“Smart” garage heater

[King Nothing]

Wondering if anyone knows of a smart garage heater. I’d like something that I could program to turn on at 35 and off at 40, just to keep my garage above freezing. Then I’d like to be able to make it heat up the garage, preferably using an app, or better yet Alexa. Needs to be electric and 110 and preferably hang from the ceiling. Doesn’t really need to be that big since my garage is under my house and really doesn’t get that cold

 

[gmcgeo]

you can just get a smart thermostat, and hook it to most heaters that has thermostat terminals.

find the heater you want, make sure you can run a smart thermostat on it.

 

[King Nothing]

you can just get a smart thermostat, and hook it to most heaters that has thermostat terminals.

find the heater you want, make sure you can run a smart thermostat on it.

Are there any smart thermostats that will operate down to 35 degrees? I know our ecobee won’t go below 60

 

[gmcgeo]

Are there any smart thermostats that will operate down to 35 degrees? I know our ecobee won’t go below 60

WiFi Thermostat with low set temp?

I'm looking for a wifi enabled t-stat that has a low set point (under 40 degrees F) for my garage. Any suggestions?

www.garagejournal.com

 

[Showkey]

Most garage heaters ( fuel burners) have a minimum intake temperature of 50*.
The concern is rust on the heat exchanger and low exhaust temps.

 

[gmcgeo]

there are a lot of options for that, condensing units, ss units, modine has a big line of products for just that reason.

 

[jlv03]

I think some of the posters missed the requirements in the OP for an electric heater.

I'm thinking an electric space heater and one of those controllers for heat tape. This will turn it on relatively low and turn it off in the 40s. Then I would do a second space heater and a smart plug to turn it off/on, with the second space heater set at a higher temp.

Thermo Cube® – Heat Tape Plug-in Thermostat

Plug-in ready, temperature-controlled power switch for any length of pre-made Ice Dam Heat Cable. For use with any exterior outlet, the Thermo Cube turns on your heat cable when the temperature req…

www.radiantsolutionscompany.com

Amazon.com

 

[jonshonda]

Are there any smart thermostats that will operate down to 35 degrees? I know our ecobee won’t go below 60

Where is the temp range stated for the ecobee? My threshold goes down to 45 degrees on my ecobee 3.

 

[sz0k30]

I doubt you will find any that go that low.

 

[Jackfre]

Not Elec but Rinnai’s gas direct vent wall furnaces have a standard feature in their built in programmable stats to maintain as low as 38.* it can be programmed in 2* increments from 38-54*. If the unit is turned off and the temp hits the low setting the unit will turn itself on. Got gas?

 

[kelpaso1]

110 wont give you much heat and will probably run continuously. A 220 minisplit is a better choice.

 

[PoorUB]

Needs to be electric and 110 and preferably hang from the ceiling. Doesn’t really need to be that big since my garage is under my house and really doesn’t get that cold

How large is the garage?
110 volt or 120 volt or whatever wont get you much heat.
(waiting for the voltage police to show up!)

 

[BillK]

Where are you located ??? Hoe big is the garage ?? A 115 volt (I did that on purpose ) heater probably wont do much good in actually heating the garage up if it gets real cold. Would probably work ok just to keep things from freezing.

 

[D45]

to turn on at 35 and off at 40

Something to heat the garage, just to bring up the temp 5 degrees?

 

[Jagmandave]

I'm surprised it gets that cold, given where it's located......mine rarely gets below about 40, and that's only because my garage doors don't fit well due to concrete settling and an old house.

I would also wonder whether a 120V plug in heater would do the trick in an area as large as a garage.

 

[PoorUB]

A well insulated one car garage in a warmer climate a 1,800 watt heater might do it. Surely not in North Dakota!

 

[u2slow]

Heating a space evenly is best done from floor level because heat rises.

I would look for bigger used baseboard heater you can probably get for free. Work on finding an appropriate smart thermostat.

 

[King Nothing]

How large is the garage?
110 volt or 120 volt or whatever wont get you much heat.
(waiting for the voltage police to show up!)

2 car. Approximately 22x25

Where are you located ??? Hoe big is the garage ?? A 115 volt (I did that on purpose ) heater probably wont do much good in actually heating the garage up if it gets real cold. Would probably work ok just to keep things from freezing.

