I would think a bit about how much you'll be out there and how many bottles of propane you'll use over the winter. Once you do the math, then think about putting a good heater in there (with a flue), insulation, etc.. You may need to spend more all at once, but you may really save in the long run.
I am in PA, found a forced hot air furnace a guy didn't want, no thermostat just an on and off switch, its in my garage, useing a 35 gallon drum for the oil, heats up the place in no time!
Don't be stupid............ READ THE WARNINGS LABEL. Chevy Shop Roger was just Hospitalized for CO2 poisoning. They've been using propane heaters to save money. CO2 is ac***ulative in the blood. It can take weeks to get sick. You feel like you have the flu for a while, then you p*** out. Black Tony wrecked his fury and some poor civilians car 2-3 years ago the same way...
I worked with an open flame propane dry wall heater in a 2 car garage for a while. I used it until I found out from the several trips to the DR.'s complaining about bad head aches and over all didn't feel well. That I was being oxygen deprived from the flame burning all the oxygen out of the room. Yes I had the door open a crack and would go outside from time to time, but it doesn't take much loss of good ol' O2 to make a mess out of your grey matter. The Dr.probably would have not figured it out if he wasn't curious to see my '67 GT 350 and the '67 GT Mustang fastback that I was working on. He stopped by the garage and it didn't take long to figure out what was causing the problems. I called the local propane place and they came out and put a forced hot air unit in and my head was thankful for it. They even let me pay for it monthly and I worked a bit of it off lettering a few trucks. I urge you. Don't F%^& around with them salamander or open flame propane heaters. No matter what your budget is. Go out and get a heater that isn't going to make you sick of possibly kill you. Breathing better, Don
The lack of oxygen will do just as much damage as the carbon monoxide and fumes. Like death. If you have a really drafty place and use it to take the chill out fine. If it is well sealed and insulated it'll be a bad scene.
Know anyone going to tear down an old house to build a new one? Sometimes these old houses have fairly new furnaces. Free stuff just for the asking. Many of these newer furnaces are so efficient that they only need 2 inch exhaust of PVC, probably got one in your ba*****t Sometimes construction companies keep the furnaces from the demolition site to use as temporary heaters and ac***ulate several of them. So talk to some house builder you know. They save the thermostats too.
I just put in a 5000W electric heater.. $350- Heats my 3 stall garage in 1 hour. Works better than I thought it would and no chance of harmful fumes ...
i have an extra LP fired hanging unit heater, made by Bryant and rated at 50,000 BTU. this unit must be vented. regulator and thermostat included ..any interest?
To tell you the truth, propane or kerosene heaters are fine. However, if the space isnt vast, just get two of those halogen spotlamps from the home depot. Two master, will heat an area up really quick!
as many have said, be very careful with these--you can easily be asfixiated (sp?) read about it all the time where people with no power/gas use these in enclosed spaces with dire results--I put in a combo A.C. heat unit for my garage after freezing in the winter and 120 degrees in the summer and no worries--costly but cheaper than the negative possibilities
The best and safest way is an overhead unit heater. They're almost always available used, extremely durable, very few things to go wrong, being hung from the ceiling keeps it away from fumes. There's propane and gas valves available. I have less than $300 in a 175,000BTU overhead unit heater, including renting a trencher for 150 feet of natural gas line and plumbing. Safe forced air heat. Do a search under "unit heater" and explore the possibilities...and safety.
>>> Anyone have a wood stove in their garage?>>> I do (said while waving raised hand furiously), I do. I also use one of those barrel type propane heaters that sheetrockers use to take the chill off while the wood stove warms up then turn it (the propane) off and let the stove do it's thing all day long. Works pretty decent in my drafty garage, unless it's below 20 degrees out then it has a little trouble keeping up. Al in CT
Unless your heating with an UL approved heater, you have no insurance incase of a fire. So check the spec on any heat system.
I got one of these. I can work all day with out getting dizzy, but my garage doors leak. Really warms up the two car garage quick- maybe 15 minutes at full blast. 8 ft ceilings. Got it at Home Depot.
That sounds great but all the ones I'm finding are m***ive overkill for what I need. The garage isn't insulated very well and it has a loft ceiling but it's under 300sq ft. I'm still up in the air.
wood stove is the cheapest if you got access to free wood.maybe just a little work involved. they make a kit to convert a 55 gallon drum into a stove reall cheap.
