propane heater ????.......

i have a portable propane heater.the kind that looks like a long tube like a jet engine.which by the way kick****...but damn its a pain in the**** to go get the tank filled all the time....my garage has a gas line already because the dryer used to be in there..my question is...can i hook my propane heater to the natural gas line ????? that way i have heat and dont have to go get the tank filled all the time ......sorry if this is a retarded question ....but hey look whos askin it .....i know you back east guys are probably laughin sayin its california why the hell do ya need a heater......simple....i am a wuss .....thanks for any and all help .......

 

donnie don't know the answer to your question, but i know what ya mean. i went out to the shop this morning and it was so*****ing cold i left after like 20 minutes. my shop is kinda like a basement shop so it's just*****ing cold in there. man it's gonna be a long coupla months...ken....

 

You might concider getting the smallest size outside tank that a propain company might fill with a truck delivery for you. Something about 100-200 gallons.It wouldn't be that large to look at. And you would probably use it for the winter anyways. I don't think nat.gas can be used in a propain burner.

 

If you are going through that much propane, I hope you have good ventilation while its running.

I have the same heater you describe. It warms the garage up quick, but it also makes my garage a death-hole in a hury too.

 

C'mon, uncontrolable shivering will just keep the 'flake mixed up good in the paint cup while you are spraying anyway.

 

Gas furnace manufacturers make kits to convert natural gas furnaces to propane. They are engineered and tested for the specific unit. You want to go the other way...I'd recomend DON'T Gas is nothing to experiment with. It seems every year we see somebodys house blown off it's foundation. It ain't worth the risk.
They say the temperature stays pretty constant 6' under!

 

Donnie, it's probably possible, but you need a different size metering jet. Kinda like the difference between alcohol and gasoline, you need different jet sizes. They convert house heaters to run on propane instead of natural gas all the time. Check with a HVAC shop and see. They also convert natural gas stoves to run on propane, so I think it is theoretically possible to do what you have proposed.

I agree that you need to be aware of build-up of exhaust gases though. It sure seems that it would be a lot cheaper and certainly more convenient to run it off natural gas.

 

I'd think it would work. Maybe go to the local mobile home dealer and ask what the difference is on their propane, and natural gas water heater regulators(besides the price tag). That would give you a ballpark on how to regulate it.

Try not to blow yourself up.
-Bugman Jeff

 

great points guys ....i really dont want to be a ''breaking news story'' on the news.... man in burbank blows his******** up....pictues at 11....... ..i was looking for a natural gas heater to put in there but i cant seem to find one locally and all the catologs i have seen say not legal in california...so they wont sell one to me.....ventilation in there is real good.....i guessi will head out now to get more propane.....maybe i can get a larger tank..right now i am using the one from my bbq......getting a tank like 100-200 gallon tank like was mentioned will get veto'd teal quick by the boss errrr wife...thanks for all the replies .....god i hate winter.......


by the way 38chevy454 ..i love yer tag line........makes me laugh everytime i see it.......

 

Winter does*****.

Try this trick with that jet engine style heater:

Point it down at an angle so it heats the cement floor in the area you'll be working. Once the cement is good and warm it'll radiate heat and keep it warm for quite a while after you've turned that noisey thing off. This is especially nice if your gunna be laying on said floor.

I also point it at my tools for awhile so I'm not hanging onto icy blocks of steel all day.

 

I have a friend that works for the gas co. I'll ask him when I see him. He knows how to hook up a gas heater in there. I wouldnt try converting the propane heater, I have one of those, no kit available. Go to home depot and look at your options. The oil filled ones work well. Then again, last time I went there in January looking for a heater, they had the place full of A/c units and fans...heaters were "Out of season"
I hear Burbank has a really good fire dept. Good luck

 

I ain't laughin, it's 7 degrees here in lower-mid Missouri. I'm freezin my bodyparts off.

If your dryer is propane, you'll be fine. If it's natural gas, you'd have to convert the heater over. BTW, propane has a higer BTU's than natural, it'll take more gas to heat to the same temp.

 

Make sure you have good ventilation or you could be front page news,also if you use paint,paint thinner or anything where the vapor would be*****ed through the heater and burned will stink like hell and cause really bad headaches.I have non ventilated propane heater in my shop I always leave the window open a little and I shut the heater off if I have to paint or something.

 

Donnie,

Reddy Heater makes a wall mounted natural gas unit that I've been eyeing up for a while. Check it:

http://www.reddyheat.com/reddy/products/gn30.html

Reddy Heater's stuff is sold at the Depot. If you can't get it in CA, maybe you could send money to someone and have them send it to you.



