The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest How do you heat your garage?

Dan;

Your free energy heating method will also remove all the oxygen from the garage killing all chances of getting anything done. But I think that's how they heat Washington DC. And we know how that's working out.

SimS

I spend about $300/yr on propane, figgers out to about $100/mo for warm knuckles.

OOPS you are right. Will need oxygen detector and forced draft fan and outlet. Since their normal working atmostphere seems to be in a vacuum maybe should also put in pressure switch to keep any vacuum problems from collapsing building.

Dan Bentler

hahaha i don't know which would be worse, having them around arguing or the high heat bill! so far, and i know it's still very early, it's not been bad here. i just hat getting set up for something that will be sky high later on.

My choice is an electric furnace that came out of a 2500 sq. house. Keeps my 750 sq. garage very nice and really doesn't run that much. The garage is insulated like the house and holds well. Electric was the choice because of the "no flame" feature. I just felt more safe with it. As far as the electric bill goes, I haven't noticed that much difference.

IF any of the controls are electo mechanical contact type it is possible the arc on them can ignite flammable vapors.

Also if the heaters are nichrome ie glow red hot same thing.

Dan Bentler

I've got radiant in floor heat and an on demand electric water heater - it is less than a cubic foot in size.

It was 3 degrees here last night so apparently I don't heat it at all....

well i hate mapleleaf...anyone else with me? haha jk. I cant think of a way to heat my garage that will heat the entire thing that doesnt take up any space...because I am running out of it. these new houses with their 2 car garages that only measure 20x20 I am in there tight!

As cold as it has been the last couple of days, the only way i could warm mine up would be to move it South about 1200 miles.

i am in the south, its 20 degrees here in the dallas area

Last week I just installed a BIG MAXX MR. HEATER 75,000 BTU Propane. Used it this past week daily with temps in the teens. I really do like it set the thermostat on 60 and enjoy the warmth.

Hey Silverado - I think I posted on this type of heater before in this thread. It's been most of the winter now and it has kept my garage really warm all winter on the lowest setting. The heater is small, on wheels, and barely warm to the touch so safe around kids and animals. The shop/garage I added last fall is a single - 14X24, but 14' tall inside (for a lift). Heater cost was $350 at a home improvement show. They are designed to heat 1,000 sq ft. Impressive for something so small. But I still want Mapleleaf's floor.

Dale

I have insulated the 2 car garage and used that 1/2 inch foil covered Styrofoam for the ceiling. I drop some plastic sheeting to block the garage doors and use a 20lb propane bottle with a two small square burner. Gets up to nearly 60 deg in about 45 min. That's if it is about 30 outside. Fine by me.

Using a non vented heater with no fresh air is a bit on the dangerous side. Be safe.

Heat is energy.
Commonly measured in BTUs

Dan Bentler

How do I heat my garage? With a lot of money up front to seal and insulate my shop properly.

Prior to starting the rebuild of the Fallen Hero's Dream Ride I spent a few days drywalling and insulating my 2 car garage. I used batt insulation in the walls and blew in cellulose in the attic. Installed a garage door insulation kit. I use a portable 110v oil filled heater and keep it at 50 degrees (had many days in the single digits/teens). I should have done it 15 years ago.

Waste jet-A in a kerosene wic type heater or wood stove. I get both for free!

Don, My setup isn't that tight. Don't worry, I won't pass out.

Don, My setup isn't that tight. Don't worry, I won't pass out.

Things like fuel pump and vac advance diaphrams, not to mention things like all the rubber and neo on the vehicle get really dead really fast with varying temperature. Add to that if you have a need to do any professional grade painting with air minus any water, I feel its very important if you are restoring to keep the temperature at 75 degrees plus 10, minus 5. Most paint applications don't work well at less than 70 and the results are very iffy above 90. So, if you have a connected 2 car garage, insulate it very well, then run large ducting from your home heating system to your garage, but without a return. Its not ideal, but unless you want to spring for a second heat/ac system, it will do the job.

