suggestions for garage heater

[NOT A T5]

My garage is about 400 sf and I used to heat it with a 175000 btu propane heater (not vented), that was overkill. Made my eyes burn and hard to breathe and used a lot of propane. So then I bought this 7500 W electric heater (I was very skeptical, ceiling mounted and controlled by a thermostat) and that thing warms up my garage nicely. It's got 2 settings but I run it on 1 and the thermostat not even halfway up and it brings up the temp to about 65 with temps outside below freezing. I only run it on weekends, my electric bill is around 70 bucks a month.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Just happen to pop into my mind of how my X's grandfather heated his small engine repair shop. He would pour gasoline in a big galvanized tin wash tub. Strike a match and toss it in before the fumes got too heavy. He did that for most of his life never really had a heater.

 

[thomasdrake]

My experience has shown me that the kerosene heaters are quicker to bring an area up to temperature but the propane heaters are much easier to be around long term with respect to the fumes. I've use both quite a bit and prefer the propane.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

Waste oil heater

One of the cheaper ones

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_586_586

look for a more expensive version that is used. Thye tend to burn synthetic oils better. Come to Nashville I'll give you the first 15 gallons of used oil, but it is mostly synthetic.

 

[bkdunha]

I have seen several of these installed with good luck. Not sure what your budget is.

https://www.homedepot.com/b/Heating-Venting-Cooling-Ductless-Mini-Splits/MRCOOL/N-5yc1vZc4m1Zfyt

Here is a pretty cool car guy site I follow on Youtube:

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Nothing heats like wood and fire is fun. Even the wife will wander out and get lured to the fire...furnaces, torpedos & split systems are not known to enhance the romantic vibe in the shop. Splitting and gathering wood also keeps you healthy. Burn baby burn!

That is one heck of a block heater, lol. I bet it does hold the heat a long time. Like heating up rocks and putting them in your tent at night camping.

 

[RocketFoot]

I'd like to get something to heat my garage...at least to keep it above freezing inside.  I have a 1200 square foot garage bu part of it is sectioned off so I would only need to heat about 850 square feet.

I was leaning toward electric just for the fact that a need something to work on it's own with out supervision.  But yeah, the electric company would probably send me a Christmas card every year!  LOL

 

[73pony]

Mini-Split Heat Pump would be the way to go. BKDunha posted a link above. I used too heat a 4 seasons room with one. On the plus you also get AC in summer.

 

[EBSTANG]

Nothing heats like wood and fire is fun. Even the wife will wander out and get lured to the fire...furnaces, torpedos & split systems are not known to enhance the romantic vibe in the shop. Splitting and gathering wood also keeps you healthy. Burn baby burn!

That is one heck of a block heater, lol. I bet it does hold the heat a long time. Like heating up rocks and putting them in your tent at night camping.

Up here in PA it gets real cold so we warm up our block real early in the morning so we can reassemble and reinstall it and get to work on time. It really makes a difference and the heater blows warm almost instantaneously...

 

[Pegleg]

Although used oil heaters are expensive to buy, once you laid out your cash you will find the running costs next to nothing. You just have to take a trip around your local mechanic shops and they will be glad to give you their used oil. Here in the UK a big percentage of small business mechanics use the used oil heaters as they get most of their used oil from jobs done over the year

 

[Kilgon]

It's that time of year again and I noticed that in this post no one mentioned about humidity and condensation.  Unless you have a well insulated garage this can become a problem when using an open flame type heater.  

Beside the issue of the walls sweating and potential mold growth behind them your car will also get condensation on and in it.  Not good!  To help stop this add a dehumidifier.  

Made a world of difference in my garage.  I turn it on first and let it run for about 30 minutes before I fire up my heater to help get a head start.  I have a floor model that is on casters and can be moved around.  It's rated at 30 pints per day and pulls a good bit of that out of the air somedays.  It's amazing how much water you can get out of the air.

Most of the big box stores carry them.  Well worth the investment.

 

[tony-muscle]

Here humidity is very scarce in the winter. Havent had a problem with condensation. The heaters tend to dry the air further.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[73pony]

Here humidity is very scarce in the winter. Havent had a problem with condensation. The heaters tend to dry the air further.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

+1. I run a 96% condensing furnace. Garage is well insulated as well. No humidity issues at all. Plus running the AC in the summer further helps take the humidity out.

 

[Hemikiller]

I can see humidity being an issue if you're running a non-vented heater or open propane burner, but not an appliance with an exterior vent or chimney.

 

[Kilgon]

I can see humidity being an issue if you're running a non-vented heater or open propane burner, but not an appliance with an exterior vent or chimney.

True in what you said and yes I'm referring to open flame non vented type of heaters such as propane, natural gas and oil. I should have been more specific - thanks for pointing that out.   I have a 30,000 btu wall mounted natural gas in a none insulated garage.  Before I got the dehumidifier I had days when you would think some sprayed water in my garage.  Now I'm able to keep it warm and dry.