Natural Gas Garage Heater?

[Toba]

I have been looking for a heater for my garage. I have been told that hot dawgs are the way to go. I see they are a lot more affordable online as opposed to buying from big box. Anyone heard of a beacon-morris, or procom? I am looking for plus and minus/ good and bad experiences. Any information would be appreciated.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I don't have any experience with the other brands you mentioned. I recently bought a Hot Dawg from Ferguson supply. 75000 BTU, $625.00 and an extra $25 for the nat gas conversion kit. Total $650. That price was cheaper than I saw on-line anywhere.

[Tom7227]

I bought a used house furnace of the popular list site for about $175. I should have gotten one with at least part of the plenum as it cost about $130 to get that part done. The shocker was the cost of the copper tubing to get the gas to where it had to go. I think that was around $300 for 75 feet.

[BoxMN]

FWIW - I have old house furnace like Tom does. Buddies have the Hot Dawg and other brand hanging "garage" furnaces. Here is my quick take:

Old furnaces are cheaper, work as well.

Old furnace you still need to get plenum, which makes them "less" cheaper

Hanging furnaces take up less room and look nicer and cleaner.

Hanging furnaces are a lot noisier, noticably. Maybe just because they are up high and nothing to deaden sound, not sure, but noticably. And buddies have tried to get the quieter ones, I think Hot Dawg are not the quiet ones...

Old house furnace you can run some ducts to aim heat rather than just the fins of the hanging units.

Both work nice, if you have the space, like I do, I kind of like a old house furnace. Good luck.

[ripper]

I've had a Hot Dawg for 3 years and love it. I would recommend it.

[chad austin]

When I was installing the old house furnace in my garage I used aluminum trim coil to build my own plenum and it works good. I'll post pics tonight. If you use an old house furnace be sure to raise it off the floor at least 18" to keep flammable vapors from being pulled into the "return" air.

[cavalierowner]

For those who use a conventional house furnace, do you heat your garage all the time or only when working in the garage? I ask because I was considering a furnace in my garage for as-needed use and an HVAC engineer said it was not the best choice for that type of use because it would spend a lot of time short-cycling until the garage warmed up. I learned what short-cycling was many years ago when I was building a house and I tried to warm up the house in the dead of winter when the furnace was installed.

[BoxMN]

I keep mine at about 36 degrees all winter now, but used to leave it off until as needed. It warms up fast, then and now. Not sure what short cycling means, but it warmed up quick regardless for mine. Can't recall if it would turn on or off, trying to warm it, if that is what you mean. I keep it just above freezing for about 4 years now... Can warm it to 70 real quick from 36

[LightningBG]

Yeah, I dont understand why a house furnace would short cycle. Logic would tell me it would just crank on until temp was reached, but I'm certainly no HVAC engineer.

[JohnMickish]

As mentioned, if you go with a house furnace, make sure the flame is mounted at least 18" off the floor. There exists the real possibility (small chance but it does happen) of flammable vapors being drawn in and igniting, blowing the whole garage to bits.

[cavalierowner]

Short cycling is when the temperature in a space is extremely cold. The t-stat calls for heat and the burner starts firing; at a certain temperature at the heat exchanger, the fan comes on. The fan pulls the very cold air from the room return air registers past the heat exchanger and it cools down the heat exchanger enough that the fan shuts off until the burners warm up the heat exchanger again. Then the cycle starts over and continues to repeat until the space finally warms up enough that the heat exchanger doesn't cool down enough to shut off the fan. When I was trying to warm up my house in the dead of winter it was below zero in the house (it was under construction). I finally gave up after a couple hours and rented a temporary heater to warm up the house enough that the furnace would stay on.

[Whoaru99]

Ran a house furnace in a garage for several years. Never had a problem that sounded like that short cycling concern. Had no problems heating it up.

