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Heating your shop/garage
I don't have a shop, only a 1.5 car garage and I would consider myself a novice on the 1st level of auto body but I love doing this kind of work. I'm thinking ahead to winter and my wife is going to take back her garage so I can't pull my 68 in it. I do have a place where there is a 2 car garage with plenty of room and a 12 foot ceiling that I can use during the winter months.
My concern will be heating it and I am wondering what all you use or could recommend in heating this garage. I would prefer a 110 volt although I know that it would cost more. Thanks for any help. Joe |
Re: Heating your shop/garage
modine hot dawg nat gas / propane heater unit . :metal:
love it . quiet for size / lots of heat / solid unit . i have a big shop and run a 125k btu unit and leave the shop at 55* and kick up as needed . if to cold i fire up the wood stove . :devil: |
Re: Heating your shop/garage
what ever you decide for that space your biggest problem is the 12ft ceilings unless the garage ceiling is insolated , 80 percent of the heating sorce you use will end up above 8ft .
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I have a pellet stove in my shop...works pretty good
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Re: Heating your shop/garage
If it is not insulated, prepare to be cold. A 120V heater will be little more then a hand warmer. You need to be thinking in the realm of 20~40k btu and that is just for basic not freezing heat. Electric means serious 240v current.
Assuming it isn't your garage and just a loaner space, best bet is probably one of those radiant heaters that fits on top of a 20lb propane tank. Won't really warm the garage up but might make the space where you are working better. Pair with a battery operated CO detector just in case. Old carpet to sit or lay on when doing on the ground work really helps. Amazing how fast cold concrete pulls heat out of you. Shag is better then the outdoor stuff. |
Re: Heating your shop/garage
I agree 110v is not gonna do anything...gas is the way to go...we use torpedo heaters at work but you need ventilation...if you use any type of gas heat get yourself a carbon monoxide alarm...you sure dont want to wake up dead...
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Great advice, I may have to abandon that "great" idea I had because of how much it would cost to heat it.
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I wouldn't totally give up on it. A closed unheated space out of the wind is a lot better then an exposed driveway. You may have to time your garage visits to those days where the temps are above your magic 'too cold' number.
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I have a Propane Gas chicken house furnace in mine , think its 250,000 BTU , hangs in the middle of my 34x48 shop and I can only leave it on about 30 minutes at a time . It gets warm very fast , its also very efficient .
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Dead Parrot has your answer, I use that system, I only have it on when I in there working, and takes enough of the edge off to be ok. Done this for two years and my cost per year is approx 125-150 per year. Make sure you have a C0-2 detector, and that there is nothing your working on that can't freeze.
Nutz |
Re: Heating your shop/garage
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I can’t help you here. I live in the southeast, and it gets so damn hot here that I added a heat pump system to my shop. So, as a side effect of my a/c install, I have heat that works fantastic for a really decent price.
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I have one of these in my 2 car garage, got mine at Home Depot. I’ve added some insulation to the walls but nothing above, still deciding how to finish it off and maintain access to the storage up there. Anyway, it’s 70,000btu, 5 gallons of kerosene lasts about 7 hours and it’s quiet, I can’t stand listening to those torpedo heaters. I normally put a scrap of 2x4 under my garage door to provide ventilation and can comfortably work without a jacket/coat on when it’s 30 degrees outside.
I brought it to work once when it was single digits outside and had to work inside the box of a box truck. We left the door open 6 inches, turned it on and had to work in our t-shirts. Funny part was putting our layers back on before shutting off the heater and being colder inside the shop than we were in the back of that truck! |
Re: Heating your shop/garage
As a HVAC tech I have serviced quite a few of these things, and in you case this maybe a very efficient way to keep the garage warm.
That is hydronic heating. You basically put a tap on the outlet line of your hot water heater, and another at the relief valve near the bottom of your tank. You use a recirc pump to move water, and a heat exchanger or radiator to give off the heat. They have issues like recovery is quite slow, but once warm they will keep you place that way. Use aqua pex for the water lines as copper has a tendency to get pin holes after 5-10 years. |
Re: Heating your shop/garage
I live in North Idaho, My shop is an uninsulated steel building, no heat and extension cord power.
