Heating my Garage cheaply.... opinion

[tannji]

I have a garage that I have to be satisfied with until I move, and I need to heat it this winter. It is 80+ years old, no insulation, and has the original wiring, insulators and all. I am dropping single phase wiring from the pole and having the meter installed. I have been looking at Propane heaters, and wanted an opinion on a unit I am looking at, or economical suggestions. I even had one offered to me, but it is 75000 BTU, with no thermostat, and I decided it was too much heater that needed too much additional fabbing to make it remotely practical.

Here is one I found for 100 dollars that might work, anyone used it or have an opinion?

 

http://www.glowwarm.com/

 

Well, link didnt work completely, I am looking at the 30,000 BTU unit. Also just now saw the 100 pound container for the propane model... I can get that but was hoping to use smaller containers... anyone know why they require 100 pounds?

[JMortensen]

The reason why it needs a 100 lb tank is probably because it would burn up the fuel in a smaller tank too fast. I think the cheaper ones don't have as nice a burner element, so they just burn more fuel faster to make the heat.That larger tank requirement was what led me to the Big Buddy I got last year.

 

The Big Buddy is 18,000 BTU's IIRC. It works pretty well. It holds 2 1 lb cylinders like you'd use for a lantern, and that works for about 3 or 4 hours with it on the highest setting. I bought mine off of ebay for under $100 and it was worth every penny. It enabled me to work through the winter here, although I'm sure our winter isn't as bad as yours. It would take my very poorly insulated (holes you can see through to the outside, no roof insulation, no wall insulation, but it does have drywall) 1.5 car garage from 30 to 65ish degrees in a matter of 30 minutes or so. Pretty soon the beanie would come off, then the coat. Then I'd turn the heat down and let it run on medium until I was done. I also put up a CO alarm when I started using the heater. Hasn't gone off yet, but I think it's a good idea regardless.

 

I had previously bought a propane heater that was 60,000 BTUs from Harbor Freight, but when it showed up I found out that it required a large tank, which had to be mounted outside and a big hole drilled through the wall. That would have been the better way to go for a permanent solution, but I didn't want to mar the wall of the house that I'm renting, so that was why I chose the smaller unit. I did also get a propane bottle refill adapter from HF and I've been cycling 4 1 lb canisters through the heater. One of them developed a small leak that you could hear hissing after filling it, so I'll just go get some new canisters when I need to use the heater again.

 

If you search you might find my old thread. I think preith was using one of the larger heaters with the big tank and posted pictures of it, and he seemed to like it quite a bit. I want to say his was in the 22,000 BTU range...

[JMortensen]

Here is that thread: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=106324

[tannji]

Thanks for that... I had forgotten about that thread = ) Another issue I had forgotten was moisture from the Propane flame. I am not thrilled about that... but it might be a necessary evil, unless I buy a vented model. Hmm. Back to the drawing board.

 

tannji

[JMortensen]

I honestly haven't noticed that as an issue, and I've had A LOT of my car stripped to bare metal for over a year now. There is some VERY light surface rust and about a month ago I went crazy with the WD40 and that should take care of it until I'm ready to paint.

[veritech-z]

Anybody ever use one of those heaters that burns used engine oil? At the dealership we get these catalogs every once in awhile for shop equipment, and they had a whole section on those. I thought there MUST be some kind of EPA restriction on that, but there were multiple models in there.

[Twoeightnine]

Yep the EPA is crawling all over it.

A well designed unit, and there are many of them, burn pretty clean.

The problem is reulating the flow. The warmer the room the thinner the oil, the greater the flow, the hotter the room ect, ect.

 

So far they require a bit of tweeking and are being pounded by the feds.

[jt1]

We heat our shop with a waste oil heater. It's not perfect, you have to adjust for the weight oil and the temp, but it's not much trouble. Having the waste oil tank inside helped a lot with the temp issue. Overall, we've been quite pleased. Lots of good heat at almost no expense other than the initial cost.

 

jt

[383 240z]

I have a 35x30 with no insulation, It has a small room built inside of it that is insulated the room is 8x30. I have a wood burner in there, I bought the burner from Tractor Supply for $150 it works real nice, I use that area as my clean area for building engines and trans. with 2 large workbenches I'm not cramped at all just cant bring the whole car inside. So I build sub-assemblies then install them in the cold shop, I'm looking for a suitable propane heater for the main shop after the renovations are done, new lighting and insulated walls. Keith

[ZR8ED]

Well I'm in the same type of boat.

 

My first garage. Well I do have a 40,000btu kerosene heater that I used in my parents 2 car partially insulated garage, and it would at best cut the chill on a cold morning. ie -20 celsius, it would warm up to about 0 degrees. When it was warmer, it did a much better job.

 

Now to my advice.

 

Go buy at the bare minium, the poly drop sheets used for painting, and staple them to the framing and ceiling. It will reduce drafts, and the rapid loss of heat... it will make a noticeable difference.

 

In my case, I got prepared, and bought about 10 bags of insulation, and insulated the walls and ceiling of my 1 car garage, then vapor barrier and drywall on the walls, and used a reflective (mirror like) plastic sheeting (like a drop sheet, but coated with a reflective coating) on the ceiling.

 

I then used small pieces of trim to reduce drafts around the main door.

 

HUGE difference. I park the car in the garage, and hours later, it is still warm in the garage. I plan on doing much more work in the garage this winter, and I want to be comfortable... as in T shirt comfy, and it can get pretty cold here along the lake.

 

BTW I am running a small bathroom style vent fan to bring in fresh air, so I don't kill myself with fumes.

 

Goodluck and enjoy the garage!

[denny411]

I built my own wood burner out of an old fuel tank. it stands 4' high and is 5.5' from front to rear. I put it in the rear corner of the shop and use an old furnace fan to move the hot air.

I made the door large enough that I can burn pieces as large as 14"dia, and 5' long.

If I stuff it full and adjust the air intake properly, it will burn for two days without reloading, and keep my 1800sq ft garage in the low 80`s when it`s in the 10`s outside.

The best part is that I cut wood at the farm for free.