Heating

[dmc3535]

Anyone have any input on my idea?

I'm condisering finding an old home furnace and using it to heat my garage. I have an attached 2 car garage, but, I want to put the furnace in the basement in a small unfinished area next to the garage. The garage is on the main level, but I have access through the wall into the garage. I can tap into a gas line right there by the wall as well.

Is this a good idea? I don't have much experience with HVAC, but it seems like a simple install, since electricity and gas are right there.

My other option is to find a dual-fuel heater and run a short (4 ft) gas line into the garage for the heater.

 

[Kevin54]

when we had our new furnace put in the house, I used the old one in my garage and ran it for a number of years. It was a down draft furnace because we are on a crawlspace. I built up the floor and added registers along the perimeter of the rim joist. I built a closet around it, had a plenum made and added a 24" x 24" cold air return. The complete closet was 3' x 3' in size. It worked very well to heat my 28' x 36' garage. I had bought a 45,000 BTU heater for my wifes craft building, but she uses two of the small oil filled radiators, so I tore out the closet, gave the furnace and all of the ductwork to a friend of mine that didn't have a heater in his garage, then use the hanging heater in my garage.

As far as yours, make sure you have an adequate cold air return and filters where the air returns are. If you have an up-flow furnace, I would add some filter media where your cold air returns are. You will have a filter in the furnace itself, but I would also have one at the register. Reason being is that a garage is a lot dirtier than a house. You will have bugs, spiders, and excessive dust in a garage, so a little extra filtration won't hurt. Also try to mount the thermostat so that it is not on a cold outside wall, although that may not be possible. If you can't help but mount it on an outside wall, mount it on the one wall that does not get the coldest.

 

[Boomer343]

Won't pass code inspection. You will end up pulling car exhaust into the basement if you have a cold air return set up and if you are only blowing then you will create a low pressure inside the house causing backdrafts down the chimney.

Also the furnace will be way over output for a garage both in BTU's and airflow.

Ceiling hung garage heaters that pull in combustion air from outside are the way to go and are quite reasonable.

 

[BD1]

If you decide to place heater IN garage you may want to get one SPECIFIED for garage use for insurance reasons. Check with your insurance carrier to see what they say. Years ago guy at work had fire in garage ;old house furnace was the cause; a standing pilot type, old. Insurance would not cover it because furnace was not rated acceptable for ''garage use''
Just thought I would mention.

 

[RonB]

A new more efficent properly sized furnace will pay for it's self in fuel saved & improved comfort.A counter-flow unit mounted on a plenum at floor level makes installation easy & avoids that cold floor feeling.

 

[dmc3535]

Won't pass code inspection. You will end up pulling car exhaust into the basement if you have a cold air return set up and if you are only blowing then you will create a low pressure inside the house causing backdrafts down the chimney.

Also the furnace will be way over output for a garage both in BTU's and airflow.

Ceiling hung garage heaters that pull in combustion air from outside are the way to go and are quite reasonable.

I didn't really think about air flow... Thanks for the input. I think I'll just go with a natural gas wall-mount heater. The blue-flame heaters seem to be reasonable.

 

[Andamo]

If you're considering the blue flame non-vented wall heater, just be prepared for lots of humidity added to your garage. You might want to look into a power vented hanging type heater instead.

 

[Kevin54]

I didn't really think about air flow... Thanks for the input. I think I'll just go with a natural gas wall-mount heater. The blue-flame heaters seem to be reasonable.

If you're considering the blue flame non-vented wall heater, just be prepared for lots of humidity added to your garage. You might want to look into a power vented hanging type heater instead.

They put out a lot of humidity. They also burn dirty if you are doing any work in the garage. If one happens to put on in, also get a carbon monoxide detector to put in the garage also.