Illinois. About 22x25. My main intent is to keep the garage above freezing, although it would be nice to be able to heat it up to 45-50 so it’s comfortable to work out there

Something to heat the garage, just to bring up the temp 5 degrees?

The main intent is to keep it above freezing

 

[PoorUB]

You are asking for too much out of 120 volts. You wil need 240 volt or gas to keep it warm.

 

[u3b3rg33k]

I have a honeywell prestige, it goes down to 40F heat setpoint. wire up a contactor to an outlet and plug in your heater of choice. it also controls my dehumidifiers. I set them for constant on, and it runs them off a contactor on the aux terminal I told it was for a dehumidifier. runs much less than letting the dehumidifier decide.

Are there any smart thermostats that will operate down to 35 degrees? I know our ecobee won’t go below 60

 

[cadunkle]

I have electric heat in my basement, 240v but 120v can be done similarly... I make a relay box like in this thread (https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/can-i-control-a-contactor-with-a-thermostat.388491/) and connected it to a Honeywell wifi thermostat (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Y6M2OUC/?tag=atomicindus08-20). Relatively cheap and easy to make, and you can use whatever thermostat you want.

I was unsure of the amp draw of my basement heaters so built my own as per that post to have higher amp capacity. If I knew the load for sure and it was smaller, I'd be inclined to use one of these read to use relay+transformer boxes with a wifi thermostat.
Aube 240v RC840T-240: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0037MXM1C/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Aube 120v RC840T-120: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D5YLY2G/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Forget about wild 5* temp swings. Any modern thermostat will work fine and maintain temp to what you set. The Honeywell RTH6580WF I use in my basement with electric and my garage with a gas unit heater goes down to 40*. Initially I set my garage thermostat to 50* as that's the lowest recommended by Sterling for my non-condensing heater to avoid condensation and rusting out the heat exhanger prematurely. I later set it ot maintain 60*, returning to 60* every 6 hours, as I can raise temp to my desired 72* within in hour and it hardly runs any more at 60* than 50*. With electric you could set it to 40* and be fine, but if you want a reasonable working temp of 60*+ it'll take forever with 120v heat. If electric is the only option I'd go with 240v.

 

[redjalopygarage]

I think electric would be very costly/ineffective. If you don’t have natural gas, you can always get propane delivered. A WiFi enabled t-stat could also be done with a IFTTT program.

 

[finn]

I have electric heat in my basement, 240v but 120v can be done similarly... I make a relay box like in this thread (https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/can-i-control-a-contactor-with-a-thermostat.388491/) and connected it to a Honeywell wifi thermostat (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Y6M2OUC/?tag=atomicindus08-20). Relatively cheap and easy to make, and you can use whatever thermostat you want.

I was unsure of the amp draw of my basement heaters so built my own as per that post to have higher amp capacity. If I knew the load for sure and it was smaller, I'd be inclined to use one of these read to use relay+transformer boxes with a wifi thermostat.
Aube 240v RC840T-240: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0037MXM1C/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Aube 120v RC840T-120: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D5YLY2G/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Forget about wild 5* temp swings. Any modern thermostat will work fine and maintain temp to what you set. The Honeywell RTH6580WF I use in my basement with electric and my garage with a gas unit heater goes down to 40*. Initially I set my garage thermostat to 50* as that's the lowest recommended by Sterling for my non-condensing heater to avoid condensation and rusting out the heat exhanger prematurely. I later set it ot maintain 60*, returning to 60* every 6 hours, as I can raise temp to my desired 72* within in hour and it hardly runs any more at 60* than 50*. With electric you could set it to 40* and be fine, but if you want a reasonable working temp of 60*+ it'll take forever with 120v heat. If electric is the only option I'd go with 240v.

I think the 240v baseboard heaters draw about 1 amp per foot. A 20amp circuit will power twenty feet of baseboard heaters at 240v.

I wouldn’t recommend resistance heating for a garage for continuous heat. I couldn’t afford the utility bills.

 

[u3b3rg33k]

I think electric would be very costly/ineffective. If you don’t have natural gas, you can always get propane delivered. A WiFi enabled t-stat could also be done with a IFTTT program.

if that's the plan, OP would want to check local propane prices first (plus tank rental and filling fees). it's not always the economical choice.