Be careful. VERY careful when painting and using a kerosene heater. Careful meaning, don't even think about it. Any open flame when restoring is a bad idea. From gas, to laquer thinner, to highly explosive paint and glueing operations, there is always a reason to keep open flames away.

If you decide to use a wood stove or kerosene, just make sure your life insurance is up to date so your wife can at least rely on that.

A bottle of Jack or Beam helps warm up the shop. It makes it more fun....until the next day maybe.

Now a few years later I've traded the 55 gallon drum stove for a Fisher wood stove, not sure the "bear" size but medium, not huge. Still heating the whole shop, house, and garage with the one stove located in the shop, the house and garage flank the shop on either side.

Might fire it up next week for the first time this season.

Grigg

Watching this with interest. Some of you might be aware that I
moved to a new location last summer. Spent last winter setting
up shop in the basement for the indoor or winter
projects. Didn't get a chance to get any sort of
heat in the barn, tried a
salamander for a while but the moisture it puts into the air
just about ruined all the years of work I did cleaning up cast
iron on the mills, lathes and other shop tools. What ever you
do, make sure you vent it out side unless you want an rain
forest atmosphere.
I to used a single 55 gallon barrel stove for 20 plus years
Grigg. Took the chill off in my 45x40x14 pole building. But I
sure went thru a bunch of wood having to reload it every half
hour or so.
Here at the new place I've been looking at a few options for a
wood burning furnace, a more efficient one than the barrel, and
one with a real heat exchanger and blower in it. I've got the
40x80 barn divided in half and want to set it up so I can duct
the heat to which ever half I'll be working in that day.
I've got lots of wood at the new place that other wise would
just go onto a burn pile so that's the most practical energy
source. No gas out here and propane and electric are out of the
question.
And I to will be needing some heat come next week, they're
talking about low 30's by weeks end.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

In some ways I liked the 55 gallon drum stove a little more than the real stove I have now. It was larger and I could fill it twice a day, it never burned out. The stove I have now is probably doing a better job but I have to fill it 3 or 4 times; morning, after work, evening, and if I get up- once in the middle of the night.

The drum stove I had was a double barrel over under deal, and perhaps let the exhaust get too cool as I'd have to brush the chimney a few times a season, I've brushed the same chimney no more than once in 2 seasons now with the Fisher stove. Seems like I use the same or less wood with the new stove as well.

What I'd really like to have is an indoor wood fired boiler, a "Wood Gun" They get good reviews on some of the wood heat forums but from what I can tell do take some tuning and understanding to operate correctly. http://www.hearth.com/talk/forums/the-boiler-room-wood-boilers-and-furnaces.13/
http://www.alternateheatingsystems.com/woodGasification.aspx
Then use the existing HVAC systems in the house and shop with water heat exchangers in them. One day when I have more time and can afford to, until then the indoor wood stove works decent.

Grigg

I redid my back warehouse space into a shop this summer, about 500 sq ft, 12' high - installed a wood stove I got off Craigslist cheap and cleaned up - because of the height I put in a ceiling fan, think it'll be toasty using the scrap lumber I always burn

Denny, you might consider what a neighbor here did for his woodworking shop, built a cinder block "shed" beside the building for a wood burning furnace ducted into the shop, kept the fire away from the sawdust generating area, only had to feed it a couple times a day, and when he got a pile of planer shavings he used that for fuel

Bill

This really isn't about your comfort. This is the hardest thing to get across. If you have machinist tools, woodworking tools, etc and you don't want them ruined within a few short months, you have to climate control your shop. Ive been there as far as wood stoves, kerosene, etc and none of that is acceptable if you need to maintain 70 degrees plus 10/-5 all year around in North America. Ive spent so many years killing myself stoking the fire, trying to even FIND kerosene in my area, and the cost comes out cheaper to purchase natural gas and central heat/ac.

