Garage Heat?

[chevy garage]

How do you heat your garage? I just got mine finished and need to figure what I'm gonna do for heat. I don't want to put something in there that may be a fire hazard with gas fumes, etc.
Thanks

[Crank]

Well I've been brought up in garages; I don't think gas fumes would really hurt anything, unless you plan on letting the gas run over the garage floor. But everyone I know uses cast iron wood burning fire places. Nothing hurts them and you don't have to worry about refilling a kerosene heater or running juice to a furnace(besides garages don't hold heat well, it'd be a waste of money for all that electric) plus wood is extremely warm.
Brandon

[stea]

Im in the same boat and have done alot of research. There are 2 different ways to do it. Forced air or radiant.

Forced air- Im looking at the Hotdog unit by Modine. Compact (about 23x18x12) you can get it for gas or propane use. The unit mounts up on the ceiling with only a 1" clearance to the sheetrock and 18" of clearance behind it. it is power vented and can be vented thru the roof or the wall. Cost of a 45,000 BTU unit is about $500 plus vent pipe and gas line. will heat a 3 car garage.

http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/heaters.shtml

Radiant. - prices range from 350-1000+ for just the unit. You also need alot of clearance to combustibles. looks like it would be cheaper to run and it needs no electrical supply. there are several different varieties and manufactures.

www.casualbbq.com

For space reasons I think I will go with the Forced Air unit heater.

[imaindianoutlaw]

Radiant is cheaper in the long run and more comfortable!

[stea]

imaindianoutlaw, what unit do u recommend since your in the HVAC racket?

[XXL]

When I moved to Messataxes, I went in search of a house with a garage. That was oddly a very difficult challenge. But what we ended up with is below. It's a two story garage with an almost built-out loft apartment overhead (it just needs carpet, trim work, and the kitchen counters installed. It's aleady plumbed up). In one of the storage rooms across the back of the garage is a 150 gallon oli tank and a modern oil furnace heater that can heat first and second floor quite well, and has venting to allow either one at a time or both. The concrete pad is approx. 24' x 36' which makes it larger than my house which is just out of the picture to the left. If I get in serious trouble with the "little misses" I've always got a place to go

Kenneth

[JoetheMobster]

Hey XXL, can I move into your garage??!!! LOL! :p

I'm in the works of buying my first house, and it has a BIG garage too! Not as nice as yours, mine's attached, and only one floor, but damn, I have space to move around, put parts of the truck all over the place, and even enough room for the all important beer fridge!!

[XXL]

Originally posted by JoetheMobster
Hey XXL, can I move into your garage??!!! LOL! :p

I'm in the works of buying my first house, and it has a BIG garage too! Not as nice as yours, mine's attached, and only one floor, but damn, I have space to move around, put parts of the truck all over the place, and even enough room for the all important beer fridge!!

Unfortunately we just moved our 22 ft3 beer fridge out of the garage after I recently completed renovating the basement (aka Man Cave!). It's now in the basement, about 15 feet from the couch, which faces the jumbo wall o' electronics!

Kenneth

[wbmorris87]

Just piss the old lady off and tell her you hid her anniversary gift in the garage. By the time she figures out your kidding, she'll be hot enough to heat a football stadium. However the down fall of the warm garage will be a VERY COLD BED.

[imaindianoutlaw]

I would recomend a boiler with radiant heat but that would run ya some $$$$!

Forced air will run you alot of $$$ in fuel!

I like the radiant heat from those tubes that are mounted just below the ceiling! Like you would see in an airlock, or ware house like sam's club? We put one in a tire whole salers garage and it was awesome!

[imaindianoutlaw]

By the way I will not doubt burn wood in my garage when I am ready!

[Crank]

Imaindianoutlaw, I didn't understand your last post please speak clearly. Joethemobster, can I have a cot next to you when you move into the garage. I eat very little and will help you and XXL with your projects, but my one concern is spiders... They scare me(sniffling sound) Please???
Brandon

[moose]

I have one of the hot dog heater it works good till it gets in the below 0 degrees. but I just finished the cealing and have not insalated. but I added a 16,000 btw radiant heater but that was to heat the metal so I could do body work

[chevy garage]

Thanks everybody. I had seen the hot dog heaters advertised but I didn't know how they would work. My garage is 32'x38' with sheet rock and I'm gonna blow insulation in the attic. What btu do I need, and how big a tank do I need? XXL NICE garage.

Thanks again.

[Kid]

I know it is too late because your garage is allready built, but I strongly recomend floor radiant heat. My shop is 30X36 with 10' walls and never got below 57degrees when is was 4 degrees outside (kansas wind to). You won't believe it but I don't think I spent more than $15 a month last winter to heat it.

[HvyChevy454]

must be horrible to have to HEAT the garage, down here im always trying to cool it.

[O'l Buck]

I have a big cast iron wood burner, it gets the shop so you can barely see your breath.........i need to insulate badly......btw, my shop is 1/3 of my barn, I just walled it off and put a ceiling over it.

[mrein3]

I was always told that if you burn wood in your garage you better not let your insurance man know about it.

The best setup I've ever seen is the guy we stay with when we go deer hunting. We are within spitting distance of the Canadian border so it gets cold! -40 degrees is common in the middle of the winter.

For the Fahrenheit to Celsius challenged -40F = -40C and both of them are cold.

Anyways this guy up north has in-floor radiant heat. The boiler is in his three stall garage. The boiler heats the garage it is in. The hot water is plumbed to his insulated pole shed and his house. One fire heats all three buildings. And he logs in the winter so his heat is practically free.

One particularly cold November three of us younger guys got stuck sleeping in the pole shed. It was odd compared to what I was used to. When you open the door all the hot air didn't rush out like it does with a forced air system. And when you put your bare feet on the concrete your Minnesota brain tells you it is gonna be cold but it isn't.

One draw back with the in-floor radiant heat is if for some reason if you have to work on a creeper you'll be sweating.

Check out http://www.radiantdirect.com for more info. I have no affiliation with them. A co-worker used their stuff to heat his house.

[Newby 69 GMC]

A guy I know has the floor radiant system and he loves it. The one thing he mentioned is that you can't work on a creeper after lunch, you get warm and end up falling asleep under your vehicle. HAHAHA

Seriously he loves it.

My uncle has had the radiant tube near the ceiling for years and it works great. It actually heats the vehicles and tools before it heats the air. It can still be quite cool in the shop but it is nice to work because everything you are handling is warm.

Trevor

[Suicide-D]

I heat my garage by turning the fan OFF... it heats right up during the day.

[Benrs86]

we have a gas radiant heater in our 45 by 50 foot garage. it doesnt use near as much propane as our house, and it is great when we open our 12 by 12 foot door because no hot air goes out.

[Crank]

I honestly think if you are gonna have a shop... you would rather invest money into your tools and cars. Right? Well if you just have a cast iron heater, first off, insulate it good. then as you are working just keep it stoked up good then you'll be good to go all night.
Brandon

[72step]

I'm currently in the process of building my garage, but anyhow, I'm planning on finding me a nice airtight stove in the local classifieds. My buddy just picked up a nice ashley wood stove for like 60 bucks! Nice part about wood, is you only use fuel when you need it, and you're not paying a big utility company for that ubeatable heat! Plus, I just don't see spending thousands on a garage heating system unless you are planning to run a business out of there. Just my 2cents.

[imaindianoutlaw]

My last post said I would burn wood when I get my garage? In floor radiant heat is the way to go! Forced air sucks!