Largest Electric Heater?

[bucs012]

I bought a Dayton G73 for my part of the garage that is 15x20 and walled off from teh rest of the garage.

Is there an electric heater that is capable of heating 1,200 square feet? Something like the Dayton Heater I can hang in the cornder of the garage? I only want to heat the garage to 35-40 most the time but maybe pump up to 50 degrees every once in awhile. It has excellent insulation in walls and ceiling.
Here in Iowa the temps may reach -10 at times during the winter.

Cost of running gas out to my garage is $9 per foot and it's about 120 feet......KWH is only $.087 for me during the winter for electric.

 

[Bodge Garage]

I have an electric updraft furnace from a mobile home. Heats 30x30 uninsulated cinder block shop from 40 to 65 in 30 minutes. We get as cold as you. Had to search to find a thermostat that bottoms at 40 degrees. I leave it there all the time. Shop stays dry.

 

[Bodge Garage]

Here it is.

 

[redsky49]

Plenty of manufacturers make ceiling hung unit heaters. A partial list of recommended manufacturers:

Berko
Brasch
Chromalox/Q Mark
Hastings
Markel
Modine
Raywall
Redd-I

Please perform a heating load calculation prior to purchase. You may not require as large a unit as you think.

As always, offered only as opinion

 

[bucs012]

Dang. Those Modine electric units look like a good unit. Says for 30x40 I would only need 17,000 btu. Sounds small.............

 

[edl]

I don't know if it is the "largest" electric heater, but i just bought a Brasch model BTUH-10-2401 - it is rated 34,120 BTU's - i read alot about the dayton g73 and all reviews were good - but i wanted something with more BTU's - people talk alot about square feet, but total volume seems to make more sense to me - i only have a 2 car garage but it has a really high, 12' ceiling - so on a square foot basis only about 500 - and that typically might be about 4,000 cubic feet (based on an 8' ceiling) - but in my case it is 6,000 cubic feet, or 50% greater - so to me that seems to be an important metric when thinking about your space - i will wire it up this weekend and then let you know how it goes

one of the reasons i went this route is that the garage to me is not a static space where a slow heat up and then keeping it steady works - there are all kinds of gaps in the garage door and when the wind whips up you feel it - plus, on occassion, the door has to come up and you pretty much loose everything - so i thought going with something very powerful (and hopefully this is) made sense to be able to quickly get things warm and then be able to shut it right off - i guess time will tell if this thinking was correct or not - thx

 

[Gary S]

Dang. Those Modine electric units look like a good unit. Says for 30x40 I would only need 17,000 btu. Sounds small.............

It is impossible to size a heater by sq ft of the building. There are too many more important variables than the building size.
What is your outside temperature when you are trying to heat the garage? How well insulated is your building?
A 30x40 well insulated building in a moderate climate should heat up easily with 17,000btu. A tin shack with no insulation won't.
If the outside temperature is -40, you will need a lot more btus to heat than if it is +30 outside.

 

[bucs012]

Update- I have the garage done. 50x30 and 9 foot high ceilings. Insulated r30 somtihng in the ceiling and r19 walls. Our winter has been -15 to +20 temps.
The (2) G73's I now have in the garage will heat the place up great! I have 4 ceiling fans that I turn on low or medium to kick the air around. They are rated at 500 square feet but that must be for a barn! These things have been working great for me with 1500 square feet.

I have only had 2 units for about a week, but have had the single unit in my shop for a few months now.