Garage Cold Weather Setup

I am looking for some help in setting up my garage for the cold winter ahead. The garage is a 2.5 car, fully insulated.

Any thoughts on heaters for under ~$200?
- I currently have a small 110V infrared tube mounted over the bench, but it needs a little help.

What about exhaust fans?
- Back on the farm we used small ducted axial fans the exhaust the hog house, but I am interested in what ya'll use and where ya got em.

Thanks for the help...

 

we used a 30000 natural gas ventless wall mounted heater, it was around 230$

takes about 35 minutes for it to become toastty...as long as your ceilings are too high and you mount it pretty low you can work in your underwear.


-Rob

 

I got a gfa (gas forced air) unit out of a house that a buddy of mine gave me, I wanted something with a thermostat and the price was right. You may be able to look around and find a deal like that?? Dont know what this winters high heating costs are gonna do to the market on used furnaces?? Now, I dont know the first thing f'ing thing about HVAC (other than I will need to raise the unit off the floor so the pilot light is above the fumes), can anyone tell me how to hook the damn thing up?? Where the gas comes through the wall, do I need to plumb a "drop" into the pipe? Does the drop need to be a certain length? Do these things generally run of 110? I've already wired in a dedicated 12 gauge 3 wire circut for it. How do I determine what are the vents, fresh air intake, etc.??? Is there a device to check for gas leaks once a plumb everything?? I'll definately have the installation checked out by a pro when I am done but I want to do as much of the labor as possible to save some coin. thanks-

 

be careful, get one of those do-it yourself home depot books, definately have a pro nearby. the motor will say if it is or is not 110. impossible to gues at this, they come both ways.

 

those ventless heaters work great, but still leave a little stink from the burning gas...i would recogmend you use a heater that is vented
..like this 50,000 BTU Bryant hanging unit heater i just got for free , it is LP , you can also get them for natural gas

 

Been searching all over for a "how-to" HVAC book, cant find any?? Never thought to look at the motor, duh...

 

Agree with Fat 50 on the jet heaters. My shop is 24 x 36 x 10. Got a 100K BTU last winter, along with a 100 lb tank. Lasted all winter, and I spent a good bit of time out there. About 20 minutes on Hi, and then I'd turn it to Low (rated at 30K) and it stayed nice.



QUOTE=fat50]I got this one at Lowe's for $99.00
http://www.reddyheat.com/products/rcp80v.html
Has not been cold enough to fire it up yet....[/QUOTE]

 

I'm going to put one of these in my garage, if I can get the insulation and drywall done...

Hot Dawg heaters



A little more $$, but worth it if you ask me...

Pete

 

Im looking at some in northern tool's master catalog. They have some nice looking ones.

 

Thanks for all the info... I will keep my eyes peeled for a used vented hanging unit, but probably have to go with a small LP fired unit from Home Desperate.

Do you guys have any thoughts on exhaust fans?

Thanks

 

Last spring I bought a LP wall mounted heater from Mejier on sale for $150. Rated for 1500 sq ft (my garage is under 600) and is a 99% efficent burner. It has a fan in it to circulate. I haven't used it yet but hopefully it'll work good. I also drywalled my celing (8' high) and in the next weekend or two I'll be blowing in insulation. My hope is to contain as much heat as possible, prevent ice dams, and not go thru a bunch of LP tanks this winter.

 

I just got a unit that hangs from the rafters so it looks like I'll use it rather than the GFA I got. The heat exchanger has a few small holes in it, the HVAC contractor I got it from said it would work fine for a shop, can I patch those holes (with JB Weld or hi-temp silicone or ??) or do I even need to worry about it??

 

I got one of those redi heaters that mount on top of a grill porpane tank. My garage in about 600 sq feet uninsulated and it works great. It gets the garage to about 60 in 1/2 hr even when it is 25 outside.

 

I'd go with electric if I were setting up a shop. You may want to consider a CO detector if you burn fuel.

 

Nobody using wood heat? I picked up a pretty nice stove from a friend, I'm planning to use it.

 

I heat my main shop that i work out of all the time 36x36 with wood stove and have for ten yrs about 6 rick a year is all it takes, I trade my junk iron for firewood , cost 0..

My personal shop is 30x40 and super well insulated with spray in dense foam, i heat with a two burner propane on a 5 gal tank and it will last about 3 weekends 10 hrs a day for about 6 days and is about 75 when 25 or so outside..
you guys up north could just move south you know............

 

I'm putting up a shop at the moment, 38x40. I did the radiant floor route. I'll heat the water for the system using a oil fired boiler. Trusses are due in mid day Tuesday, so with some luck I'll have it water tight before the first snow fall and maybe it'll be warm sometime in Dec.

