I have a similar post to AirTrafficController.

Hope everyone has enjoyed the holiday weekend! I have a $75 gift certificate to Home Depot and I would like to buy a space heater for the garage, since I think this winter I am going to have time to actually work on my vette. Anyone have any suggestions? Anyone used the models listed below? I am renting right now, so I need something not so permanent.

http://home.comcast.net/~zachbeth/Laski_30in.pdf
http://home.comcast.net/~zachbeth/Lasko_small.pdf
http://home.comcast.net/~zachbeth/bonaire_heater.pdf
http://home.comcast.net/~zachbeth/oil_heater.pdf
http://home.comcast.net/~zachbeth/patton_heater.pdf

 

 

Having lived in the north my whole life I have tried many different ways to heat my garage. My experiance has been that portable electric heaters won't make any noticable difference in your garage temp. I do have an oil filled electric heater like one of the ones you are concidering. I use it in my bedroom and it warmed the room about 5 to 10 degrees.

I used to live in a town house with a one car garage that I could heat with an electric heater, but it had heated living space on 2 sides and above.

My parents have a one car attached garage and we needed about 20,000 btu to warm it. We used a convection kerosene heater. I have a big 2 car garage and I use an 85,000 btu propane heater to warm it up fast and then I turn that off and use a 25,000 btu propane to keep it warm.

I guess it depends on how big of an area you want to heat and how warm you need to get it.

Let us know what you deside and how it works.

 

I use an electric-quartz portable heater. It is silent and directional. Works by infrared heating. Only heats solid or semi-solids (Me). I take it to where I am working. No energy wasted heating the air...lol about $40...

 

http://www.stpaulmercantile.com/procom.htm#Procom

Check out the Z-Series portables. That's what I use and have to partially open the door at one brick. Great deal for 99.00 (special)......

jd

 

JD - thanks for the link; I may jump on that one. Have you had yours long? How long does a tank of propane last you? What is your garage dimensions and how cold is it there?

Thanks - Mark

 

i have used 2 of the vent free (on NG) and liked them they are changable to propane

 

Being an x-yankee now living in Texas I say move south it was a toasty 86* today. I have a personal preferance to the "Clean Burn" waste oil heaters, but they aren't very portable.

Keep warm!!!!

DR. Jay

 

The only thing I found that works that is portable is the propane powered forced air construction site heaters, for a small garage you can get one around 50-85000BTU. You can use your barbecue propane tank, these things warm a garage in seconds and I just leave the garage door open. I brought in a carbon monoxide tester and it read 0 so there is no problems with toxic gases. Heres one below:

http://www.heatershop.com/propane_fo...ir_85_fac.html

 

thats a good one ....I like the type that clamp on top of your barbeque propane bottle, either one or two burners work great and fast.

 

I wouldn't trust propane for safety reasons, sure they're good but. . ."danger Will robinson danger". I have 2 heaters similar to the Lasco 5132 made by Bionaire (BCH3616), got them at Costco, they have fans in them that blow the heat out and they oscillate. Tried a oil-filled heater and that was a waste of money, took it back. Also got a DeLonghi (HS15F), it 's about 2 feet wide and 1.5 feet tall, has a fan, it's not as good as the Bionaires but better than the oil heater.

 

I have a 35,000 btu kerosene forced air heater. Works pretty well, just need to keep the door cracked for fresh air. My experience with those little heaters is that they dont work very well. Also depends on your garage, insulated or not.

 

Put up some more money and install in-floor radiant heat. You will not be sorry. If you can afford the 3" loss of head room, it's better than sex (well, almost). Buy a small oil or natural gas boiler, operate it as a separate zone and be sure to fill the line with glycol. You can even run a zone out to your driveway and you'll never have to shovel again!

 

Be aware that if you have a heater with an open flame at floor level, you do run the risk of explosion from vapors that are heavier than air. Believe me I've seen it a number of times(see avitar). Also a 30 to 45,000 b.t.u. heater will go through approx 100 lbs. of propane after only 5 hrs. of CONTINOUS use. Most are about 85% efficient and will go on for approx 15 to 20 mins. per hr.(depending on amount of insulation). Just some facts to chew on.

 

I've got the first heater on your list, but it is strictly indoors and won't do squat in the garage. I think you would be very disappointed if you got anyone of those in your list.

I use one of those multifuel heaters that look like a jet engine. I think I got it at Home Depot also. I use it with kerosene and it does a good job of heating up our three car garage. It takes about 20 minutes to heat up when temps are below 30 outside. I bought a 5 gallon can of kerosene three years ago and I still have it - they're pretty efficient, although I only have 5 or so long sessions in the garage during each winter. My garage is pretty tall and has a vent on the top (about a foot across). I don't leave the garage door open at all. There might be a faint odor of kerosene but it's not bad. I can't remember the BTU output of mine, but its in the tens of thousands (like 60,000 or more).

Good luck...

 

This is what I want, mounts to ceiling, vents outside, thermostat... There are simular model that are electric also...

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...65&R=200316365

Already tried the forced air LPG, too noisy and you have to vent the area... I really don't like heating the outside...

Audie

 

I went with the Reddy Heat 35000 btu. Looks like a red cylinder. Forced air and uses propane; about 14 hrs on a 20lb tank according to them. Not the greatest, but okay...It's supposed to handle just over 800 sf., so that should fit my plan. $99 at Lowes. It's not cold enough to use yet, but I'll report back when I do.

Mark

 

Yea, thats the type I got, but it is really loud when you plug it in, and you really have to vent the area... Lots of great heat, fast...

Audie

 

Hi Mark..this is my first winter with it....I have a bit larger double garage with 8 ft. ceiling. I've used the heater for about 16 hours now on the first tank and there's still some left.

I used to use a kerosene fired torpedo heater from Reddy, but it was just toooo noisy and I didn't like the strong kerosene odor after a while. They'll give you a headache in a confined space like a garage. jd

 

I have a little experience in this as I've been an HVAC tech for the last 30 years or so. ANY heater that burns fuel and is not vented to the outdoors can cause oxygen depletion (resulting in unsafe levels of CO), and also releases large amounts of water vapor. The water vapor will condense on cold surfaces and cause other problems. If you are using un-vented heaters be sure to provide for some sort of ventilation. Infra-red heaters can do a decent job of heating your space providing you have very high ceilings to allow the heaters to reflect on a large area when installed high off the floor. An exhaust fan controlled by a de-humidistat is a good way to provide for ventilation. Portable infrared heaters that attach to a propane bottle are great for spot heating, but as others mentioned they are a great source of igntion should you have a gas spill. I would be really nervous about leaving one un-attended.

In-floor heat is no doubt the best way to go there is. You must carefully engineer the job to install enough tubing and circuits so you can heat with water temperatures of less then 120 degrees. Higher temperatures can cause the floor to buckle.

A reasonable add-on heater are the hanging fan forced units sold by many manufacturers. The Modine "Hot Dog" is a fine example. They hug the ceiling, maybe hang down 18 inches at the most. These units are available for natural gas or LP, and must be vented outdoors per the manufacturer's instructions.