Opinions on wall mount radiant heaters

[horspla2003]

People who use wall mount, ventless radiant heaters, opinions?? Do they smell and/or consume all the oxygen in your garage to where you get the dry-mouth feeling?? Forced air better?? I was at a friends and they had two, seemed to work well. Just looking for other opinions. I have natural gas.

 

[Bruce Amacker]

I have one in one of my buildings and hate it. It creates a very damp heat which causes large condensation on heavy metal parts resulting in rust. Never again.....

Forced air is much better. The drawbacks are less efficiency, harder to install (stack needed) and slight noise. Overall, it's a no brainer for me.

Good Luck!

 

[mmouse]

I was just going to post the same question, then I saw this thread at the top of the page.

Bruce, Is your shop vented properly?

I just bought a vent-less natural gas ProCom blue flame heater for my garage. Then I heard that they are no good because of the moisture problems, and now I'm having second thoughts.

So, my questions.

IF your garage is properly vented, WILL you still have the moisture problem?

WHAT causes the moisture? Consumption of Oxygen wringing the water out of the remaining air? Heating the air and having condensation form on cold soaked objects? Or is it the byproduct of burning gas (exhaust)?

I already have a NG furnace, and two NG 80 gallon water heaters burning in my garage, all with one single chimney for exhaust. Currently no moisture problems. If I put in another vent, I'm inclined to think that I will not have a moisture problem. However the instruction manual says to expect 1 oz of water per 1000 btu. That would be like dumping a quart of water every hour into my garage!

 

[jvitez]

Combustion of NG causes water vapour to form. It's the chemistry. NG is methane, or CH4, which is one carbon atom surrounded by 4 hydrogen atoms. The reaction goes like this:

CH4 + (2)O2= CO2 + (2)H20 + energy.

So one molecule of methane reacts with two molecules of oxygen to form one molecule of carbon dioxide and two molecules of water. One NG=2 water.

How big of a garage are you heating? Where are you located? I assume the furnace you mention is heating your house, not your garage? Why do you have two 80 gal water heaters? Thats a lot!

 

[mmouse]

Combustion of NG causes water vapour to form. It's the chemistry. NG is methane, or CH4, which is one carbon atom surrounded by 4 hydrogen atoms. The reaction goes like this:

CH4 + (2)O2= CO2 + (2)H20 + energy.

So one molecule of methane reacts with two molecules of oxygen to form one molecule of carbon dioxide and two molecules of water. One NG=2 water.

How big of a garage are you heating? Where are you located? I assume the furnace you mention is heating your house, not your garage? Why do you have two 80 gal water heaters? Thats a lot!

That's the kind of answer I was looking for. Oops, they are 50 gallon heaters. I don't know why I was thinking 80. Yes the furnace heats the house, and it is installed in the garage (800 sq/ft, 10' ceiling). I live in a dry climate, night temps are around 15F and daytime 40F. My garage temp in the winter stays about 45* without heat.

So, if the byproduct is water vapor, then I suppose no amount of venting will keep the moisture away.

 

[WILD-BILL]

I have one of the Mr. Heater wall mounted NG heaters and it's been great. Absolutely no "dry mouth" feeling nor do I have any condensation on anything at any time.

Aside from if your standing right by it when it's on it keeps the whole place very comfortable and I couldn't be happier with it.

I would imagine that those that have experienced issues may not have enough fresh air coming in.