I have a 28 x 28 shop I heat with a 60000 BTU Salamander. It uses about $5 worth of kerosene for 8 hrs of heat. It heats the whole shop warm enough to work in a flannel shirt with 10 degree weather outside. Been using it for 5 years. I think it's great!

 

I second the Nighthawk CO detector recomendation. I've kept one in the house and the garage both for years. Came home from work one day to hear the detector shrieking with a big number on the display. Turns out I'd left a burner going on the stove, so low I barely see the flame. After that experience I wouldn't be without one.

 

i plan on using a 92% sealed combustion furnace that draws intake air and exhausts outside so you couls put it anywhere in the room without the risks of vapors exploding.

 

I am using a natural gas hanging unit with a power vent and electronic pilot. There should not be much of an explosion hazard up high.

 

Just remember even though the combustion chamber is "sealed" the fan motors are not. So it is still a potenial ignition source. Please keep that in mind when working with any flammable liquid

 

Well, in all of the previous 'garage heating' discussions, I'm surprised no one has mentioned a kerosene wick-type convection heater...relatively cheap (about $110 at lowe's/home despot), it's quiet, only smell a bit on start up and puts out something like 23 000 btus. runs 12 hours on one full tank of kero...

i turn it on and in a couple hours have it warmer in my 20' x 21' garage than in the house...hee hee...

the biggest improvement though was to put 3/4" styrofoam panels into the un-insulated steel garage doors...went down to 10 deg F last sunday night and was still 50 deg in the garage...best $28 i spent yet ( 4 x $7 for a 4'x8' sheet)

just my thoughts

carry on and stay warm....

merry christmas all

Brian in NC
'94 F150
no mods

 

I've got an old barrel turned on it's side and I load it up with wood, keeps my 24 x 40 warm enough.

 

My best friend and I are building a garage/hang out next springs and I think we are going to make about a 30x30 garage and insulate it and heat it with a wood stove. We both enjoy cutting wood and we wont be using hardly anything that could cause and explosion. Sure there will be gasoline in the cars but mostly for oil changes and the like. I have seen too much blow up to be doing stupid stuff like spraying brake cleaner or ether around open flame.

 

I installed a 68,000 btu oil fired house furnace in my 20 X 40 detached garage. I also installed a programmable thermostat, so it can turn on and warm up before I get home from work. It works out well since the house is heated by the same type heating oil, and my oil company will fill up the garage storage tank when they come to fill the house's tank.


Bob

 

I just recently purchased one of the Propane construction convection heaters for my basement. The problem is that it keeps setting off the fire alarm in the other part of the basement area as well as the one inside the door leading into the basement within about 30 seconds of turning it on high. The alarm is a partiulate alarm, so why exactly should it be getting set off? Something is fishy here....

I can't leave it turned on enough to generate and decent heat without setting off the alarm (on low it works fine) and it also makes the area at the top of the basement stairs reek of propane.

I think I'm going to need something that vents to the outside, so any suggestions there?

Bryan

 

you could find a used wall heater that vents to the outside the aslo work on convection and some have fans in them
what kind of alarm ! does it have a carbon monoxide sensor build into it ? also if it reek like propane sound like you dont have enought cobustion air or a small leak
believe it or not that type of heater will burn up all the oxygen and burn poorly if not snuff it self out if thier is a lack of comustion air
i have seen this a lot on new consruction

 

Sounds like you have a problem if you can smell propane, I'd look for leaks around your conections with some soapy water.

 

That heater is designed to work in a WELL VENTILATED area. It is not designed for and is to big for your basement. Please if you need a semi-permenant heat source go buy a unit with a Oxygen Depleation Sensor on it.
The "propane" smell is from improperly combusted gas because the heater is not getting enough combustion air to burn properly. Carbon Monoxide is a oderless colorless gas and by nature the "trash can" type construction heaters put out tons of it. Good luck

 

My basement is 24x40, so when I calculated the number of BTU's I'd need it came out to about 35,000 to keep the garage at 65deg. in the dead of winter. The strange part of all this is that I have a carbon monoxide detector that is in close proximity to my smoke detector upstairs (I have a propane fireplace in the living room)and it did not register anything when the smoke detectors went off. My neighbor thought it may also have been some residue from shipping. Either way I am probably going to return it.

Bryan

 

Can someone help me out with these questions...

I just bought a forced propane construction heater yesterday. Got a great deal, $150CAN! It's 50-85,000btu with continuous ignition. I have a 24x24 uninsulated double door garage. I will insulate both the doors, walls, and ceiling this summer.

Up here in Canada it get's really cold like today, about -18*F I was running the heater off my #20 BBQ tank that I left in my basement overnight to warm up. It worked great for the first hour but then the tank started to get frost on it and the heater wasn't putting out much heat(could put hand within 6 inches), as soon as I jiggled the tank to see if I was running low already the heater kicked back to full heat for another couple of minutes. I'm assuming I stirred up more vapor in the tank. So my problem is that my tank is getting TOO COLD!!

I'm assuming I have two solutions:
1) Get a larger tank that will have more vapor in it?
2) Keep the tank wrapped in a warming blanket? (not sure if these exist?) I do have an automotive battery blanket that might work or is this too much of a risk?

Anyone help me out with this?