Technical Need garage heating ideas:

There are window heat pumps, like are used in Motels. They look just like a window air conditioner but produce heat too

 

I have the same wall hung unit and have put a small fan right above it to help push the air around, worked great in a 22x22 garage with no insulation.


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Bought this off Amazon for about $1200. Installation was easy. Took about 4 hours to install it. It keeps my shop (20 x 24) at whatever temperature I want, whether it's 30 degrees outside, or 110 in the summer. Best "tool" I have invested in yet!

Don't be afraid of the installation. If you are working on cars, you can install this very easily!

 

Found this and ordered it today. 4,000 watt 240 volt for $78 shipped. Plug it into the welder outlet, get the garage up to temp then maintain with the smaller oscillating tower heater. We'll see when it gets here, but that's the plan

 

https://www.sshcinc.com/woodshopseries.htm

Best system when you don’t want combustion. Bar none. I have 3 spaces on my property heated by them, including a drafty barn. Short money to buy. EZ to install. Short money to run. Totally safe.


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thanks.

 

Is this your residence? Love it irregardless.

 

X2 on this.
(90% of the replies are overlooking the "no combustion" stipulation and the safety/insurance issues that go with it.)
Another bonus with radiant is it is clean with no dust stirred up as you might have with any type of forced air. You only have to have it on when you need it. It instantly feels like warm sunshine on you even before the slab and the rest fully soak up the heat. Those panel types don't take up any space and you can create zones in the garage if you just want to work in one small area instead of the whole garage on a particular day.
The are other types of radiant units besides the panels, strips with reflectors come to mind, so search a little online and pick a winner that suits you.

 

My shop is 30 x 40 and I use the Big Maxx 80000 BTU and my buddy's shop is 24 x 30 and he uses the Big Maxx 50000 BTU. Both work great and are vented out the side all. Takes no oxygen from the room. Both are over 5 years.

By the way Jeff, did you move for the shop? Looks great.

Warren

 

It's what I have, and I love it. The boiler is in the basement of the house, and the heated water is plumbed to the shop floor which is a separate building. No combustion source in the shop.

Do you mean waste oil is the best (cheapest) heat? If you mean fuel oil, it must be a lot cheaper in your part of the country. In Kansas natural gas is the cheapest way to go, unless you like to cut and burn wood.

 

I burn some in my outdoor burner but prefer to shovel coal.

 

Have an overhead propane heater, will drive you out of my 32 x 24 x 10 ft shop.

 

I talkin BTU per gallon . It may cost more per gallon but the end result of BTU is far better than anything else . So the end result is you purchase less product to produce the same BTU or heat value . Just something to think about . I worked in the Natural Gas / Liquid Propane Interstate Transmission Pipeline business for 35 years . I moved billions of cu ft of Nat Gas and milllions of gallons of Liquid Propane daily , the value is all driven by market value also . This means you can buy and store heating oil and propane at a cheap summer rate and use it in the winter and refill in the summer non heating months . Natural Gas price is subject to rise at any cold snap , and you have to pay if you want to use it . The ease of getting natural gas or propane to your door is , worth a lot , but is it the best bang for the buck , no way . Im just trying to explain the best bang for the buck , it may not be the best for you to use as far as labor and storage . Just be safe with what ever you decide , you are dealing with products that can have devastating events if mis handled . Always remember Nat Gas vapors rise , oil and propane vapors sink, because of gravity . Standing pilot lights would never be used in my garage , the old dinosaurs we play with are always venting fuel from carbs and tanks , too much near the pilot light , and you will make the local news if not worse . Just be safe , think about what is safest and use it .

 

This winter in St Paul MN I have been heating a 2 car uninsulated garage with a patio heater. It works great and throws a 30 foot circle of radiant heat. I can turn it on and with in 3 minutes can feel the heat if working under it.

 

While I don't see the low temps others do (we'll get down to the mid 40's tonight), this does easily get the garage up to 70* and the small oscillating heater on the bench maintains it. Not a fan of the mounting bracket, but since I had to keep it within 6' of the 240 outlet, it works out OK. For the money a good deal for me. While it looks close to surrounding objects, the heat isn't an issue.

 

The area that I spend most of my time working is 24'x24' with an 8' ceiling. I have three 2000W Cadet Com-Pak electric wall heaters. Usually, I only have one or two on at a time, but it seldom gets below 30 degrees outside and I find 60 degrees is about as hot as I want if I'm moving around much. I work here full time and my power bill for the whole shop has never been more than $80 in a winter month. Its also insulated with r19 walls and r30 ceiling. I have a 24'x40' bay with a 14' ceiling that is not heated or insulated, that I just dread having to do anything in this time of year. I have a hanging propane unit heater that I have yet to install for that area.

