Heat in the garage

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wpala

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Hi
So here is a dilemma right now I have 240 5000W heater that does decent job providing heat however I only have 40 amp available in the garage and when running machinery I,m always afraid of overloading the system, besides that heater has a hard time keeping more then 14 C about 55 F, and when I do stationary things it gets a bit chilli, I was thinking of adding some heat to the oversize double garage about 900sq feet, garage is 6" insulated including a ceiling, I have a ton of wood since we also have a wood burning fireplace (too far from Garage to scavenge the heat) I thought about building a small rocket stove just to add additional heat when I work (cheapest solution) but maintaining a fire would probably require constant attending to the stove, buy a direct vent pellet stove (not much piping required to vent thath way) a bit more automated when I get from work turn the knob on the stove to start go have a dinner and by the time I'm done eating a worm garage just fill the hopper once every few days, then it hit me why not use one of this
aux heater.jpg
It is auxiliary heater 34K BTU just run a loop from my hot water tank and the pump on one side turn the switch to start the pump and be done with it I kind of like that idea, since I already have a hot water tank we mainly take showers in the morning so the hot water supply is there only time this thing goes off in the afternoon if we use dishwasher or wash hands etc but that is low consumption so it should be fine? water tank is in the basement close to the garage wall I could just run pex piping that can be disassembled when moving out, we renting the hot water tank so if something goes wrong they should cover it only thing I was thinking to upgrade to the thankless system apparently they are more efficient and provide more hot water in case someone would like to take a shower while the heater is on I was wondering if anybody have try something like that ? any other pro or con for this idea would be appreciated

Thank You
Paul

aux heater.jpg
 
34KBTU is 10,000W... can your hot water heater keep up with that?
 
Should work, the only drawback will be if the hot water heater will keep up, if its gas or oil fired no problem, I've seen a gas hot water heater used as a boiler for in floor radiant heat in a small house.
Control the fan and pump with a thermostat designed for electric heat, they are rated for 15 or 20 amp, I use them to directly switch the zone pumps on my hot water heating system in the house and shop.

Greg
 
The problem with heating a garage is the garage doors. They leak. Even the best ones leak air. I don't think 34,000 btu for 900 sq ft is gonna cut it for you up in the canuck country. I have a 40,000 btu in my insulated 2 car 500 sqft garage with 2 insulated steel doors and on the 10-20 degree days it stays on all the time. My garage is a detached though, so you'll save some heat that way, because part of it is attached to your basement. You can do a heat loss calculation. There are online tools to help you figure out what you'll need.

Here's a heat loss calculator: http://www.usboiler.net/resources/toolbox/heat-loss-calculation.php

I've seen setups where a gas fired hot water heater is used as a furnace, mainly in condos or apts but the water tank is used only for heat, not hot water. If you were to use it for both you'll need a separate circulator for the garage, otherwise your domestic hot water will be cold for taking showers after it runs thru the heat exchanger in your garage. I don't know if you have natural gas running to your house, but if you did, you could put a fan forced gas heater. That would be the best and carefree way of doing it.

Marcel
 
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One thing that I've found that's helpful in heating a garage is a ceiling fan. Keep pushing that warmer air down.
 
I'm in Atlanta, Ga and the heater in my 2 car garage for when I'm working out there is a 115K BTU tri-fuel forced air type. Used to use it in my mechanic shop when I had it. It heats up the garage pretty well. The only problem I have with it is that the thermostat doesn't have a large enough differential on it. So once it's warm and starts to cool back down a couple of degrees it'll want to cycle on and off which creates a little smoke from the forced diesel burn. No problem, I turn it on, start work, when it shuts off I adjust the thermostat down a little and back up when I need it. I know it's not ideal, but it works for me and I only gave a guy $20 for it when he went out of business.
 
The electric heater keeps the garage at 50F, all the time I want the extra heat to bump the temp so I can work comfortable and not use electric while I'm there I think 65-70F would be very nice
I insulated garage doors as well with 1 inch foam/aluminum foil board
I also hear that people use the water heaters for radiant flooring I'm sure the demand is greater and the run is a lot longer I have about 15 feet from water heater so 30 feet plus that heater will not cool this water completely so worm water will be going back to re-heat in the water heater which is 38K BTU
My worry is that I will invest in this heater and will not work as expected then I lost 400$ and I'm back in square 1


Paul



xalky said:
The problem with heating a garage is the garage doors. They leak. Even the best ones leak air. I don't think 34,000 btu for 900 sq ft is gonna cut it for you up in the canuck country. I have a 40,000 btu in my insulated 2 car 500 sqft garage with 2 insulated steel doors and on the 10-20 degree days it stays on all the time. My garage is a detached though, so you'll save some heat that way, because part of it is attached to your basement. You can do a heat loss calculation. There are online tools to help you figure out what you'll need.

Here's a heat loss calculator: http://www.usboiler.net/resources/toolbox/heat-loss-calculation.php

I've seen setups where a gas fired hot water heater is used as a furnace, mainly in condos or apts but the water tank is used only for heat, not hot water. If you were to use it for both you'll need a separate circulator for the garage, otherwise your domestic hot water will be cold for taking showers after it runs thru the heat exchanger in your garage. I don't know if you have natural gas running to your house, but if you did, you could put a fan forced gas heater. That would be the best and carefree way of doing it.

Marcel
Click to expand...
 
I think that heater in the photo above will work. I think the bigger question is wether you're gonna be happy with the way it works off your water heater. WQat kind of furnace are you heating the house with. Oil/hot water or oill/forced air. Or electric?
 
Propane and NG are pretty inexpensive right now due to all the new deposits being tapped through fracking.

I live in Northern MN and I presume my climate is much like yours. I'm going with a 120kBTU hanging forced air propane fueled garage heater in my new garage/shop when it gets built.

My garage will be made of Logix ICF's to the peak with r50 SIP's for the roof so except for the overhead doors my garage will be very well sealed and insulated.

I was surprised at how affordable these hanging garage heaters were.

My new garage will be 1440 square feet.
 
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Senna said:
Propane and NG are pretty inexpensive right now due to all the new deposits being tapped through fracking.

I live in Northern MN and I presume my climate is much like yours. I'm going with a 120kBTU hanging forced air propane fueled garage heater in my new garage/shop when it gets built.

My garage will be made of Logix ICF's to the peak with r50 SIP's for the roof so except for the overhead doors my garage will be very well sealed and insulated.

I was surprised at how affordable these hanging garage heaters were.

My new garage will be 1440 square feet.
Click to expand...
That is the best way to go. They're cheap and easy to install and cheap to maintain....like zero maintenance.
 
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