General Garage Heating Questions

[MNJason]

First post! This site is awesome!

I have a 3 car garage in MN. Two of three walls are insulated and 2/3 of the ceiling is (room above garage). My 2 garage doors have insulation panels and are relatively well sealed. House is 4 years old.

Garage is drywalled, taped, finished, and painted.

1) Id like to add some heat! Just to keep the garage about 50-55 all winter. How do I decide between gas or electric? Im assuming gas would be more to install (running the line) but cheaper to operate.

2) Should I insulate the rest of the garage? Would have to be blown in in the wall. I could do it myself (rolls) in the attic (1 car) area.

3) Whats a rough guess as to cost including a unit and labor?

Thank you!

 

[Shocker]

Hey Jason. I would at the very least do the ceiling as thats where the majority of the heat will go.

The walls would be a benefit, but it might not offset the cost.

As for the heating unit. Gas (if you have it in the house) would be the cheapest way to go in the long run. You could run the line yourself.

I put a Mr. Heater (propane) in my shop. Did the complete install myself, from pouring the pad for the 120 gallon tank to exhaust, hanging the unit and all the piping.

Not hard at all. The Mr. Heater units are pretty nice. Can't go wrong with that or the Hot Dawg from Modine.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[prager]

I am also new to this awesome forum...Love it!!...See above post from Shocker..good advice overall, and especially on the Gas...If you have it..run it..electric will brake you in compairison to the n.g. I have a 30 x 50..just like yours..insulated side and ceiling..I got a hold of a 112kbtu furnace 90%..It's a little large for the sq ft, but I raised it off the floor and installed a really good homespun filter system, and let it run "freeair" it heats up fast and runs a enough to keep things in check..Really happy with it. As far as install cost..how close are you to the in feed to the house? The main...I mean.. you can run "gas tite" The yellow flex line to the unit, if your local code allows, for a reasonable sum.. Your local Menards has it.. Good stuff..I'm in Indiana, we get some cold stuff down here too, and the shop is good and warm when I need it...Set back t-stat keeps it at 61 when I'm not around..Prices for furnaces are all over the place...new? used, etc...check craigslist for good newer..(5-6 yr old furnace)..I don't know your exact sq footage..but you can plug that in on the net and find a round about btu figure...but if I had to guess a 75kbtu or less depending on the footage.. would more than enough, with enough return air.. Hope this helps..

 

[cowboyjosh]

I like gas heaters intended for garages like Modine, Hot Dawg and my favorite Reznor; when they are PROPERLY sized and installed to code they are just the ticket to keep the garage at the temps you specified and can easily warm the space up much warmer if you want.

One of the reasons I like going with a gas heater versus electric is because my house has a whole house 30kw backup generator where we have to manage the load and not overload the generator and I don't want to waste the generator wattage for the garage heater since I keep the garage at 55 or 60 pretty much all the time, not to mention gas is a whole lot cheaper to heat with then electric.

You'll want a HVAC guy to size a unit for you, because too big a unit will heat the space too quickly and the unit will cycle more, thus more wear and tear.

You'll want to insulate, its the one improvement to your home you can make that you'll see and feel an instant return on your money.

Heater cost will vary, say Reznor and Modine are top shelf brands, so you'll pay more then you will for say a Mr. Heater brand unit; it also depends if you have electric and gas already in the garage, if so your cost goes way down and installation will be pretty straight forward, if you need to get electric and gas to the garage the cost can be substantial. I think when it was all said and done with electric, gas, themostat and my Reznor I had a little over 3k involved.

 

[prager]

Good call on the Reznor Josh.. They make a top flight unit. I used to sell and install Reznor waste oil furnaces. They were in my opinion the best ones out there. Heavy on cleaning maintainance as they all are, but the best built. I had a Reznor hanging type in the old garage, but added on and sold it to a freind with a smaller garage..still in service.. The furnace I found worked out well for me as I did'nt want the suspended type anylonger..I vaulted the ceilings for lift clearance, used sicssor trusses and ran a spiral duct, insulated..through the attic with saddle taps for the drops in the large shop with plenumn vents for the smaller shop. I tried to get a shot of the drops in the ceiling..used round diffusers and balanced them front to rear for even output. Heres some pics..I got the outlet and return air balanced out very well and in the 3 seansons so far have had no short cycles, or any other problems at all. It recovers nicely from the doors opening and closing in the dead of winter..hell we've had New years eve parties out in the shop and no one ever griped about bieng cold..I'm real happy with it. I raised the unit to pull return air from the floor, filtered of coarse.. All totaled I think I have about 500 bucks in the whole thing.. The furnace was removed from a office building that was going to get demoed..it was 2 years old at the time...and best of all free to me!!! Love this site!! Wish I had found it sooner!!

 

[MNJason]

Good points guys. I think I will go gas. I'm having my attic insulated this week.

What about ventless gas heaters? Or radiant ceiling mounted? Thoughts?

 

[Stuart in MN]

I would stay away from ventless heaters - they dump carbon monoxide right back inside the garage. Granted, a garage is generally more ventilated than a house but I think it's still a bad idea, plus it's usually pretty easy to install a vent or chimney in a garage. Ceiling mount radiant heaters are worth looking at, the one thing if you go that way is to get one designed for residential use - industrial radiant heaters are usually designed for higher ceilings.

 

[MNJason]

Thanks Stuart!

Should I be concerned at all about moisture from a gas fired unit? I have proper soffits in the attic.

 

[Stuart in MN]

A ventless heater would also dump moisture back into the room, but there shouldn't be any issues with a vented (and sealed combustion) heater.