Garage heat

[mnguy]

OK northern Ford Barners. Looking for advice on heating a 1200 sq ft garage area in Minnesota. Area is attached to house and has one single and one double overhead door. Walls and ceiling are still open. Gas or electric heat? Not considering wood heat. Let me know heater brand names if you are so inclined. Thanks in advance for sharing your advice and experiences.

[CarlG]

I have gas heat & set it to around 50 degrees in the winter. Have no idea what brand heater it is, it's whatever was there when I bought the house.

[slammin]

First you should insulate and finish the ceilings and walls. Ceiling should be 5/8 fire rated drywall. Gas heat will be the cheapest. A ceiling hung forced air heater. You want the open flames near the ceiling, above any gas vapor that might accumulate. Best to check with your local code office before installation.

[Marvin/TN]

I have gas heat in my shop, can't remember the brand at the moment. It is very safe and efficient 92.1 % efficient and burns no room air. Air intake and vent are 2.5" PVC.. The vent barely gets warm even with an all day operation. I can find out the name tomorrow and even E. Mail a photo of it if you want me to. It wasn't cheap, cost about $2650.00 installed but cheaper that burning my building down. I use it to paint cars in fact just painted two doors on my wife's Impalla. Oh and my shop is 30X34 with a 10' ft ceiling

[duke36]

Ditto re: insulation and providing (1 hour) fire rated constr. when garage connected to the house. Check local code. However various areas in the country have different BTU costs. See attached table (location close to your area) which can be adjusted for inflation, etc.

[2manycars]

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I use a Toyotomi keroscene heating unit. they come in several sizes. They vent and take in fresh air through the wall with a supplied pipe system. I have an oil drum filled with Kero in the shed adjacent to the shop. It's fully automatic and safe, as the flame is contained and the supply air and exhaust are to the outside. The small model heats my 15 x 30 shop just fine.

[jhowes]

My system is a bit like "to many cars". I found a kero heater that is used in house trailers and vents to the outside. Should be safe if it is safe for a house trailer. Jack

[40 Deluxe]

Ah, Minnesota! Grew up in south central MN, Now in Idaho. I would suggest a ceiling unit with divorced combustion or whatever it's called. Anyway, it uses outside air for the burners which is drawn in by a fan and then the exhaust is blown out so inside air does not reach the flame. I recently bought a Modine 45,000 BTU unit last winter but haven't installed it yet. It came with both propane and natural gas setups. I found the best deal from a greenhouse supplier called ACF Greenhouses. Their website is www.LittleGreenhouse.com
I was using a dual burner tank top infrared propane heater. It did a so-so job but I didn't think about the moisture these things produce. Condensation settled on anything that some mass to it like big sockets, ratchets, drills, saws, etc. This condensation seems to have a corrosive effect, too. A lot of stuff rusted in just a few months. Thus the furnace with outside combustion air!
Since your walls and ceiling are still open, now is the time to insulate and sheet rock! Insulation will pay for itself in saved fuel and comfort. If you have plain metal doors, insulate them too. That is a lot of surface area for heat to escape when it's 30 deg. below with a 30 MPH wind!
Another idea: When you sheet rock the ceiling, add an attic ladder and put down some plywood for a floor and store parts up there. Keep the heavy stuff near the walls and sheet metal type stuff nearer the middle.

[d.]

check out GarageJournal.com. tons of good advice on stuff like this.

[John Stone]

I have a Dornback which is like the Modine. Also something called a HotDawg is about the same. What I liked about these units is the exhaust is horizontal so no going up thru the roof. Thermostat operated so keeps the garage nice and toasty when you want it to be that way. 40 Deluxe has some good advice.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

It's 100 plus (+) here!
Bill Sweatinglikeapiganddrinkingcoffee

[BillEbob]

Originally Posted by BILL WILLIAMSON

It's 100 plus (+) here!
Bill Sweatinglikeapiganddrinkingcoffee

Bill,
One can always count on you for the most relevant non sequitur!

lol 😂

Bro. Bill

[taffrail]

How about a loop from the house. A forced hot water system work well if you have it.

[wingski]

Hey Minnesota, I live in Southern Oregon so I don’t have to deal with extreme cold like you do, but I do have to deal with extreme heat in the summer and condensation in the winter. My garage is seperated from the house and about 1200 sq. ft and unfinished like yours. I don’t feel like going to the expense and trouble of insulating and dry-walling, so I put a ceiling fan in the garage. With a remote, it cost $60 and has been a life-saver this summer. This winter, I plan on using a small, probably electric, heater by my car with that ceiling fan on. I don’t know if this is of help, but I’m pretty sure that I’m not going to have a condensation problem this winter. At least not around the car. Mike

[glenn in camino]

When I built my garage, I went with radiant heat in the floor from radiant tech.com. It keeps my garage at 68 degrees, even when the outside temp is in the 20s.

[Wick]

I use a mpi monitor that runs on off road diesel. Stays on 55 all winter. Uses 10gal a week. Garage is heavily insulated with a 13' high ceiling.

[Chippy Minton]

Do you want the heat to allow you to work on the car? Keeping a car in an artificially heated environment is a great way to speed up the rusting process. Using a gas or fuel burner that produces a lot of moisture just adds to the problem. A well ventilated, cool area or even sir conditioning is so much better for the car.

[40 Deluxe]

Originally Posted by Chippy Minton

Do you want the heat to allow you to work on the car? Keeping a car in an artificially heated environment is a great way to speed up the rusting process. Using a gas or fuel burner that produces a lot of moisture just adds to the problem.

Thus the sealed combustion furnace using outside air. All that moisture goes right outside.

[Chris H]

My garage/shop is a detached 2-car, built in the 1920's. No insulation and very basic. It is used primarily as a wood working shop, but used to keep cars it it too. My heat source is a second hand 60k BTU residential gas furnace converted to propane. I built a two stage filter box to keep the dust out of the plentum. It is only run when I am working out there, or getting ready to work out there.

My biggest problem, from the start, has been condensation. It would settle on the tools and cast iron table saw and other surfaces causing rust. My solution was to mount two very cheap ceiling fans up in the rafters. They have been running 24-7 for over 20 years, with only one cleaning and service. Admittedly, they are about shot, and need to be replaced, but the condensation issue is no longer a problem.

By the way, I never ran the furnace with cars in the garage. I have run the furnace overnight on occasion. In the winter, I was always satisfied with "sweat shirt warm" as warm enough for me for working out there. I also use a dust collector to keep the dust off the machinery to a minimum.

[Wick]

I run a dehumidifier and 2 ceiling fans along with the stereo all the time in the garage. 2nd photo shows the mpi monitor.