Dave

 

This is what have. It's a dual fuel Carrier heat pump on a 90 plus gas furnace. Heat pumps are great here in Virginia, and farther south. Economical to operate. The best part is you'll get to have A/C too. There's just a small 2'' PVC vent through the side wall. If you ask an HVAC company to let you know, when their taking a working, but older system out. Be sure and tell them it just for a garage. Cheap cash and carry deal. As they have to scrap them. Which will probably cost them money to do. Mind has collected a lot of Hot Rod, stickers.Lol Ron....

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Insulation is your friend, I heat my 20x30x10 garage with one of these...



and cool it in the summer with a 110 window AC unit.

 

I just installed this, nice & quiet, not sure how efficient yet.
Just happy to have heat in the shop!

 

I'v been cutting and splitting wood for a while now and have quite a reserve built up. That said...I've only had to burn wood in the garage furnace once so far this 'winter'. While half the friggin' nation is buried in the white stuff and struggling to stay warm, here in my neck of Michigan we've had hardly any cold at all. Crazy.

 

Those smudge pots were quite popular with country garages in years past. Would run on used oil so were seen as a source of cheap heat. With a good mix the heaters would almost jump about! Always a quantity of oily soot hanging from the rafters. More than one got nudged moving cars around, if knocked over there was a large pool of burning oil to extinguish before the building burned down. Eventually outlawed by town councils and insurance companies, so we only see them in grape country nowadays.
Garpo

 

Flathead Pete: Michigan is a big state. I burned 298.5 gallons of propane heating my shop to 48 degrees so far this winter (last fill was Dec 26).

Burned about a cord and a half of oak, maple, and birch in the garage, too.

 

I currently have a 5000 sq ft hi bay car barn and restoration shop. I live in the Pacific Northwest and if not heated my barn never gets below 35 degrees. It is insulated but not to the highest degree,

I have a 260,000 btu used motor oil furnace manufactured by Lainair in Janesville Wisc. This furnace is ducted through out my barn, my machine shop and paint booth. I keep the temp set at 67 degrees year around. I use about 1100 gallons of FREE used motor oil. So other than the original expense of the furnace I heat for free.

Most automotive shops are glad to have someone to take their used oil as they now have to pay nearly 50 cents a gallon just for disposal. I'm lucky because my wife's Subaru Service Centers generate bout 100 gallons a week. I save the oil in 330 gallon totes and stock up during the warm weather so I have plenty or the cold weather. We heat our service centers with used motor oil furnaces as well.

This style of furnace will burn any petroleum product except GASOLINE. 90 wt, brake fluid, transmission fluid, and of course motor oil. I have a friend that owns a injection molding business and he changes the hydraulic fluid a couple of times a year and I get around 200 gallons from him.

This furnace has a sealed burner chamber and motor oil is nearly impossible to burn with out atomization. These furnaces use compressed air at about 12psi to atomize the oil . Lanair sells the complete kit including a tank insulated chimney and will pay shipping. They offer incredible service and parts. I spend about $250 per year in maintenance .It sure works for me and can't say I am worried about the cost of heating.

just sayin'

brasscarguy

 

I worked for a large energy producing company , used non PCB transformed was able to be had easily . You may contact fast food businesses for used cooking oil , it works fine in a waste oil heater . Something to thing about also. I had a multi fuel 2 1/2 ton military truck that ran on anything flammable you poured in the tank , I drove the damn thing for years for free on transformer oil , it was clean as new oil , less smoke than pure diesel . It must have been a touch higher btu , burned the paint off the top of my exhaust stack . I once loaded it up on gas to see how it ran , about a 2 ft flame out the top of the stack after 4 hrs hard pulling a full load of split wood .

 

First winter with my new pellet stove. Thing rocks in every way

 

Must be real toasty; forced those two girls to remove their swimsuits!

 

I just googled Dollar Bay. WAY up there! I love the UP. After the kids are gone, wifey and I are gonna go UP and never come back.

 

Around here they used to be great. Then a used oil reclaiming operation moved into the old Marx Toy building in Glen Dale WV. the oil even comes in by river barge and tractor trailer tankers. Yes, they take old used oil, mix it all together, clean it, separate it by viscosity, package it for resale in individual containers and ship it out. It is often labeled as off brand motor oil and is cheaper by a good deal than name brand. I have used some of it that I bought by accident in a push mower. It seemed to be OK but did get dirty sooner than name brand oils.

The used oil recycling operation pays you $.03 cents a gallon on the high side, price varies depending on the coas of crude oil.

Any type of petroleum product to include synthetic oils are mixed and blended after they scrub it by a propriety process.

 

When I couldn't afford anything else I used a few of those halogen lamp setups on stands. They project a lot of heat and light. A good pair of insulated boot an extra sweatshirt and I was good to go. Now-a-days I use a small 220 electric wall heater.

 

I choose wood for the ambiance Its not for everybody, its like another hobby. Yes garage is full insured, stove and chimney WETT certified and I paint in there as well. Gas is available.
Pacific Energy wood stove, 78% efficiency.