Garage Heat?

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I was looking at them, Im gonna talk with wife the trailer heater looks like the best bang for the buck.
 
I have a little heat that works ok called a contracter buddy small and does an decent job runs on 220v I use it to heat my 30x36 shop
 
If you know someone in the heating business it might pay to slip him a few bucks and do a heat loss estimate. Heating requirements can vary greatly on things like

How old/ new / tight is the shop and doors?

How well is it insulated? (again, more, bigger, multiple doors can REALLY suck up heat)

Design OD temps

Wind......................

Someone posted the hanging heaters at 5KW / 7.5KW. Electric is very simple. It's all the same efficiency, 3.4 BTU per watt or 3400 BTU per KW. So a 5KW heater is only 17000 BTU and that "ain't" all that much. You live in PA? Pretty cold? I'd think at LEAST double that much, and a lot of it will also depend on.......

Are you going to heat it all the time, or want "quick heat" for a Sat afternoon? If the latter, you'll want a VERY oversize unit for quick warm up.

Also, just how warm (at times) are you going to want it? If it's a VERY cold winter day and you decide to have an extended family game / etc get together in the garage, you will likely want "shirt sleeve" warmth instead of "barely taking the chill off." All about your expectations and funding.

Also electric can be easily "staged" because electric heat always consists of multiple heating elements. This means that you can install a two stage stat with an oversize unit and have the best of both worlds......................get into the second stage heat for a quick warm up, or piddle along on the first stage on warmer days.
 
Anybody use a electric miller trailer furnace, that might be a good option in my opinion? New for like 600.
 
Bought a kerosene heater from my brother for $20, with two empty five-gallon kerosene jugs. New wick at just over $10 and the thing keeps my 20'x20' garage toasty warm, even when starting from below zero outside temps. Takes half an hour or so to get to a livable temp out there, but I can't complain for the price.
 
If....and that is a gigantic if.....I ever get that far I will be using a pellet stove for heat outside...
 
If your garage is 28X36X10, guessing the ceiling height X about 7 gives you approximately 60,000 btu's needed to heat the space. If the "R" value of the insulation is good, that should do it. Personally, if you haven't poured the floor yet, use the floor heat. Wersbo, pex what ever you want to call it. A little pricey to install but real cheap to run. And if you're on the floor, warm as toast.
My two cents. And X 2 on the vent free. Combustion causes a lot of moisture.
 
My garage is 1250 sq. ft. with 12 and a half foot ceilings.

I use two of these (45,000 btu each) on natural gas
 

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for us, we tried electric- bill to high
kerosene- stinks
propane- price to high

so,between the diesels, back-hoe, tractors, cars, and friends vehicles
we went with a waste oil burner
haven't bought any oil to run it in 4 years

555.jpg


120,000 btu
14 gal tank
one tank full runs 18 hours
we have 55 drums on wheels and pump to refill with

during the summer
we centrifuge our oil changes,it goes back into the diesels
others oil changes go in the storage tank, for the next winter
 
pyrojim said:
If your garage is 28X36X10, guessing the ceiling height X about 7 gives you approximately 60,000 btu's needed to heat the space. If the "R" value of the insulation is good, that should do it. Personally, if you haven't poured the floor yet, use the floor heat. Wersbo, pex what ever you want to call it. A little pricey to install but real cheap to run. And if you're on the floor, warm as toast.
My two cents. And X 2 on the vent free. Combustion causes a lot of moisture.
Click to expand...

Agree. A "word" or two about BTU

Electric is figured directly from wattage and is essentially 100% efficient other than a VERY small amount lost in the wiring.

But if you buy combustion, whether gas, oil, etc, pay attention to what the specs "are."

It used to be "usual" for the nameplate listing on gas / oil to specify INPUT BTU from which you have to figure AFUE (efficiency) to get "output" or usable BTU

On older gas, this was average about 70%, somewhat higher for oil

Only "a few years ago" there came about so called "80% class" which nowadays are about the lowest efficiency you can buy. These are all vented with conventional metal vent systems

And the newer so called "90 % plus" or "condensing" furnaces run up above 90% efficiency. These are good and bad. The good of course is reduced fuel. The bad is, some of these are / were unreliable and "ate" head exchangers. You can very quickly "eat" any fuel savings by spending money on service and parts.

