Heating a Garage?

[asudchiman]

This is my first winter where I have had any desire to be out working in the garage during winter... (correct, it is the first winter with the Jeep).

What do you use to warm up your garage? Cost is a big factor and space too. I have a two car garage.

Thanks in advance for the ideas.

[Ristow]

old house furnace off ebay,a high efficiency with the pvc exhaust. should be able to find one for 100-200$

[joe]

My current single car garage is essentially a plumb full bike shop that has no room for a heater so yeah it's chilly out there. In the past I've always had 2 car or larger shops and always had wood stoves. For that size I like barrel stoves. Gets plenty warm. A small cast iron wood box stove is enough to make it reasonably comfortable to work in. Box stoves aren't expensive and suspect in the Carolinas firewood is reasonably inexpensive and easy to come by. Do check with your local county regs about wood stoves. Some places have strict air pollution regs and wood smoke may not be acceptable? Wood is likely to be cheaper than propane, oil or electric. Always has been where I've lived anyway.

[77Deepj20]

I have a 55gallon barrel wood stove setup in my garage. Works pretty well at heating the entire place, 30x36 9' ceiling. A heavier gauge steel drum or old tank would work even better. Kit cost like 40bux plus a barrel.

[mokurt]

Is the garage insulated?
This will make a huge difference!

[Fearless]

I have an old Perfection 500 Kerosene heater I gave 20 bucks for 20 years ago. Fire it when I walk in and its warmed up to "chilly" in 10 minutes, toasty in 20. Cut it back to its lowest setting and I'm good for about 5 hours on a tank in a 25x25 uninsulated freestanding garage.

YMMV

[Kaiserjeeps]

As mentioned insulation is a great place to start. My wife and I rented a man lift and did our ceiling in the shop. It made all the difference as before 20 degrees above outside temps is all I could do. Now I can get it to 65 in there and the high yesterday was 18 degrees. I use a woodstove for the main heat. But I bought a 220 heater from Northern tool. It's a 1 foot square orange heater. It does OK but I have felt more heat come from smaller heaters. I also use in tandem a small "Big Heat" heater. It's 120 AC and makes hotter air than the Northern heater. It's only 8 inches square and makes fantastic heat.
I might aim that one at my work area if it is super cold in there. So when it is super cold, like last night at 15 below zero, I use all three and they work fine.

Remember Propane makes moisture when it burns. So that will increase humidity significantly and parts on shelves will surface rust faster.
Good luck and enjoy the winter projects.

[tgreese]

Is the garage insulated?
This will make a huge difference!

Absolutely. And most of the heat goes through the roof, so you need as much insulation overhead as you can manage.

I use electric heat (two hanging heaters), and I only heat the garage when I need to. Initial cost of electric heat will be much lower than gas, but the operating costs will be higher. Electric is also safer than gas or wood.

A ceiling fan also helps to distribute the heat throughout the garage.

[mokurt]

And most of the heat goes through the roof, so you need as much insulation overhead as you can manage.

When I had my 30' x 34' garage built,the walls were insulated but not the upstairs ceiling.

In the summer time the upstairs was extremly hot even with the two windows open and attic fan on.
I had the ceiling insulated for $400 and that made a big difference.

[asudchiman]

The garage is insulated on all sides except the actual garage doors.
Any ideas for getting a heater up off the floor to keep it away from kids?

[EKWagoneer]

In my dad's shop he put a heater up near the ceiling with lengths of all- thread rod. Think reverse stilts- anchored from the rafters to the top of the heater. Heater is approx. 1.5 x 1 x 1 feet. Maybe a bit bigger. He plumbed propane and exhaust without much trouble- shop already had a propane line.
Hope this helps.

Ely

[jeepman1]

No thanks

Before moving down here to hot and steamy Cortez, I spent 12 years in Boone NC my house was at 3450 ft. I'd grab a beer, walk out to the garage, stand there and look at the jeep for about 35 seconds , head back in and hope for spring!

[Heavy_Metal_Thunder_81]

It gets cold in the Carolinas?

[SC/397]

I would find a used counterflow furnace out of a Mobile Home for that small of a area. Build a 6-8" tall metal box under it with the opening to the area you want heated. .
I have a 85000 btu oil furnice in my shop set up this way and it will roast you out of there. The heat blows right on the concrete floor and it is great. If I build another shop, I will set it up the same way. I don't run any ductwork in to it, it just pullls air from the inside of the shop.

[asudchiman]

It gets cold in the Carolinas?

Heavy Metal... just because we don't all use sled dogs to get to work doesn't mean it doesn't get cold here.
We have all 4 seasons. That's why everyone keeps trying to move here.

Here's what they are calling for tomorrow. Good thing about snow around here, it turns into a big neighborhood party. Everything shuts down, kids go out to play and two days later its warm and the snow is gone. Best kind of snow to have.


On the other hand, last weekend I was doing this just 3 hours away at the beach in 50 degree weather:





With this said, I know it's all in good fun and yes, cold is relative! Cheers