This is what I'm thinking. A lot of my friends swear by them. My buddy has a chalet style house (open floor plan) and he heats the whole house with one. I live in a rural area and wood won't be hard to come by.
guys-and- gals.............Open flames and garages just don't mix....that means any thing that burns,(wood, propane, oil,and an electric spark, or furnace ignitor, or switch); ....gasoline vapors travel along a surface,(the floor), and rise up to 36 inchs. Not to mention all the other chemicals in the garage. Ever seen how flammable brake fluid is? Most building codes require that electric switches and outlets be at least 52" off the floor. Your heater should be higher, and get it's aiir from the outside. And NEVER pull in a vent from an attached house. Leo burned down his house and cooked the cat that way. These are not rants...this is serious stuff.
I can definitely see what you're saying but how is possible to keep ALL fumes separated from ALL flames? I dare say the majority of guys on here have at least thrown some sparks in room where there were gas fumes. I don't know. What's the SAFEST way to heat the garage if you are gonna be working in it?
Most municipal areas and the national minimum requirement codes spell out what is considered safe. All electrical outlets up 52" and no open flames below that. It's easy to find your local codes, and no-one should consider you a sissy or wimp for wanting to protect yourself, your stuff, and your friends and family. Also, in my detached garage, I have used a torpedo heater to take the chill out with the door cracked open, then switched to an enclosed electric radiant heater before working in there.
Can't believe I'm the only one who has a furnace from a house in his shop. It is vented outside, has inclosed flame and gets it's fresh air from outside. is about 100,000 btu, heats my 30X50 just fine and I paint in it all the time with no exposed flames. I have a propane tank outside of shop. They can be bought used or at a damaged freight place real cheap, I mean as cheap as some of the ideas I've read so far. My 2 cents worth. Don
My father recently put in a pellet stove in his 30x30 garage and it does wonders, if I wasn't selling my house in the spring that is what I would put in my garage instead of a kerosene heater. his garage easily gets up to 70 degrees in the middle of winter.
Yep. and having one requires alot of work..but you get warm 3 times..once when you chop it down, 2nd when you split and stack it and 3rd when you burn it. But I love mine. I converted a 250 Gallon Oil drum into a wood burner, complete with a huge ash dump, 3/4 smoke shelf that is refractory lined and so is the ash pit lined, Im running a tripple lined stainless smoke stack. This ****er heated this barn when i had no insulation, and on some of the coldest days of the past 3 winters. This year its going to get some what of a break , because now i have fully insulated my shop. I can load some huge logs into this baby..the door is like 2'x2' and the fire box is over 3.5' long. I used industrial grating as my hearth floor so it can pull air up thru the burning pile of wood. If your interested shoot me a PM with your e-mail I will send you dimensions and pictures. My shop is 30x32 with 11' ceilings...(before there was no insulated ceiling,,it was right up to the steel roof. I cant wait to see how well this insulation makes a difference this winter. as for the gas fume issue.. MY burner is not on the floor..it is elevated, I always vent my work space. and I do not mess with gasoline or paint when I run it. I keep my painting to the spring and summer time..and any gasoline work goes on outside. (I store my running and driveable cars that have gas in them in my garage, and i also have a gas shed where all my flamables are kept , its a different bulding) Or i just dont fire it up if thats what im going to do..I will heat the place up..snuff the fire , (my fire box is air tight so i can snuff it by cutting off all air supply) than once the place is up to temp I can do what ever i need to do safely with out any flames inside the fire box. Now with insulation i will be able to retain the heat much better.
My buddy has an old house furnace(forced hot air) in his garage, re-rigged the thermostat to a light switch. A small barrel of diesel plumbed in. The stack goes out a broken window pane. Works awesome. Heats quickly and cost nothing, people are replacing furnaces all the time. Befriend an HVAC guy and he will get you one. I have an HVAC guy currently keeping his peepers open for one to grab for me. He told me it may take some time, since most of his co-workers grab them quickly to use in their own garages...
^ It's funny you mention that because I am just about to replace the furnace in my house. The old one is HUGE though. Once again I think it would be overkill for my garage.
My shop is similar size to the one you are using. For the last 19 years I have been heating it with 4500 watt electric construstion heaters. Hooked up 2 at the start and mounted themon the walls about 6 feet from the floor, pointing down. Found that 1 was all that I needed to keep the temp up. After about 16 years the bearing in one started to get noisey and the 2nd one started to make noise this year. Picked up a new one to use as the main heater and kept the old one to use when I am in the shop. Cost on sale at home supply store $79.00. I just leave it run on low all winter long and keep the temp between 40 and 50 degrees, turning it up when I am working. Keeps things from freezing and keeps the frost from travelling under the concrete floor. Heating cost is approximately $85.00 per month, cheaper than propane. Not as good as a radiant floor heat system, but too expensive to retro fit now. Just another alternative. From a area that knows what a cold winter is. Canuck
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