I am using a counter flow LP Gas furnace. Heats from floor level up. Cost? Was given to me. 75000 BTU heats an insulated 24 x 32 garage rather well.
I'm a cheap bastard so I use wood now that kerosene has gotten so damned expensive. And I can get more wood for free than I could ever use. But cost aside, if I ever build another garage it's going to have hot water heat built into the floor. When it gets too cold, no matter how warm the air in the shop is, that damn floor is still freezing!
I got a used hot-air furnace from the junk pile behind a heater company. Oil fired I use kero in a 5 gal can. I plumbed the air ducts to bring air from out side through the heater and sort of pressurise the shop. beats all the drafts from blowing in. heats the shop in about 10 minutes.
My father closed up a one car garage with a side porch to a 1.5 car shop and put in a NG furnace connected. I'd say it's close to 20x20. It doesn't affect the gas bill very much. Keeps it 50 all winter (turns it off is the summer) and can turn it up to about 58-60 (very comfy temp to work in) when he wants to go out and work. It is fully insulated however and just got a nice new insulated overhead door. Something to think about. If the floor is concrete and you haven't heated the garage for a week and you want to go do some work, that huge hunk of concrete will take a LONG time to warm up. If you gotta lay on it, it'll suck.
I use a NG hanging Reznor heater to keep the shop around 45-50 degrees. When I go out to work, I can turn it up-but usually I just fire up the woodburner. I insulated the walls-3 1/2" and 6" in the ceiling.
i use a direct vent type furnace that i got for free from a guy that was remodeling his rec room. it fits between the studs and the whole combustion system vent to the outside so gas and fumes pose no threat. the next best thing to it being free is that its made by sears so parts should be available for a while. mike
I got lucky and bought a house 25 years ago that had a 36x25 two bay garage with a shop area. The previous owner installed a small furnace that he salvaged from a mobile home damaged by fire.Then he installed bag insulation. It's warm as toast during winters that sometimes reach temps of 20 below.
I built a huge 300 gallon oil barrel into a wood burner..i can put huge logs into it and burn away..its great for the 30 x32 pole barn with a 12 foot cieling with minimul insulation ..worked great last winter..hope it works great this winter..although if you have to buy wood it would not be economical at all..
Waste oil fired boiler with hydronic radiant in the floor, T shirt and shorts in N.Y. during February!
Friend of mine is a wood-butcher (carpenter). He was rebuilding a "DoubleWide" manufactured home and gave me an old hot air - Kero furnace. I installed it in my 24X36 garage as high as I could get it and insulated the place with 1-1/2" foam board with R-13 above it. Runs a couple of days on 5 gal's of Kero. "Mobile Home" type setup draws from front grill and fan forces out bottom, perfect for garage wall mount. PS: for you Orange County New Yawkahs' When I lived on Tally Ho in Mount Hope, I used a huge old wood furnace in the shop but it used to scare me to have so much flame in vicinity of auto stuff... Powerband
I have a radiant unit that hangs down the center of my rafters. It keeps things really nice and warm.
Great Thread! And just in time, Dad and I are looking to put a heater in our garage in the next couple of weeks.
When I built my new shop a few years ago I went with a heat pump,,,,heat/air all electric and it has proven to be a good choice for me. I set the temp around 60/65 when I am hard at work and bump it up if I just doing light work. I did over insulate the shop and used the heavy insulated doors and thermal windows,,,this stuff cost a lot more than I wanted to spend at the time but the results are well worth the money,,,, Insulation is 18 inches in the celing and packed in the walls also,,,then I installed sheetrock and caulked ever crack in sight. My shop is 30 x 40 with 10 foot ceiling and the highest power bill last winter was $87 dollars and some change,,,and I used the 220 welder a bunch and the weather stayed cold. Quiet and no fumes,,,the only problem I had last year was a power outtage,,,lasted 2 days,,,but with out lights I couldn't work in the shop anyway,,,, In my old small shop I used a kerosene heater,,the type you set in the middle of the floor,,,,It would keep me from freezing to death,,but with no insulation in the celing ,walls or doors,,, it never got toasty but I did stay kinda warm. HRP
Here is a free plan to build a nearly free waste oil burner....can use just about any oil. Motor, fryer, etc... http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_motherearth/me4.html
I put a hot dawg in my garage when I built it 6 years ago and run it every day during the cold months. It's run flawlessly.
When I built my shop (24x38) I wanted radiant heat in the floor but didn't have the money at the time of the build. I went with a 99.5 efficient NG forced air furnace. Last winter I put in a woodburner. I had a good source for free firewood (it's still a lot of work) and it's always nice and toasty in here now. Henry Ford said "wood will heat you twice, once when you gather it, and again when you burn it"
I had a couple friends of mine get the vent less gas garage heaters they sell at Menard's for a couple hundred bucks. There JUNK!! both guys got rid of them before the end of last winter, They heat OK but you'll die or get brain damage from the fumes!!. And who needs more brain damage?. And no!, there is no way to vent them to the outside.
Fortunately my shop has a natural gas outlet so I picked up a small gas heater at a flea market for $8. It's easy to get an adapter to adjust the flow to propane. IMO it's the most efficient way to heat an enclosed space. And with propane there is no monthly minimum service fee. It kills me to pay $12/mo for eight months out of the year that I dont burn one cubic foot of natural gas.
i've always used whats called a "salamander" heater or "rocket" heater. they use kero or 31 heating oil my shop was 50'long by 25' wide with a 15' ceiling and 13' overhead door. the 240,000 btu heater worked fine i added a thermostat so it would come on and turn offf at a pre-set temp. word to the wise...don't stand in front of it!!!! they get VERY hot directly in front of the outlet!!!!
Even though Central Texas is the opposite weather from most of you guys...105 degrees in summer and about a week of really cold weather..heres what I'm doing..on the inside,on a bare wall, I've sprayed a radiant barrier paint that will keep heat out in summer and in in Winter..as much as a 20 degree difference..If you decide to insulate your garage you HAVE to have some kind of window unit or connection to your house unit, if you don't the insulation will just absorb moisture out of the air and turn to moldy mush...
Whole section on the forum addressing garage heating/cooling on Ryan's sister site www.garagejournal.com Worth spending some time over there...
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