Heat in the garage

I have been using a small radiant heater suspended from the ceiling. Having the unit facing down to heat the equipment, floor and you is making it much more comfortable to work and you do not need as high temperature as you would think. Mind you my shop is small, in fact tiny compared to some but last winter I left it turned on 24/7 on just 1 Quartz tube (400 watt) and the shop stayed near 50F most days and when I wanted more I would turn both tubes on. I have a garage door as well as a man door. Weatherstriping is key on either one. Warm to the touch equipment is so nice. No issues for me and the operational cost was not seen on the bills as much I had thought it may have been.

As for hot water tank for home heating. Works great if designed properly. a good friend has a 2400 sq ft home and he uses a 60 gal gas fired tank for his heating. It is radiant floor not forced air. So it can be done.

My small bungalo is 867 sq ft and the furnace is a 2 stage unit 20K and 40K BTU. Rarely the second burner turns on. Usually it is only on recovery in the morning or if the winds are a howling. As I have been sealing leaks as they come to light. this has been reduced as well.
Pierre

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I have my doubts about using the water heater. First, I think recirculating the water will constantly churn-up rust and second, I don't think a household water heater is designed with enough service factor to be used as a heater boiler.

I have a stand-alone LNG/LPG heater rated for indoor use. It's 20,000 BTU and I hook-up using propane. A 60lb refill cost about 40 bucks and it lasts a month in my insulated 2.5 car garage. I leave it on all day/night. On low setting it keeps the garage at 50F and will warm the shop to 65F in twenty minutes at a higher setting. I always have a medium sized oscillating fan to circulate the air. My garage has a few air cracks around the two insulated overhead doors -which is probably a good thing.

Works great, no smell, doesn't need electricity to operate, has modern safety sensors and auto-shutoff... pretty efficient... Cost was about 200 bucks. It's a model very similar to this one: http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-Propane-Flame-VF20KBLUELP/dp/B000UPR5T4 There are many like this.

I'd like to hook it up to the natural gas line some day -if I ever find time.


Ray
 
$400 is kind of pricey, try it with a small car rad and a window fan, I have an old overhead heater that may have been steam in my downstairs shop its just a rad with a fan.

Greg
 
When you are working in a space that is intermittently heated, it's tough to beat a blast of hot/warm air to feel comfortable. Moving air which has been heated to 140F (low end) to 180F (better) works well.

You will not able to get that temp range out of a hot water heater system. Domestic hot water is usually controlled to about 120 F max for safety reasons. By the time you run 120 F water through a fan coil unit, you will only get the air up to 110 F or so. My experience is that 100 F air blowing around in a cool shop feels like cold air blowing.

I have to agree with the others below recommending a suspended NG / LP air heater if you can justify the initial cost. Sometimes you can find these showing up as used equipment.

Get a vented style (either natural draft or forced draft) so you don't have CO2 issues in the shop. With an "off the shelf" gas heater, you get all the regular safety features already built in. Plus, the combustion is well above the floor where potential gasoline vapors could accumulate if you were to have a leak in an auto tank.
The smallest gas fired suspended heaters are in the 40,000 to 60,000 btu/hr range. I would think that this size of heater would quickly heat your garage if your 5 KW electric (about 17,000 btu/hr) heater is currently doing the job.

Terry S.
 
Hi Paul,
Considering the upward trajectory of our electricity rates, I think that I would factor in minimization of electricity use. Wood stoves aren't all that cheap to install if you do it in the approved manner - ie. so as your insurance company will still like you. I kind of like the idea of a pellet stove as the cost to buy and operate is not too crazy and they are safe. Insulation in the ceiling, walls, and if possible the floor is money in the bank. As are energy efficient windows. If you don't need to open your garage door in the winter you could seal it with Draft Stop and peel it off in the spring.
Hope my 2 cents helps.
Michael
 
