Keeping the garage\shop warm for winter :)

[geberhard]

K, most of us will be doing some winter projects, and it is getting cold outside. My garage is not fully insulated, basic garage door attached to house kinda setup, rolling door, etc.

Appreciate ideas on how to get the garage a bit warmer, and ideally on a small budget. what about portable heaters? electric? Wood? Gas? what is a good bang for buck? floor mounted? ceiling mounted? Ideas appreciaeted (aside form tun the engine on and let it warm up the shop) :)

Gui

[The Joker]

I usually just use a radiat dish shaped heater or small heater with a blower on it. I always have the heater close to where I am working. I don't bother heating the whole shop just the spot Im working in. Well that is what I did at my last shop.

When I get a chance to build a shop at the house I am at now I am going to put in the woodstove I have.

[sbrem]

I have a small wood stove in mine. Works good for me. I cut my own wood here for it, so it doesen't cost me anything to run. My garage isn't insulated either, but I think I may insulate it this winter if I get around to it. But even without the insulation the heat helps a lot.

[69CJ]

i insulated the roll down door with those foam panels that home depot and lowes carry.

I filled the walls with the precut fiberglass rolls that are made to fit 16" on center studs. It's all covered with 1/2" sheetrock.

The ceiling is covered with sheetrock, but I haven't gotten around to adding any insulation up there (it needs it).

For heat, I tapped the houses natural gas line and added a Mr. Heater brand radiant heater that requires no electricity to run. Best price I found for the heater was on Amazon.com. I have it installed up high on the wall, over where I do most of my work. If it's not wicked cold out (like it is now), I can work in the garage in the winter while wearing shorts and a t-shirt. The floor's still a little chilly and I wouldn't really want to flop around under a rig unless I was wearing a few extra things, but for the most part - it stays pretty comfortable.

Adding insulation was a huge improvement in itself, adding the heater put me back in shorts for the winter.

I'm actually considering upgrading the heater to one thats fully enclosed and mounts higher up on the wall. They come with built in ciculating fans and a powered exhaust. A little more expensive that what I have now, but a little better in both the efficiency and space departments. That said, I'm in no rush. Winter will be over before we know it and what I have suits the bill fine for now.

Of course, seeing that your in Cali, you might simply have a bunch of those bikini clad (almost nekkid) Cali women come into your shop and chase you around periodically to ensure you stay warm...

[vanguard_anon]

Well, it's only sort of related but I did it in my woodworking garage and according to me, this is the right way to do it. If nothing else, you'll like the insulation stuff.
http://www.just4fun.org/woodworking/articles/shop_heat.htm

The total cost was about $450 (heater) + $100 (insulation) + $200 (gas line installation). I was new to natural gas at the time and today I could have done that part myself for $15 in parts. If you go that route, you'll be happy for sure.

For a 4x4 oriented garage you have less to worry about. Probably fewer flammable finishing fumes and certainly less sawdust. Electric heaters are nice but expensive to run. Certainly too expensive to run with the doors open, which you'll probably want to do sometimes. A normal kersone heater will heat your garage, without insulation, in about 20 minutes. That's not too bad. By the time you get everything setup and ready to work it will be warmer. The turbine style heater really do the the trick. They put out enough heat to keep you warm with the garage door open. On the downside, they are noisey.

I'd get a normal kerosene heater if you want something cheap and easy. My home depot sometimes sells the heater, k1 fuel can, and the fuel for $110.

[Rory Bellows]

I just got a Ready Heater at Lowes for $40. It hooks on top of a propane tank and will run for about 30 hours off a refill. It does not heat the whole garage but will do well if you put it in the general area you are working. Plus it's cheap! They did have bigger ones w/ blowers that would heat a whole garage for around $200. You just have to have some ventilation in my three car I lift the second door a few inches to let fresh air in.

[Rory Bellows]

Whoa, your in Cali and worrying about the cold? Only wish I had that problem.

[pmurf1]

Whoa, your in Cali and worrying about the cold? Only wish I had that problem.

It was 29 degrees yesterday morning at my house in Phoenix at 5:30 a.m.. As soon as the sun comes out it's not bad, but it can get cold here too. It was cold enough that the heat pumps weren't working worth a shit.

[Peter_C]

Before I could start my Willys project our goal was to finish the garage. That included building 7 giant 8'X4'X24" cabinets, but more importantly was sheetrocking and insulating (Used rolls) the walls and ceiling. We did it last winter, and as soon as the last piece of sheetrock was on the ceiling, closing the rafters off, there was an immediate increase in temperature. I am sure the wall hanging cabinets help with RF ratings too, and the garage door was originally purchased with insulation. I can keep it at 71 degrees inside with a $31 (Including coupon) propane heater from Harbor Freight, that attaches to the tank. The downfall is they smell some and can be dangerous...

