[SWITCHCRAFT]

I only would heat it when I'm out there working also so you're not alone but jobs in this area are a joke I get money form side jobs, well if I had heat I could be doing some in there right now, I hate the cold it makes me lazy it's 25 out there right now

[DanielC]

It sucks working in the cold. When I have to do it, I dress in layers. It helps.
I have also found that even i pair of nitrile gloves hakes a huge difference in ho cold your hands are.

[BarryK]

Just a thought, I will throw in as far as cheap heat and air and safety for a garage.

At the plant we have heat pumps, we ordered them on line from Alpine Heating in IL and we have a bunch of them.
We saved well over $35,000 by installing them ourselves and have heat and air through out the plant.

Air costs us next to nothing to run in the summer, to the point I can’t even measure it on my electric bill and if they run the air, I make them leave it set at 70 all night also.

Heat is also free or seems to be, we keep all areas 70 day and night, now only problem with heat is the heat pumps go to supplemental power at about 27 degrees outside, ours is all electric as we don’t have access to natural gas and if that happens, you can watch the electric bill go through the roof.
If you have natural gas, this would be a good back up, we have LP gas and that is just to expensive.

To solve this problem we bought 200,000 btu infra reds, as back up and set the thermostats so if the heat pump loses ground, the infra red turns on and the infra red runs off of the LP gas.

For the solvent storage Bulk area and the blending area, we cannot have the infra, so we bought the biggest and most efficient LP gas home furnaces for backup and the are outside for safety.
Got a closeout 85- 90% eff, 140,000 btu for $350, so I bought all three units they had.

For a garage the initial cost for the unit 2-3 ton on sale and free shipping will run you $1500-2000, duct work does not need to be like a home and is easy, other expense is the 220 box set up $200 at most wire and all.

We have a 3 ton for just the offices, offices are about 1000 sq feet and the unit hardly runs, I actually bought the least efficient older model they had because, I did not want the air to get stale and the unit is still to big and air movement is an issue in the office, 1 ton if such a thing, would have been perfect.

Just another idea.

[GRN69CHV]

Hvaen't logged in here for a while. Got a notice this thread is back up. Little update. I tried running a vent free wall mounted gas burner. Didn't work for me. Even with a fan, didn't get very good distribution of heat. Garage is tight, after running a while, when you left and went back in, you'd really notice a smell. Took it down. After that, used a portable electric heater along with my kerosene torpedo heater when it got real cold. This year, bought a Farenheat 4000 watt electric heater, ordered from Lowes on-line. Ceiling mount. Ceilings are just over 9' in my garage. Figured out that with a ceiling mount, as the hot air rises, you will continue to get higher and higher discharge temps, based on the temp rise capacity of the unit heater. Have mine pointed down at approx 30* angle. Floor level stays is colder, but overall it gets very comfortable in there. Still have the torpedo heater for supplemental heat if needed, but this seems to be doing a decent job. Another nice feature is, it's up off the floor, out of the way.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_30264-49285-NPH4A_4294856722_4294937087_?productId=1082601&Ns= p_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr|0||p_product_quantity_so ld|1&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl_Electric%2BFireplaces%2 B_4294856722_4294937087_%3FNs%3Dp_product_prd_lis_ ord_nbr%7C0%7C%7Cp_product_quantity_sold%7C1

[BarryK]

Another note, if looking for a garage unit, Craig's list always has used heat pumps on there, I have seen new and up to two year old units 3-4 ton (full home size) for $200-500.

[OneMoreTime]

The craigslist deal for a used full home heater and run the duct overhead for a blow down stituation should work fine..Mine would have to be electric furnace but should be ok for intermittent use.

Sam

[matts37chev]

i have a propane space heater (like a bullet,but upright,it looks like a piece of stove pipe) i turn on before i go out into the garage ,but its very loud.
then i maintain the heat with a nice quiet kerosene heater.
however both would be bad for painting with, as they both use a flame

[DanielC]

Originally Posted by DanielC

It sucks working in the cold. When I have to do it, I dress in layers. It helps.
I have also found that even i pair of nitrile gloves hakes a huge difference in ho cold your hands are.

Wow, I must have just come in out of the cold, when I typed this.

The second sentence should be this:
I have also found that even 1 pair of nitrile gloves makes a huge difference in how cold your hands are.

[kleen56]

I have the same exact heater in my garage and it is worthless. Maybe my heater doesn't work properly. I have it set at high, max and it barely generates enough heat to keep my workbench and legs warm. Mind you, I live in CA so temps in the 50's is cold for us. It takes a good hour just to heat up the oil or whatever is in the unit. I usually sit right next to it to get warm and can place my hands withing inches of the heater without getting hot, and usually just turn it off and go in the house. I was actually thinking about throwing it out and getting one of those propane type heaters.

[SWITCHCRAFT]

this is what I have now


I wonder how this would work?
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...26tbs%3Disch:1

[matts37chev]

I wonder how this would work?

those radiant propane heaters work well but they only heat a small area (no fan)
we have a few of them we used to take to the races for in the bleachers,we would put them on the seat in front of us, pointed back at us.

[Kevin45]

My wife has two of the oil filled radiators in her building (20'x20') and if it is -10F she can keep it at 70F on the mid settings. The increase in electricity seems minimal. One nice thing is that they will cycle on and off instead of running continuously due to the fact that the oil retains the heat for quite a long while after coming up to temperature. I've been sold on them for a few years now. I actually had two in my 28'x36' before I got my hanging heater hooked up and they were on about 3/4 setting and it was a very comfortable 65F when it was down in the low 20's for a couple of evenings.

[snorulz]

One way to help with more even distribution of heat in the garage is to use a ceiling fan. Make sure it is pushing the air up and not down. I have a box fan in the rafters and it helps tremendously to keep a more even temp. Sorry if this was already posted.