Ed

 

Burbank CA and a heater! Whats wrong with that picture - what is it 60 degrees or something? It is now a balmy 8 degrees and we got 10" of snow today. My garage is 50 degrees and I plan an evening of work in the garage.

 

ed thanks for the link .......that looks cool......yeah thats a good idea about havin one shipped to me ......

levisclassic......i wanna wear shorts to work in there ....nah just kidding ....dude its been gettin into the mid 30s .at night and that garage gets frickin cold....not like you deal with ....but then again could ya deal with 110 + in the summer ???? ...i was born and raised in scottsdale az then moved to california ...i am definately not used to winters like in MI .....damn that sounds brutal ........the worst thing is the concrete floor gets so cold my feet freeze . once that happens i am a gonner..... a wuss but a gonner.........hahaha

 

Understood! It gets harder every year. Some day after the boy is grown we may move somewhre warmer - but for now this is home. We have 7 monthes to drive rods and 5 to build them in the winter.

 

although i bet in that 5 months you get alot more done than we do here....i ve seen dudes come out of the winter garage sessions with pretty much a completely redone car ......i did spend a january in minneapolis .....holy***** that was cold....i have alot of respect for guys who can brave that kinda cold.......

 

They do make a 40 pound (instead of the twenty pound bbq) tank. Will at least last twice as long (but cost twice as much to fill)

 

Burbank? And you think it's cold in the garage?

It was 19 degrees F when I got home. It'll be 7 when I get up. I figure the garage is just below freezing. I'll probably trickle water through my pipes tonight so they don't freeze.

Shit, I bet I have a lot of stuff that doesn't handle sub-zero temperatures well. Sometime in the spring I'll go for a paint or epoxy that won't work, and I'll have the nerve to wonder why.

Burbank my****. I'm jealous.

--Matt

 

put on another flannel ya wuss!

 

Just curious,what is cold to you? With the wind chill it was below zero areund here? I am in need of heat in the garage at the new house. Not sure what route to go.

 

Lowes sell a 100 lb propane tank really reasonable. The nice thing about these is they won't freeze up during operation. It'll cost about 60.00 to fill but it'll last you the whole winter.

 

I have a ventless gas heater hung on the wall in my garage, I have a Carbon Monoxide detector in the garage, if the Oxygen level falls off and the carbon monoxide level goes up, it screams out a signal similar to a smoke detector, its about $30 at most Home Depot and the like, one more thing, when using a nat gas/prop unit in the garage, remember that it adds a lot of moisture into the area which in turn will eventually rust all raw steel and such.

 

What about using a boiler furnace with the old radiaters. As far as the extra moisture, couldn't you use a (de)humidifier, which ever on takes moisture out of the air. My work shop will be on the second floor of the garage so I would like a little heat up there to.

 

if this turns out to be a duplicate i apologize. i had this all typed up and it vaporized. so anyway, here goes again:

you've got natural gas in the shop, right? hows about a natural gas furnace from an old mobile home that's being scrapped?

around here they're either free or really cheap.

they're downdraft. just weld up a stand so it sits about 18" off of the floor and have a hvac shop make up a 90 degree elbow so the air turns and blows horizontal. now the air is blowing on the floor where it does some good, instead of keeping the ceiling toasty while your feet are frozen.

install a normal thermostat and you've got actual control of the temp. you can even let it idle along while you're not in the shop so that it's not so cold when you arrive.

the flue is easy to install.

if you do a little cleaning and pm on it before you install it you've now got a safe, reliable, functional, and fairly effecient heat source for your shop.

and they are about two feet square so it doesn't actually take up much (if any) more floor space than your "jet engine" style heater.

 

If you already have the gas line, why not put a gas heater up in the corner of the garage that is vented to the outside. That way you wont get `drain bamage` from running that propane heater.

 

Hey Donnie...

You need a heater that you can turn completely off right..??
No pilot light or anything like that because you paint(fumes) in your garage...
Anything with a pilot light, and you'll end up like my other buddy...
all exploded and burned up and*****...

I say just get a bigger propane tank... I'm sure Jennifer would let you...
Just put it right next to the garage and plant something around it...
or could you get a skinny upright tank and shove it a corner somewhere..??

merely suggestions...

 

I'll second the HawtDog heater....best investment I made in the garage. It was about 10 degrees today and it had it up to about 60 in less than 20 minutes. Cost about $400 and worth every penny.
Bill