The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Small Kerosene or Propane Portable heater?

I need more heat in my garage. Previously I bought one of those infrared heads for a 20 lb propane bottle that is rated 10,000-15,000 BTU's. That doesn't really cut it and only sort of takes the chill off after running an hour. I am looking at either a small kerosene torpedo type heater or Propane Convection type.

My goals are low cost of fuel, low odor, low noise, fast heat-up and of course low risk of fire & carbon monoxide. Low initial purchase price too. Also I don't want to do anything permanent. 60 F after 20 minutes of run would be acceptable when its 20 F outside.

The Box stores near me carry 2 models of propane convection. One rated 40,000 to 80,000 BTU's for $99 and another rated 75,000 to 200,000 BTU's normally $125, but on sale at one for $99. I think the smaller unit claims to run 11 hours on a 20 lb tank, which are $15 to $20 to refill around here. Of these, I am leaning towards the smaller one. I think I could do a rapid heat up with the 80K and then maintain a temp using less fuel. With the other, I'm concerned I'd be turning it off & on to maintain the right temp.

My garage is only about 18x22 (8 foot or so ceiling) and 2 walls are shared with the house. For example its 37 F outside and about 48 F in the garage currently. Even at colder outside temps, the garage doesn't get below 32 F.

Compared to the above propane heaters, kerosene torpedoes seem expensive. A 55,000 BTU torpedo is $231 at Lowe's. What are the advantages to these? Will it heat faster or have lower fuel costs? What about odor & noise? I was around one of these once many years ago and the noise was horrible. I know the propane units I am looking at will have no noise or odor.

The torpedo style gives off too much odor unless really well ventilated. It is however is quick heat. I use mine to warm-up the shop before I start work then a small kerosene or propane convection to maintain temp. while I work.

Get a multi-head propane heater it has variable BTU’s - 8,000 to 42,000 BTU/HR & is what I use. Works great, no stinky smell & on the coldest days I can work in a T-shirt in my garage w/no insulation...Joe

Joe beat me to it. I've got a two head propane heater on a 100 lb. bottle. I have a 30x40 building which it won't heat BUT I drag it to where I'm working and fire it up. It heats the area I'm in pretty well. I usually end up turning it down before I'm finished. I'm just starting my third winter without a refill on the bottle.

My garage is 12X60 with a 12X24 tee, insulated, and I use a propane salamander to heat in the beginning and a kerosene heater after it warms. Kerosene smells and propane will dry your nostrils out. In floor radiant heat would what I would install if I had the dough. Next garage/next life. Upstate NY winters are a bear. Did I mention I have a woodstove also?

Dan

There ya go. A buddy of mine has that in his garage/shop and LOVES it. It's a lot easier to stay comfy when your feet stay warm.

I used a torpedo heater in my shop for a few years.They do heat the place up very quick,but the odor is pretty bad. A couple of years ago I put in a wood stove which works out very good for me.I can go out in the morning get a fire going then come back to the house for breakfast. Then after breakfast the shop has warmed up pretty good.Just a suggestion.

Torpedo heaters in a small garage can suck all the 0'2 up quickly , i used to use one yrs back an after 20 minutes you could start to feel the effects , getting light headed etc....the noise is also terrible an they smell.
I would suggest the propane heaters as mentioned above.
Stay away from the topedo heater in a small work area.
just my 2 pennies.
Tim

heres a suggestion ,
At my Dad's , his garage is also attached to his home , it is insulated so we tapped into the ductwork for oil furnace that heats the house and ran 2-6" duct's to the garage from the basement so they blow out near the floor , and added shut-offs on the ends , now he just goes out before he wants to work an opens up the shut-offs and goes has breakfast and the garage will warm up to comfortable enough to work and is plenty warm enough for him an he is in his 60's.
He doesnt like it too warm when he tinkerin.
I dont know what kind of heat you have for your home but maybe bleeding a bit of heat from the house when needed may be an option ?

Guys, the one thing here that I have not seen mentioned is a carbon monoxide detector. I used to use a Kerosun heater in the garage. After 3 or 4 hours I would come into the house, kinda dizzy and nausiated. I thougt it was the brand of Whisky I drank. I changed brands no help. (several times) Then one day my wife came out to the garage, took a couple of breaths and nearly passed out. After checking that heater put out gobs of BTU's but also put huge amounts of particulate matter as well as enough carbon monoixide to kill an ox. My wife is in the health care industry. From what says I would wish Alzhimers disese on somebody rather than consist repeted carbon monoxide exposure.

My wife raised Small Birds and was real proud of her operation, until, I purchased a Kerosene heater, worked real good, if careful I could move it around safely, well the utility room was getting cool so I moved it there and it worked real good there also, birds liked the heat until I turned it off, well you all know they emit an odor when shup down. Bingo, I put her out of the bird business in about 1 1/2 minutes. If them heaters killed all them birds(over 1,000 of them)they can't be good for us, go with a vented heater.

From the price of a propane heater versus electric and electricity I just run two milkhouse electric heaters in my 20x20 garage. Its insulated and it gets it up to 60 degrees from 32 in about two hours. I don't have to worry about fumes. I do shut them off when I am using the saw as I don't want to fill them with dust. Sealing up all the air leaks around the door really helped keep it warm.

Spareparts, I am sorry to hear about the birds.

