Heating shop/garage

Depending on where you live, the codes will vary slightly. Anything with as much as a pilot light (such as a gas water heater) will need to be elevated, and sometime need to be protected by a bollard. The reason is if a vehicle leaks fuel, it can flow across the floor where the vapors will find an ignition source....and boom, there goes the whole place.

Where I live, a flame source must be 22" high, or 15" and protected by a anti-collision bollard.

 

I'm using a 20 gal / 3000 watt electric hot water tank for my hydronic system

 

Does it do a good job with warming up the garage?

 

and long johns...

 

Scratch and dent forced hot air 40,000 btu furnace. 100 gallon tank outside with some copper line feeding it. 77$ to fill it every 9 weeks.

 

Yes. It takes a bit to get it completely warmed up, but it’s pretty impressive for the cost, especially at the current price.

If you have it aimed at you and you are close, it will work in just a couple of minutes.

 

Thanks for all the input! I put the oil burner on the back burner for now. bought a 60k btu propane thingy and dug out the kerosene heater.

The shop is a 22x30 with 12 foot open rafters. No insulation. I would insulate it but as I said before it's a rental. If the land lady would reimburse me for insulating the shop I would have done it but she is a lawyer and doesn't understand why people work on anything.

it's 25 degrees outside and the shop is 58 degrees. as soon as I shut the big heater off it gets pretty cold pretty quick.

Notes for my shop when I build it.

 

I used a 40 gallon 40k btu natural gas heater in my last place, worked well. Just curious, what output temp do you set your mixing valve to? Do you run a thermometer in the slab/wall or both? I ran tubing in my new garage but still have to insulate and plumb in the boiler.

 

I have a portable 70,000 btu diesel/kerosene heater and a "jumbo" cast iron wood burner. I made a blower system on the wall behind the wood burner in order to push the air around my 4 car pole barn. Just from my experience with this one, if you had a 2 car garage, a 10-15000 btu version of one of these would be enough with moderate insulation.

I use the diesel heater to get the temp to about 50F in about 45-90 mins (about .5- 1 gallon burned) depending on starting temp. By then the wood stove is pretty warm and can usually raise the temp another 10 degrees by itself. 60F is my target for working in Winter. But if its 45F or above and minimal wind, I will usually just open the doors and go without heat. I like the outside light, and just the feeling of being outside.

These newer diesel/kerosene heaters are quiet and odor free after an initial belch or two. If you run pure diesel, they don't like to ignite below 35 or 40F, so I try to plan my fuel usage so I am about dry after the 45 mins, then I use a little straight kerosene next time to get it hot before adding diesel. Cost saving method.

This is a pic from Menards where I got mine. Not same brand, but looks pretty much identical.

 

I use this.

 

Bumping an old thread.

I am building an attached garage with ICF. The garage will have a total of 5" of EPS foam (2.5" on either side) with a 6" concrete pour in the middle. The slab will have 4" EPS under it. And of course the garage door will be insulated. Should be pretty damn efficient.

Was thinking of installing a mini-split in the garage to heat it during winter and cool it in summer. I'm not looking to keep the garage the same temperature as the house but want it comfortable year round.

Does anyone have experience with a mini-split in their garage? Thanks.

 

I seriously thought going this route, but I already had radiant heat experience so I stuck with what I knew.

I have spoken with a few people that have the MS heat sources and they love them.

As well as you have your structure insulated and sealed, you are going to be able heat that pretty cheap. If you keep that shop shut up during the hot months, I'm betting little cooling will be needed.

What is your insulation strategy for the ceiling/roof? That alone can make or break your plans.

 

So the two car attached garage will have our master suite on top. So the garage ceiling/master floor joists will be closed cell spray foam insulated and air sealed.

 

Wow I was just thinking of this thread. I scabbed together something just to see if it would work.

 

Short smokey video

Have to finish it up and run the exhaust but it's proof of concept that it gets hot.

 

Hope it works out for you -- now it looks scary

 

your lawyer landlady is gonna shit a brick when she sees your frankenfurnace...

 

What's it burn?

 

Please describe the oil feed and combustion chamber, nozzle(s). Great work!!

 

Can anyone recommend a wall/ceiling mounted electrical heater for a 20'x20' garage? Prefer to not have gas or a floor unit.

I found this, but apparently, they last one winter and then die. Cheap enough to replace as needed, but yearly? Hoping someone has a recommendation for something a little more stout.




$48 Comfort Zone CZQTV5M Ceiling Mounted Radiant Quartz Heater with Halogen Light Included
https://www.amazon.com/Comfort-CZQT...words=wall+mount+heater&qid=1606846146&sr=8-9