Art & Inspiration Winter is coming. . . Got heat?

80,000 btu forced air with 6 inch R-25 walls keeps things toasty, cheap.

 

Past home garage had a wood stove for years, then, a couple different types of propane portables, now w/ new home and garage buildings, garage has a ceiling mounted modine type using propane, cost varies, Lowest, .79/ Highest I ever paid 1.99/ garage use, 100/150 per heating season and a large AC window type mounted in wall, IMO, the most important part is proper insulation, sealing up, to keep your heating cost down, its the whole ball game, spent Extra $$$ on insulation, windows, doors, etc, money well spent.

 

My carport shop is open on two sides, with a doorway on the third. I've used one of the sunflower head heaters that mount on a small propane bottle, the kind you use on a camper, when I had to work in real cold weather. Most of the time I just put on a set of insulated coveralls and go for it without any heat. Thinking about getting some cheap WalMart tarps and hanging them up this year on the open sides and using the sunflower head heater. Not going to be doing any painting, just wrenching.

 

I have a 40 ft. tubular oil fired radiant heater. Almost no insulation, plastic on the rafters, 12 ft. walls in a 30x50 pole barn. Seems they have been using these for years in Canada. You can work on the floor at any time, no noisy blower, and cheap to operate. I dont use it everyday, but almost. The last 2 winters used 72 gal. TOTAL! These put off more heat than propane. Uses 6in. tubes. The way it was explained to me, was propane puts off 95,000 btu per hr. and oil puts off 140,000 btu. per hr. I am not an HVAC guy, but I know what works for me and my wallet.

 

I have a 75,000 btu propane Hot Dawg suspended unit in my 26' X 32' garage. It does a great job.
Jim

 

Sorry OJ, hate to hear that, hope you get up and running soon. My condolences to you and your friend's family.


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275 gal fuel oil tank with squirrel cage fan. 60 gal air compressor tank inside of it for fire box. Enclosed in rock wool insulated enclosure. Outside. Forced air. Hot air in cold air return.


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I haven't seen this mentioned I use a pellet stove to heat my garage cleaner and easier than wood in my opinion.

 

I have one of those propane 35,000 BTU Reddy heaters. Only thing damaged by the flame so far has been my eyebrows and lashes once when I raised up off the garage floor a little too close to it.

 

Oil furnace installed behind the shop under the storage roof, vented inside the shop with return air vent. Just flip the switch and presto, warm.

 

I'd like to see a pic of that set-up.


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I installed a hydronic unit heater in my attached garage. No fumes no flame, just a hot water zone off the boiler

 

My Garage is 24 X 36, with 3 over head doors, 4 windows with dual pans, R 20 walls, and R40 attic.
I do not heat full time, and when I used to it was to keep the shop at about 40f, and when working maybe would be up to 60f if I wanted too.
Now the Winnipeg Manitoba area, is a whole lot colder than Kitchener-Waterloo district, so when you have nights with a lot of -30 with a -40 windchill it costs a few bucks to heat.
Now Manitoba Hydro versus Ontario Hydro rates are at least 1/2 the cost.
Your garage is not that big, so if insulated and vapor barriered well, it should heat up easy and not be too expensive.
BTW my garage is totally detached, so no added benefit of being part of a house.
Really in Canada, the way to go is in floor radiant heat with your choice of a boiler, electric, gas, or even a wood fired boiler. The slab stays warm and he heat rises.
My setup the floor is cold, and closer to the floor is cooler than from say 3 feet to the ceiling, fans help with this...

 

sheeeeet no as a matter of fact just came in the house cause it was too cold,, yes i know im in california

 

I really don't know what brand, or how many BTU my hanging heater is. I have a 24' x 24' with a 24' x 7' addition that is mostly storage with an 8' cealing. The garage does not have insulation, but there is sheet rock on the cealing, and cheap paneling nailed to the walls. There are 2 outside single pane windows facing the west, and 2 double pane windows facing the east, in the addition. There is a 16' insulated garage door and insulated walk in door, both facing the south. My garage has an unheated full basement storage area with a single 8' garage door facing north.

