Garage Fans

[mercracing]

Merry almost Christmas all! I have a two car garage that is heated and insulated with 10’ ceilings. I don’t to a lot of work in the garage, but when I do I enjoy the heat in the winter. I know warm air rises and I should have a fan(s) to push the air down. On one half of the garage is a jeep top lift. My question is, will I be gaining much by putting some kind of fan(s) in to move the air around, or is it a minimal return and just leave things be. I could probably fit a normal ceiling fan if needed. The other option are those little fans that screw into light sockets. To be honest, not a huge fan of those but would be willing to use them if it was needed.

Thanks for the thoughts guys!

 

[billconner]

I don't believe with 10' you'll gain much comfort in cold weather. Air sealing and added insulation would likely gain more.

 

[bluedog225]

I went to a lot of effort to put a big ceiling fan in my garage. One of the fake big *** fans from Home Depot with the 10 foot span.

I don’t necessarily regret it, but it doesn’t do a lot for me. I would’ve been better served with some wall-mounted fans or some stand fans while I got accustomed to how air moved around the place.

 

[Racer_X]

In that small of a space, I don't believe a ceiling fan(s) will gain you much. A wall-mounted oscillating fan in a corner may help keep the temperature consistent, though.
As @billconner stated, insulation and sealing will give you the most benefit.

 

[Snip]

In my old garage in Colorado, (insulated, drywall 20x24X8) I had a wall mount 220v heater. Felt like it did almost nothing at all and took forever to even feel like it warmed up a little. I put a small, like 8 or 10" oscillating fan on low in one corner. I could not believe the difference, like night and day. Got warm much quicker and stayed very comfortable with the small volume of air movement. This may not be the results everybody will see but it is a very economical place to start.

 

[Shiftless]

At first I thought it was a crazy title. Aren’t we all…
GARAGE FANS ????

 

[BobnCO]

I almost always use a fan, even an inexpensive box fan will knock down the heat and even push some of the heat into the concrete..

 

[PhantomEB]

Just getting the air moving around is priceless in making it more pleasant out there.

I need to swap mine out for a reversible one. Might see if PA has that 60” one still kicking around.

 

[Spikes]

I have a small ceiling fan in my 2 car space, along with a mini-split heat / air unit. In the summer, the ceiling fan helps move air around, which helps sweat evaporate and has an additional cooling effect, in winter it doesn't seem to make any difference in either direction, so I leave it off.

 

[Smilodon]

I get great value from the ceiling fans in my shop, due to some of the reasons mentioned in earlier posts. But, I don't get much benefit in winter because the moving air (while slightly warmer near the ceiling) causes more of a cold feeling than just leaving them off. Of course, I'm in Florida, so know little of the effect in truly cold weather.

I'd say if you had a large, curved blade fan that could turn slowly, you might see a little improvement with those ceiling heights. The 6 blade and up fans I have had seem to be less effective than 5 or less blades in my experience. In fact, the ones that seem to work for me are *two* bladed. They have large, curved blades and can really move some air, particularly at slower speeds. At faster speeds, they are a little scary to watch!

 

[ArcticGabe]

I'm a big fan of fans. While the climate in the garage is well controlled with the furnace, getting the warm air down to the concrete is a big deal as it helps to add warmth to the floor while drying any puddles brought in from the vehicles.

 

[Recoveryman]

Mercracing: This is just a bit of my experience in my shop. I bought a used gas furnace (updraft type) and set it on a small frame just 6" off the floor. It pulls the cold air off the floor , goes up thru the furnace and shoots the air across the shop about head high. This works great. I found if you pull cold air off the floor , you keep your feet warm. That is the secret to comfort, not to try to push warm air down into a cushion of cold air on the floor, just pull the cold air off the floor, this keeps your feet warm. Good luck.
Recoveryman

 

[jmarkwolf]

When I completed my 28ft x 30ft detached shop in 2013, I was disappointed to find that the ceiling mounted 18KBTU Beacon Morris furnace would keep the upper 5feet of the room toasty but anything below my belt was cold.

I installed a Hampton Bay "aerodynamic" ceiling fan and it made all the difference. I leave it on low 24 hours and it has been running for 12 years now. It keeps the entire space cozy.

No noticeable draft, but it keeps the room very comfortable year-round.

The shop is also air-conditioned with a mini-split in the summer and the fan distributes the cool air nicely as well, except the mini-split is lousy at removing humidity..

I think I'll replace the fan because it sure doesn't owe me much running after running 24/7 for 12 years now.

Merry Christmas everybody.

 

[logical]

I suppose to some degree you can "push the warm air down" with a fan but its really more about creating air movement in general for more even heating, especially when taking a cold garage (with cold floor, cold metal everywhere, cold walls, and likely a single source of heat up to temperature. Same with summer, nobody sits on their back porch on a hot day and wishes the breeze would stop...unless of course you are spray painting.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I have a ceiling fan in my TV room and it does a good job of making the room more comfortable in cold weather. I think one would help in your garage. Just get the cheapest one they have and set it on low speed, it will help move the warm air that collects up at the ceiling down.

 

[PoorUB]

I have a ceiling fan in my garage running 24/7. It makes a difference balancing out the air temps.

 

[Red89gt]

I have 2 big fans from home depot.