I'm trying to find a decent (and not too expensive) heater for my garage. I don't have access to a gas line, so it would have to be electric, or have it's own fuel supply. It's a 2 car attached garage, with well insulated doors.

Any thoughts/ ideas/ or what are you using?

thanks!

 

my dad and i have a 2 burner propane unit it bolts right to the top of the bottle and we also have a 2 car attached garage (but not insulated) and we somtimes have to open a door to cool it down i think we paid about 50 for ours at menards i think its call Mr. Heater? check them out on the internet you should be able to find something that will fit your needs

 

A 10-15kw electric furnace would do great. Search Craigslist in your area, you might find one at a good price. New would be about 400.00

 

I use a 22,000 BTU kerosene heater in my one car garage; cooks it. In my parents insulated attached garage years ago, it would hold mid 70's on the coldest days. I would wear shorts and a t-shirt in the dead of winter. Fairly cheep to run, 1.6 galons in ~14 hrs on highest setting.

I'd like to build a solar powered, hot-water solar heating system using my south facing roof.

 

If you have 220 in your garage you could go to lowes and pick up four electric radiators I think I did my two car for 200 with all new stuff keep it at 60 all year round.

 

I would stay away from electric heat...unless you like giving money away to your local electric co. They are okay for smaller areas or to help boost heat, but as a primary source forget about it. You can get propane heaters that use 20lb tanks up to 100lb tanks. Probably the best option for a garage. Kerosene heaters are okay, but there are some issues as well with them. Depending on type (torpedo type or home type) noise could be an issue. Also with torpedo type they will blow dust all around and if you are painting, it will get dirt in the paint. Also a safety tip I found out by accident DO NOT USE ANY TYPE OF KEROSENE HEATER WITH CHEMICAL TYPE PAINT STRIPPERS...NEVER EVER. Also with kerosene type heaters, if you work in one all day you will smell like kerosene also.
But with both propane and or kerosene you are supposed to have a fresh air supply coming in (more with the kerosene than the propane)


Depending on how much waste oil you can get (depending on type of heater you can use anything from motor oil to 90w gear to syntetic to fryer oil) you may want to look into a waste oil burner. Space might also be aconsideration. A little on the expensive side to set up, but once you have it and can get waste oil it costs very little and is very good at heating.

 

Your either throwing money at the electic co or the gas company. I dont know about prices in your area, but the price for propane in our area is high. A 10-15 kw electric furnace will easily heat an insulated 2 car garage. No tanks to worry about refilling, no fumes to worry about. No flue to worry about.
Unless you plan on moving into the garage, your not going to use that much electric, while working on the vehicles. An oil burner furnace would be nice, if you could run across one cheap. But then u still have to run a flue.

 

Thanks for the info guys. Funny thing is, I actually DO work for the elelctric company!! Doesn't mean I want to give all of my money back to them, though!! I'll check around, and see if I can maybe get a decent price on a prppane heater.

Thanks again!

 

I have been heating my garage with a combination of both a kerosene heater and a propane blue flame heater for many years now and they both have pros and cons to them. The blue flame heater is nice because it burns clean and the out put is easily adjustable, but the 20lb tank does not last very long and is costly and inconvenient to fill the tanks all the time. Kerosene does a good job heating my shop and I tend to feel it is cheaper to operate, but it does stink up the garage. Both of these heaters can be dangerous, since they have open flames and they do take some time to heat up my garage and workshop. Having an open flame is not a good idea when you do any painting and even when you are just doing some staining and polyurethaning of a wood project the flame burns the fumes and the smell it gives off is not pleasant. Another problem with both of these heaters is they give off moisture when they are running and if you have any large/thick cold metal surfaces the water will condensate on them and cause them to rust. I have been told that using a kerosene heater to heat your garage for automotive painting can cause problems with your finished paint as well, but I have not experienced any problems myself yet. Another cost associated with these kerosene and propane heaters that has not been mentioned is the time and money it takes to go and get the fuel to operate these heaters.
All these issues have led me to recently order an electric fan powered garage heater this year. I purchased this heater off of eBay, but I have not received it yet. I think this heater will work much better and more efficiently heating my garage. When I need heat I just turn it on and set the thermostat and the heater I ordered will increase the temperature of the incoming air by 40 degrees F and has a 26 foot air throw, so it will heat up my garage quickly, cleanly, and with out adding moisture into my garage. I will try and remember to let you all know how it works when I get up and running. BTW it does need a 30amp 220V circuit to run on and it comes with a ceiling/wall bracket and thermostat. Here's a link to the unit I ordered:

