floor heat or hanging heater???

[tankwilson]

Floor heat or hanging heater???? building a 30x32 garage.

Thanks

 

[Bojans]

Depends on how you want to use it. If you intend to always keep the garage at a constant temp then in floor is by far the way to go, but if you want to keep it cool and just bump the heat up while you are working forced air is the way to go. In my experience in floor is considerably more expensive but in many cases well worth it.

 

[1969]

Did you not post this twice ?

 

[tdkkart]

I'll go for the "it depends" answer also.
If you intend to heat full time go with floor heat, if you're only looking for occasional heat go with the hanging heat.
Floor heat done is a bit more money, although it doesn't have to be done all at once so it's a bit easier to piece together. The tubing and insulation for the floor won't cost much to do now.

I see you're in Iowa, PM me with your location, if you're close I can show you my floor heat setup.

 

[SuperchargedWS6]

In floor heat is nicer, but even if you will keep it heated the whole time, the other thing to remember is you have a boiler and there is constant maintenance to it (checking pressures, bleeding the system, etc) not to mention more work to put it in and higher material costs.

My neighbor went with in-floor heat, I went with a readiant heater. Even after working in his garage, if I did it all over again, I'd probably still go with a radiant heater.

 

[tdkkart]

In floor heat is nicer, but even if you will keep it heated the whole time, the other thing to remember is you have a boiler and there is constant maintenance to it (checking pressures, bleeding the system, etc) not to mention more work to put it in and higher material costs.

Hmmmm???
I'm about to enter my 3rd winter with my system, and from what I can see the maintenance is going to be zilch. I've made a couple mods to mine, including tripling the initial size and changing the heat source, but those were my doings. Other than the initial filling there is no bleeding, and unless you have leaks you set the pressure once and it's done. My system hasn't run since March, I can go out today, flip the switch, and it'll run all winter by itself.
I wouldn't trade my system for anything unless it was free and ran for free.

 

[chevelle64]

Hmmmm???
I'm about to enter my 3rd winter with my system, and from what I can see the maintenance is going to be zilch. I've made a couple mods to mine, including tripling the initial size and changing the heat source, but those were my doings. Other than the initial filling there is no bleeding, and unless you have leaks you set the pressure once and it's done. My system hasn't run since March, I can go out today, flip the switch, and it'll run all winter by itself.
I wouldn't trade my system for anything unless it was free and ran for free.

Completely agree. I love my in-floor heat AND I have zero maintenance.

 

[Keep]

I have a hanging heater, I only turn it on while I am in the garage, takes about 15 minutes to heat to "workable" temps. Only issue is, if you are working near the floor, its cold. I would love to have a heated floor to work on/over keeps your feet toasty as well.

 

[Keep]

Oh yeah, its much much much easier to add a hanging heater later then to re-pour your pad for in floor heating.

I would at least have the pipes run for the in floor heating, either way.

 

[tankwilson]

Thanks guys for all the info. I was thinking about just running the pipes and insulation for now but that seems to be the expesive part. $26.00 a sheet for insulation... and i need 32 just for the floor. I figure i will have $2000 in the complete setup. I am trying to build this garage on a budget and not sure if i want to spend that much $$ right now. I'm still not sure what to do.

 

[Kevin54]

I used the furnace out of our house when we put in a new one and never had any problems with it. I did buy a new hanging furnace that I was going to use in the house garage but decided to put it in my garage after I tore out a wall. I just need to get it hooked up now. Hopefully it will work out just as well. The house furnace that i had in the garage was originally a downdraft furnace as we are on a crawlspace. When I mounted it I built it up on a platform and then built a closet off of that and had the furnace in there. The registers were cut in to where the heat would blow across the concrete. That combined with two ceiling fans would keep it nice and toasty and no problems with cold concrete. Just something to think about.

Here is a pic of the closet with the furnace ducts showing at the bottom and the fresh air return at the top. The wall between the bays is now out and I have a hanging furnace in the place of where the closet was. I'll have to get an updated pic of the furnace hanging. I had to build down the soffit so I could run a horizontal flue out thru the wall and get it far enough below the eve of the garage.

 

[tdkkart]

Thanks guys for all the info. I was thinking about just running the pipes and insulation for now but that seems to be the expesive part. $26.00 a sheet for insulation... and i need 32 just for the floor. I figure i will have $2000 in the complete setup. I am trying to build this garage on a budget and not sure if i want to spend that much $$ right now. I'm still not sure what to do.

Well, whatever you do, don't skimp on the insulation, and don't let anyone tell you you can have a heated floor without insulation under it.
If you can swing it, do the insulation and tubing in the floor now and do the rest later.

 

[tankwilson]

Yea i plan on alot of insulation either way. Will probably do a furnace or hanging heater setup. Hey if i get a furnace installed how hard will it be to hook up an AC unit later???

 

[JC23]

I wuz asking the same question for my next garage about a year off. One buddy tried to tell me I shouldn't use floor heat cuz all the guys he knows with it all fall asleep on the creeper when they go under the car. Pul-e-e-eze!

As I will have an office, I'm thinking in-floor with two zones.

 

[NUTTSGT]

You're in Iowa, how about a corn burner ?