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Best heater for single car garage?

Stomis

Stomis

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Im on the fence between fuel consumption and design and fuel. I know what I get with a kerosene torpedo heater. When I lived with my buddy we had a medium sized one heating our over sized 2 car that was falling apart and leaked air like a civ. Im already against the idea of kerosene only because I dont want to drive 20 mins to fill a can for $4.20 a gallon because lowes is $8.00 a gallon to buy it off the shelf.

I was about to buy a single heat lamp style head for a propane can and be done but my friend says to me Ill never get the garage to temp with that. Its simply gonna throw some heat you can warm up by but never really heat the room. So I was looking at a mini propane torpedo heater. His opinion of that was Ill blow through propane. He says I should go for the middle of the room furnace type heater in kerosene. I know they make the same thing in propane too.

Just curious about what you guys are using. The garage is airtight for the most part but not insulated.
 
I have two torpedo heaters (kerosene) and they both suck IMO--one is a 55,000 btu Reddi-Heater and though it works OK,it'll make you nauseous in no time from the fumes,especially if you use diesel fuel in it--it belches out a white cloud every time you start it and stinks up the place..

The 110,000 btu one the same brand a friend was tossing out,because it likes to start flaming out and spew white smoke for no apparent reason when it feels like it..you can run it a whole day without a hitch after you cleaned everything perfect,then the next day it'll do its best to suffocate you...I was told the ignitor is dying in it,and it'll cost almost as much as a new unit will..

Your basically living in a diesel tail pipe while your using one of those to stay warm...it cant do you any good,and more harm than anything..CO poisoning is a great danger with any torpedo or unvented heater..

Propane torpedo heaters do suck fuel down fast,the same friend I got the reddi-heater from bought a 55.000 byu one and it will suck a 20 lb gas grille bottle dry in a 8 hour day and he has to leave it on constantly to maintain the temparature to a reasonable level in his 20x30 garage ,that has a high ceiling..
It will also start going out when the bottle runs low and it stinks the place up with a sulpher smell,and he fears it might put out unburned fuel that could be ignited by another source..

I have wood stoves in my garage,not everyone likes those or can even use one legally though..I like them because wood is free and plentiful,and you can also dispose of things like cardboard boxes,plastic oil containers and just about any other combustible thing..(like drain oil! sssshhhhh!)..

I had a hot air oil fired furnace for a few years I got when someone upgraded their home furnace,I had to tear the thing apart and weld a patch on the firebox (which is s barrell basically)...it had rotted a spot out and was letting fumes and soot into the house..I used that thing a lot,I had to put up a stove pipe chimmney for the exhaust for it,I just used a 5 foot length outside the building..it put out 100,000 btu's and used 3/4 of a gallon per hour..15 minutes an hour run time kept my garage at a cozy 70 degrees when it was above 20 outside...I had to scrap it finally when the firebox was just too rusty to be trusted any longer..

Thats what I would go with--that or a mobile home propane furnace,but get a real tank like a 300 lb one from a fuel dealer..those Modine heaters that hand from the ceiling can be had in propane or natural gas too,they work great if you can afford one..
I'd stay away from any "Infra-Red" heaters,they mostly heat the person or object its pointed at,the air in the room stays icy cold unless the objects radiate the heat back into the room,which takes all day..
 
You'll hate the Kerosene smell to the propane.

Before I added a gas stove and fans I used kerosene one day and not only did I stink it smelled up the whole house (Attached) wife was on war path!!!

Propane is a much better route. Get one with high and low settings. Warm it up on high and then the low setting is way easy on fuel. My garage is 16x70, 2 car plus long ways mostly insulated and I could heat it 2 days on a 5 gallon tank with the low setting.

Much cleaner burn but still have to ventilate when you feel light headed... :whistle:
 
Propane and Kerosene are horrible options for a garage that is airtight. One or two electric wall heaters would easily do the job without gassing you out.
 
eagle mark said:
You'll hate the Kerosene smell to the propane.

Before I added a gas stove and fans I used kerosene one day and not only did I stink it smelled up the whole house (Attached) wife was on war path!!!

Propane is a much better route. Get one with high and low settings. Warm it up on high and then the low setting is way easy on fuel. My garage is 16x70, 2 car plus long ways mostly insulated and I could heat it 2 days on a 5 gallon tank with the low setting.

