Garage heat

Lots of good advice here, talk with at least 3 installers, even if you're qualified to do it yourself. That will give you other professionals ideas to work with. Biggest thing I didn't see mentioned here is to calculate your recovery time, ie. when you open the door at 30 below, how fast do you want the space to get back to temperature. That will help dictate the size of unit you install. And it makes a difference how much insulation you put in, I have R50 in my ceiling and R20 in my walls and R16 doors in my garage (30 by 32 by 9) and a 6500watt electric keeps it cozy at -50. YES -50!


Saving iron from the scrap pile one piece at a time
 
My garage/shop is a detached 2-car, built in the 1920's. No insulation and very basic. It is used primarily as a wood working shop, but used to keep cars it it too. My heat source is a second hand 60k BTU residential gas furnace converted to propane. I built a two stage filter box to keep the dust out of the plentum. It is only run when I am working out there, or getting ready to work out there.

My biggest problem, from the start, has been condensation. It would settle on the tools and cast iron table saw and other surfaces causing rust. My solution was to mount two very cheap ceiling fans up in the rafters. They have been running 24-7 for over 20 years, with only one cleaning and service. Admittedly, they are about shot, and need to be replaced, but the condensation issue is no longer a problem.

By the way, I never ran the furnace with cars in the garage. I have run the furnace overnight on occasion. In the winter, I was always satisfied with "sweat shirt warm" as warm enough for me for working out there. I also use a dust collector to keep the dust off the machinery to a minimum.
 
I bought a Dayton, 220 Volt space heater, never had to use it, here in "sunny" Kalifornia.
I read that a "modern" car, running with its' A/C on, makes enough heat to heat a 6 ROOM HOUSE!--SO, jist leave it RUNNING 24/7.
Bill Comfy
 
Natural gas definitely most efficient. Clean and not all that expensive. Electric forget it too costly. Kerosene heaters will gas you out of the garage. Wood,,, work intensive and can be more dangerous when you factor in chain saws your time and if you stack it near the house beware of carpenter ants and termites they love wood piles.

Heat a 1,000 sq. ft. garage all winter long for less than a buck a day with the T-stat on 48 degrees. Bumped up to 58 when I'm in there that is plenty warm enough. This is with an energy efficient gas furnace not a Modine hanging unit. Heck a bottle of water costs that much and it comes from a tap somewhere anyway;) Start up usually first week of December shutting it down mid March. Have water out there too.
 
Insulation is the key and save you money in the long run if you plan to stay at the same place or alive. Our 26x34 r-56 ceiling and r-35 walls both closed cell foam and heated with a 5000 watt electric heater and keeps it at 68 all winter and only 40 bucks a month
 
I had in floor heat in my last garage and now have over head radiant in both my garage and my shop. If you are only using the space to work on cars in the winter and don't expect to open the big doors, in floor is nice. Of course if you already have your concrete floor then that's out. Overhead radiant (gas fired), IMO is the way to go. Easy to install, cheap to run, WAY quieter than forced air and no fan to kick up dust.
 
Licensed to kill said:
Where do you live that you experience -50, Ellesmere island??.
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Near Neepawa Manitoba, often we hit -35 to 40 and if you factor in wind chill we hit -50 range for up to a week in winter.

https://www.google.ca/amp/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.2479967

I'm not kidding, lowest recorded static temp was -46 with no wind. It's been so cold that the tires on the pickup will freeze square and will thump as you drive down the road till they warm up a bit.
 
Pinesdune said:
Near Neepawa Manitoba, often we hit -35 to 40 and if you factor in wind chill we hit -50 range for up to a week in winter.

https://www.google.ca/amp/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.2479967

I'm not kidding, lowest recorded static temp was -46 with no wind. It's been so cold that the tires on the pickup will freeze square and will thump as you drive down the road till they warm up a bit.
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Ah, I didn't know you were factoring wind chill. About 8 years ago we had what they called "the alaskan express" roll through and for about a week we had HIGHS of-50 and lows we don't know as the thermometers only went down to -50 and would blank out. Took my diesel truck out of a heated garage to go to Ft Mac and within 8KM, the gear oil in the diff and trans got so thick the truck was working just to go down the road. Got about 10MPG, got to Athabasca and most fuel stations were closed. Found one that was open but when I went to put the nozzle in my tank the hose snapped off. Hauled water building ice roads in that. Hauling water in <-50.....no fun. Anyway, that was an anomaly, we usually only get down to maybe -30 for a few days and occasionally (once every 5-6 years or so) -40. Fortunately when it gets cold there usually is no wind. Sorry, got off topic, back to heating a garage
 
BTU’s are hard to answer depends on sqft but matters most of the tightness and finish of the space. 120 or 230vac? I have a 12k btu 230vac I purchased from Walmart for about $500 and it keeps my 32x32 insulated shop heated and air conditioned comfortably in Virginia. It’s designed to condition about 550 sqft of floor space. It mounts in a window or in my case, thru a wall.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
Mini split heat pumps are cheap and use about 1/3 the electricity of a resistive type heater, plus give you AC for the summer. So, if you don't have a cheaper source of power than electricity, and if your temps don't get below 0, a mini split is a great way to go. For less than $2k, you can get a new 36,000 btu unit. They are not difficult to install.

You should compute your btu needs, of course, before doing anything. Insulation and proper sealing make a huge difference in what you need, as does ceiling height. Natural gas sourced hot water in floor heat with well insulated walls and ceilings would probably be your most comfortable/cheapest way to go if starting from nothing, and NG is available.

JMHO
 
I want to add another ditto to posts 3 & 4 recommendation about checking local code, and using ceiling mounting. This can be serious stuff. What are the chances that your Model A will NEVER experience a dripping carb? The gasoline fumes are heavier than air and will accumulate along the floor. Don't have anything with a pilot light or sparky electric motor set up for unattended operation at floor level.
 
I have gas heat in my shop, can't remember the brand at the moment. It is very safe and efficient 92.1 % efficient and burns no room air. Air intake and vent are 2.5" PVC.. The vent barely gets warm even with an all day operation. I can find out the name tomorrow and even E. Mail a photo of it if you want me to. It wasn't cheap, cost about $2650.00 installed but cheaper that burning my building down. I use it to paint cars in fact just painted two doors on my wife's Impalla. Oh and my shop is 30X34 with a 10' ft ceiling
 
A friend who was building a new garage put Radiant heat tubing in the floor. Instead of digging a deep hole outside for the tubing to pick up he he simply used a small tankless water heater to heat the water. Works like a charm.
 

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Licensed to kill said:
Ah, I didn't know you were factoring wind chill. About 8 years ago we had what they called "the alaskan express" roll through and for about a week we had HIGHS of-50 and lows we don't know as the thermometers only went down to -50 and would blank out. Took my diesel truck out of a heated garage to go to Ft Mac and within 8KM, the gear oil in the diff and trans got so thick the truck was working just to go down the road. Got about 10MPG, got to Athabasca and most fuel stations were closed. Found one that was open but when I went to put the nozzle in my tank the hose snapped off. Hauled water building ice roads in that. Hauling water in <-50.....no fun. Anyway, that was an anomaly, we usually only get down to maybe -30 for a few days and occasionally (once every 5-6 years or so) -40. Fortunately when it gets cold there usually is no wind. Sorry, got off topic, back to heating a garage
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I used to wonder why there were so many of our neighbors from Canada down here in Florida during the winter.....Posts like this make it crystal clear why there are so many Canadian license plates on the roads......
 
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