 

definatly worth it. Its cold alot where I live, I put one of these in my garage, gets hot quick. Got mine from B&T Grower Supply. Free shipping

 

My shop is 24x 32 and I have a used gas forced air furnace from an old mobile home (60,000 btu I think) I bought for $25. There is some insolation in my shop, but not as much as there should be. I had one of those ventless 30,000 btu ceramic heaters, but I cheaped out and didn't get the one with the thermostat- big mistake. I had to keep starting it and shutting it off and restarting it. On low it would get the shop way too hot. Ended up leaving it off all night, and doing the restart all day. Caused a lot of moisture build up in my shop. That was why I bought the mobile home furnace. Gene

 

there is information and how to books available on seemingly everything but HVAC, you cant tell me he a how-to do 220 book is any less dangerous than hooking up a furnace - all I want is some basic info on how to do laborer type stuff, I'm not gonna pay someone $50+ an hour to hang the unit from the rafters or build duct work - I'll definately do the grunt work and hire a pro to do the technical stuff

 

I used one of those propane radiant heaters last year in my non-insulated garage. It would take the chill off eventually. It wasn't very thrifty with the gas though. Last weekend I built a dual fuel stove. I've got 5 acres that was logged about 3 years ago and all the debris is laying on the ground. I'd guess about 75-100 cords of seasoned wood. I made the heater out of an old electic water heater tank. It will also burn used oil (just in case I don't feel like gathering wood).

 

Do you mind sharing the plans for the stove? sounds like an awesome setup. Around here we are going through a Pine Beetle epidemic, its hard to give firewood away. Also hard to find a place to dump used motor oil. The oil is the fuel I'm most interested in.

Gary

 

I've got a sketch of the plans at home. I'll take a pic or two and scan the sketches when I get home. I'll post them tomorrow. Look for a post en***led "Dual fuel heater".

 

Cool, Thanks

 

AMEN!

Fordnutz and I live far enough north - can get to -40 deg. in the winter - that cycling heat in a shop can cause ALL KINDS of problems. ANYTHING that's bare metal can rust; even tools!

As far as hookin up your own furnace - gas, oil or electric - LEAVE IT TO THE EXPERTS!

There was a garage fire here just a couple of weeks ago - destroyed two rods - because of an improperly connected furnace; (owner tried to save a couple of bucks) and because it hadn't been inspected - ZIP insurance!!

Propane heaters or any other kind of fuel fired; and that includes WOOD - NON VENTED - produce CO2 WHICH CAN KILL YOU!! Don't use them without proper ventilation!

My natural gas furnace is a "down flow" (or sometimes refered to as "counter flow") - draws air (thru a filter) at the top and blows warm air out the bottom. It gets heat to the far corners of the shop, except when the temp drops below -30 deg. In addition to being vented, it has a "fresh air make up" inlet - sometime refered to as "combustion air inlet" - to replace the air used in combustion. (it has a motorized flapper in the inlet that opens when the flame "lights off.")
New tightly sealed buildings can actually draw combustion gases back into the room without the "make up air" system.

If I had the chance to do it over again - selecting a heating system - I would use an "in floor radiant hot water." (remember; heat rises)

 

so I am not too confident in my rafter hung unit because of the holes in the heat exchanger, doesnt sound like I should try and patch them...
I dont want to use my barrel stove because of the hot / cold cycle and it takes up a ton of room...
I do still have the option of the home unit GFA that would be more than adequate, just having trouble finding info on what part of the install I can do myself, I do understand the need for a professional to do the hookup of critical components I am just trying to find out what labor I can have done before the pro shows up and goes on the clock. In the past five years I've two brand new HVAC units installed in two different houses and I am totally confident I can do grunt work / labor invovled if pointed in the right direction - then I will defer to a pro for the technical stuff...
Or, I am also looking at this option http://www.mrheater.com/upload/newsletter/18672_ MH25NG_LP.pdf

Anyone use these??

 

i think leadsledmerc has one of those in his 2-1/2 car garage and he loves it. mike

 

On those hotdog heaters how are they on gas consumption last year it cost me 280 bucks a month to heat my 1400sqft house and im taking all mesures possible this year to make sure that doesnt happen. I have a Wood stove my garage and last year i cheeped out and "built" my own chimney for it that worked like complete **** and my garage was more smokey then warm. They want 430.00 for the "right" chimney set up. But i still have a cord of wood left from last year and dont want to have high gas bills again this year. What would you do?

 

My wife got tired (and scared) of me using a propane heater I bought a Homey Depot. I'd be getting the grille sized propane tanks filled every other day. She had a heat pump installed on my shop (24x30) while I was out of town for a couple of weeks this past summer. Expensive, you bet. She claimed I was worth it. Sure made life much more comfortable this summer when it was 115 outside and 72 inside. I won't have to bring all the paint supplies in all winter and keep them in her computer room. I leave the AC set at 85 until I'm ready to go in there in the summer, in the winter I'll set it a 50 until I'm ready to go in. Expensive, but safe and comfortable.