Phil99vette

iTrader: (11)

I need a heater for my garage(3 car). Whats the best for a garage? We were thinking about a forced air jet heater.
Phil

cm02WS6

My dad and I both have used mobile home heaters in our garages. They work pretty well.

Midnight F-117A

I have a one car garage that measures 20 x 20 and I use a 40,000 BTU Forced Air heater.

and it works great, if it's 40's outside, it gets too hot inside if left on constantly.

If it's like 10-20 degrees outside, leaving it on constantly maintains a temp of 80 degrees which I like, prob b/c of the leakage rate around the garage door seals and the roof vent.
It uses kerosene and one tank full of running will last up to 10 hours constantly on, about 3 gallons.

It's about $3.70 a gal of kerosense here now.
I use about 10 gallons per winter season last year for maintenance of the cars (front drum to disc brake change on the '74 Nova, etc)

nick3205

I have the same thing that Midnight has

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

I have 100K btu propane forced air heater.

It keeps the place warm, but is really loud. It sounds like a jet engine running ....

kossuth

iTrader: (12)

Is your garage attached to your house? If it is attached to the house and if your house is heated by baseboard heating, you might be able to just T into your existing hot water heating line and just get an blower heater like out of a school or something like that. That's what I did. I just got an old heater out of a school that was being remodeled and just wired it up to a thermostat that way it doesn't always run. Just another idea

LS1NOVA

iTrader: (12)

For a more permanent instalation, Modine makes a lp/or natural gas heater called the Hot Dawg that is a nice furnace. It is around 350-550 depending on BTU's. Those portable heaters make some fumes over an extended time. How much time are you going to spend out there?

code4

iTrader: (30)

Isn't it dangerous to run those kerosene heaters without a lot of ventilation? I use a pellet stove for my shop.

Midnight F-117A

Nope, it's a seperate garage that used to be a horse barn.
Has a attic too.
I had a concrete floor put in, finished the walls, put shelves and cabients up, a workbench and a tool chest, a 220v air compressor, 8 flourscent light assemblies with a total of 16 flourscent tubes.

Midnight F-117A

I spend maybe about 2 hours max in the garage with it on, I have a side door that I open sometimes when it gets too hot.
I got the 40,000 BTU one because it doesn't use much fuel and it sounds about right for the garage size and doesn't emit much fumes like the 100,000 BTU does.

99 Silverado

I Use A 115,000 Btu In My Shop (1000 +- Sq Ft) It's Loud, Stinks, But It Breaks The Cold Enough To Work. I Am Now Looking For A Pot Belly Style Wood Stove I Think It Will Be Better

Lucas

LawmanSS

iTrader: (19)

My father heats his 2-car garage with something similar to this:

http://www.cetsolar.com/blueflame.htm

Flyin'Brian

I use a 150k BTU home HVAC forced air unit (downdraft) with the A/C coil removed. Works great in a 3 car.
I use a regular house thermostat that I have modified to go down to 40 degrees. So it keeps it from freezing when I'm not working in there.
It takes no time to get it up to 60 or 70 deg.

The Alchemist

iTrader: (19)

My father-in-law got a oil furnace for his garage with a thermostat attatched to it. He usually sets it for 55 degrees unless he's working in there. He actually got it from a gas station garage that was being shut down and got it for $100. Granted, it needed another $100 in parts to make it work right, but it was worth it. His garage is 26' x 40' with 10 foot ceilings.

Personally, I only have a 20' x 20' with a loft above the ceiling. This fall I insulated the loft with r-25 and the doors with r-11 and it made a huge difference. INSULATION IS THE HOLY GRAIL TO A GARAGE. Just parking both cars in there after driving them will raise the temp from 45 degrees to 65 in an hour. By morning, its still 55 in there.

I do have one of the Reddy heaters, but its the LP one. I kick that on if I'm going to be working in the garage and haven't driven either car in a while. Ten minutes of that on will raise the temp 15 degrees easy.

2002 Trans Am

Does anyone think this would work well for a normal 2 car garage
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...seBVCookie=Yes

1999_SS_M6

In my opinion, radiant heat is pretty useless in big, open spaces. Honestly, if you were going to lay on that thing like a heating pad, I'd say it would be great... otherwise, I'd say it's going to lightly warm a 10' radius around where you sit it. You really need something with a blower that moves air. Spend the extra $50 and get a torpedo just like everyone has been doing for 30 years.

Midnight F-117A

I agree. I was gonna say the same thing but I was in a rush to pick up my '74 Nova that had it's 377 stroker engine overhauled and it took them 6 months to do it!

You need to get a forced air type heater.
That heater you listed is good for like rooms and etc that won't have a garage door open/close a few times per day like a basement playroom (occurs to me to switch out cars for maintenance such as weekend checkup's and changes)

Otherwise it will get cold in a instant and you'll need something that can move air around good and get it heated up in the process.

theblur98ss

iTrader: (71)

I disagree with the radiant heat not working well. I wouldn't recommend that little heater from sears but if you're ever in any big open garages nose around a little and see how they heat. Most air plane hangers and buildings of the that type use overhead radiant tube heat. It's kind of over kill and over expense for most residential applications but there are some people that use it. That would be my #1 choice with infloor hot water radiant heat a close #2.

1999_SS_M6

LoL.. get outta here... Do you have any idea the amount of juice that thing would eat? Jeez.. You may as well heat your garage by sitting an oscillating fan behind a smoldering pile of $20 dollar bills, re-stoking the flames often.

Electric radiant heat, and reflective dish heat is terribly inefficient in BTU/dollar. You could do better with about any other options, imo. Pellet stoves, Multi-fuel torpedos, hell, even propane heaters would be more efficient. Good luck with the search though.

tuff

iTrader: (15)

I have a hot dawg heater in my 900sq ft garage 75,000btu works nicely.