Everyone thanks for your input. A carbon monoxide detecter seems like a must have. One thing I have read is that a propane heater around 40,000 BTU or higher will run better and longer off of a 40 lb tank. One convection model is rated 30k to 80K and another mfg's is rated 40K-80K. They will not run at 80K with a 20 lb tank. I'm not sure I want to spring for a 40 lb tank or have it take up space. We visited a kersosene shop and I doubt the 23K convection type will heat my garage fast enough, which even makes me wonder about propane convection at 40K. I'm sort of leaning towards a 35-55K forced air propane and running it off of a 20 lb cylinder. That or 40K kersene torpedo. Probably either way, I'd run it for 10 minutes before I want to start work and then turn it off while I'm working. Wall and ceiling mounts are nice, but I'm hoping to move to house with a bigger shiop, etc and can't see making the investment here. Sort of wondering what size heaters people are running off of 20lb tanks and how well it works?

Thanks,

I also have a one head that I run off of a small tank. It's good for spot heat but won't heat a large area. If I'm tinkering at the work bench I'll fire it up & set it next to me. It'll keep the immediate area comfortable.

I have used the propane Mr Heater for years and on 4 projects. Also have a small 40,000 BTU propane bullet heater. Both work well in the Garage. For my shop, I added base-board heat and two blower units running on hot-water from a wood boiler I picked up for scrap. Converted it to take waste oil and drip on the wood. Takes about half an hour for the water to get warm enough to start giving heat. I haven't finished insulating yet, however I can get the shop to mid 70's on a -20 day if I need to. Down side is condensation on tools, parts and stuff causes rust.

Scott, what size tanks were you using with those?

I went to the hardware store yesterday to buy one of these on your recommendation and right on the front of the box, in big letters, it said FOR OUTDOOR USE ONLY. Funny how the kerosene heaters are good for closed spaces but the propane ones aren't.

No idea what to do now other than get a kerosene heater and an CO detector.

I have owned mine for over 10yrs & use it every winter in my garage w/o any problems. Regardless of what it says I refuse to smell the stink of kerosene, which I believe is even worse. What I find odd is if kerosene can be used inside a garage then why did a friend that used kerosene heater experience CO poisoning because of it?????? I'll stick w/Propane & just keep a window cracked open.
If you're worried about it just use a CO detector w/the propane heater...Joe

the problem indoors isn't so much combustion fumes as it is the danger of explosion if there's a propane leak, safety warnings might be primarily to avoid liability, but they do have a basis in the physical world ... propane 'pools' at the lowest point, you may get a suprise sometime when you drop your trouble light on the floor and the bulb breaks

Bill

This is what we've come to in this country with all the hysteria about safety, brought on no doubt by the fear of litigation.

All it's done is make it impossible for the consumer to make an informed decision when you have legitimate safety concerns with the same level of urgency as CYA "warnings". If you start paying attention to this crap you'll never go out of the house even though you know you should because you're being told your house is killing you.

That's why the put warnings of NOT using a hair dyer in the shower :crazy: among other things. But then I would call that "God's way of cleaning the gene pool out". Stupid people will do stupid things.

I have a single head and use it in the garage and have not died or had a headache even. I also have not had an explosion, but I am still on my first tank of gas. Woody is right, its CYA, the manuals say outdoor use only (or something), and then it says we cannot predict in all the ways are unit might be used. Funny stuff.

Anywise I just bought a Reddy TB100 30K-55K forced air propane heater of off Ebay. I'll report back on how it works out later on.

I have a 24 x 40 work shop. I heat the shop with a natural gas furance and then when its up to tempture I turn on a couple of small electric ceramic ( four head ) heaters. they for the most part do the work from there on and the furance kicks on only once and a while. I am finding out that electric heat is cheaper thay natural gas and is clean and no smell.

All the newer propane convection heaters are perfectly safe to use indoors. Never heard of one that wasn't. Also the new ones have low oxygen sensors and thermostats that turn them off. How ya' going to get in trouble with that? I have one hung on a wall in my new shop office (15'x30') and it performs great. I actually like it better than the Garage Heater I have suspended from the ceiling in the auto shop because it doesn't have a loud blower. I see them in lots of homes in MO where I built the new shop.

Well, after stopping by a friend's shop yesterday and having to deal with the smell of his kerosene heater I went today and got myself one of THESE and spent the day in my toasty warm garage bustin' my knuckles and dropping stuff on my toes.

Life is good

That's what I've got mounted to my 100 lb bottle except it doesn't have the ignitor. I hafta use a match to light mine. It does put out the heat.

I was using a 20# tank - get 10 hrs with the Mr Heater 3-element unit and about 8 hours with the Bullet. On a really cold day, I put a heating pad under the tank to get the LP to vaporize.

I had my share of kerosene heater as well as the other types using probane. I finally bought (off eBay ) a new forced hot air unit of about 150 btu's fired by gas. I simply tapped into my line at the house and plumbed the line to my garage some 30 feet away from my home with cooper tubing with valves in the house and at the wall enterning the garage. I also instaled a thermostate to regulate the temperature. Its a two car cinder block garage with an over head lift so the ceilings are high. I use two ceiling fans to circulate the hot air that rises. It was the best investment I made and zero odor as the burned air is vented outside as in your home. This was important to me because I spent several hours at a time in the garage. The kerosene heaters are just plain dangerous with the smell of the burned fuel. The ceiling fans also work well in the summer to ventilate the hot air from the ceilings. The unit was new and cost only around 350.00, money well spent for a warm ans safe garage.

if you are running this heater on natural gas and piped it in with copper you will find that copper flakes with natural gas and it will plug up you control valves, it may take a few months but it will happen, the codes require black steel pipe, and the flex connections are stainless steel. just a work to the wise. Mike Bourg

Codes for natural gas are different in different places. Where I used to live in Ga. galvanized was required instead of black iron. Copper was permitted but it had to be silver soldered instead of the usual tin/lead sweat. If you look inside many furnaces and other gas appliances you will see copper tubing.

copper is fine around here, but flare fittings only, no solder, and I believe galvanized isn't allowed in any gas work anywhere in Canada

Bill