Garage Heaters (Natural Gas)

[MNUser]

Can anybody fill me in on what has worked for them? I have a three car and it is insulated. I have read that they are not very efficient. I want to place one in my garage this Spring. I'm tired of the wet floor and frozen snowmobiles.

Anybody? Thanks in advance!

[walleye-]

I have a 28'x48' garage and it has forced air 90,000 Btu furnece in it. Works great. But I am assuming you are looking for info on a hanging heater like a reznor?

[Phred52]

MNUser, I have a 28' X 36', 3 stall with a 65K Reznor in it. All the guys that I hang with have house furnaces in their garages and ALL heat better than that Reznor. In the next few years, I will be replacing the Reznor with an upflow furnace. Another advantage to a furnace is you can duct the heat to exactly where you want it and if you so choose, you can close off a heated temporary'shop'area by hanging a tarp and only having the ducts open to that area. 2 of the guys do that and they can clean their equipment and work in tee shirts when it's well below zero outside! I still need to wear at LEAST a sweatshirt in my garage. Furnace will cost more initially, IMO it's still the better way to go. Phred52

[Powerstroke]

I also use a house furnace. Works great for my garage.

[MNice]

It really make no difference what type of furnace. A 65,000 hanger puts out the same as a 65,000 forced air. If you plan on leaving the heat on 24/7, look into a tube type infrared. this heats objects, not air, like radiant heat. I don't know what your budget is, but be prepared for sticker shock!

[katoguy]

I just put a heater in my attached garage this fall. I have a 3-stall insulated, finished garage. I blew in insulation in the ceiling, too.

I went with a 75,000 BTU furnace. (Mr. Heater brand.) Got it on sale for $450. Took about 1-2 hours to install. It hangs flush against the ceiling. I also put in a ceiling fan.

I wish I would have done this 5 years ago when I had the home built.

(FYI - the manual states that if you want to keep the heat on continuously that you should maintain it at leat at 50 degrees. My garage was 39 this morning when it was -11 outside. I only run the heater when I spend time in the garage - which is almost every evening!)

[aquafang]

Do you live in town or country? I live in the country here in SD. My rural electric co. has great benefits. Anything in my house/garage used for heating or cooling that is powered by 220volts is run through a secondary metering system and I am only charged $0.03.2per KWH. For anyone that uses electricity you will recognize this as being cheap. I'll bet most pay $0.08.0 per KWH or more Back to the garage heater subject. I just installed a 10KW electric heater in my 24x30 garage last Thursday and it keeps it very warm and dry. It has been very cold here. like -20 at night. Oh, and by the way the coop issues a $400 credit to what ever heater I buy.

[only ice]

Hot Dawg heaters are great. Put one in my garage 7 years ago and love it. I leave it at 50 all winter, and the wife loves it!!

[jigeye]

I also have the HotDawg in my garage. Rock Solid performance for 5 years. Set it and forget it.

[AJ]

I have a Modine Hot Dawg heater in my detached garage. Works great, although I wish I had a programmable thermostat that went down lower than 45 degrees (let me know if anyone knows were to obtain a thermostat that goes below 45).

I like the heater because it hangs from the rafters and heats up the garage (24x22) rather quickly. I have insulated walls and roof. Rafters are basically open. If you have the room and $, a traditional furnace sounds like a neat idea.

One word of caution, because my ceiling is more or less open, I have condensation issues along the insulation of the roof when outside temps are around zero. On the roof sheathing I have those foam channels, then R13 with paper, then plastic. I am considering removing the plastic. If I ran the heater all the time the condensation issues would be huge. I only run it when I want to melt the cars or while doing projects. Hope that helps.

[loosegoose]

I have a 45k BTU natural gas Hot Dawg heater in my 24x28 garage for about 10 years and haven't had a lick of trouble with it. I keep mine at about 40 all winter and turn it up to about 60 or 70 when I'm out there. It costs me around $20/mo. I don't know who likes it more, me or the wife.