Propane heat for garage

[woody367]

I am going to be doing some work on my truck and would like to take the chill off the garage. I have a kero bullet heater but the garage is attach to the house with a bedroom above it. I can not use it do to the smell. Are propane heaters any better? I see the little bullet heaters and the ones that mount to the handle of a 20lbs tank. How long would I get out of a 20lbs tank. Is the smell going to be bad for the bedroom up stairs? Thank you

 

[dscheidt]

a propane heater should have no smell. The heaters that mount to the tank are radiant heaters, they work fine, but they get very hot and will burn anything they touch. I don't think they're very useful as a home garage heater, because of the required clearances, and straight line heating. I use a forced air heater. I had a 30K btu one for years, which is enough to heat a normal garage. I replaced it with a 60K btu one that turns down to 30k btiu, because I wanted to be able to heat the space up faster. It (and all its ilk) are loud, both from the fan and the burner. not a big deal to me, but some people hate it. It'll run 6 hours or so on a 20lb tank on high, but if it's cold it won't be able to do that because the tank freezes. I use a 40lb tank, which reduces the freeze factor and is more convenient to deal with filling. Tank freezing is probably not much of a problem in NC, though.

For a rough estimate on run time, figure propane at 20k btu/lb. Also remember that exchange grill tanks are only filled with 15lbs, because they're a scam targeting people too lazy to do work. Find someone who fills the tank and charges per gallon, much cheaper and you get a full tank (and you don't give the exchange people propane if you refill early. See "they're a scam"...).

 

[PoorUB]

I don't agree, every propane heater I have been around stinks. Maybe not as bad a kerosene, but they still stink. I worked in construction and have been around all sorts of temp heaters and they all are bad unless they vent the exhaust outside.

 

[Firebrick43]

I don't agree, every propane heater I have been around stinks. Maybe not as bad a kerosene, but they still stink. I worked in construction and have been around all sorts of temp heaters and they all are bad unless they vent the exhaust outside.

Some of the buddy series from Mr heaterwith catalysts don’t smell hardly at all unless you run them out of gas. But yes, I always suggest a vented heater as well

 

[PCustoms]

But yes, I always suggest a vented heater as well

Yep.

Unvented heaters dump a ton of moisture into the air.

 

[PoorUB]

One thing to consider, even if it isn't your own property, we installed shop type unit heaters, Reznor and Modine in construction sites for temp heat. We would board up a window to run the venting out, set the heater on a stand and run gas to it. Construction sites usually we ran LPG rated rubber hose, but often we used CSST, Wardflex or Gastite.

Many places frown on using a LPG heater with a tank indoors, but what is the difference between a tank mounted heater and a temporary shop unit heater set up? The shop unit heater is probably safer. Just use a rubber hose set up like you might for a BBQ grill.

I worked with a guy that was renting an apartment. They had fairly large garages, with lights and one outlet. He never asked, but setup up a small shop in his garage, He even insulated and sheet rocked it. He bought a 30,000 BTU Reznor and hung it near the back wall. He went around the backside of the garages, and carefully removed a bit of siding and cut a hole for the venting. Hung the heater from the ceiling and plugged it into the wall outlet.

For the summer he had one of those portable AC units that had a vent hose that you would run out a window. He would pull the heater exhaust and shove the AC vent hose out the same hole.

He often had to juggle the electrical cords as the one 20 amp circuit wouldn't run much, but he made it work.

When he moved out he patched up the hole and reinstalled the siding. He lived there for two years and nobody ever said anything. Of course he never left the door open either.

 

[CTyankee]

How big is the garage? Is it insulated?

 

[dcg9381]

I am going to be doing some work on my truck and would like to take the chill off the garage. I have a kero bullet heater but the garage is attach to the house with a bedroom above it. I can not use it do to the smell. Are propane heaters any better? I see the little bullet heaters and the ones that mount to the handle of a 20lbs tank. How long would I get out of a 20lbs tank. Is the smell going to be bad for the bedroom up stairs? Thank you

I have 20k and 30k BTU propane heaters, probably larger than those that mount on the tank. I bought them during a terrible cold snap in 2021 when the ductless splits in the shop wouldn't hold 50 degrees.

The 30k unit will heat my entire home if I put it downstairs when ambient temperatures are in the 20s.

You can't smell them. They don't need power and include an oxygen depletion sensor.

Their down side is humidity as they are ventless, so it's not ideal for them to be your only heat source if running 24/7.