17100 BTU Electric Garage Heater/Space Unit Heater - eBay (item 390013528136 end time Dec-11-08 14:41:14 PST)

 

Great info! Let us know how that works out. The price isn't bad at all, and I have a separate service box in my garage, where I can run 220. This might be a good solution.

 

I've got an electric unit similar to the one in the above link. I think it is 13,000 btu. I use it to heat my 400 sf shop and it does a great job. Such a good job that I bought the identical unit for my 900sf garage. It takes the chill off the room and depending how long I run it will get plenty warm. I bought it at Northern Tool and paid less than 200. I think the first one was on seasonal clearance and I picked it up for closer to $100 but I have been happy with both. Runs off 220v 30amp service.

 

I research quite a while before I settled on the heater I listed in my post above. My 3 car garage is divided into two sections, the front garage section where I work on my vehicles that is 640 sq-ft and my back shop area, which is 384 sq-ft. I may decide to buy a smaller heater for my shop later after I get a chance to see how this one works out in my garage area. When I first started shopping for a unit heater, I had my I on the Dayton G73, which was almost half the price of the one I ordered. My researched determined that the Dayton G73 was too small for my garage area I wanted to heat, but it may be just the ticket for my smaller shop area. The place I bought my heater from is supposed to ship the heater today, so maybe I have it by the weekend :-).

 

Mine came with a thermostat and the mounting bracket enabled you to swivel the unit. I mounted it towards the center of my garage pointed toward the area I work in the most. Other times I am able to swivel the unit and it heats up that area pretty quickly. My garage is fairly well insulated but could be better done around the doors. I agree that you need to size the unit properly for the space or the unit will run all the time and not necessarily heat the space.

 

You might look at the Sun Stream forced air kerosene by Pro Temp produced by Pinnacle Products International, Inc.

I own the 60,000 BTU model PT-55-SS. I have used the heater on a few occasions both indoor and out with temperatures ranging from the mid twenties to thirties.

Thus far I am pleased with the performance of the unit. Operation is very straightforward. The only assembly required is attaching the handle which allows you to easily lift the heater from its very sturdy shipping box. After filling the tank and attaching an extension cord a simple flick of the on/off switch starts the heater. Unlike a friend's propane heater there is no separate igniter switch nor valves to fiddle with.

The heater is no louder than a floor fan on medium to high. Conversation is easily made standing beside the unit.

Due to the size the heater works best heating an interior. I have tried it outside but if I got farther than a few feet the warming effect was lost including the advertised “radiant” heating. Any wind whatsoever negates the Sun Stream's usefulness. I tried again to use the heater today in a 13 mph wind while working on a vehicle. I had to have the heater close to the vehicle and open a door to “trap” some of the heat. The heating was very uneven. One of my legs was toasty while the other was cold.

Inside is a completely different experience. I have a single car garage which poses no challenge to the heater. For qualitative data I conducted the following test. Starting with the garage at 30° F I allowed the heater to run for five minutes with the door shut. At the end I measured the temperature at four feet off the floor in the corner diagonally opposite. The temperature was 54° F.

After the garaged had cooled to 32° the experiment was repeated with the door raised two feet. I felt this was a more realistic, challenging and safe test since common sense dictates never running any combustion heater in an enclosed structure. The heater was placed with the inlet just below the door and aimed diagonally as before. After five minutes the temperature reached 49° at the opposite corner.