I "hear" that "our government" will soon expect us to buy ALL 90%. These can be good and bad in a possible FREEZING environment like a garage. Since these condense the moisture out of the vent gases, (to recover more heat) this means there's a certain amount of WATER in the system. If you have a garage situation, and it's not always kept above freezing, this can be a problem

"Life's a crap shoot."

The point is you need to know what somewhat is quoting you, is a fuel unit OUTPUT BTU or INPUT. My neighbor fell victim to this through Lowes and very nearly ended up with a "way too big" furnace.
 
I decided to go with a Miller oil hot air unit, I will get final price tomorrow but that will work best for me. I think.
 
Used to have a 32x48 shop with 12 ft ceilings. R19 insulation in walls and ceiling.
Heat system was NG fueled radiant heat mounted just below the ceiling. Was economical, easily heated the building hot enough to make you sweat. Got the idea from the auto dealership shop I used to work at...10 stalls and 2 ceiling radiant heaters...had T-shirt working environment in mid winter Montana.
 
As you can see there are allot of different options : I have a finished off 24 x 40 garage with R19 in the walls & 12" blown in the ceiling - Natural gas is far less expensive in my area (Chicago) - I have an older gas furnace from a motel - properly vented with just a box plenum on top to direct the heat - we've finally had a winter this year and my highest combined heating bill for my modest house and the garage (with the thermostat set no lower than 50 degrees) has averaged $97.00 from November threw Feb and I crank it up to 65 when I'm out there putt-sing around. Can't wait until I can see my lawn again... Good Luck - Reindeer
 
Based on the size of the shop. you will need approx. 40,000 btu's to do the trick.
I would try to find a sealed combustion gas furnace. Add some duct and a cold air return at the floor. A sealed combustion unit will not suck in outside air to use for combustion and the furnace could be as high as 95% EFF. Spend you fuel savings on moparts. Good luck with the heat, as we all know this winter has been too long and cold.
 
Did the first step tonight we picked up a 275 gallon oil tank. Still waiting on the phone call tomorrow but pretty sure were going with the Miller hot air furnace. But you never no for sure. 80000 btu 67dart273.
 
Well that should be plenty. Especially if you have an outdoor tank and especially if the shop is not going to be kept very warm or even kept at outdoor temps when unused, I would recommend you find a supplier that can deliver no1 heating oil instead of no2.

With a buried tank, and a heated house, this would not be an issue.
 
After everything is wired up we will keep things at 40 during the week, but on weekends when were messing around will try 60 to see how that goes in the winter. When we are out there working that is.
 
tekslk said:
I was looking at them, Im gonna talk with wife the trailer heater looks like the best bang for the buck.
Click to expand...

That's what I have with a few ducts run off from it. I run it on propane and it costs about 400$ a year to heat the garage 7/365
 
Ducts might be in for next year but probably not this year any more.
 
I would love a waste oil heater, but I'm not in a permanent living place at my garage.

Eventually, I'd like to have a gas radiant heater and a waste oil with good insulation. I don't do enough oil changing on my own to heat an entire shop all winter, but I can get enough waste oil from people I know to probably knock 3 months off.

I think I'll start with Hammer's suggestion and go with a radiant gas for now, until I get a better garage over me.
 
Get a used oil heater and convert it.

You need a filtration system and a larger nozzle.
 
Thanks for all the options, My man just came by to see about chimney or vent and will give me final cost, what he doesnt no is im gonna do it no manner what it cost, I just didnt want to tell him that.
 
Only problem with a "cheap" oil install over gas / LP is the chimney cost. Oil requires a class A chimney system just like wood You cannot use the cheaper "gas" "B" vent for oil.

You CAN fudge on this depending on the install. Years ago, a buddy had a metal shop building, we "made" vent out of two sizes of heavy wall galvanized. Took 6" and screwed it together, then put it inside of 7" to make double wall, then e'lled it out of the gable end of the shop, with metal standoff brackets, all fabricated.

This worked well and was carefully bracketed for fire clearance to combustibles, but it would probably never have passed a persnickety code inspector, even though it was perfectly safe.

Also bear in mind that ANY electrics or burner in a garage situation should be 18" and better to be 24" off the floor in a shop / garage.
 
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