I'm planning a winter project and need to get some heat in the garage. Right now I'm looking at both kerosene and electric.

My garage is approx 16 x 20 cinder block construction on 3 sides with the house on the remaining side. I'll need to cover up the ceiling joists as it is open up to the roof where there is a ridge vent. Some of the ceiling area is covered in plywood where I'm using it for storage. The remaing area is open and I'm considering putting 1" rigid foam insulation on top of the ceiling joists to minimize the heat escape.

Long story short, recommendations for a heating method? Propane and natural gas are out.

Thanks

Tom

 

if you have natural gas at your house there is a perfect furnace for a garage call Hot Dawg. we have that in our garage and it takes only minuets to heat up. they can be set up to hang from the ceiling

 

these work great I have one in my garage.


NewAir G73 5,000 Watt Electric Garage Heater
Perfect for garages, workshops, warehouses and more and covers up to 500 sq. ft. FREE SPACE HEATER WITH PURCHASE!
List Price: $369.00
Our Price: $279.00

I bought mine at ww grangers.

 

I have an electric heater on my garage. Approx same size as yours with a 11 foot ceiling. Mine is a 5000 watt and it works just fine for me. I have two insulated walls on the house and I insulated the side wall and my ceiling is half insulated. It never goes below 40 even without heat but at 45 in the garage it will take 15 minutes to get to 65. I don't want it any warmer. Small little unit I got for about 250 bucks. I wired it myself, no big deal to do just a 220 line. You are in the same area wweather wise as me and this should be plenty for your garage.

The propane and kerosene heaters will make you sick from the fumes.

 

My preference would be for either K1 or propane/Natural gas. If you have forced hot water baseboard heat you can use that as well, but if you don't keep your garage heated at all times you'll have to fill the system with anti-freeze.

I avoid electric as it can be very expensive - especially here in the northeast. I've toyed with the idea of getting one of those Hot Dawg heaters (I would have to get a propane tank installed outside), but just haven't pulled the trigger.

 

Natural Gas $250.00 for furnace, no smell, no high electric bill

 

Have a 230 Volt electric heater. Takes about an hour to heat my 20x20 to 60 which is comfortable to work in. Michigan winter.

 

Gordon,

I have been looking at electric as it would be an easy install. Can you give me a ballpark idea how much it costs to run?

I have natural gas in the house, but it would be about a 40 foot run to the garage through a finished basement which would make the run fairly expensive.

Tom

 

thoyer. Gordonm covered it well. Since you ruled out natural gas and propane, electric is all that is left. Kerosene is not intended for confined spaces as he stated. You will need to see if you have any breaker space in your breaker box to allow for a 30-60 amp 230v circuit. This will require a three conductor wire with a bare bond wire and space for two breakers. I have seen some electric overhead heaters at Wal Mart in their garden centers. I believe they were Reznor brand. May not be available in the size you need. You need about 5KW to 10KW. Not cheap but no need for duct work and the heater is ceiling mounted out of the way. Easy system to install in my view. I am running 10KW on my 500sq.ft. uninsulated garage and it does fine. Each 5KW requires about 20 amps plus 2amps for fan. Good luck with it. mike...

OPPS!!! Just saw you do have access to natural gas. Cost of running gas line verses cost of operating electric resistance heat is the question now. I would run the gas line if poss. and use a small overhead heater. Remember if you have an open gas flame any fumes in garage will be explosive. Cost of running elec. heat is high verses cost of using natural gas. Pay more to install but save in operation.

 

Honestly I have no idea. Never really measured or wanted to measure it. I als ohave natural gas for heat and hot water but the cost to run a pipe to it and the cost of the heater was more than I wanted. I ran mine quite a bit last winter and never really noticed any huge bills. My gas and electric are on one bill and every time it gets cold my bills go up so I just figure it is part of being warm. It is nothing more than a big toaster hanging on the wall. Sure it costs a little to run but it is not run every day. Mine is a Dayton model tha tI bought online but it was shipped from Grainger. I run it on a dedicated 30 amp 220 line.

 

In my area electric heat is about 3 times the cost of gas heat of equal BTU. Depends on what you pay per KW and per cubic foot of gas. Remember with gas heat you must be careful of fumes in garage that might be explosive. mike...

 

Seem's like you're on the right track by cutting the heat loss much as possible. My garage is 18 x 20' drywalled all around, including the ceiling. The door is a 16' insulated sectional. Actually have a supply w/booster fan coming from my home system, and doesn't take much to get the temp's livable. If sealng everything tight, would probably go electric. Keep electrical rate's in mind though. Mine are about $0.11 per kw/hr, so a 5kw heater would be $0.55/hr running continuous. Also check with Northern Tool, as they have a good heater selection and sometime's specials.

 

Any concerns with introducing moisture to the garage when only using the heater sporadically? Biggest concern is rust on my 72.

 

In your decision making, keep in mind that electricity prices become deregulated in PA in January 2011. Prices are sure to increase...I think the state has artificially held prices in check since the late 90's/early 2000s'.

I am considering a change to another heat source; I heat with electric and am dreading the bills this winter.

 

Thanks everybody for the suggestions / concerns. Pretty much everything you guys mentioned has been rattling around in my head for a few weeks now (including the looming deregulation....... Can't wait to see what impact that has on my regular bill)

Years ago, back when we were racing, I used to rent a fairly large 2 car garage that we heated with kerosene. Could easily get the uninsulated garage up into the 50's on a 20 degree day. In my current garage where I would need to locate the kero heater would be in the way of getting around the car, so I'm not too thrilled about using kero.

I think I'm going to go with the electric. I have a perfect place to mount it which is convient to the breaker panel. The breaker panel in the garage feeds the main panel in the house where the majority of the breakers are so I have several open slots in the garage panel. Adding a 30 amp 2 pole breaker is well within the capacity of the service.

Hopefully I can move the C3 and C6 to their new winter storage facility next weekend. Then make the garage improvements and bring the project home the following weekend.

Thanks for the inputs.

Tom

PS: As for the "project".......................

 

i use a waste oil fired heater in my shop, works great and the fuel is usually free.

 

A fossil fuel fired heater vented directly into the space will produce some water, but doubtfully enough of a concern if only occasionally. I'd be more worried about work space air quality. Even such a heater vented to outdoor's in a tightly sealed room is a problem, as the combustion air need's to come from somewhere.

 

...our garage is 60' x 40' and has plenty of space where combustion air can come in. I bought one of those forced air propane heaters - we'll see how it works. I also have a couple big kero heaters but it would take forever to warm up the garage with one I think.

 

I use one of these during the winter.
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

I leave the garage door cracked open about 4" to vent and get fresh air. Even last winter when it was below zero for a week I was working in the garage in jeans and a t-shirt with the heater on the lowest setting because it was so warm in the garage i was sweating. A normal, grill sized propane tank lasted 3 months of using it about 10 hours a weekend.

 

And for comparision sake this is the kerosene heater I use in my garage. http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DAY...E50?Pid=search As DKDunn mentioned I just leave the service door partially open, burn clean fuel in it and seems to work ok. Do get a wiff of kerosene when I first walk in the garage initially but that is about it. One thing to keep in mind (this is the voice of experience talking) don't get a one that is too large for the size you are heating. The high Btu ones burn more kerosene and if the unit is too large it will fire up and shut off way too frequently. A heater that is better sized will run longer but not as frequent. One disadvantage of a torpedo style heater such as this is when it fires up conversations come to a halt, they are noisey. Anyway, just someting else for you to ponder.