Garage Heater

[Skip C]

It is time to start thinking about heating the garage again. Last year , I didn't heat it and moved some projects to the basemnt -- but w/o the TS.

Any suggestions for cost efficient heaters?

I rec'd an electric heater for Xmas but it was way too small and I returned after 2 days. I have two safe, open flame kerosene heaters whcih I am thinking of using to heat up the garage but I don't feel safe using them while the sawdust is flying. I would use them to preheat the garage and then turn them off while woodworking which sounds fine as long as the garage holds the heat. I have insulated the garage (attached, 6" studs)and sheetrocked it, but the concrete floor is a big source of cold.

I realize that dressing extra warm is a necessity in most home shops in New England, but after a while the cold temps drive me back indoors! All suggestions appreciated!!

Skip

[final_t]

Assuming that there is insulatation in between the drywall and the outside wall, check the insulation above your head. Consider adding another layer there.
Check the fit of the garage door(s). This can be a big source of air leakage.
What is your garage door made of? My previous one was a 35-yearold 2" thick wood (heavy) that I had to replace after it broke and tore the guide rails all up. Prior to that I had faced it inside with the silver closed-cell insulation. The replacement door is 1" thick plastic with fill, and I've faced that with 3/4" thick stryofoam blocks.

You might want to look into painting your garage floor with an expoy-based paint. This will cut down on the dust and provide *some* small isolation factor. If you have a fixed-based workbench put down rubber matts from Woodcraft, or else the really thick foam rubber play-squares from Lowes (grey or multi-colored).

Heaters:
I'm not a big fan of propane any more, but unless you have 220 service in your shop, you're stuck with either that or Kerosene. Get a forced air blower, 60000-80000 btu service.
Electic heaters: I currently own and use a 220 unit from Qmark after much research. This thing rules. I've got it bolted to a cross memeber and a dedicated 220 20-amp circuit to it. Built in themostat. I use it to keep the shop at about 60-65 degrees, which I feel is enough.

Since my feet get cold, I wear thick socks and WalMart currently has some "hunter's socks" on sale for a buck a pair. These are also nice, but not cushy enough for me.

YMMV, HTH, my 2 cents, etc.

[Skip C]

Thanks for all the ideas, final t!

I do have 6" of insulation in 3 walls; the 2 garage doors are quite tight but I should add insulation to the inside of the doors. One problem is that I have a very high ceiling, probably 10' so most of the heat will be many feet off the floor! Above the garage is a bedroom so it is adequately insulated from above.

The floor in the 2 car garage must be a massive source of cold. I thought about putting a raised floor in the 25% that I use as a shop but that is more about keeping my feet comfortable rather than raising the temp in the garage as the other 75% would be bare concrete.

I checked Qmark on the web and they have a bunch of models. Final t , whcih one do you have. I was hoping not to have to pay the $300 plus that the qmark's go for (plus installing a 220 circuit).

Skip

[final_t]

I have the above-mentioned $300. There really isn't any choice unless you get this one like this - none of the 110 volt units can reach as high a btu. The instant you go from 110 to 220 the price jump goes from $60 to $300 or even higher.
Considering I was going through a $15/day in propane to heat last winter and the worry of a fire hazard + co2 discharge, this really was a no brainer.
(note that if you buy it from here
http://www.shopfnc.com/qmqph4.htm
it's free shipping for $279.95, but plus tax if you're in Ohio)

See also:
http://www.iapcooling.com/proddetail.asp?prod=QPH4A
http://www.heatershop.com/electric_space_heaters.html

[chief]

I use a Qmark MUH05 and iT's great.

