Heating garage in a rental.

[mojo_13]

Currently moved into a place with an attached 2 car garage that is around 20x20 or so (just wide enough for 2 cars). I have been looking at getting a heater for it before winter gets here. It has insulation in the ceiling and the two sides that are attached to the house are for sure insulated the other I am not sure. Also if I go electric it only has 120v outlets.

I'm not sure if I want to go propane or electric yet. I have thought about getting a couple of these.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002D0HOY/?tag=atomicindus08-20

But then I started doing some reading on this forum and the Mr. Heater Big Buddy heater looked pretty good too.

I would like to hear if anyone has any experiences or comments on these two heaters of if you have any other ideas for me. Thanks for any and all help.

 

[930dreamer]

I have the torpedo style in my 30X40 shop, I burn kerosene, it's loud but heats great.

 

[mojo_13]

I was kind of hoping for something not so noisy but if it does the job I may not care. How are the fumes? Hoping to keep the fumes to a minimum, I hear the big buddy is pretty good at that.

 

[mikeyr]

I used to have a kerosene torpedo heater, fumes were bad only at startup after 3 or 4 minutes you could not smell anything so what I would do is open the man door and point it out that door for 3 minutes and then turn it around into the garage, worked well but would not if its super cold outside. The fumes were not that bad that I could not live with them anyway. The thing was noisy but it only needed to run a short time to heat up the garage.

What I did and would do if I was you would look into a Hot Dawg or similar gas heater, you suspend it from the ceiling, run a gas line which you probably already have in the garage for the dryer anyway, plug into 120V outlet and take the heater with you when you move, its what I did and would do again.

 

[mojo_13]

I used to have a kerosene torpedo heater, fumes were bad only at startup after 3 or 4 minutes you could not smell anything so what I would do is open the man door and point it out that door for 3 minutes and then turn it around into the garage, worked well but would not if its super cold outside. The fumes were not that bad that I could not live with them anyway. The thing was noisy but it only needed to run a short time to heat up the garage.

What I did and would do if I was you would look into a Hot Dawg or similar gas heater, you suspend it from the ceiling, run a gas line which you probably already have in the garage for the dryer anyway, plug into 120V outlet and take the heater with you when you move, its what I did and would do again.

Unfortunately it is an electric only unit, otherwise i would be all over putting a hot dawg unit in. Are there any units that are similar that could run easily off of a propane tank efficently or 120 electric only?

 

[PaulR]

I got one these in a big 2 car garage, hooks up to a standard 20 lb LP tank.
Cost $60-$90
Heated the place up great, then I got a little bit of fumes.
The trick I learned was to crack the door a bit and stick the tail end close to the door, fumes gone, heat retained.

 

[mojo_13]

I got one these in a big 2 car garage, hooks up to a standard 20 lb LP tank.
Cost $60-$90
Heated the place up great, then I got a little bit of fumes.
The trick I learned was to crack the door a bit and stick the tail end close to the door, fumes gone, heat retained.

How long does a 20lb tank usually work on something like that?

 

[tncatadjuster]

How long does a 20lb tank usually work on something like that?

I have one of these and it works great, it is LOUD. I also have another that is quiet, I'll find a pic.



If it is freezing outside I can heat up a room in about ten minutes and then run it about once an hour. It heats the adjacent rooms too, I guess a tank will last a week if working 8 hour days. Used it on a rental house that did not have power.

 

[mojo_13]

I have one of these and it works great, it is LOUD. I also have another that is quiet, I'll find a pic.



If it is freezing outside I can heat up a room in about ten minutes and then run it about once an hour. It heats the adjacent rooms too, I guess a tank will last a week if working 8 hour days. Used it on a rental house that did not have power.

Do you happen to know what the model of the quiet one is. I know that I am being kind of picky on this heater but I'd like something that I don't have to hear/think about just turn on and be warm while I'm in the garage.

 

[tncatadjuster]

I bought it at Home Depot. I also purchased a 20 gallon tank so it would last much longer than the bbq one.

Northern tool has them too.