I agree with most of the posts so far thank you for your time and input.
This was also my worry that the water from the water heater will not be hot enough, as to NG heater that was an option but unfortunately mine main lane is almost max out on the size to deliver enough gas for House furnace and water heater as it is (I didn't know there are specs for that)to add another 60-80K BTU heater would set me back about 3K to install bigger pipe I had a gas guy come in and that is what he told me , my meter is on the opposite side of the house about 45 feet away from all the gas appliances and 60 feet from garage, that is why the cost would be so much changing main line would be around 1800 rest for the line to the garage and a heater, so that is why I was leaning towards wood or pellet stove and the beauty is if I move I will take it with me
propane apparently produces a lot of moisture so is not a best idea around metal machinery, radiant heaters need ventilation as they are not vented CO2 is a big concern especially exposure to low levels for a long periods of time is a huge health no no.Now I'm not saying my garage is air tight but is fairly decently insulated and would not be comfortable working there knowing all this

Paul



twstoerzinger said:
When you are working in a space that is intermittently heated, it's tough to beat a blast of hot/warm air to feel comfortable. Moving air which has been heated to 140F (low end) to 180F (better) works well.

You will not able to get that temp range out of a hot water heater system. Domestic hot water is usually controlled to about 120 F max for safety reasons. By the time you run 120 F water through a fan coil unit, you will only get the air up to 110 F or so. My experience is that 100 F air blowing around in a cool shop feels like cold air blowing.

I have to agree with the others below recommending a suspended NG / LP air heater if you can justify the initial cost. Sometimes you can find these showing up as used equipment.

Get a vented style (either natural draft or forced draft) so you don't have CO2 issues in the shop. With an "off the shelf" gas heater, you get all the regular safety features already built in. Plus, the combustion is well above the floor where potential gasoline vapors could accumulate if you were to have a leak in an auto tank.
The smallest gas fired suspended heaters are in the 40,000 to 60,000 btu/hr range. I would think that this size of heater would quickly heat your garage if your 5 KW electric (about 17,000 btu/hr) heater is currently doing the job.

Terry S.
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Propane only produces a lot of moisture if it is not vented with a flue. Just don't get/use direct vent.
 
C'mon now guys... All this moisture you're talking about makes it sound like my shop should be dripping wet like a cave.

This is my second year with propane and I've had no problem with moisture at all. I keep a medium size fan blowing up at the ceiling and as mentioned, there's quite a few air cracks in the overhead doors. Otherwise though, the ceiling and walls are insulated, drywalled and painted. Ever since I started heating 24x7, the moisture problems are cut in half. It's the day/night heating/cooling cycle that wrecks havoc with moisture so keeping it at a relatively constant temperature helps a lot.

And as for safety, I have both a CO (carbon monoxide) and smoke detector in there at all times. Also, I don't allow anything with explosive fumes in the shop -period.


Ray



xalky said:
Propane only produces a lot of moisture if it is not vented with a flue. Just don't get/use direct vent.
Click to expand...
 
Have you thought about adding a pellet stove or a wood burning stove to use for radiant heat. I built a small pot belly out of two semi tractor front brake drums and it would heat my 20X20 shop from outside Florida temps to mid 70's with no problem. I burn what ever I find laying around. Old pallets, wood pellets, corn cobs, packing crates, saw dust, peanut hulls, whatever. It was free except for the flue and piping for the exhaust but that was less than 20 bucks. As soon as I locate it in my shop I will post up some pictures. I haven't seen it since 2007 when I was getting ready to leave for Iraq, so I am sure I should find it pretty soon because I am cleaning out and clearing out the shop more and more everyday. Just a thought to save that 400 bucks if you can, that will buy a lot of material or tooling if you can avoid paying for a heater or at least save a good bit along the way...

Bob
 
this is the first heated shop that I've ever had, and it has a small modine hot dawg natural gas hanging heater----it keeps my shop nice and warm and doesn't kick on that often--I don't think they make a smaller model but this heater could heat a lot more than my 14' x 24' shop--it is only 12" high x 16" deep x 27" long---when I put heating in my larger shop I definately will put a hanging hot dawg model in--maybe the next size larger. Dave---I took a picture so you can see how it looks.aaablade pics.jpg

aaablade pics.jpg
 
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