I got it from a coal mine that shut down so I think it's explosive proof......Mike

[WEG]

Hi Skip;
I'm down the street from you and I can appreciate just how cold a garage can get. With the price of kw, natural gas, oil, and even wood, heating a garage is just about out of the question for me. I would look into taking some stuff out of the cellar and putting it in the garage space and moving the saw to the cellar, at least for the winter. Winter in the garage around here just isn't fun. And having a shop in the cellar is a treat, at least for me.
Good luck Skip.
WEG

[ironhat]

Just my two cents, Skip. I only have 3.5" insulation in three walls, six overhead and an insulated garage door covers the fourth wall. I heated it up to 52*F yesterday with the LPG heater and shut it down when I finished. It went down to 21 last night with 35mph wind and it only fell to 42* - without the wind on preceeding nights it only went down to 46*. OK, so what I'm saying is, with the insulation you are using you should be able to boost the temp to comfortable levels inside an hour and then shut it down and still be toasty warm while you're actively working. I just added a solar panel to the window to try to grab some free heat - all experimental and I just finished it today so I'll post a thread when I have some results to post. When the winter droops to the teens on a daily basis it would be nice to not have to pay for as much propane. I filled a cylinder for the grill last week - $17.35 which is about double last year's price. Keep the frost off your knickers and have some fun.
Later,
Chiz

[dlminehart]

Skip, only convection (moving air) could be reasonably considered a "source of cold". Heat radiates and conducts, from warmer points to colder ones. So, the concrete floor removes heat from passing air that touches it, and anything warmer than the concrete will radiate to it if it's in line-of-sight. If you put a curtain between the shop side of the garage and the rest, the radiant heat loss would be greatly reduced. And putting even some old carpeting down on the shop side would help losses there.

So, a concrete floor probably doesn't remove as much heat as you'd think. The ground under it isn't that great a conductor of heat (adobe buildings with thick walls, for instance, barely manage to heat up enough all the way through during the day before night comes and they start to cool off again). The ground only a few feet down tends to stay quite a bit above freezing. And, if the perimeter of the garage's concrete slab has two or three feet of hard foam insulation sticking straight down around it, the flow of heat from ground under the slab out to cold air is dramatically reduced. This, in turn, means that the heat flow through the concrete floor into the ground is reduced.

[Bulkley]

I would love a heated shop, but I'm condemned to an unheated, uninsulated garage. At least it has a smooth cement floor and an automatic door. I don't have 220v either. My solution is a portable radiant heater and warm clothing. I'm a northern boy; cold feet don't bother me. What is most important is to stop the wind, so plug up the leaks. Replacing the rubber strip on the bottom of my garage door did wonders for this one. The other important thing is to keep frost out. If the garage is attached to the house, that shouldn't be a problem.

[onedash]

I seen a heater that you hook up to natural gas and its infrared heat like the little camp heaters. So if the garage door opens all your heat cant blow out. It seems like the perfect answer for heating a garage and cheap as can be to run. I think it was kinda expensive to buy (few hundred???) the unit though. I seen it looking at a utility company website once. Can't remember where.

[tribalwind]

im going the wood-stove route this winter. just got some single wall piping and elbows at HD yesterdaya dn ogign to try setting all up today and connect to chimney pipe outside.
wish me luck!

[thekon]

http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog....2050&SKU=45508

Yes, it's not cheap.....but with gas prices higher, this might be the ticket for a smaller shop? At least it's another option. Won't work for everyone but it might help someones hard to heat shop.
later,
Konrad

[thekon]

http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog....3080&SKU=77645

also wouldn't this help with the floor problems.....if you moove you can at least take it with you..... Not cheap but griots is expensive you might be able to find something similar somewhere else.

[final_t]

Saw something like the Groit's mat at Lowes/HD/Sam's Club this weekend. Not sure on the price, but it was a lot less than $300.

[meika123]

I have been criticized before for this, but I use a 45,000 BTU Reddy Heater in my shop. I have 3 1/2" insulated walls, and no insulation in the ceiling. I just turn the heater on and let it run for a few minutes to heat the shop, then turn it off when I start working. Keeps a comfortable temp inside.

Dave in NC

PS: Well I'll be. Look at my post total. After so long, I finally made it to "1000" WOOHOO.