Much cleaner burn but still have to ventilate when you feel light headed... :whistle:
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I have a small propane torpedo to heat my two car garage. It heats it real fast and it's pretty small. It's got a rechargeable battery that will allow me to set it anywhere I want to after its charged without keeping it plugged in. Ones it gets too hot in the garage, I shut it off and either 1) leave it off or 2) light the small kerosene heater I've got to keep the garage at a constant warm temperature. Has worked good so far.

Propane does smell a lot better, but the kerosene smell doesn't bother me that much anyway.
 
I use the small propane torpedo heater, seem to get about 10-12 hours out of a BBQ tank. We run it a couple hours to get the garage warm enough...then an hour or so here and there when it cools down some.
 
I'm a fan of kerosene, growing up that's what we had in the garage when needed, and brought them in for the ice/winter storms. But the cost and availability nowadays doesn't make them worth while IMO. I think my fondness is nostalgia.

Propane is easier to get, cheaper, but still costly sure they burn clean but not clean enough for a permanent heat source in a closed area. If you had a propane tank outside (250 gal or so) that you also heated the house/water heater/etc., and had a vented heater that used it, that'd work. But still cost.

Both fuel type torpedos work great, the heat out put is definitely enough, but that's cause they drink fuel.

Electric is nice for so many reasons, but I wouldn't bother in a garage with any 110v unit unless your garage is sealed up nicely like a house, and even then the garage door. And pumping 220v will do the work, but cost again.

My #1 is wood, hands down, no ifs ands or buts about it. More up front costs (but that can be avoided) , but free afterwards (potentially). Granted I'm out in the sticks, rules and regs if you're in a neighborhood, etc. Acquiring wood in your area, storing it. The downside is the extra work, if that matters. Could possibly take up more space too.
 
As you know not being insulated is your biggest problem more than the style of heater. Do you at least have a lid on the ceiling?

I have used 2 or 3 of these Cadet wall heaters in the past. They are 220 V /2000 Watt and heat pretty good. They are about 6500 BTU's I only used them to stop things from freezing in well insulated garage. I have 4 I recently removed from my upper loft.


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I have an uninsullated two car. Id like a heater so I can work out there this winter, but part of me doesn't want the heating and cooling cycles to draw condensation and make everything rust.
 
Wood heat eliminates all the moisture in my quonset,and that thing has ice on the insides of the arches from frost when snow is on the roof ,until you get the stoves going well and run them a day or so...my tools and stuff like table saw table has not rusted any yet..(it might soon though,since lately I have not been in the garage hardly at all or using the stoves much)..

I find electric heaters useless in my case,,a uninsulated steel building needs a lot of BTUs,I could not even get a 4x10 sized room inside my garage more than 10 degrees above the ambient temperature with a 1500W ceramic heater,it was only good for warming your hands ,really..ditto for one of those "sunflower" propane things that glow orange..it only heats what its pointing at--not the air...it'll suffocate you without warning too,pretty easily--it does not leave much odor or fumes so it fools you into thinking its "safe",but nothing that burns any fuel is,in an enclosed area..

My friend tried using a 220V electric heater in his shop,that puts out 10,000 BTUs,and you can leave it on all day long and barely know its on,the room stays frigid and its all sheet rocked and insulated except one outside wall that is cinder blocks...if you use a torpedo heater to warm the room up,it still struggles to maintain the warmth for very long..and it consumes about 15 bucks with of electricity per day he figured ,judging by the leap in his electric bil the next month..

Torpedo heaters are OK if you need some heat while working outside or in a drafty area,but in a closed up room they will give you CO poisoning in a hurry..the jet engine roar gets to you quickly too..your a lot better off with a "real" hot air furnace thats properly vented,they consume less oil and make more "useable" heat that can be ducted where its needed the most,or into areas not part of the main work area too,something torpedo heaters cant do..they also dont break down as quickly or as often,I have seen several new torpedo heaters crap out after a few months of daily use...they are not really meant to be run 8 hours a day for months on end..furnaces are!..
 
That makes a difference. Do you plan on being there long, i.e. would it be worth while adding insulation and drywall, would that cost be worth while netting you either a higher temp in the garage, or more consistant temperature anyway, and perhaps using less fuel, or needing a smaller btu appliance?


