it got ignored Saturday.

 

[AndrewBigA]

Linky no worky...

"You are not allowed to use the messenger feature on this board "

sorry sorry. that was actually a link to a private message on a S2000 forum. sorry!

 

[trythis]

OK, no problem, but are those the heaters you meant?

 

[AndrewBigA]

OK, no problem, but are those the heaters you meant?

yes those are the ones i meant. waste of time to hook up 3 units instead of getting one real deal unit?

 

[trythis]

We need more info about your space. What part of the world do you live in? Have you heated it before with anything, did it work? What are you doing in the space? How much insulation, how many garage doors? How often is it opened and closed?

 

[787B]

I think the "eHeat" thing is pretty much a scam. The are just underpowered (450 Watt), overpriced ($120) electric space heaters very much like baseboard heaters. They have full pages ads in magazines like Popular Mechanics with ridiculous claims like "Save up to 50% on heating bills". Well, duh, use half the power and it will cost half as much because it puts out half the heat.

 

[AndrewBigA]

We need more info about your space. What part of the world do you live in? Have you heated it before with anything, did it work? What are you doing in the space? How much insulation, how many garage doors? How often is it opened and closed?

im in queens ny, 20 mins from manhatten. shop is a few inches shorter than 18ft deep X 20ft wide. a few feet less than 500 sq ft.
r19 on the ceiling but sheet rock not up yet. sheet rock will be up.
walls are cinder block.

I think the "eHeat" thing is pretty much a scam. The are just underpowered (450 Watt), overpriced ($120) electric space heaters very much like baseboard heaters. They have full pages ads in magazines like Popular Mechanics with ridiculous claims like "Save up to 50% on heating bills". Well, duh, use half the power and it will cost half as much because it puts out half the heat.

thanks. after looking at the site & reading things over with my father we think its like the same crappy baseboard heater that i removed from the wall.

i knew i should ask around on here first before buying anything.

thanks

ill search threads for 2 car garage heating options. let me see if i can find a thread on that.

Eheat = ummmmmmmmmmm no thanks.

 

[redsky49]

The "E-Heat" units are just resistance heaters, without any fan assistance. As you suspect, they are likely very similar to the electric baseboard you mention. As with any electric resistance heater, 1 watt equals 3.4 btuh, regardless however packaged.

The Mitsubishi unit sounds worthy of consideration. Far better heating efficiency and the benefit of summertime cooling, humidity control, air filtration, etc. If you are responsible for electric bills, the decision should be easy.

As long as you aren't exposing the unit to a lot of dust or spray painting, it would be a great choice, but that also applies to any equipment.

Be certain that the a proper load calculation is performed in order to correctly size the HVAC equipment.

As always, offered only as opinion

 

[AndrewBigA]

The "E-Heat" units are just resistance heaters, without any fan assistance. As you suspect, they are likely very similar to the electric baseboard you mention. As with any electric resistance heater, 1 watt equals 3.4 btuh, regardless however packaged.

The Mitsubishi unit sounds worthy of consideration. Far better heating efficiency and the benefit of summertime cooling, humidity control, air filtration, etc. If you are responsible for electric bills, the decision should be easy.

As long as you aren't exposing the unit to a lot of dust or spray painting, it would be a great choice, but that also applies to any equipment.

Be certain that the a proper load calculation is performed in order to correctly size the HVAC equipment.

As always, offered only as opinion

reason why i wont & cant spend $1,700 up front on the mitsubishi is because im putting money away for an engagement ring lol. im looking for a solution under $500 that will be good enough to keep the place 65 degrees. i dont need it to be any warmer in there.

im in the shop for at least 12 hrs a day.

 

[redsky49]

For a "scientific wild *** guess", lets assume 40 btuh/sq.ft.

500 sq. ft. x 40 btuh = 20,000 btuh. Plus let's add a 20% safety factor for warming the space back up to design following opening the garage door - say 24,000 btuh.