We installed natural gas in the garage (Future dryer), and if I could find, an affordable (Read cheap, probably used) gas heater that vents outside with a fan, that would be installed.

[DanB]

look into used oil stove (like wood stove but burns used motor oil) my buddy has that and it works fuckin awesome.. im very impressed with the heat it produce.. the stove was really really red

[cwest]

If you're on a tight budget, you can get one of this brand(below) for less then $100. Throw it on a 20 lb. propane tank and you've got heat.

I've been using the double model for years with great success. Burns clean, quiet and very portable. The best part is it is radiant heat, so it heats the objects. I don't know how that works, but it's great. Your tools and everything you are working on is warm to the touch.

I'm partial to the Mr. Heater brand as well. I tried another brand (can't recall the name), and it was a POS.
Replacement parts are available from below website too. In time, the screen will probably need replaced.

http://www.mrheater.com/seriesdetail.asp?id=146

By the way, I live in Iowa where it gets well below 0 and my double heater will still get a 2 1/2 car garage plenty warm enough to work in.

good luck.

[geberhard]

Great ideas, keep em coming :) I have a gas line in the garage setup for the dryer (using electric for now), but that is an option... I think like Peter and all are mentioning insulation is key.

So if I were to use the gas line in the garage what are my options? Also how safe is it? Any heaters that would attach to the gas line? Peter?

Thanks,

Gui

[geberhard]

Great idea also on the portable heater with radiant heat, will research more on that as well :)

[The Joker]

Great idea also on the portable heater with radiant heat, will research more on that as well :)

Actually this is one that I use. Guess radiant was the wrong term. Set this close to where you are working and it will roast ya.
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10035033&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=&s=1







Whoa, your in Cali and worrying about the cold? Only wish I had that problem.

You are aware there are mountians and snow in Cali right? The whole state isn't sun, sand and waves. :flipoff2:

[Pook]

Well, it's only sort of related but I did it in my woodworking garage and according to me, this is the right way to do it. If nothing else, you'll like the insulation stuff.
http://www.just4fun.org/woodworking/articles/shop_heat.htm

The total cost was about $450 (heater) + $100 (insulation) + $200 (gas line installation). I was new to natural gas at the time and today I could have done that part myself for $15 in parts. If you go that route, you'll be happy for sure.

For a 4x4 oriented garage you have less to worry about. Probably fewer flammable finishing fumes and certainly less sawdust. Electric heaters are nice but expensive to run. Certainly too expensive to run with the doors open, which you'll probably want to do sometimes. A normal kersone heater will heat your garage, without insulation, in about 20 minutes. That's not too bad. By the time you get everything setup and ready to work it will be warmer. The turbine style heater really do the the trick. They put out enough heat to keep you warm with the garage door open. On the downside, they are noisey.

I'd get a normal kerosene heater if you want something cheap and easy. My home depot sometimes sells the heater, k1 fuel can, and the fuel for $110.

How'd you find the blow in insulation for sound proofin?

[steveh]

I have 2 heaters, one Propane, and one Kerosene.

I see them for sale all the time used for cheep around here.

I get the Garage warmed up with one simular to this one: (Propane)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00002N82E.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Then I use the Kerosene one to maintain the heat. The reason I use both is the Propane one is very noisy, while the kerosene one is silent. Kerosene puts out a lot of btu's per gallon of fuel, twice the amount of Propane.

Here is the Kerosene one, it's a Toyostove OMNI 105

http://www.msiwix.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/OMNI105.jpg

[69CJ]

Gas lines using black pipe are not hard to run. If you already have a gas line in the garage with an end cap on it, your all set. If not, you just need to tee in somewhere and run the line to where you want to attach it to your heater. You'll use flex line to attach the hard line to the heater. Hard line and flex line are both available at your local home depot.

There are a ton of heaters out there that run on gas.

I prefer tapping the line as opposed to running bottles: I never run out, never have to run to the store for gas, etc.... I use the same approach with the BBQ that never leaves the backyard.

the Mr. heater link shows a few styles, northern tool has them as well.

[NitroRC Ed]

I just got one of these this week and will be trying it out. Was smaller than I thought but I am not trying to heat all of my garage. Like the idea of being able to move it around to where I need it. It was like $147 to the door. They also have larger ones if one wanted.

http://www.heater-home.com/product/L4000.aspx

Ed

[PAToyota]

How'd you find the blow in insulation for sound proofin?

Ummm...
I picked up the 11 bags of cellulose and the blower for $70. The blower rental is free with the purchase of cellulose at Home Depot.

[yager]

My garage is attached on 2.5 walls to my house in the front corner. The interior wall sections were all insulated with R13. And it was 'ok' as is but took a few hours to come up to temp and cooled off fast. Not ideal for after work stuff..