I can't really heat it as the tin will sweat in the cold, and condensate inside the building. Right now, I''m just glad to have a concrete floor and a roof I've been working on insulation, I will probably use a natural gas Reznor with wood backup, if I ever finish my shop. In the mean time ... I use an unconventional heat source: https://external-content.duckduckgo....6pid%3DApi&f=1 Seriously though, I love a wood heated shop. In the dead of winter, I'll keep the gas heat at 45 degrees, and use wood if I want it any warmer than that. |
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This is the heated area of my garage 20 x 36...the sliding doors lead into the unheated part....
Walls are R19...ceiling will be R30+... I use this 5000/7500 BTU electric heater from Northern Tool At 25ºF outside it will keep it at 65º on the low setting a about ¼ of the way on the knob When I get the ceiling insulated...it should work just fine.... (I still have a few loose ends to finish up on) Attachment 1965383 |
Re: Heating your shop/garage
I live up north, winters are cold but not a lot of days below zero. As a past auto mechanic sick of dealing with rotted out heat exchangers from solvents, carb cleaners, paint fumes being sucked up into the inside in 3 different repair shops. The heating industry calls it "halogenated hydrocarbons" and warranty null and void (quoted from grainger catalog under unit heaters}.
My option for safe (no explosion potential and no carbon monoxide poisoning potential) is a sealed combustion counterflow house furnace. 96 percent efficient, and it pumps the heat on the floor. I make a stand so it sits about 2 feet above floor level(code is minimum18") and box it in and put 2 6" 90 degrees elbows on the underside pointing out horizontally. I make a box on top for the return air filters . My current shop is 40x40 with 12' ceiling, metal pole building, metal on ceiling with cellulose insulation above and spray foam on walls (this way when purchased used a year ago). Just took a temp gun and shot the floor, objects, and ceiling. Floor 57 degrees, objects 60 degrees and ceiling 58 degrees, thermostat at 61 degrees. Ceiling is at r-38, 15" of cellulose. This is the 5th garage i've been involved with installing a counterflow furnace and ony positive comments. i tell the owners to pump safe warm air on the floor and it will take care of the rest. Goodman brand furnace is about $1,000 plus extras. I find a steel bed frame for the angle iron and make the stand out of that. The furnace sets down inside the angle iron so it can't shift and slide off. The flange where the headboard mounts become the feet, etc. Some may say this is overkill, but if you are killed from carbon monoxide or an explosion i bet your parents are too old to make another one just like you after the funeral These paragraphs should at least get you to think twice. Good luck!! I should add that sealed combustion has one pipe that allows outside air to come into the furnace for combustion, and another pipe dumps the furnace exhaust outside! A gas tank leak in a sealed garage will be affected more from a spark from a light switch when you come in the door more than the sealed furnace!! |
Re: Heating your shop/garage
If I was going to build a new shop I would do in floor heat. The body shop where I did the body work on my C10 had in floor heat and it was fantastic. No fans blowing dirt around. No noise. The floor was a treat to be near since the temp was set at 70 degrees.
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In your case I would recommend a Modine ceiling mounted heater, either nat gas or propane. I have one in the back part of my shop, which is 40'x40' with 10' ceilings. It draws combustion air from outside and not inside, which is good. It serves the purpose for that part of my shop.
The front part of my shop is 46'x48" with 14' ceilings. For that part of my shop I installed in-floor radiant heat, which I absolutely love. Heat comes from the floor and works its way up. My feet are never cold. It was tricky because I installed a 13' BendPak lift and I had to be sure ahead of time that I knew exactly where the PEX tubing was, so I didn't hit a tube. Worked out perfect for our cold Buffalo, NY winters. My in-floor heat system with Navien condensing boiler. Attachment 1984039 Before I installed my lift. Attachment 1984040 After installation of my BendPak lift. Attachment 1984041 |
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For the radiant heat guys. What do you spend to run the water heater per year? I am about to build a shop myself and want radiant heat. Ultimately a wood boiler setup but that part would be a couple years down the road.