Incidentally I have yet to experience the humidity problem reported and warned of by others but if you keep a fresh air supply and exhaust the fumes I can’t see a problem. Winter air tends to be dry air and with proper ventilation any moisture should be swept away.

As with anything there are cons.

1. Without a thermostat temperature control is crude at best. But I found that with the door up and a steady supply of fresh (cold) air I could make due.

2. The fill cap is awkwardly place below the heater’s body necessitating the use of some sort of funnel for filling. My initial attempt was less than ecologically friendly. I expected Greenpeace to appear at any minute and surround my driveway with oil soak. Actually it wasn’t that bad but fuel the heater outside as directed.

3. The exhaust (heat) plate is perforated and placed at the very end unlike most torpedo heaters which have plates well inside the body. The plate being red hot and located at the end creates the “radiant” effect but also throttles and deflects the air flow. You have to be quite close to feel the radiant heat and the throttling reduces the distance the air is felt.

4. The tank is undersized. I understand this is for portability but not everyone has a french major's arm. The small size of the fuel tank also makes for a small footprint. This means the heater is top heavy. When in the truck bed I have to brace it or it will easily tip over even with a full tank.

5. The maintenance schedule is busier than any other tool I owe including other kerosene heater and including my vehicles. Flush the fuel tank every 200 hours, clean the filters twice per season, clean or replace the nozzles each season and note cleaning the nozzle requires the availability of compressed air, clean and re-gap the spark plug every 600 hours – ok this one makes sense, clean the photocell a minimum of once per season. Some of these things require disassembly of the heater. Now a lot of this busyness is due to the nature of the fuel so I would strongly advise buying from a reputable source and keeping contaminants out of the fuel.

6. The electrical outlet is really undersized. This underscores the non-professional nature of the beast. The outlet has a 5 amp max rating. Most if not all of my tools exceed that rating and all stationary tools would overload the outlet. Bottom line run another cord for your tools or use a multi-prong extension cord. Just watch the total amperage load if you opt for the latter.

7. I have had one incident where the heater failed to start. This was the heaters fourth use. Way too early for this to be happening.

After removing it from the truck I set the heater down and turned it on to warm the garage while I finished unloading the truck. The heater did not turn on and the indicator lamp did not light. It had power, fuel and was upright. Several on off cycles of the power switch had no effect. The next morning I checked all the possible causes listed in the manual. A note here the manual mentions items to check but leaves it up to the owner to figure out where and how to do so. One of the causes was “Improper electrical connection between the Temperature Limit Sensor and Circuit Board”. You are on your own to find the component and test the connection.

After checking for what I could I tried the switch again and the heater turned on. After reassembly I set it back in the garage and fired it up. I did notice that the on/off switch appears to have a bad contact as the lamp flickered as I wiggled the switch. If this occurs again I plan to replace the switch with one more robust. No owner should not have to do this. Quality control and quality parts would eliminate such nuisances. Further the warranty requires you to pay to return the heater regardless of fault and the owner is not reimbursed for shipping.

8. There is no toll free number. What does that tell you? It tells me they discourage providing customer service and really don’t want to hear from you. The Sun Steam is under the title of Protemp which falls under Pinnacle Products International, Inc. When I tried the web address given: pinnacleint.com. I got the message “Sorry, 'pinnacleint.com' does not exist or is not available”. I have not tried the email address.

Their number is also set up such that you leave a message and they return the call. I did leave a message regarding the switch and they never returned the call.


For interior heating or non bitter and non windy outside work I recommend this heater. If your activities will involve exterior work at any distance from the heater or with the slightest breeze a larger heater with a greater CFM rating is what you need.

 

Old trailer furnaces work real good, I currently use monitor 40's in my old shop, My new shop is all plumbed for hot water, floors and walls, and the monitors for quick recovery.

If you do wind up with an open flame type heater you must remain aware of what you are doing... Not only can they cause explosions they play havoc with many chemicals and can turn the fumes DEADLY when burnt / heated.

Keep it safe, we don't want to lose any family members ....

-Enjoy
fh : )_~