Garage heat

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I have a Kero-Sun 23.000 BTU Kerosene heaterView attachment 1715651470 in my carport / work shop. A 2 car, open carport. I have it closed of with a tarp hung like a curtain. The heater keeps the space comfortable. No fumes. If you have trouble with allergies or you think you have fumes, you can burn pure mineral sprits. More expensive than Kerosene, but burns real clean. I used to sell kerosene heaters in, of all places, Miami Florida for a hardware store. "The Aladdin Blue Flame." The store owner always recommended Mineral Sprits.

You guys know that they make ventless gas and propane heaters that hang on a wall or set On the floor w/ a leg attachment ? I have a natural gas one mounted about 18'' off the floor , my garage (16x38) is enclosed w/ only 3/4'' foil faced foam board insulation , it doesnt retaiin heat real well ,and if I GET IT OVER 60 DEGRESS , ITS STARTS GETTING TOO WARM TO WORK COMFORTABLY IN ANYWAY.
A guy could install one and use a small/charcoaler type propane tank setting just far enough away from it to be safe , and have the same thing , all plbg. inside .
Maybe even a heat sheild between them , if that close ---propane is more explosive than nat. gas -be careful , for sure no leaks!
Might set the tank outside w/ an enclosed cover for it , using a short run of black or copper piping to get inside ---------- easy peasy .
 
My buddy got a forced hot air oil fired furnace from someone converting to Gas heat. Used a 55 Gallon drum for a fuel tank. Ran on 120 Volts. must (obviously) be vented . Worked awesome. Looked similar to this.

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Oil furnaces were abundant around here years ago. Lots switched to electric, and there were all kinds a guy could grab up. Not the cheapest thing to run, but made tons of heat.

insulation first and foremost.
I insulated my 24x32 $100 at a time, took a few months but was well worth the investment. Now i run a pellet stove,a bag a day. Heat is on 24/7 and i like it warm.
 
When I built my Garage addition there were mutiple projects going on at my work. When gutting the walls I asked them to throw the insulation (unfaced) off to the side. I would come in every morning and stuff black plastic leaf bags full. I insulated all my walls and added a moisture barrier and had about 18 " up in the attic.
 
I had a house I was renting so I really didn't want to spend much money on the garage. So I stapled plastic on the ceiling and stapled cardboard (old boxes FREE ) between the 2x4's and the outside walls. Would have been great to plastic the walls also. It did make a nice difference. But I would suggest if using the kerosene torpedo heater to leave 1 to 2 square feet open in the ceiling for some venting.
 
I’d just get one of the Mr Heater we use it in the paint booth. Runs on kerosene or we just fill with diesel. Just keep a door cracked or window.
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Being former military stationed in Germany. We do anything stay warm, huddle around running tanks. Use are pot belly stoves in our tents.
We lit heat tabs under our night tracker cases (size of an office trash can) to stay tactical and sometimes sat on them! Korea in November, lucky it wasn't February! Being cold sucks. Being cold and wet is worse!
 
When I moved 90 miles west from the Lake Michigan shoreline to Central Wisconsin I had to rebuild the engine in my '55 F350.
Two car garage no insulation.

I got refridgerator boxes from the local appliance store and stapled them to the ceiling. HD plastic was used on the walls. I ran a 10 gauge extenstion cord for power.

I bought a 35k propane torpedo heater for heat. I still have it. It kept the garage warm in January Wisconsin temps.

I've had barrel stoves, cast iron pot bellies, pellet stoves but now I' m using my 30' radiant gas tube heater hanging from the ceiling.

For over a decade I built my stock cars in an unheated concrete farm building with one outlit and one light bulb. I feel your pain.
 
When I moved 90 miles west from the Lake Michigan shoreline to Central Wisconsin I had to rebuild the engine in my '55 F350.
Two car garage no insulation.

I got refridgerator boxes from the local appliance store and stapled them to the ceiling. HD plastic was used on the walls. I ran a 10 gauge extenstion cord for power.

I bought a 35k propane torpedo heater for heat. I still have it. It kept the garage warm in January Wisconsin temps.

I've had barrel stoves, cast iron pot bellies, pellet stoves but now I' m using my 30' radiant gas tube heater hanging from the ceiling.

For over a decade I built my stock cars in an unheated concrete farm building with one outlit and one light bulb. I feel your pain.

