Looking for a reccomendation on garage heat

[dman535]

I am in Michigan and have used a kerosene torpede heater. Its starting to act up and I have already thrown $40 in parts at it. Was thinking it may be time to get something new as I have a few big projects to do this year. I was thinking propane and doing a. torpedo heater, b. can type radiant heater or c. some type of wall mounted furnace. The garage is not insulated at all, most of the projects are 1 day duration type elements. No need to keep it heated continuously over a long period of time.

Thoughts ?
Thanks - Derek

 

[Red Green]

First Insulated is allways better than non inuslated. There are several threads with some solar heat ideas. I know several guys on this board have a Big Maxx hanging heater that might work good for your Garage.

 

[dman535]

I was looking at a 30,000 BTU propane torpedo do you think that is enough for a two car garage? Was also going to add some more 4x8 sheets up top for storage and thinking about a fan to push heated are back down.

Will probably not get to any insulating activity this year.

 

[Thomarann]

I had a Hot Dawg propane heater in my previous 27' x 29' x 9' and it worked great.

Marc

 

[bomber]

torpedo heaters sound like an F4 Phantom idling in your garage -- a buddy turned me on to one, free, I used it for one winter and passed it along -- it was fine if I started it up, went back into the house for a cuppa, and went back out to the garage once it warmed up out there, and shut the jet engine down ;-}

I've got a hot dawg knockoff from Home Despot -- works great, fairly quite, gets my 20 X 30 X 9/13 garage from 0 to 50 in about 15 minutes, and keeps it there affordably . . . . horizontal (ish) exhaust duct made the install a snap --

do NOT use a non-vented heater that burns anything in your garage -- along with the potential health issues, you'll create a nice little mico climate in there -- very rain forest like -- you'll have water dripping from every exposed metal surface in no time

30K may be a little on the small side --

 

[timgr]

Insulation will make heating the garage much easier. I was amazed at how much difference it made in my garage. You'll make back much of the materials cost on the purchase of how much smaller a heater you'll need to keep the space warm. Another advantage of insulation is that you can use electric heat fairly economically, and that's SO much simpler than all the other options... safer too.

 

[krooser]

Without insulation your heating bills will be pretty high...

I'd insulate the ceiling first... a great heater would be a 30-45k gas fired radiant tube heater. With good insulation 30K would be fine.

I heat my 1100 sq ft shiop space with an 80K tube heater.... should have bought a 60k as the 80 is pretty big for the job.

 

[sberry]

Dman, I might consider a couple of those burners on a 20# bottles just to warm while I was there? Without insulation it would be slow going even with permanent heating equipment. If you already have gas or larger bottle it would be even more efficient to operate.

 

[IDASHO]

I picked up a $200 220V 15kbtu "portable" heater as a temporary solution to my garage heat. Eventually I will have wood heat as the primary heat source, but the electric heat will probably still be used.

Ive got a 24x30 garage with 13' ceilings, fully insulated, and that heater does a heck of a job, even being so small. I havent actually checked yet, but Im thinking it is capable of raising the temps in my garage a good 10 degrees in an hour.

Havnt got the latest electric bill yet though

 

[brad d]

Most guys up here (gets freaky cold) Use 220V construction heaters.. they are about 60$ and one or two would do the trick if you insulate it... and that door.

 

[Jay87T]

I got that same electric heater in my garage, bought it from home depot, only takes about 15 mins to heat my garage with that, mind you my garage is insulated and the garage door is insulated.

 

[burger]

Derek,

Until you get that garage insulated, I don't think a single electric heater will have enough capacity to keep you warm. My garage is ~550 sq-ft w/ ~12 ft ceilings and is well insulated. Last winter, I heated it with a 30k btu kerosene torpedo heater. If you don't mind the jet noise and the odor, it did a great job, especially considering the garage wasn't insulated then (it is now).

The noise and odor got to me, so I decided to look for an electric heater.

Last week I picked up a 240V Dayton G73 heater that puts out approx 17k btu. I would have gone bigger, but that was the biggest that would fit on the 30A circuit that I'd dedicated for the heater. I also figured that the insulation would make up for the smaller heater. Bad news. It marginally gets the job done, and it hasn't really been that cold yet. Last night was in the mid-30's and it was barely warm. I don't know how happy I'm going to be with this heater in January!


Ed

PS- The manufacturer only rated the heater for 500 sq-ft, so I'm not surprised that I'm finding it marginal with 550 sq-ft and high ceilings.

 

[jgandee]

[/URL][/IMG]


i built this a couple of years ago. i started with a piece of 24" dia pipe and reduced the ends. i love it. you can load it standing up and has a trap door for the ashes (no shoveling)

 

[jgandee]

[/URL][/IMG]