Not saying it couldn't happen, I just never experienced it. Was an older furnace though, no fancy electronic stuff that maybe reacts faster or something.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I had an old mobile home furnace in my garage for years. It worked, it short cycled a lot, it was monster loud but it was free and I'm all about free stuff.

When I installed my Hot Dawg in the garage I bolted it direct to the rafter and didn't let it "Hang" by any unistrut or stuff like that. It's whisper quiet by comparison to my older furnace and does the job a lot better. Don't want to sound like a salesman for Modine but that's the route I'd go.

[ishy]

Plus one for Hot Dawg heater. 75K Btu in two stall garage fully insulated with spray foam. I keep it at 58 deg. (Dog sleeps in garage during the day). Not sure how often during the day. But when I get home and I am going to be hanging out I kick it up to 65. Cycles about once and hour for about 5 min at most. Love that thing. I am on my 4th year with it..

[LightningBG]

(Dog sleeps in garage during the day). Not sure how often during the day.

It probably doesn't matter too much how often the dog sleeps, but you could find out with a hidden camera.

JK. Pretty amazing they can run so seldom and still keep everything nice and warm.

[ishy]

Haha... I am thinking he sleeps all of the day...It is amazing how efficient a sprayed house/garage can be. I only sprayed the attic in the house and then blew fiberglass over that..I would say heating/cooling bills dropped 30% for sure.. Sorry, back to garage heaters.. No matter wich one you get it is so nice to have heat in the garage when it is but a$$ cold out..

[Gus]

Anybody get any quotes on a 75Kbtu unit installed? I'm thinking of going that route this year after working in the garage last weekend with the torpedo going. Ugh.

I'm thinking this might be my xmas present to myself.

[Mr Twister]

I would highly suggest looking at the Reznor line aswell. I get the question every day, what's the best unit heater. I have found over many years that we get far less call backs with the Reznor than the modine units we've installed. Modine products have changed a lot since they came out. The early models are still causing issues.

[PurpleCatMan]

Is the hot dawg much better than the big maxx? why?

[nobody05]

75btu IMO is a huge garage heater. unless you have a 40X60 and want to heat it up in a quick time. I have a 60btu in my 28x48 house.

[DrKen]

I have had a hot dawg for the past 10 years with no problems but the best is the reznor. More reliable and quieter. If you are putting this in a newer house be sure to check if you need a regulator. the gas valves on the Mr Heaters were failing and it was because of high natural gas pressure. Put a 11 inch w.c. regulator at least 5 feet away and it will solve some possible future problems. the valve on the heater will reduce it to 7 with no problem. Some newer houses do not have whole house regulators by the meter any more and you must regulate the appliance. At least that is what my son has been told as he is installing a Mr. Heater one in his garage currently. Check with a HVAC pro if any doubts.

[crix]

I deal with these heaters quite often and I wouldnt put a free reznor unit heater in my garage if you paid me... I have had to replace way too many heat exchangers and parts under warranty to recommend them to anyone the plate style heat exchanger gets hot spots and prematurely crack I had one I replaced set gas pressure aligned burners combustion tested set up perfect and a year later crack again

I just installed a 60k btu unit in my own garage and I went with a ADP which uses a tubular heat exchanger we have installed many of these units and hardly ever see a failure so that's what I went with for my own house

I was on the fence between the modine hot dawg and the adp they are both great heaters and cheaper than the reznor I finally pulled the trigger and I chose the adp due to the fact the fans seem to move more cfm than the modine with the prop style fan set up

If you are going to install one of these units I highly recommend you insulate the walls and ceiling as well as roof/soffit venting a typical 2 car 45k-60k btu input and 3 car 60k-75k btu input

As far as short cycling I would think a house furnace would be too big and therefor short cycle, causing it to heat up the garage too quick and then shut off and on constantly. the problem with that is the heat exchanger never heats up enough and could cause the heat exchanger to rust... It would be pretty sweet to have a fully ducted set up in a garage though just not very cost efficient