You'll get 18-20 hours out of a 20k unit on a 20 lb propane tank at "medium" heat. Less if ambient is really cold, so it's really a function of how well insulated your space is and how much space you are heating.

 

[ipgenie]

I'm very sensitive to the ventless propane heater smell. Some don't smell anything at all. I used a quiet wall mount ventless heater with thermostat in my two car garage for a couple of winters just while working out there. I have In floor heat also but leave it at 42 degrees and it takes way too long to heat up the garage for a couple of hours of work so I used the ventless just to warm things up occasionally. The smell still bothered me but was manageable for occasional use. Moisture isn't much of an issue here, it's very dry, especially in the winter.

I don't think it would bother me in a bedroom above the garage if it's only used while working. Probably most people wouldn't be able to smell anything through the ceiling.

I eventuality hooked up a second hand unit heater to my boiler for the garage so no more smell and it only takes 15 minutes to raise it from 42 to 67 degrees.

In my shop I am using an unvented propane construction heater. I'm still finishing walls, then electrical and don't have a permanent heat source yet. I don't like the smell, but my home office is a small loft in the top of the shop with electric heat and even though the shop facing walls are not totally finished yet (inside facing walls are done), I don't smell anything when I'm working in the office space. The construction heater has a thermostat and is usually set at 40 degrees when I'm not working out there. Humidity hasn't hit 50% inside the shop all winter with the heat on. CO detectors are happy except when I start up the tractor. The heater only fires for about 10 minutes every hour though so not much run time.

I'd give the ventless a try and if it doesn't work out, sell it next fall. I sold mine for what I paid after a couple of years.
I have a tank top I use rarely for very local heat. It would take forever to warm up a garage space but can be nice if you just need something warm to put your hands in front of every so often.

 

[slim_grim]

I definitely smell ventless propane heaters, drives me nuts. Moisture is also an issue. Looking for an alternative, I picked up a cheap direct vent heater and it's been absolutely killer at keeping the moto shed comfy this time of year. It's been running nearly a month on a single 100lb tank. I've got no idea how much is left, but I'm totally OK with it's fuel consumption. Will be even better when I get my door insualted and sealed up a little. Nevermind my dodgy install. Gotta clean that up when it's a little more comfortable to work outside.

 

[4x4Pete]

A propane heater operating properly will have almost no smell and much less stink than a kerosene heater. I found that 10 hours off a 20 lb tank is about all you can get with a can type heater.

 

[pbon]

To warm up a freezing garage faster, I would use a forced air propane heater, preferably one with variable output and preferably a “quiet” model. I have run kerosene can type and torpedo type heaters and both smell enough to be bothersome, but let you get the job done. Propane is much more pleasant — the noise was what bothered me the most until I got a variable speed quiet model from Mr. Heater

I have the kind that mounts to the tank as well and they work well for radiating heat but there is no forced air to heat up the area faster. Mine is a Mr. Heater.

Without ventilation, you are using up the oxygen in the garage. Maybe it is leaky enough that this won’t matter. Mine was insulated and I would get a headache or feel sick sometimes if out there all day. I did not seem to have a moisture problem.

Now I have a natural gas shop heater hanging from the ceiling. Mine exhausts out the side wall with a stainless horizontal vent kit. I don’t have one if the models that also has a separate intake. This garage is also insulated but the two garage doors don’t seal perfectly so there is fresh air coming in. I run it all winter with a thermostat and like it far more than the torpedo or can heaters (which I ran off 20lb tanks I filled at the local Uhaul). No issues. I bought the hanging heater on sale for $250 years ago but have seen them for $400 recently. Mine is a Mr. Heater Big Maxx 50k. Horizontal vent kit was about $300 and the gas line extension about $200 but gas was in the basement under the garage. I like Mr. Heater because the price is reasonable and quality decent, but if I was buying a hanging shop heater today, I would probably buy one of the dual pipe Reznor or Modine.

Those vented models that sit low on the wall and go through the siding look easy to install but I have no experience with them.

Heat makes working on cars or being in the garage in the winter much more pleasant. I love having my current garage attached to the house and heated comfortably full time.

 

[dcg9381]

These are what I use. I have a 20k and a 30k unit. They're used as "emergency" backup heat for the house (in the event of a long power failure) and I use them in the shop. They're easily hung on the wall. 20-30k will heat a lot of space... These "just work" have a thermostat, oxygen depletion sensor, etc. They also come with "feet".


They have them in a "radient heat" version:




They also have a "blower" accessory, which I've never used: