Garage heat

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Insulate and upgrade the electric.
My buddy hooked me up with a mobile home elec. heater, works great.

You could get lucky with this type, and find a mobile home unit that has an A-coil in it, nd have best of both worlds, heat and ac. Older trailers, are always usable doners!

Also, could go to WalMart, Home Depot, Menards..ect and get a couple rolls of plastic sheeting. Tack it up on ceilings and walls that are drafty. Will keep a little more control of the heat and cooling.
 
Here in the bowels of the Midwest (Chicago area) winter can be a Really Big Deal. So much so that it puts the binders on any serious work from mid-November through May, give or take depending on unseasonably warm or cold weather. My 2-1/2 car garage is un-insulated, unheated, and wired for 15 amps/110V, and fuses at that. Looking to find a reasonable solution for heating while I'm out working during the winter months. Given the wiring issues, I'm thinking electric heat may be out of the question for the immediate future. There is no provision for natural gas, either...which leaves me with very few options. And I don't want to get fumed out by a kerosene heater either. Anyone had good luck with a propane-fired heater or electric infared heaters that don't draw a lot of wattage?
This works for me! But you have to enjoy cutting/splitting/stacking wood.

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@Captainkirk I hope you got something figured out by now.
I used 2 of the radiant propane mounted heaters in my 24 x 18 building for the 1st couple of years. I also mounted 2 cheap ceiling fans to keep the air moving. It worked until I could get the building finished.
 
This works for me! But you have to enjoy cutting/splitting/stacking wood.

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I couldn't get away with that here. I just changed insurance carriers on the shop and everyone I talked to, one of the first questions was "What kind of heat do you have?" When I said propane fired hot water, they all were visually relieved. I had two of them tell me that if I had solid fuel heat they would not insure me.
 
I made some phone calls. Being in the city limits, the only options I have are natural gas, propane, or electric heat. Guess I'll have to wait for spring. There are nearly 2 feet deep of snow between the house and garage now.
 
I made some phone calls. Being in the city limits, the only options I have are natural gas, propane, or electric heat. Guess I'll have to wait for spring. There are nearly 2 feet deep of snow between the house and garage now.
Yeah, gotta love lake effect snowstorms. A crap shoot as to how much we really get.
 
Run Natural Gas to your garage. Insulate and install some type of walls and ceiling, sheet rock, OSB, or even steel siding. install a small unit heater 30-50k unit. Your life will forever be changed. Leave it 45-50 degrees when you are not using it and 60 or so when you are out there. You will be very happy and productive, plus your tools, cars, parts etc. will never rust again. Run a larger power line out there for a sub panel while you are digging. Then you can get an air compressor and maybe even a window unit a/c. it always seems like we need to work in our shops when it is bitter cold or hot and humid. Unit heaters and window A/C units are pretty inexpensive and will make you very comfortable.
 
Run Natural Gas to your garage. Insulate and install some type of walls and ceiling, sheet rock, OSB, or even steel siding. install a small unit heater 30-50k unit. Your life will forever be changed. Leave it 45-50 degrees when you are not using it and 60 or so when you are out there. You will be very happy and productive, plus your tools, cars, parts etc. will never rust again. Run a larger power line out there for a sub panel while you are digging. Then you can get an air compressor and maybe even a window unit a/c. it always seems like we need to work in our shops when it is bitter cold or hot and humid. Unit heaters and window A/C units are pretty inexpensive and will make you very comfortable.
Good idea. I already ran a Romex power line and installed a sub panel but have not hooked it up (I'll need a licensed electrician for that). Summertime would be the right time to have a NG line run out there. I will check into pricing.
 
Licensed electrician? Bah. I wired my own, all plumbed in EMT conduit and the county inspector just said "good job". He was an azz at the end though, and refused to do the final sign off just because I didn't have the face plates on the outlets yet. EVERYTHING else was done and passed with flying colors, and I do mean everything. But I left the covers off so he could see and he wouldn't sign off til they were up. I had them, showed him the bag of them and even offered him a screwdriver so he could help me slap them on (they had to come back off to do the OSB on the walls) and save himself a trip, but he refused. What a petty BS thing e refuse sign off for. But he was back the next day, signed off and I promptly had to take them back off as son as he left for reason above.
 