EDIT: other bays, so is this just a garage unit somewhere, or multiple garages in a row in your housing type place.
 
mrschaeferpants said:
That makes a difference. Do you plan on being there long, i.e. would it be worth while adding insulation and drywall, would that cost be worth while netting you either a higher temp in the garage, or more consistant temperature anyway, and perhaps using less fuel, or needing a smaller btu appliance?


EDIT: other bays, so is this just a garage unit somewhere, or multiple garages in a row in your housing type place.
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Ill be there for at least a couple more years. Insulating Ive been flopping back and forth on. Ive never really priced it to be honest. Its the ceiling and the back wall for the most part. The front by the door is 3 feet on either side. Ive also got the concern of loosing 5inches of head space back by my bench. Right now I can just stand at my bench (chicken coop roofs with a huge taper) between the rafters. If I put a ceiling on it you could just forget it. So then I wonder if I was to insulate and put a ceiling up everywhere else would it really do any good...
 
Stomis said:
Ill be there for at least a couple more years. Insulating Ive been flopping back and forth on. Ive never really priced it to be honest. Its the ceiling and the back wall for the most part. The front by the door is 3 feet on either side. Ive also got the concern of loosing 5inches of head space back by my bench. Right now I can just stand at my bench (chicken coop roofs with a huge taper) between the rafters. If I put a ceiling on it you could just forget it. So then I wonder if I was to insulate and put a ceiling up everywhere else would it really do any good...
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I'd imagine if you can't insulate and wall/celing 100%, it may not be worth it. Cost isn't too bad. Approx $15 per 32x15x3 1/2 roll of R13, that's 4 studs on a 8' celing. $8-12 per sheet of drywall.
 
I have a propane construction heater like the one you posted, but mine is 40k, 60k or 80k BTU. My garage is uninsulated, but has a chipboard ceiling to form an attic space. It is about 4 car size, but one stall is separated and I just keep the door to that shut. The high setting will get me in short sleeves in an hour, but will drain a 20lb tank in less than a day. I can get almost 2 days of work on the low setting. As soon as I shut it down I can feel the temperature drop.

2 electric space heaters and a propane "sunflower" will never get the temperature up. It's very important to circulate the heat with those construction heaters. The ceiling above can get very hot and the far side of the room will be cold.

The biggest problem is that the floor never gets warm. You can be sweating standing up, but still see your breath when you crawl under a vehicle. The overhead radiant heaters help here, but of course a heated floor is the ultimate. Even with the big heater running, I like to point an "orange wire" heater under the vehicle if I will be working down there.

I used to have a smaller, insulated garage and 1 space heater plus the sunflower would warm it, but it would take some hours. In that one, I installed an overhead radiant NG heater, plumbed it into the house supply and that was awesome! It was like working with the sun on your back. That would warm the garage in 30 minutes. (best part, $40 used on eBay - spent more than that on black pipe) I made a heat shield to mount between the ceiling and the heater and had a small fan that blew air between them, circulating the heat, all wired to a thermostat, which had a "2 hour occupied" button. I still miss that setup.
 
I've often wondered how much a garage would gain just by stapling cardboard across all the studs. Could be super cheap and also easy to remove when you move out. My biggest concern would be flammability. I bet somebody makes blue foam in the width to shove between common stud spacing. You could even take that with you when you leave.
 
Blue85 said:
I've often wondered how much a garage would gain just by stapling cardboard across all the studs. Could be super cheap and also easy to remove when you move out. My biggest concern would be flammability. I bet somebody makes blue foam in the width to shove between common stud spacing. You could even take that with you when you leave.
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Standard r12 rolls on the ceiling make about a 20 degree difference. Not the prettiest but it works!
 
I used to run the 100k btu kerosene and the woodstove all day to keep it high 50's low 60's without the insulation. With insulation only run the kerosene to heat quickly(30min)
 
kennyw said:
Propane and Kerosene are horrible options for a garage that is airtight. One or two electric wall heaters would easily do the job without gassing you out.
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propane creates a lot of condensation if not a vented system
Not good for tools and many other shop items
I have a 4000 watt 20amp wall unit that works great
I use a ceiling fan and keep the modestly insulated shop and storage stall about 50* all winter.... Nothing rusts and always at a usable temp
 
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