I am looking to heat my garage in the winter so I can do some auto body work. This will included some spraying of high build primer & sealer. I live in upstate New York and it averages around 27°F. I know I would have ventilate the garage by opening the doors while spraying and then keep the car warm over night to dry. I don’t know if this is even possible with the low temp air flow & paint fumes.? Is there a heater the would allow me to keep the whole car at a constant temp or is it impossible in the winter?
Winter Car Painting?
- Thread starter mez6266
- Start date
kb2tha
Well-known member
I will be following this thread as I too am in upstate NY and am looking at doing some painting this winter as well. I have a Monitor kerosene heater that I am using to heat 700 sf.
6768rogues
Banned
I am in western NY and occasionally paint a car in my 36 by 48 garage. It is quite a bit of work, as I start by cleaning the building and washing the floor. Then I turn the heat up for several days and run the ceiling fans, so the concrete floor warms up. The floor absorbs a lot of heat and will keep the place warm for an entire painting session. I run a small exhaust fan, open a door slightly for makeup air, and turn the breaker for the Reznor heater off during painting. When done, I wait a short time until the paint starts to cure, open the doors and air out the building well, then turn the heat back on. Sometimes a little paint dust in the air gets in the paint, but it buffs to nearly invisible. I wait for a couple of days for the paint to harden before I open the doors again or make other dust. It works pretty well. Then I have to clean the building again to remove all the dust created by painting. A paint job every few years is not worth my time to build a dedicated booth.
HVAC Phil
Well-known member
I keep my heat on all the time. When i'm spraying, fans are running, heat off. Once the fumes vent, fan off, heat back on. Right now i'm doing a complete on my wife's mustang.
keep it on all the time. Might not be worth it to retrofit for you to paint cars Innov8tive1
Well-known member
I did my '98 Silverado early this year (Jan-April) in my shop. If there is any way at all that you can do all the body work, primer and prep at home and rent/borrow a spray booth, do it that way.
At some point I will post pics of my work but I really wish I would have used a booth for a few reasons, the least of which is heat (although heat IS definitely important but you can "work around" it a bit with a faster reducer). #1 The mess, paint overspray and dust from sanding will be present for.........well I have no idea how long, I keep finding it almost a year from completing my job. #2 Painting in the same space you did body work or even primer sanding can cause problems. #3 Lighting. You can NEVER have enough and unless you spend some serious $$ you won't come close to the lighting in a good paint booth. #4 Ventilation. I had a fan pulling air out and a window slightly open for fresh air but that poses two problems, one, you are bringing in cold air and two, you are bringing in dirty air. A good paint booth addresses both problems.
I'm not saying don't do it........if you're like me you'll do it anyway. But if you really want to do a good job, think about renting a booth.
At some point I will post pics of my work but I really wish I would have used a booth for a few reasons, the least of which is heat (although heat IS definitely important but you can "work around" it a bit with a faster reducer). #1 The mess, paint overspray and dust from sanding will be present for.........well I have no idea how long, I keep finding it almost a year from completing my job. #2 Painting in the same space you did body work or even primer sanding can cause problems. #3 Lighting. You can NEVER have enough and unless you spend some serious $$ you won't come close to the lighting in a good paint booth. #4 Ventilation. I had a fan pulling air out and a window slightly open for fresh air but that poses two problems, one, you are bringing in cold air and two, you are bringing in dirty air. A good paint booth addresses both problems.
I'm not saying don't do it........if you're like me you'll do it anyway. But if you really want to do a good job, think about renting a booth.
6768rogues
Banned
Painted these in my garage with no fancy equipment:
Innov8tive1
Well-known member
venom50svt
Well-known member
I just say keep the steel warm...... If you paint it to cold you will find the paint on the floor... Give it time to flash off then remove the fumes then get the heat on. Just have an exhaust fan just to move the air but not over power the heat.. Negative air is what you want..
DON"T GET TO IMPATIENT--just leave it alone,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
DON"T GET TO IMPATIENT--just leave it alone,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
rwhite692
Well-known member
If you have a Kero heater going in the same space in which you are going to do a paint job, unless you like fisheyes in your paint, you had better be extra careful with your prep and clean right before shooting. Kero heaters usually manage to get some amount of oily unburned residual materials into the air which settle out onto everything.