I've been here 13 years, the first winter was with a wall mount gas heater without a thermostat. The 2nd year it got a used house furnace. About 8 years into it, it got an old Modine hanging heater, when the Modine died, it got the current heater. I called the furnace guy and had him install this new heater.

I have a lot of steel in here. If the steel gets cold, it will stay cold all winter. If I keep the heat at 60 overnight, the steel stays OK until about spring. The cement floor is always cold. I've considered insulating the roof, but in a couple of years I plan on retiring, and I'm not sure the heating cost savings will offset the insulation expenses.

A CO tester would probably be a good idea, but I do a lot of welding in here. I usually open the garage door when I can't see across the garage..... Gene

 

My garage is 24x30 got years I used a torpedo kerosene heater did the job but they are noisy and smelly about 4 years ago I installed a hanging natural gas heater I bought from Menards what a change set thermostat at 50 and turn it up when I am working

 

I love this thing! My son had one and he liked it so much he bought me one for Christmas a few years back...it runs off propane and has no blower...works from convection and will run your ass out in 10 minutes!

 

My little shop has 2 roll up overhead doors and is divided down the middle into 2 separate 14x24 rooms. It's insulated and sheetrocked throughout.

But, the thing that makes all the difference is that I made a curtain from that insulating silver bubble wrap stuff and stretched it over the overhead door on the shop side where the 32 Fordor stays. It works like a champ! A small window unit keeps it cool in the summer and a small plug in heater keeps it warm in winter. A small fan pointed at the ceiling for air circulation keeps the hot air in rotation and helps as well.

Here's a pic of the curtain. You loose a lot through those overhead doors if they're not insulated.

 

I use one very similar to this. Works pretty well.

Do you have a link to some more information on this?

 

Before

After


I also insulated, sheetrocked and replaced my windows last year which made a huge difference.

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And I sold a bunch of stuff the last two years, I could use a bit more organization

 

Fordor Ro, I know it about the uninsulated doors mine have so many openings in them the only thing it keeps out is the bears.LOL.Bruce.

 

Heat? I am going to spend most of the winter building the garage- the foundation guy finally showed up to pour the footings. I hate roofing in the winter when you have to clear the snow off first. It will
get insulation etc and at least some electric heaters. I am getting to old to freeze working outside!

 

Portable...

 

When I built my garage/shop a few years back heat was a priority. After years and years of working in friends shops with poor lighting and zero heat or my driveway I installed radiant in floor heat in my 24x36 shop. 1000' of HE pex keeps it wherever I want it. It helps that I do HVAC for a living.

 

Very carefully

 

Now is the time to heat the floor slab!!!!!!!!! Yes, it will require some insulation under the slab and as 49clubcoupe says you will need a lot of PEX tubing but worth the effort. You can use just about any heat source and a recirc pump.

.

 

Thanks for the detailed feedback! Mine is 15 X 24 with two sets of gable doors. Only 1 dual pane window on the back wall. R20 walls and R20 ceiling.
You're absolutely right about it being much colder in Winnipeg, so that will factor in to heating costs. Generally, I'm warming from a much warmer starting point than you are.
The garage was new in October 2015, so it is well vapour barriered, and I insulated it myself, so I know that no spots were missed.
I would have loved to go with a radiant heat slab, but unfortunately it was out of my budget. In the future, the next garage after I move will have a radiant heat floor.
In the meantime, the 4000w space heater and fans will have to keep me warm enough.

Stay warm this winter!

 

My shop is 60' X 48' and several years ago we bit the bullet and installed an HVAC system that I keep at 50 degrees all the time. Floor in the work area is covered with 3/4" stall mats. Used spray foam insulation as the ceilings are 16' in the work area. After spending the money, it turns out that I've used the AC about 10 times in 6 years!

 

No heat in the garage, but the basement is fine, I'm making the Fall/Winter cleanup and parts swap starting today. Happy Thanksgiving! Bob