I want to add some portable heat to my 2 car garage for times I want to work this winter.
Any good experience with a reasonable priced heater will be appreciated.
Don't want a big one.
Thanks.

I have one of those medium size catalytic kerosene heaters. It puts out lots of heat and CO has not been an issue since someone is always opening and closing the doors. I have thought about getting one of those infra-red heaters to see how they work but they are somewhat expensive.

Another post on this going on right now....

I have a 220v space heater, works great, got it new from ebay for 40.00! Works so good I have to turn it off after a while.

I forget what I paid for mine.about $900 I think. I bought one that is explosion proof, and will not cause a spark..It is a 220v and will heat my 21x21 garage in a heartbeat!!! I went with this one as I'm always mixing paint and stuff and an open flame..well I don't want the BIG BANG if you know what I mean

this looks like a kick @ss portable...sounds like something Vince might have:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200316434_200316434

I just put a Modine in my garage. But, my garage is attached and it is fed hot water as a seperate zone from the boiler. Puts out 40k btu's which is plenty for my 28x30 garage.

I have a ceiling mounted, natural gas, infrared type. Works great for my 21 x 24 garage. Has its own thermostat. I think it was about $700.00 installed. Don't know if you have natural gas but they have propane units as well. Being up on the ceiling it is out of the way and not taking up any precious floor space.

got a hot dog propane heater in our garage.

this looks like a kick @ss portable...sounds like something Vince might have:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200316434_200316434

That's it!

That's it!


Curious.. and maybe dumb question.. but do such portable heaters use a lot of Electricity?? I mean, I realize that nobody would be running one day and night 7 days a week.. but do they USE a lot of electricity :confused:

Curious.. and maybe dumb question.. but do such portable heaters use a lot of Electricity?? I mean, I realize that nobody would be running one day and night 7 days a week.. but do they USE a lot of electricity :confused:

I'm not an expert but I imagine electric heaters are the most costly to operate. The advantage is no off gases or additional humidity.

I want to add some portable heat to my 2 car garage for times I want to work this winter.
Any good experience with a reasonable priced heater will be appreciated.
Don't want a big one.
Thanks.

Are you kidding me. How cold could it possibly get in South Carolina? :D

Yeah its expensive to operate (I'm assuming, its 4000watts), but anything that creates heat costs money. I have one of those heaters that you mount of top of a propane tank, and it works really good actually, but those propane tanks at 20.00 isnt cheap either, and you go through them quick. All fuel are expensive as far as I know. Except wood maybe.

Heat = $$$

I got an $80 Ceramic Floor standing heater that oscilates at home depot 3 years ago. It heats my non-insulated 2 car garage with no problems. Runs on 120v and I don't really notice an increase in power consumption on my bill.

Curious.. and maybe dumb question.. but do such portable heaters use a lot of Electricity?? I mean, I realize that nobody would be running one day and night 7 days a week.. but do they USE a lot of electricity :confused:


Good question Mike , comes up alot when electric heaters discussed .......depends on what electricity costs in your area .AND how well your garage insulated
But yes cost me 25% more than heating with kerosene or naturel gas( I have naturel gas in my attatched garage from house but sealed it up cause of the fumes from painting/ solvents or whatever going back into house furnace )
Electric worth it to me cause safer and cleaner .......I use 2 220v 1500w contruction heaters ....small and clean no flame issues .....one on the floor and one mounted half way up the wall .they never come one at same time and floor nice and warm BTW I used to have both at oposite ends of garage up high since I moved one to floor and one at mid wal garge warmer and heaters on far less ....heat the floor :yes:........... the heater from northern tool is OK but if you use as much as I do 24/7 Nov- .April your better off with a quality Construction heater they have way better thermostats and sealed switches .....some of those lower cost ones can overheat when they get dirtin thermostat or switch or from over use .........been there done that :(


Since I have gas in the house /garage One of these days going to install a naturel gas "radiant heater " Mr Heater makes a nice small one ...... that would eliminate the wall electric and be cheaper to run for sure not sure how warm the floor would be under the car or the issue with fumes but have the heater just never got around to installing .... lots here use them

