Hey everyone I need to put a heater in my garage for this upcoming winter. I can hang a gas heater in the corner and have my friend that's a plumber run the gas line (he owes me) and the hanging units are cheap. Option 2 is buy a hanging electric. I'm skeptical about these. Or I can buy a couple radiant heaters. I'm skeptical about these too. I want to be able to turn on my heat source, go in the garage and touch anything I want and not have it be frozen...with proper warm up time. I heard the radiant won't actually heat everything up? So I'm trying to see if anyone has advice to save me some trouble.
Garage Heater
- Thread starter mogas
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nealtw
Contractor retired
I like the radiant gas tube.http://www.saskenergy.com/business/radiantheaters.asp
Gas is going to be almost 1/2 the operating cost and hotter than electric. For fast heating of the whole garage I would get something with a big blower and btus. To quietly warm up a work bench I would use radiant pointed at the bench. In time it will heat the whole garage too. You can get either option ventless. With a new airtight garage I would make sure you get a model with oxygen sensor and install a carbon monoxide detector
firehawkmph
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Mogas,
I have three separate garages/shops I heat occasionally in the winter here in northeast Ohio. In each one I use a direct vent gas furnace made by Williams. They are about 7' tall and 14" wide. Easy to mount, combustion chamber draws air from outside and is completely sealed off from inside air, so no worry about blowing up when your cars' gas tank leaks. They are very quiet, have a two speed blower, and the hot air comes out of the lower part of the unit. In the dead of winter, they will heat up a three car garage that is insulated, in about fifteen to twenty minutes. Very quick and economical to run. 62000 btu input and around 83% efficiency.
Mike Hawkins
I have three separate garages/shops I heat occasionally in the winter here in northeast Ohio. In each one I use a direct vent gas furnace made by Williams. They are about 7' tall and 14" wide. Easy to mount, combustion chamber draws air from outside and is completely sealed off from inside air, so no worry about blowing up when your cars' gas tank leaks. They are very quiet, have a two speed blower, and the hot air comes out of the lower part of the unit. In the dead of winter, they will heat up a three car garage that is insulated, in about fifteen to twenty minutes. Very quick and economical to run. 62000 btu input and around 83% efficiency.
Mike Hawkins
firehawkmph
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The Wiliams units are just under $1300. The three spaces is heat are 24 x 24' 26 x 28' and 28 x 36 with a cathedral ceiling. All three areas have either R11 or R 13 in the walls and R19 in the ceilings.
Mike Hawkins
Mike Hawkins
Hey firehawkmph I'm ready to buy my heater the cold is coming. I can't decide between a vent gas heater or a ventless radiant heater because I want my whole garage to be warm and comfortable. How many btus would you recommend? With a ventless do I need to keep a door or window open? Do I need to make a hole for a ventless for fresh air?
Drywallinfo
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Man I wish! But my garage is too darned small for anything except my cars, and barely that. Someday I will perhaps build a nice insulated garage with heat. Ability to heat your garage, with floor drains and ability to wash and dry your car year-round is the way to keep cars from rusting away.
firehawkmph
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Mogas,
I would definitely go with the vented heater. Being a retired firefighter, I'm not a fan of non-vented heaters. If you get one of the direct vents like I mentioned above, you won't be sorry. Very quiet, quick recovery, and very comfortable to work in. 62,000 btu input. Also they are easy to install.
Mike Hawkins
I would definitely go with the vented heater. Being a retired firefighter, I'm not a fan of non-vented heaters. If you get one of the direct vents like I mentioned above, you won't be sorry. Very quiet, quick recovery, and very comfortable to work in. 62,000 btu input. Also they are easy to install.