I guess I spend about $250 a month for 24 hour climate control. (3500 sq ft) If that seems expensive, and I am sure to some of you its outrageous, I have been there, and totally understand. In my case, the cost of rust control, ruination of all rubber, fluids becoming unstable (what happens to paint, oil, anything in fluctuating climates), and general aging of all automotive components really makes that a cheap expenditure over the long run.

You wont understand the significance of this until you see the results over a few years. I can put lots and lots of small parts in the blast cabinet and 5 years later, they are rust free. In a lesser climate controlled shop, you cant say that in two weeks. But I understand economics. Been there and have the T shirt.

A lot of the condensation issues that are being discussed here are only an issue in areas that have high humidity.

Back when I lived in Ohio condensation was a big issue when heating up the garage quickly.

I now live in the arid high plains of Colorado and condensation is not an issue. I have parts in my garage that are bare steel, been there for years.. no rust.

Oh your preaching to the choir Deve. For the last 5 or6 years at
my old place I had a 200,000 btu natural gas furnace that was
taken out of a house to heat the hanger. Kept it about 45° all
winter when I wasn't out there and it came up to temp in 20
minutes when I was working. Had no windows and never opened the
doors to the outside so it was like a cocoon in there. It
really didn't make my gas bill all that much more, maybe cost
me a few hundred more to heat the hanger each winter.
But as I said, taint no gas out here and propane is out of
sight.

At the old place, in the summer I ran two 80 pt. dehumidifiers
both of which would be full at the end of the day. Had two
Bridgeport milling machines, three lathes, drill presses, band
saws, lots of wood working equipment and a sizable steel stock
in there for a couple of decades and never had a spot of rust
on any of the bare cast iron or steel. First week that I had
moved it all out here to the barn every thing was rusting up
real bad in spite of my soaking it down with motor oil. Almost
all of my CRS bar stock and structural is all rusted up now.

I never had a problem when I was using the single barrel stove
to heat the hanger. And with the flue going straight up thru
the peak thirty feet above it burned so hot that I never had to
clean it, and I burned it for around twenty years. I changed
out the stove pipe going up to the ceiling once because it was
looking kind of ratty after many years of use but in side was
just slightly sooty, not much at all. Burning that hot is
probably why I had to throw a couple of logs in every half
hour, not to mention how much of a loss I had from using heated
air for combustion. I lined the bottom of the barrel with fire
brick and never had to change the barrel either. In fact a
neighbor was over the other day and couldn't believe how solid
the barrel still is after using it all those years.


Denny Graham
Sandwich. IL

Oh your preaching to the choir Deve. For the last 5 or6 years at
my old place I had a 200,000 btu natural gas furnace that was
taken out of a house to heat the hanger. Kept it about 45° all
winter when I wasn't out there and it came up to temp in 20
minutes when I was working. Had no windows and never opened the
doors to the outside so it was like a cocoon in there. It
really didn't make my gas bill all that much more, maybe cost
me a few hundred more to heat the hanger each winter.
But as I said, taint no gas out here and propane is out of
sight.

At the old place, in the summer I ran two 80 pt. dehumidifiers
both of which would be full at the end of the day. Had two
Bridgeport milling machines, three lathes, drill presses, band
saws, lots of wood working equipment and a sizable steel stock
in there for a couple of decades and never had a spot of rust
on any of the bare cast iron or steel. First week that I had
moved it all out here to the barn every thing was rusting up
real bad in spite of my soaking it down with motor oil. Almost
all of my CRS bar stock and structural is all rusted up now.

I never had a problem when I was using the single barrel stove
to heat the hanger. And with the flue going straight up thru
the peak thirty feet above it burned so hot that I never had to
clean it, and I burned it for around twenty years. I changed
out the stove pipe going up to the ceiling once because it was
looking kind of ratty after many years of use but in side was
just slightly sooty, not much at all. Burning that hot is
probably why I had to throw a couple of logs in every half
hour, not to mention how much of a loss I had from using heated
air for combustion. I lined the bottom of the barrel with fire
brick and never had to change the barrel either. In fact a
neighbor was over the other day and couldn't believe how solid
the barrel still is after using it all those years.