I did the insulation in stages, first year I did the celing, I got some R21 stuff and rolled it out. Made a huge difference. next year I was adding a subpanel and noticed the bottom row of rock was all horizontal so off that came and in went the new outlets and with some sticks i was able to feed the R13 up in. 2 years passed and I decided to remove my wall cabinet and do the .5 wall that I learned was NOT insulated (backed only by breezeway entrance). Then this year i got that foil bubble stuff and cut to fit the garage door.

I started with a kerosene heater and got sick of the fumes after a weekend working out there. I also needed a backup heater for when power went out so i got a 28k btu ventless propane heater. It doenst need a fan and can easily heat a few rooms. I have 2 tanks LP for a 3rd on the grill.

Anyway think insulation and the heat source won't be such a big deal..

[GoatSauce]

You have access to Gas, I would definitly check with you local natural gas supplier. They install these and usually know were to find an old used one. I have an ancient one that we had to retro-fit parts to enable me to use it. The thing is sweet it puts out some serious BTU's.
It may cost a little more up front than a Reddy heater but you wont be upgrading again in a year or two...

[Peter_C]

Well I ran out of propane last night :( At least it stayed 70 degrees until I was done for the night. The little heater from HF is not producing much odor any more and does do a pretty good job of keeping my two car garage warm. Propane tanks can be had from Costco for $20, refills are cheap, and they seem to last over two weeks with somewhat routine use. This is the HF heater (http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/itemdisplay/displayItem.do?itemid=38484&CategoryName=null&SubCategoryName=null) that I use. It was $39.95 on sale, but then I also used the 20% coupon when I went to the store.

If I could find one of these heaters used, I would be set Heater (http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/itemDetailsRender.shtml?xi=xi&ItemId=1611677057&ccitem=)

Edit: Often when reasearching a product I will go to Ebay as there is a large variety with different brands for a type of product. Then you can go and research independant brands. Punch in heater NG or natural gas and you will see what I mean. HF has a good selection too and with the 20% coupon they are usually the cheapest around.

[tennessee rockhumper]

ive got a 1000 squarefoot shop in the basement and heat it with a old gymnasium heater. its overkill as hell. takes about 5 minutes before you want to turn it off. its 220volt and hangs from the ceiling. it is about 2x3 foot and 8 inches thick.

i got it for free at a local highschool when they remodeled. propane and nat gas is getting pricey.

[East Coast Ghost]

when we lived in NY my dad had a freind who was getting rid of a house heater and dad just put it in the attic worked real good.

[Horsehead]

I got one of those reddy heaters, single "dish" radiant that you put on top of a propane tank. it did a pretty decent job in my two car garage. i had both garage doors open about two feet, and the side door all the way open, and it still stayed pretty warm. how much ventilation is enough with these small heaters? i was cautious today with it because i didnt want to kill myself or the family above the garage, but id like to hold the heat in a little better... do these things put out a lot of carbon monoxide or are they generally pretty safe?

[toxs]

well I just got blown away by a guy that made a rig for FREE heat.

I went to my local machinist/jack of all trades, and he was putting this big window thing on the side of his garage. it was going to be solar heat. what he did is make a 2 x 8 box, about 7 inches deep. he got some nylon material and strung it up inside the box. painted it with graffite, then put a sheet of plexi on the outside. he stacked the 2x8 boxes on their long side, and then piped the air into his garage. and when the sun is out, it is free heat. and it was amazing. he showed me a 4x4 model he made to test out the theory. it was sitting in the shade out of the sun. he pulled it out and faced it into the sun, and told me to put my hand in the cutout. within 30 seconds I could feel heat, and alot of it(the day was freezing also) he said the air would come out of there at about 140 degrees, so it should keep his garage fairly warm. I am going to go back when he gets the new big ones done and check it out for myself, but if it works, Im going to do it for my garage also

[85blue4runner]

look into used oil stove (like wood stove but burns used motor oil) my buddy has that and it works fuckin awesome.. im very impressed with the heat it produce.. the stove was really really red

X2... there are plans on the net to build your own if you are so inclined, also can purchase them new in sizes big enough to heat a 25k sq ft shop. They will burn waste oil of all kinds such as crank case oil, ATF, etc and burn EXTREMELY hot, so that all the waste is used. Properly configured, it does not smoke and there is no odor. Flue pipes as large as 6 - 8" can be used to direct the heat with a high volume low speed blower or fan..they heat up quickly and throw out a lot of heat.

[guidolyons]

With any of the nonvented heaters (rediheater, kerosene, Mr heater, propane) a carbonmonoxide alarm is a worthwhile investment ($10-15) to make sure you don't kill yourself. Looks like a standard smoke detector, but sounds an alarm is the CO levels get too high.

I just use a regular old kerosene heater, my father-in-law has one of those Mr Heater radiant heaters and it works pretty good, too because you can move them where you are working. If you have NG plumbed into your shop a vented NG heater would be good, too