Garage heat

[mnguy]

OK northern Ford Barners. Looking for advice on heating a 1200 sq ft garage area in Minnesota. Area is attached to house and has one single and one double overhead door. Walls and ceiling are still open. Gas or electric heat? Not considering wood heat. Let me know heater brand names if you are so inclined. Thanks in advance for sharing your advice and experiences.

[CarlG]

I have gas heat & set it to around 50 degrees in the winter. Have no idea what brand heater it is, it's whatever was there when I bought the house.

[slammin]

First you should insulate and finish the ceilings and walls. Ceiling should be 5/8 fire rated drywall. Gas heat will be the cheapest. A ceiling hung forced air heater. You want the open flames near the ceiling, above any gas vapor that might accumulate. Best to check with your local code office before installation.

[duke36]

Ditto re: insulation and providing (1 hour) fire rated constr. when garage connected to the house. Check local code. However various areas in the country have different BTU costs. See attached table (location close to your area) which can be adjusted for inflation, etc.

[2manycars]

I use a Toyotomi keroscene heating unit. they come in several sizes. They vent and take in fresh air through the wall with a supplied pipe system. I have an oil drum filled with Kero in the shed adjacent to the shop. It's fully automatic and safe, as the flame is contained and the supply air and exhaust are to the outside. The small model heats my 15 x 30 shop just fine.

[jhowes]

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My system is a bit like "to many cars". I found a kero heater that is used in house trailers and vents to the outside. Should be safe if it is safe for a house trailer. Jack

[40 Deluxe]

Ah, Minnesota! Grew up in south central MN, Now in Idaho. I would suggest a ceiling unit with divorced combustion or whatever it's called. Anyway, it uses outside air for the burners which is drawn in by a fan and then the exhaust is blown out so inside air does not reach the flame. I recently bought a Modine 45,000 BTU unit last winter but haven't installed it yet. It came with both propane and natural gas setups. I found the best deal from a greenhouse supplier called ACF Greenhouses. Their website is www.LittleGreenhouse.com
I was using a dual burner tank top infrared propane heater. It did a so-so job but I didn't think about the moisture these things produce. Condensation settled on anything that some mass to it like big sockets, ratchets, drills, saws, etc. This condensation seems to have a corrosive effect, too. A lot of stuff rusted in just a few months. Thus the furnace with outside combustion air!
Since your walls and ceiling are still open, now is the time to insulate and sheet rock! Insulation will pay for itself in saved fuel and comfort. If you have plain metal doors, insulate them too. That is a lot of surface area for heat to escape when it's 30 deg. below with a 30 MPH wind!
Another idea: When you sheet rock the ceiling, add an attic ladder and put down some plywood for a floor and store parts up there. Keep the heavy stuff near the walls and sheet metal type stuff nearer the middle.

[d.]

check out GarageJournal.com. tons of good advice on stuff like this.

[John Stone]

I have a Dornback which is like the Modine. Also something called a HotDawg is about the same. What I liked about these units is the exhaust is horizontal so no going up thru the roof. Thermostat operated so keeps the garage nice and toasty when you want it to be that way. 40 Deluxe has some good advice.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

It's 100 plus (+) here!
Bill Sweatinglikeapiganddrinkingcoffee

[taffrail]

How about a loop from the house. A forced hot water system work well if you have it.

[wingski]

Hey Minnesota, I live in Southern Oregon so I don’t have to deal with extreme cold like you do, but I do have to deal with extreme heat in the summer and condensation in the winter. My garage is seperated from the house and about 1200 sq. ft and unfinished like yours. I don’t feel like going to the expense and trouble of insulating and dry-walling, so I put a ceiling fan in the garage. With a remote, it cost $60 and has been a life-saver this summer. This winter, I plan on using a small, probably electric, heater by my car with that ceiling fan on. I don’t know if this is of help, but I’m pretty sure that I’m not going to have a condensation problem this winter. At least not around the car. Mike

[glenn in camino]

When I built my garage, I went with radiant heat in the floor from radiant tech.com. It keeps my garage at 68 degrees, even when the outside temp is in the 20s.

[Wick]

I use a mpi monitor that runs on off road diesel. Stays on 55 all winter. Uses 10gal a week. Garage is heavily insulated with a 13' high ceiling.

[Chippy Minton]

Do you want the heat to allow you to work on the car? Keeping a car in an artificially heated environment is a great way to speed up the rusting process. Using a gas or fuel burner that produces a lot of moisture just adds to the problem. A well ventilated, cool area or even sir conditioning is so much better for the car.

[Wick]

I run a dehumidifier and 2 ceiling fans along with the stereo all the time in the garage. 2nd photo shows the mpi monitor.

[Barry B./ Ma.]

I have a Modine Hot Dawg overhead propane gas heater heating a 24 x24 foot space that is thermostatically controlled that is near instant heat and very safe, The only thing is propane is expensive,. I could have used natural gas but I would have had to run an underground pipe from the house for 75 feet and didn't want to do that.

[Kevin in NJ]

Connect a Model A engine to a generator outside.

Run the radiator inside the garage to take heat from that and use the electricity to heat also. Probably make enough electricity to run your house too and sell some back to the utility.

Seriously now some thoughts.

What is the cost of electricity in your area and what is the difference in cost from gas to electric? Are you going to keep it heated all winter?

In my area electricity is fairly expensive so gas is the best way to go. You have to consider cost of installation vs how much you will actually use it.

For my 2 1/2 stall extra deep attached to the house garage I got a very big pay off putting in a well insulated garage door. You biggest bang for the buck is in insulation and cutting off drafts to reduce air exchange.

If you have a source, the shop my brother works at uses a waste oil burner to heat the shop. They do enough oil changes the shop is often kept too hot, but it runs 100% off the waste oil so there is no cost.

Check out your local craigslist for used heaters too.

[eagle]

If you don't plan to seal it and insulate, a 100 btu furnace won't keep it above freezing on a cold winter day. Don't have to worry about moisture up here in the winter. The cold air sucks the moisture out.

[40 Deluxe]

Originally Posted by Chippy Minton

Do you want the heat to allow you to work on the car? Keeping a car in an artificially heated environment is a great way to speed up the rusting process. Using a gas or fuel burner that produces a lot of moisture just adds to the problem.

Thus the sealed combustion furnace using outside air. All that moisture goes right outside.