# Garage heater suggestion?



## LoganN (Mar 13, 2013)

Hey all! I have a 2 car garage in Rochester NY that I insulated the walls and I put foam board on the ceiling. Last winter it was pretty brutal in there with a portable oil filled radiator for heat. I only have 120 volt in there and I want something so that I can keep my hands functioning. Anyone have a good suggestion for a heater? Ideally it would be under $100, but I'll go up to $200 if I have to. 
Thanks!


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## MarkwithaK (Sep 12, 2009)

I've noticed that asking questions like this tend to receive a huge spectrum of answers….usually other people's experience with whatever piece of equipment they are using. What you really need first is a heat loss calculation.

What's the square footage? How many windows? What size are they? Slab floor? Insulated garage door? What's the typical outside temps in the winter and how warm would you like it to be in your space? All of that and more is going to play into it. I guess my point is that there is no cookie cutter answer and with a $100 budget it's pretty limiting and there is a high chance that you will just end up with buyer's remorse over a little IR heater that some guy in New Mexico swears by.


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## Momcanfixit (Sep 19, 2012)

$100 or so for an electrician to run one line of 220 and 80$ for a garage heater. 
Works for me in Eastern Canada. Without the heater, my shop stays above freezing. I turn it on before going out and I have a small ceramic heater on the counter.


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## LoganN (Mar 13, 2013)

I'm fine with the cookie cutter answers! I want to see what others have that has worked for them. At this point I'm taking suggestions. My place has 2 windows and one of the garage doors has insulation on it. I put up a wall in the garage and 1/2 is my shop. There is a raised plywood floor over concrete and double paned windows I installed. The garage size is totaling about 440 sq ft, but about 160-180 of that is walled off.

I would love to run 220 out there, but the line would be about 100 feet and I'm not sure yet if it is worth the cost.

Thanks for the help guys. Let's hope there are more suggestions for something useful and efficient!


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## redSLED (Mar 21, 2013)

I've used both the sub-$100. 2-1/2' high oil heater and ceramic type heaters. I found the oil heater to be useless relative to the ceramic heater in terms of heat output. To my observation, both were operating within their normal parameters.


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

If you're not going to heat it all of the time, those oil filled radiators are useless. They just don't heat an area fast enough. I would say either a radiant heater to hang from the ceiling or a forced air ceramic electric heater. Was it insulated last winter? Assuming not, I think you will do better this winter with a different heater. Is this an attached garage? With the insulation, the garage should stay much warmer just with the insulation and the heat lost from the house into the garage.


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## FatherHooligan (Mar 27, 2008)

Hey Logan, you may find a bunch of answers in similar threads already asked here (I think there are about 10 pages if answers so it may be a bit of a read  . I just typed in 'garage heat' in the search window at the upper right if this page.

I use a small 'construction' heater and I can heat my shop from -20C to about +15C in a couple hours. I generally put the heat in Friday morning if I know I'll have the weekend available for wood working and it'll be toasty by the evening.
Mind you if it dips much colder or if it is really windy I will avoid anything to do with glueing or finishing as the temperature of the wood will often be too cold fir predictable results. HTH


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## darthford (Feb 17, 2013)

Ductless heat pump


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## UpstateNYdude (Dec 20, 2012)

small radiant heater


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## distrbd (Sep 14, 2011)

I bought a Presto heat dish(parabolic heater) a couple of days ago from Costco for under$70 it throws a lot of heat ,you can point to where you are standing ,like 3 to 4 feet away and you'll be warm in no time,I don't turn it all the way up ,just set it on medium is plenty of heat.


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## robertb574 (Jan 12, 2011)

Kerosene Heater


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## Grandpa (Jan 28, 2011)

I use a kerosene heater and do well with it but I am in the south. You *DO* have to provide ventilation for these.


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## MarkwithaK (Sep 12, 2009)

There is a raised plywood floor over concrete and double paned windows I installed. The garage size is totaling about 440 sq ft, but about 160-180 of that is walled off.

See that's what I'm talking about. All of that makes a huge difference. Concrete slabs will act like a giant heat sink until they get warm, by raising the floor up you eliminate that issue. Did you insulate the wall between the spaces?

With that square footage you may get by with a 110VAC unit but keep in mind that those will draw a significant amount of amps and really should be on their own dedicated circuit.

