Looking at heaters for my garage

LightngSVT said:
Shumax, I think what you did is exactly what I want to do. However I guess I didnt anticipate $1000 to put in heat. Oh well I wont need it until next year anyway. I hope the 75000 btu will be enough for my new garage.
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I didn't either, to be honest. I knew the heater would be $4-500, but when I found it for $100, I snatched it right up. Then it took nearly two months to get a mechanical HVAC contractor to come to my house---the job was too small they all said :sosad



Finally, three guys came out and the quotes ranged from $400-$900. I took the one for $500 because I know them and trust them. What I should have done was hang the thing and vent it on my own and then had them run the gas line. I would have done that, but I was afraid that would have been an even smaller job that they wouldn't have wanted to touch. Sigh....



It's in, works great and I'm not looking back!
 
Well Im going to need to have a humidifier installed on my furnace too, so might be worth someones while. Im having a gas line put in my garage, Im just a bit concerned about doing the venting myself (cutting a hole in the roof, etc). thanks again!
 
chpsk8 said:
Probably dont' want to do that. Two reasons...

1. Obviously it's not to code.

2. Fire that starts in the garage will spread through the duct into the house. There aren't any fireproof flaps to add to the ducts. (thats why it doesn't meet code) I tried doing this when I built my house and got shot down right away. :(



I think you should start with a torpedo heater, if you get addicted then move up to a real natural gas garage heater. The best thing you can do is insulate the walls and ceiling of the garage. I have r13 in the walls and r38 in the ceiling. My torpedo cycles half what it did before I insulated. I can hold a temp without a heater running af 13 degrees above the outdoor temps. (30 outside-43 in the garage) THe warmer it is the better. I ran the heater for a couple hours on a 34 dergree night and it was still 50 in there 6 hours later. (insulation is good!)



Cracking a door or putting in a makeup air vent from the outside is good also. I run a CO detector in the garage and the cars set it off more than the torpedo ever has. Actually I don't think the torpedo has ever set it off, it's always been the car running in the garage.
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I toured the Southern Living home a few months ago and it had a heated and cooled garage with insulated garage doors so I don't think there would be any code violation in my state. Other states may have codes against doing this. I think the issue is exhaust fumes getting in the vents and not a fire getting into the vents. After all, there are vents in almost every kithchen and that is the place where most fires start.



It seems to me that a duct from a heat pump/central HVAC would be WAY safer than a torpedo or gas heater. There is no flame, no fumes, no sparks, no potential gas leaks, no carbon monoxide, no spill hazard, no super heated metal parts that can burn people, etc, etc.
 
LightngSVT said:
Well Im going to need to have a humidifier installed on my furnace too, so might be worth someones while. Im having a gas line put in my garage, Im just a bit concerned about doing the venting myself (cutting a hole in the roof, etc). thanks again!
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How you vent it depends on how you install it. If you mount it within 5' of an exterior wall, you can vent it horizontally like I did, which makes installing the vent kit MUCH easier. Otherwise, it has to be vented vertically.
 
holland_patrick said:
DeLonghi

Oil-Fill Radiator Heater with Timer



that is the one i would get. no fan and it will keep heating even after you turn it off so you have a more even heat
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I have one of those, they work very well.
 
I actually have one like the Black and Decker (although this is a "patton" and the case looks a bit different) and while it took an hour to heat up the garage it does work pretty well. I don't have temperatures but I had to take my sweatshirt off while washing my car. It's 32 degrees out. Not extremely cold so take it for what it's worth. :)
 
When it's about 35 degrees outside of my garage, I use a Lasko ceramic (forced air)heater. They are very quiet and when turned on with my dual 500 watts halogens, my 2 -car garage will get to about 65 degrees. Depending on what I am doing, I sometimes have to remove my sweatshirt or set the temperature control on the heater.



This may sound strange but with carpet on the floor, the garage will heat up quicker and stay warmer longer. I recently had to roll the carpet up since I will be doing some major work to my '94 Mustang Cobra and don't want to spill anything on the carpet.



The Lasko heater Model # is 5365 Ceramic and cost me about $45.00. It is 1500 watt, has a digital display with temperature control and also oscillates. The ceramic heaters come in MANY sizes and are not too expensive. You'll just have to figure out whether you want to pay for the electricity or the fuel. I have seen the torpedo heaters. Very effective for heating quickly, but they do give off fumes and are noisy... almost like a small jet engine.



Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the info. I was discussing this with family, and the concern came up that the wire underground may not be of a thick enough gauge to withstand the current drawn by the heater, a 500W halogen, my garage lights, and my PC. If the wire were to melt, I'd be left with a dark garage. My landlord would never dig up the ground to fix my wire.

Thoughts? Am I more worried about this than I should be?
 
A healthy concern but a 1500w heater on a 120v circuit pulls 12.5 Amps. Add to that the 500w halogens (4 Amps) and your at 16.5 amps. Add in a couple of amps for the regular lights and you might be close to 18.



A 15 Amp breaker may trip with that alone (or when you power up a tool with a motor in it).



What I'm saying is the wire will only start to melt (burm) if your overloading the circuit for a given time, the breaker will trip before then as that what they are designed to do.



So you may end up with taking walks to the panel.



Garages (unless specifically built or rewired) typically don't have that much juice out there or are even on they're own leg.



Between my two pairs of halogens (1200/1000), Rotary polisher, Electric PW, and Forced Air heater I'm always tripping the breaker if I'm using the lights and two or more of the others.



I don't have access to the panel so I had to put a Surge thingy out there so I can reset everything instead of standing in the dark.
 
Yeah I'm highly doubting that my landlord installed a heavy-gauge wire for the garages. I'm sure he expects the tenants to just use the light bulb that's out there for 10 minutes and come back in. I'm the only one crazy enough to use a heater, halogen lights, and a polisher out there, as well as the light bulb and 2 36" flourescents.
 
Ohh your so right. The lady from the rental office told me that it's in my lease that the garages are for "storing" your car only, although most folks who moved from a house into these townhomes use it as storage.



the thickness of the wire also plays an important role when you have to factor in the length of the circuit.



All wire has a natural resistance and the longer the wire the less power you get (voltage drop) so you have to compenstate by increasing the gauge just to get back what you lose.



Again as you stated most landlords aren't going that extra mile. I can't wait to move this spring.



Dude I'm tellin ya grab one of these propane one's at lowes and hook em up to your BBQ tank (which your not using in the winter or get another one) and your done.
 
Check out my garage thread I have two convector heaters and One would be more than ample, gets warm in about 3 minutes and roasting in 5/6 minutes.



The heaters are 3000W each and I only have them on to take the chill out then switch em off.



John.
 
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