Denny Graham
Sandwich. IL

not sure what the problem is for y'all with rusting, can't imagine any of you have a more humid area than the "wet coast" here on Vancouver Island and the only problem I have with things rusting is when they're left out in the rain - under cover, heated or not, things stay for years the way they were when I put them there .... maybe you guys have metal clad buildings? condensation dripping from the metal might be the problem, insulation would be the solution

OTOH, we have pretty steady air movement here, from a slight breeze to howling winds and that probably keeps condensation at bay when inside temps are about the same as outside - right now it's 92% humidity, this time of year it's rarely less than 80%

Bill

My shop is plumb full of machinist tools and materials and no rust issues at all. In the summer It's air conditioned and holds 72 day and night and in the winter I run the wood stove which sits about in the middle of the shop, 70 something constantly.

Having literally tons and tons of cast iron and steel in the room helps keep the temperature steady (perhaps more than 30 tons of heavy stuff). It also keeps the place warm for days even without the wood stove, so no problem to take a weekend in the winter and let the shop coast without the wood stove, it'll still be high 60's when we get back.

Grigg

One of the biggest problems I'm facing is the lack of a ceiling.
Putting a ceiling in 12.5' in the air with a 42' span and 9'
between trusses is bad enough, but you add to it, all the crap
that I've got in the building and there just taint any way to
get at it. Not to mention the cost. There is a thin blanket
insulation between the top of the trusses at the roof but it
taint really enough to make a difference. My "big old wife"
came out to check up on me last night, (checks up to see if she
can collect on my life insurance) and we were talking about
heat. Surprised me when she suggested that it might help to put
up a few fans to pull the heat off the up stairs, which I of
course had already figured on doing.
With my building as open as it is, it looses it's heat inside
about as fast as it does outside.
The rust isn't anywhere near as bad this year as it was last
year even though last year was a drought and this year was
tropically wet. This time last year I was moving into a barn
that had housed three horses, their feed, hay and bedding for
25years and the building may have held a lot of moisture from
that. Seems to have dried out a bunch this year.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny, if you can't put in a 'real' ceiling, putting up poly as you would for vapor barrier, does a lot to help with heating and will make your fans more effective

Bill

FYI, Northern tool hass their 50K BTU propane heater onsale for $399. I bought mine, a buddy has one and it will do really well in a garage to knock the chill off this winter.

Now that's an idea that my inventive mind didn't even conceder
, thanks Willum. That's inexpensive and doable.

Think I posted on those several times SS. I'm sure you know that
one of the products of combustion is H2O. Those salamanders put
a lot of moisture in the air. Tried one of them last year, a
big one and I got instant flash on all my cast iron, well maybe
not instant but surly overnight. Again, any combustible needs
to be vented to the outside if moisture is a problem. Those are
ideal for a construction site where it doesn't make any
difference if you put moisture in the air and where there are
lots of leaks for fresh air to get in. I'd go in the house
feeling half drunk after spending a session with the salamander
heating the closed barn.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Our shop has lots of ventilation and the few times it gets into the teens or lower, we usually just go home. Right now natural gas is the cheapest fuel for us. I don't have many machine tools, but the stuff that is prone to rust is kept in a temperature controlled room. Stuff that I seldom use, like valve grinding equipment, I keep on an old reefer trailer and I never have had a problem with rust. Of course we are not a particularly high humidity area.

I broke down last year and insulated,Sheetrock,Propane forced air shop heater. I will run the propane heater till I get things warmed up then run a milk house heater. Can't always get a propane truck up here in the winter so don't want to burn any more gas than I need to.

My garage is attached to house, so it doesn't seem to get as cold as my old de-tached. It stays fairly comfortable until it gets to the low teens. I have a small LP salamander that'll take the edge off. I haven't filled the tank in about 3 years though. So, that tells you how much I use it.