Ductless heat pump

Heat pumps become ineffective when the temps drop below about 40*F….This is why they usually include supplemental electric heat in the air handler.


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## davegutz (Oct 16, 2012)

You've got my sympathy fellow cold weather person.

Probably more than $100 unless you're lucky: scrounge up an old wood stove. Though it would probably cost at least $200 to install it correctly, the operating costs are cheaper than elec and great way to dispose of scraps. I used one successfully for 2 years in Mass - but have to say I was really glad when I installed a gas furnace, if for no other reason then I didn't have to stoke it all the time.

The cheap solutions lead to drafty results. OK…so go with the flow. I found it helps to tent glue-ups and finishing projects. An old 100W bulb and a $2 HD painters tarp make a sauna.

Also, really thick backpacking boot socks and vibram soled boots long underwear and a fleece vest - winter uniform.

Good luck and wishes for warm winter.


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## Mahdeew (Jul 24, 2013)

Check this out the best price I've ever seen; probably is a promo.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200612632_200612632


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## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

I live in Maine. I'm in my 5th year using this heater after doing this review of it. Cost was $160 at the time with $75 instillation after I hung it on the wall myself. costs me about $100/year to run it and I'm in my 25×25 ft shop often. Heats my insulated shop up to shirt sleeve temperature in about 30 minutes when about 25 degrees out. Very satisfied with it.


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## fuigb (Apr 21, 2010)

I'm maybe a few hundred miles due west of Logan, also working in a. Two-car garage om a slab. Damn cold out here. Big Buddy propane heat while wearing layers and I'm good. Twenty bucks more for and adapter to run the heater's blower and it's even better. Really I'm just warming the area where I'm working but I've never felt the urge to turn my space into a resort.


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## LoganN (Mar 13, 2013)

Thank you all for the advice! I think I'm going to tr one of the propane heaters. Possibly a Pro-com like Craftsman suggested. I would love and electric one, but using a propane tank is pretty easy. Thanks again for the suggestions!


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## Woodmaster1 (Apr 26, 2011)

My neighbor has modine gas garage heater 45,000btu. It works great. I am going to install one in my shop when the insulation is installed.


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## shawnmasterson (Jan 24, 2013)

I heated for many years with one of these. . The new ones have hardly any smell. mine is 115,000, and I heated 1000 with no insulation and within an hour it was 75*. I live in northern indiana and we often have pretty bad winters. I have found these are the best way to start. I now use wood. it is a lot quieter.


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## EEngineer (Jul 4, 2008)

usually other people's experience with whatever piece of equipment they are using

And isn't that why he asked? Seems to me he was asking what other people used that works!

Personally, I use electric. I can't see open flames anywhere near the collection of sawdust I generate AND open flames generate moisture as a by-product of combustion. I fight enough rust on my tools, thank you.

I use a Marley H254. The big advantage to this heater is that you can "dial-in" the wattage required. At 2.5 kW the heater couldn't keep up with the heat loss in my garage. I changed the jumpers up to 3.3 kW and now it cycles about 15-20 min every 2 hours. It will go to 5 kW if you have 30A service. I don't heat the garage to 70 or anything, just enough to take the chill off (50 or so) and I let it run continuously.

Here's a shot of the way I mounted it in a corner:









Sorry for the poor quality… just a quick phone camera capture.


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## LoganN (Mar 13, 2013)

Thanks again! Eenginer, you hit the nail on the head!


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## MarkwithaK (Sep 12, 2009)

And isn't that why he asked? Seems to me he was asking what other people used that works!

Exactly. But not everyone's specs are going to be the same. I work in the HVAC industry and have seen more people install the wrong/improperly sized unit and then wondered why it's not living up to their expectations. This is why I suggested a heat loss calculation as it is the most accurate way of figuring out how many BTU's you need for a given space. Likewise someone that lives in a warmer climate can get by with a smaller unit because the temp rise isn't as great and neither is the demand. Someone living in a southern state trying to heat a 300 sq. ft space is going to need less capacity then someone up north.

The inverse of that is also true. There is such thing as having too many BTU's. A person in Northern Canada trying to heat that same 300 Sq. ft is going to need even more.

My point was, and still is, is that this site is a global entity that is populated by folks from completely different climates. If it were simply a regional site then a one-size-fits-all suggestion might be viable.

By the way, thanks for buying the Marley….it's one of our sister companies. lol


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