Mike Hawkins
Hey Firehawkmph thanks for the input! Why would you choose a direct vent over like a Modine hot dawg? The reason I ask is I found one at Home Depot for 699 vs the direct vent for over a 1000. I have heard a lot about moisture in the air do you know if it's from a ventless unit or a sealed combustion? I have seen some cheaper non sealed vented units, I would like your input on them. I'll be working on cars/small engines. Will I blow up if I put one in? Or will the fumes not get to the heater because it's high off the ground? I really appreciate it I'm just trying to get the best bang for my buck. I'm poor and only 21.
firehawkmph
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Mogas,
the ventless heaters are the ones that throw more humidity into the air. The direct vent unit has a sealed combustion chamber that draws in outside air for combustion. So it doesn't take any air out of the inside and most importantly, being sealed, it is safe to use around in a garage with the potential for gasoline leaks and the like. My buddy has a hod dawg unit. It works, but it is noticeably noisier and blows out the warm air from the ceiling level, where the direct vent blows warm air out from the lower part of the furnace. This heats up the floor area quicker. The hot dawg has an open flame. Most residential codes want any open flame to be a certain height off the floor. I don't remember the exact number, but for some reason, 10' comes to mind. Most residential garages don't have ceilings high enough to mount one to meet code. I bought my first direct vent unit in 1985. The oldest one I have at my present house is from 1992, and still works fine with no maintenance. Pretty trouble free.
Mike Hawkins
the ventless heaters are the ones that throw more humidity into the air. The direct vent unit has a sealed combustion chamber that draws in outside air for combustion. So it doesn't take any air out of the inside and most importantly, being sealed, it is safe to use around in a garage with the potential for gasoline leaks and the like. My buddy has a hod dawg unit. It works, but it is noticeably noisier and blows out the warm air from the ceiling level, where the direct vent blows warm air out from the lower part of the furnace. This heats up the floor area quicker. The hot dawg has an open flame. Most residential codes want any open flame to be a certain height off the floor. I don't remember the exact number, but for some reason, 10' comes to mind. Most residential garages don't have ceilings high enough to mount one to meet code. I bought my first direct vent unit in 1985. The oldest one I have at my present house is from 1992, and still works fine with no maintenance. Pretty trouble free.
Mike Hawkins
firehawkmph
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No, not at all. If your garage walls and ceiling are insulated, it will heat up in 10-20 minutes and then just cycle on and off occasionally depending on how cold it is outside and what you set the temperature at. If you have any questions when you go to install it, feel free to ask.
Mike Hawkins
Mike Hawkins
Hey Mike I'm frustrated now. Is the 62,000 just the same as a hanging unit as far as the way it heats and blows air through a heat exchanger? It says that it's a radiant heater online and I was trying to stay away from a radiant because I want my floor, tools, ect warm when I'm working.
Hey Mike I checked the dimensions of the 62,000 and it's going to be tricky to mount it on the wall it's pretty big and I have some permanent things mounted already. I only have one wall I can mount it on and it has a door and window already as well as the other things. I was looking at a sealed hanging furnace, do you know what the least percent efficient it can be to run PVC exhaust out the side?
firehawkmph
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Mogie,
the Williams units I have are not radiant, they have a two speed fan motor in them that blows hot air out of the bottom front section of the unit. It is made to either mount between two studs on 16" centers, or mount it on the wall surface, between two studs. They are 7' tall by 14" wide by 9" deep. So you really just need one stud space to mount it. As far as the sealed hanging units, not too up on the actual specs, but most other furnaces that vent out in pvc pipe are in the 90+% efficiency range.
Here's a link for the Williams 62k furnace:
http://www.alpinehomeair.com/viewproduct.cfm?productID=453058942
Mike Hawkins
the Williams units I have are not radiant, they have a two speed fan motor in them that blows hot air out of the bottom front section of the unit. It is made to either mount between two studs on 16" centers, or mount it on the wall surface, between two studs. They are 7' tall by 14" wide by 9" deep. So you really just need one stud space to mount it. As far as the sealed hanging units, not too up on the actual specs, but most other furnaces that vent out in pvc pipe are in the 90+% efficiency range.
Here's a link for the Williams 62k furnace:
http://www.alpinehomeair.com/viewproduct.cfm?productID=453058942
Mike Hawkins