I have a radiant nat. gas heater , about 10x 20'' roughly , laying on the shelf, if some one is interested in it . It will give u headaches in a small low ceiling garage tho-----------
 
I too am on the Chicago area, (2 county's south) and around here firewood is plentiful.
And there is always at least 1 big storm around here a year in warm months. With piles of cut up logs by the ditch line in front of people's houses shortly after.
I have a pretty good pile behind my shed from the tree limb that landed on my house.
In my detached garage I have a 100k BTU Modine "unit heater". 30x36 X 10' ceilings, well insulated walls, but an open hole in the ceiling above the lift, walk up attic with no insulation up there. I think an old ceiling fan or 2 up inside the gables would help distribute the heat a lil better, it gets HOT up in the attic.
I have the Modine in the NW corner facing SE. Directly in line with it it gets quite warm, alongside it or in the NE corner where the toolbox is, it is noticeably chily
 
I too am on the Chicago area, (2 county's south) and around here firewood is plentiful.
And there is always at least 1 big storm around here a year in warm months. With piles of cut up logs by the ditch line in front of people's houses shortly after.
I have a pretty good pile behind my shed from the tree limb that landed on my house.
In my detached garage I have a 100k BTU Modine "unit heater". 30x36 X 10' ceilings, well insulated walls, but an open hole in the ceiling above the lift, walk up attic with no insulation up there. I think an old ceiling fan or 2 up inside the gables would help distribute the heat a lil better, it gets HOT up in the attic.
I have the Modine in the NW corner facing SE. Directly in line with it it gets quite warm, alongside it or in the NE corner where the toolbox is, it is noticeably chily
I knew there was wood in Chicago. Lol. I bet one or two fans would make big difference and of course more insulation up above for sure. Steve
 
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?

Park a big truck in your driveway and put the radiator inside your shop. Run the radiator hoses from the truck engine to the radiator inside your shop and leave the engine running. The big truck radiator with 200 degree water in it will warm your garage up in a hurry and the fumes will all be outside.

Another option is to invite a bunch of friends over to work on your car. If you have about 20 guys working in the garage at the same time it will warm up pretty quick. After an hour or so you might even need to crack the window open for some fresh air.
 
I live just a few miles north of him, and wood is not a problem. My first winter in new house with a similar garage I had stapled 3 mil plastic on walls and ceiling. I used a thermostat controlled torpedo heater and used K-1 kerosene. Supposed to burn cleaner, but a little more expensive than other stuff. So plastic and a unvented propane heater would be best, in my opinion. Blains Farm & Fleet off Durand (11) in Racine has them around $100. Let me get to PC and I'll post a link.

Ok, I was way off on the price, I forgot about using the indoor model, here it is.

Dyna-Glo 30K BTU Liquid Propane Vent Free Thermo Wall Heater - BFSS30LPT-4P | Blain's Farm & Fleet (farmandfleet.com)
 
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I heat my garage with a propane wall mount heater, and a propane torpedo heater.
I use the torpedo heater to knock the chill out, and run the wall mount one constantly.
Torpedo heaters are noisy. Both of them are hooked up to common gas grill sized bottles, so filling the bottles is $14.
 
I ran this in the garage yesterday, i use it for heating stuff up fast! Extreme caution had to be used. 80,000 btu’s on propane.
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running those direct burn heaters inside, you guys got some balls!

Pishta, I'm going to respectfully disagree. I've had my CO detector go off when running some of my Mopars in the garage, even with the doors open, but I've never had the detector go off when running my kerosene forced air heater, even with the doors closed.

I've found that in only about 5 minutes my kerosene forced air heater will warm the air up so it is comfortable to work on my cars, but if you really want to warm up all that 5/8" gypsum drywall on the walls and ceiling and the concrete floor, so the room will stay warm for awhile after you turn the heater off, you've got to leave it on for about 3 hours. That's about $7.50 or so in of kerosene.
 
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Bill, I dont know how they dont trigger that CO detector. I guess 1-K grade is very clean burning, ie. made for indoor appliance use when following all the warnings. I just imagined some V1 pulse jet going off in the corner and the exhaust heating the garage while slowly putting you to sleep.
 
A properly operating indoor UNVENTED heater should NOT PRODUCE CO. A properly burning VENTED heater DOES NOT PRODUCE CO. What causes CO is an improperly adjusted burner (not enough O2) or an UNVENTED burner operated in a closed area which eventually DEPLETES enough O2 so as to cause "partial" combustion, and THAT leads to CO

Many modern "pilot" heaters have what is known as an "Oxygen depletion" pilot, which is supposed to go out and lock out the system if the O2 level drops. This is not only for the CO hazard, but in case someone is (illegally) using an unvented appliance in a poorly vented sleeping area

The problem with ANY fuel, unvented heater is EXPLOSION hazard. Also, depending on chemicals present, ANY fuel fired unvented heater can generate TERRIBLE obnoxious toxic vapors. One example "I bet" you guys have heard of is products such as "brakecleen" (CRC) that is ANY cleaning product containing trichloro based chemicals IE low pressure hydrofluro type products. THESE CAN PRODUCE phosgene gas, the stuff Hitler used. (Welding/ brazing refrigeration tubing on older refrigerants, R12, 22, etc does this as well)

There are LOTS of chemicals that become absolutely obnoxious when run through combustion. Photo / film development chemicals, hair bleach/ dye/ other hair (beauty) chemicals the list goes on and on

Some of these chemicals, if they aren't terribly toxic, become horribly corrosive when run through a burner. As a former HVAC service guy, equipment does not last long in places such as printing / publishing outfits, "back when" there were photo places, and laundry/ dry cleaners

And to repeat, they are an exposion hazard.........AKA "source of ignition"
 
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