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Re: Heating your shop/garage
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Many boilers and water heaters are not efficient enough to condense the flue gasses down to water. Most boilers and water heaters would rust out or otherwise corrode if condensation occurred within them. For reasons of long term cost and energy efficiency I would recommend using either a high efficient condensing boiler or condensing water heater for radiant floor heat. |
Re: Heating your shop/garage
Thanks. Just scouring the net I get all kinds of answers and numbers. The shop is getting built this year and hope to do some work to the house the following year. Once those are done I want to get the wood boiler setup and heat both. Knowing how plans go the shop would only be on electric heat for 3-5 years before cutting over. I have the shop plans so now i have to clear the land and settle on the amount of insulation under the pad. Just got to finish a few small projects when it's not raining before breaking out the chain saw.
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Re: Heating your shop/garage
If I were building new, I would consider the floor heat...but since I didnt, I just got my modine 100k hotdawg up and running ...it works great..
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Dero, what a wonderful space to work in you have!
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i use a construction Lp heater with 20 inch box fan behind it set on low. hang two box fans horizontaly 9 feet high set on low wired to a switch. get some shipping cardboard 1/2 inch thick to use on floor instead of creeper.
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Thanks for the info. I started clearing for the shop this week but still have alot of trees to come down. I also have alot more backfill requirements than originally thought thanks to living on a mountain. I may have to push back building until next year to gaurentee the soil compaction. I will be pulling fill from next to the house so it's actually two large projects rolled into one. Clear and fill the shop area while making more yard. Atleast diesel prices are dropping.
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Re: Heating your shop/garage
burnin oil, I have a 80' x 60' pole barn with the front half 40' x 60' finished off and has in floor heat with a 14' ceiling. I have a central boiler wood stove that I have used for the last 15 years to heat the floor, and a 40 gal water heater for domestic water in the shop, and I also heat my house and a 40 gal water heater in the house. I cut approx 20 to 22 cord of wood per year, and will use most of it depending on the northern Illinois winters. I maybe burned about 18 cord this year and still burning it. I'm sure you are aware of the work it takes to heat this way. If you want to burn wood to heat a shop and house with a wood boiler you need to have a good source of wood. You need to have the time to cut and split the wood, and you have to treat it like a herd of milk cows, someone has to be there to milk them every day. Some one needs to fill the stove once or twice a day. I have a 500 gal propane tank and it gets topped of once a year. We use a gas stove, and water heater in the house, and same in the shop. It is pretty cheap to heat this way, but it is sure labor intense. I am thinking of converting to a gas boiler to heat the shop in the near future. I have enjoyed my set up for a long time and it works great. I'm just getting a little wore out. Ha
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Re: Heating your shop/garage
Thanks for the input and I know the feeling. I started heating with wood this year. Our weather has been somewhat mild this year. We have burnt around 5 chords since October. Luckily the coldest part of the day has been around 7am so it warms back up quick. When I get around to making the switch I will probably do some kind of water storage setup so that you can let the boiler die back. I have about half the land cleared now for the shop so hopefully in a couple of weeks so I can begin the grading which will be extensive. The shop is going to be huge and have an open pole barn area for parking vehicles and equipment. Burning the old stumps is slow going.
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Re: Heating your shop/garage
Man.........you have a very nice garage set-up!!!
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Have a 30 by 30 separate garage, insulated, with 14 ft ceiling at the peak. Tried kerosene, too stinky and ice cold floor. Had electric heater (15000?) that was only good to about 40. I Installed a house gas furnace with an 8 inch duct along 1 wall and 4 outlets. Works great! Plus I can hook an ac to it later. Go natural gas and never look back
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