Licensed electrician? Bah. I wired my own, all plumbed in EMT conduit and the county inspector just said "good job". He was an azz at the end though, and refused to do the final sign off just because I didn't have the face plates on the outlets yet. EVERYTHING else was done and passed with flying colors, and I do mean everything. But I left the covers off so he could see and he wouldn't sign off til they were up. I had them, showed him the bag of them and even offered him a screwdriver so he could help me slap them on (they had to come back off to do the OSB on the walls) and save himself a trip, but he refused. What a petty BS thing e refuse sign off for. But he was back the next day, signed off and I promptly had to take them back off as son as he left for reason above.
I don't disagree...but if you do ANYTHING in the city without the final sign off it will come back and bite you in the hiney if you ever try to sell the house. That's just the way it is.
 
I don't disagree...but if you do ANYTHING in the city without the final sign off it will come back and bite you in the hiney if you ever try to sell the house. That's just the way it is.
I agree 100%. They will find something wrong no matter what, even if another inspector said it was ok. I did my own wiring on my little house on the river that I built. I didn't pass my final inspection the first time. The inspector found some little issues that he didn't like, which was ok by me because now I know he looked over my work closely and I know I can sleep at night not having to worry about my place burning down. My inspector was a nice guy and very helpful.
 
I'm so damned old by the time "they find out" they'll have to dig me up along with the electrical / plumbing LOL

On a side note, I spent about a dozen years in HVAC/R. I've seen numerous electrical mistakes BY SUPPOSED LICENSED ELECTRICIANS which would make your hair fall out

"Only one" such story was in the (at the time) of the small shop Lennox dealer I worked. Boss asked if I could run a dedicated outlet for a 120V small Miller MIG to be used under an exhaust hood in the far corner. The panel was overcrowded, I told him "you better hire an electrician."

So I get back to the shop one afternoon, and the sheet metal guys goes, "MAN!!" Del, that little Miller REALLY WELDS now they got the new outlet in!!!

I added 3 +3 and got a negative number and said to myself BULLCRAP and went over and measured the voltage at the new outlet

Are you guys aware of "Delta" 3 phase which has a "wild leg?" This service has 3 hot legs, any 2 of which are 240 between legs, and a neutral which is 120V to TWO legs but "wild" to the third leg. This leg MUST be tagged in the box and not used for 120V loads

YUP!!! The "electrician" had wired the new outlet to the wild leg!!! 178V !!!!!

I called up their boss and read him the riot act. I told him "if that Miller dies for any reason in about the next year YOU are paying for it."

Says something about Miller welders, I guess!!
 
I've got the same issues. My garage is has no insulation to the attic, and I'm not sure about the outside wall. Right now I have a 5kw electric heater in the upper front corner. It knocks the edge off but takes forever to warm up. When it is 20 out I can get to about 45 maybe 50. I'm going to add a LP torpedo heater to get up to temp in about 15 minute and then the electric will hold temp long enough. Eventually I want to put it natural gas up by the ceiling or maybe one of those radiant bar heaters on the ceiling if I can find one I can afford.
I need to insulate the attic, but I have so many car parts up there it would take me a week to clear it out so that may wait till the car is back together
I have the same thing in Pa. I have a ceiling hanged electric on a 220 line i forget the BTUs, I can get it warm enough to "work" but not warm enough to use body fillers and primers paints etc, and I am smack in the middle of a body and paint process. I have the walls insulated but not the ceiling etc. I do have a loft that I close the opening up to keep the heat from "going out" through the attic.
 
I kept my shop about 50F all winter. Radiant tube heater. Last month's bill was $9.xx.... spent maybe 5 hours in the shop at 75F....
 
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