24,000 btuh = 7018 watts, or (5) dedicated 15 amp 110 V circuits!
3.42

Do you have the existing electrical capacity?

If I was in your position, I would select 2 or 3 1500 watt milk house heaters. These are cheap - less than $50 each - and should provide better service than some other units. They are easily portable, allowing you move them around, locating the heat source closest to the work area.

As with any space heater, these are potentially very dangerous. Be certain that you have tip-over protection, thermal cut out and that you follow the operating instructions particularly regarding placement away from combustibles. Don't use with extension cords.

An alternative would be a gas-fired ceiling hung unit heater. If you have gas, this would be a viable choice. Confer with your HVAC friend regarding a small Reznor heater, for instance. With a $500 budget this may be unlikely.

If you operate with flammables or explosive vapors, all bets are off!

My best advice would be a consultation with a heating expert to best determine your particular requirements.

Good luck with your project, and stay safe.

As always, offered only as opinion

 

[AndrewBigA]

For a "scientific wild *** guess", lets assume 40 btuh/sq.ft.

500 sq. ft. x 40 btuh = 20,000 btuh. Plus let's add a 20% safety factor for warming the space back up to design following opening the garage door - say 24,000 btuh.

24,000 btuh = 7018 watts, or (5) dedicated 15 amp 110 V circuits!
3.42

Do you have the existing electrical capacity?

If I was in your position, I would select 2 or 3 1500 watt milk house heaters. These are cheap - less than $50 each - and should provide better service than some other units. They are easily portable, allowing you move them around, locating the heat source closest to the work area.

As with any space heater, these are potentially very dangerous. Be certain that you have tip-over protection, thermal cut out and that you follow the operating instructions particularly regarding placement away from combustibles. Don't use with extension cords.

An alternative would be a gas-fired ceiling hung unit heater. If you have gas, this would be a viable choice. Confer with your HVAC friend regarding a small Reznor heater, for instance. With a $500 budget this may be unlikely.

If you operate with flammables or explosive vapors, all bets are off!

My best advice would be a consultation with a heating expert to best determine your particular requirements.

Good luck with your project, and stay safe.

As always, offered only as opinion

milk house heater? i dont like the idea of installing multiple units.

i detail cars so theres alot of chemicals in the shop. the chemicals are stored in the cabinets though but theres always spray bottles exposed.

i really do not want to put gas in the shop.

 

[AndrewBigA]

milkhouse heater will not work, just looked it up.

no way im wasting my money on that lol.

 

[787B]

Why won't the milkhouse heater work? They are $20 each and pump out a bona fide 1500 Watts of heat. I've used one for more than a decade in my bathroom so I don't have to heat my house up in the morning to get ready for work. Safe and reliable. Any of these Wallyworld heaters under $25 will do the job. You can usually pick them up for $5 at garage sales or off craigslist.

If you're budget is severely constrained and you don't want combustion heat, your choices are electric or electric. Though I think if you do the math on that 12 hours a day in the shop times the BTU/h needed times the cost of electricity, that $1700 is going to seem like a bargain after a Winter of paying the electric bill.

I used three different 1500 Watt heaters together in my marginally-insulated 900 sq-ft garage before I got a 30k BTU ventless propane heater. I still supplement that with a 5000 Watt (17,000 BTU) electric heater to get it quickly up to temp. I think I spent more on the CO detector than you would on milkhouse heaters...

If you have 220 Volt service and can put in a 30 Amp circuit, I'm selling a 5000 Watt Berko electric heater cheap.

 

[Falcon67]

You can buy a 5kW heater from just about any place for under $300 and that should heat the space reasonably. I have one in my 20x24 insulated and it has never been higher than "Low".

 

[AndrewBigA]

thanks guys for all of your help. ive made a final decision to go with this one:

G73

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=77982

this should work out fine for my garage. its not like it needs to be run 24 hrs a day. i wont need to leave it on over night unless it drops below 30 degrees lets just say. the shop will be warmer this year after the sheet rock is finally put up lol!