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Heater and venting

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Feb 10, 2015
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I am putting in a reznor UDAS 60 btu (separated combustion unit) in my double attached garage. My garage has spray foam directly to the underside of the roof, walls. Code requires to have a vapour barrier on warm side of walls and attic space. I am wondering if I should add a "bathroom" vent to the garage interior to get rid of any excess moisture. Not sure if it is going to be necessary, but thought it would be better to install now (not finished with drywall). If I do add one, where is the best spot to have one? My garage is 24x22 with 11 foot ceilings. I live where the temp drops to 0 Fahrenheit in the middle of winter.
 

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CNGsaves

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That's a pretty MASSIVE heater (Reznor 60K UDAS) for small 24x22 two car attached garage. You likely only need 30K Btu or possibly 45K Btu, especially since you have spray foam insulation.

The separate combustion also not necessary unless you plan on doing lots of woodworking with dust in air, or painting with fumes in air.

Why would you have moisture in garage with a vented heater ?? I don't see any need for bathroom exhaust vent in a garage.

Tell us more why such a massive heater is needed plus the "moisture" issue ??
 

JCByrd24

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Without knowing our location a couple of general comments. First the code required vapor barrier on the warm side is likely outdated and should be adhered to with caution. Current code regulation talks to vapor retarders and drywall with latex paint, OSB, or spray foam (or combination thereof) often complies. The poly sheet vapor barrier of the past is now known to do more harm than good if not executed properly (e.g. when coupled with exterior OSB), but most codes enforcement is clueless and still requires it, even in a garage where moisture is likely of no concern. "Excess moisture" comes from cooking, showering, breathing, very little of which goes on in a garage. Exception is a heated garage with a lot of snow melt on the majority of days.

Along the same lines, a bathroom vent which is usually installed to remove interior moisture is of little use in a typical garage, as CNGsaves suggests. His question of what you might be doing to create excess moisture is a good one. Likely nothing. A ventless heater in a spray foamed building would be a different story. If you are in an area of a lot of snow and are parking in a heated garage, the bathroom vent is likely not a good solution. It's an energy hog.

The separate combustion unit in your case I feel is a good choice. Your spray foamed building is likely fairly tight, though if you have an overhead door probably not so much a regular unit wouldn't work. The truth is separate combustion units are more efficient. They don't **** combustion air from the air they just heated. They use outside air for combustion which doesn't negatively pressurize the building, sucking cold outside air in through all the leaks.
 

thammel

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I have a udas 60k in my 32x28 with second floor. With the separated combustion, you don't need a vent. It's pulling in outside air for combustion and then the exhaust is being vented outside. And the point of the separated combustion is that the combustion (flame) is not exposed to the interior, so it's a bit safer for a garage, where it's possible to have gasoline vapors.

Tom
 
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OP
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Feb 10, 2015
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Thanks for the comments. I want to heat the garage at 72 degrees in the winter. I also didn't want to get a heater that doesn't have enough power to keep up, but it sounds like I would be fine with at 45 btu unit.

As for the venting, great opinions, I am not going to bother with adding one, if condensation is a problem, then I will consider it then, I've got a spot marked for it in case it happens...
 

CNGsaves

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Guessing that you're in Canada ?? Thus, you likely have pretty cold winters !! ;)

Update GJ Profile with LOCATION.

The UDAS 45K heater from Reznor is very good quality that will handle a well-insulated 2 car garage just fine.

Do you have the snow melt condensation problems now ?? There's been other GJ threads on this where they used fans and/or dehumidifier to solve issue.
 

larry4406

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As for the venting, great opinions, I am not going to bother with adding one, if condensation is a problem, then I will consider it then, I've got a spot marked for it in case it happens...

No vent? Serious? Going to dump products of combustion straight into the garage space of an attached garage?

Sorry but this sounds like a Darwin Award in the making.

Hope you at least install a CO detector.
 

CNGsaves

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No vent? Serious? Going to dump products of combustion straight into the garage space of an attached garage?

Sorry but this sounds like a Darwin Award in the making.

Hope you at least install a CO detector.

^ ^ Re-Read the original post as OP was considering going to extreme of installing bathroom exhaust vent in garage to draw out moist air that might be in garage. With the UDAS Reznor separated combustion heater he'd be doing "Double Duty" of drying out air in garage.

By proper sizing his heater, he's on track for nice setup unless he has severe moisture problems from snow melt.
 
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