I had a ventless heater in my garage, propane, and I hated it. No matter what they claim, it does put out fumes. And when I finally pulled mine down and gave it away, you could tell where it had been because the wall was yellowed all around it. Personally, I would not recommend one to anybody. My wife heats her 20' x 20' Craft building with the oil filled electric radiators. She can easily keep it at 70 degrees in there when it is 0 degrees outside. And her building is in the open so it gets wind from all directions.

 

[dmc3535]

They put out a lot of humidity. They also burn dirty if you are doing any work in the garage. If one happens to put on in, also get a carbon monoxide detector to put in the garage also.

I had a ventless heater in my garage, propane, and I hated it. No matter what they claim, it does put out fumes. And when I finally pulled mine down and gave it away, you could tell where it had been because the wall was yellowed all around it. Personally, I would not recommend one to anybody. My wife heats her 20' x 20' Craft building with the oil filled electric radiators. She can easily keep it at 70 degrees in there when it is 0 degrees outside. And her building is in the open so it gets wind from all directions.

I'm thinking of going with one of the dual-fuel types and using natural gas. I've seen some that come with a blower and a thermostat, so I could keep it above freezing if everything is insulated. This type of heater seems to be the most economical for me for this year. Maybe something a little better next year...

Do you think natural gas would be just as dirty and cause as much humidity? I do plan on a carbon monoxide detector.

 

[Kevin54]

I'm thinking of going with one of the dual-fuel types and using natural gas. I've seen some that come with a blower and a thermostat, so I could keep it above freezing if everything is insulated. This type of heater seems to be the most economical for me for this year. Maybe something a little better next year...

Do you think natural gas would be just as dirty and cause as much humidity? I do plan on a carbon monoxide detector.

Don't get me wrong, the propane itself is not a dirty burning fuel, but anytime you have something that is burning and is unvented, you will get some discoloration on the walls especially in a garage. As far as moisture, natural gas is just as bad. My dad had natural gas in his garage and the moisture was so bad you couldn't see out the windows and he would also have moisture on his car at times.

If you want to keep the chill off, look into a couple of those electric oil fill radiators that I was telling you about, then when you get the change scraped up, put in a heater that has a vent to the outside an no open flames. You will be way happier than a ventless open flame burner.

When I said that mine burnt dirty, I think you may have misunderstood my, or I didn't say it correctly. Anytime I was working in the garage and doing work, say like grinding where it may put particles in the air, the flame would turn from a nice blue to a yellow. When the air compressor would kick on the flame went from blue to yellow. Anytime is seemed that the inside air in the garage was disturbed in some way, it would start burning yellow. And when it did, yellow is a dirty flame that carries some amount of soot, although invisible to the naked eye in the moisture that the ventless heater put out, hence the dirty walls.

And if you have any type of breathing problems I would highly recommend not putting one in. Make sure you read the packaging real well about installing one in an enclosed space.

 

[Air_Cooled_Nut]

In my garage I tend to have flammable stuff...cleaners, lubricants, 2-stroke gas, etc. An open flame would make me VERY nervous! My last house had gas heating so the water heater had a pilot flame and the furnace produced a set of flames when it kicked on. I kept all my flammables in the far opposite corner of the garage. Whenever I had to use such chems I would crack the car garage doors as well as the man door at the opposite wall so as to keep air flowing away from the flamers. Just something else to consider.

 

[dmc3535]

Yeah, I have a lot of body supplies in my garage, so an open flame might not be a good idea. There is a n explosion-proof heater on ebay right now, but its only 4k BTUs. I don't think that wouldn't be enough to heat the whole place on a cold day. Maybe a couple of them would be enough?? I forget the brand name, but I think they make some larger ones too.

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[BPJOOP93]

If you old furnace has PVC pipe for a chimney dont use it in your garage. its an HE unit and will freeze the burner. I have an old 100k house unit non HE and it works great.

 

[dmc3535]

I found a vented nat gas unit that puts out 85k BTUs (Reznor brand). Would this be overkill for a 20x18 garage with 9 ft ceilings?

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