Of course where I live the garages are well insulated with a ceiling if your trying to heat and uninsualted open ceiling garage with electricity ......assume would be pretty pricey

I use a propane "torpedo" heater. I have a tiny one car that get to feel like florida in august in about 15minutes. Not bad for an Ohio based garage

I've got two of the overhead infra-red heaters in my 3000 sq. ft garage, and I only use one of them. They run on propane, if I am working in my shop regularly in the winter, and I run both of them, I go through about 400 gallons per winter. But it stays very comfortable in the shop, around 60 to 70 degrees when it is 30 degrees outside. I have 14' ceilings, and I have 2, 12' x 12' insulated overhead doors. I believe I paid about $700 a piece for them 8 years ago. I am very happy with these heaters.

My wife bought a heat pump for my shop about 3 or 4 years ago. May not be cheap, but it sure is nice. I set the thermostat, just like in the house, and it maintains the heat or ac at that temp. In the winter, when I won't be out there during the week, I set it down to 45-50 so nothing freezes. I work 4 days a week, so Thursday night I go out and set it before I go to bed, then for the next 3 days, I'm fine. Same thing for summer time, set to 80-85 degrees so nothing melts (ever seen the mess your grease gun can do when the garage gets to about 115-120?). It works for me.

I have one of those window A/C/ Heatpump units that I put in when I built my garage 12 years ago. (fully insulated) It keeps it about 65 until the outside temp gets down to about 25, then it's pretty much useless.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/category_6970_122+483802

CORN!!

Constantly heating and cooling brings condensation and rust forms. Especially on tools. If your garage is uninsulated, its not worth it IMO. Went through the same thing and I have a kerosene heater. Keeping a garage warm all winter is the best option instead of just heating it when needed.

Constantly heating and cooling brings condensation and rust forms. Especially on tools. If your garage is uninsulated, its not worth it IMO. Went through the same thing and I have a kerosene heater. Keeping a garage warm all winter is the best option instead of just heating it when needed.

What Chris said, I used to run the Kerosene torpedo heaters and sunflower heaters. The smell from a sealed garage is bad and carbonmonoxide gas is worse. I now have the hanging unit on natural gas and leave it at 40 degrees F. It takes along time to heat from -20 to 60 degrees so leaving it at 40 is the best. Also you can leave paints and such in the garage without worry if left at 40. Cost of leaving it at 40 is not to bad if the weather is not sub zero for to many months on end.

I just picked up a Fahrenheat unit - 7500 watt. I didn't want gas or kero. Had a bad experience once w/kero and airbrushing.

I called my local heating and cooling contractor, figured with the rising cost of fuel people would be switching to all electric. BINGO got a 2 year old 100,000 btu propane/gas Trane furnace for free....bought 100.00 bucks worth of duct work from him and installed it myself....... 24x30 ins. garage from 10 deg. to 70 deg. in under ten minutes.
buy the way this is a newer "sealed burner" system 91% eff. and safe to use around paint fumes ....always a plus !!

I use a Monitor kero heater. From Agway. It's vented outside so no fumes at all. I use about 200 gallons of kero each winter to heat a 24x48 garage. It's insulated well and I turn it down to 52 when I'm not in the garage. It gets down to minus 35F here at times and it still keeps it 65-70 inside. :thumbsup:

got a hot dog propane heater in our garage.
Hot Dawg ............:hurray::hurray::thumbsup:....the best ..nuf said ..........:beers:

natural gas unit mounted in the rafters. i think it's 50,000 btu. love it.

Gosh, now I feel bad...we have central air...

I just picked up a Fahrenheat unit - 7500 watt. I didn't want gas or kero. Had a bad experience once w/kero and airbrushing.

I have a Dayton brand 220 volt heater that is nearly identical to that in my attached garage. My wife likes to keep her car warm...

My shop has both a hanging Reznor propane furnace as well as a Kutrieb waste oil burner.

i usea blue flame heater from northern tool. runs on propane or natural gas . in my two car garage it is more than enough cost around $ 200