Heating your garage/shop

[toomany]

There is no good way to heat a garage really,especially if its an uninsulated steel building,but being out of the wind and having it 40 degrees inside feels like Miami compared to this mornings 13 degrees,with 40+ mph wind gusts left over from the "blizzard".

I'm having a hard time disposing of my wood stoveashes--the landfill wont accept them,they refused to let me dump them because they contain too many nails & staples from pallets I burnt,that I can score free at many places--I have tried a few ways to separate the nails and metal from the ash,but none work too good,and it is a real health hazard and pain in the butt--much as I hate too,I will likely have to just dump them way out in the woods behind the house--I hate too because I'm still getting flats on my tractor from nails my dad "buried" 25 years ago,that have resurfaced thanks to frost...scrapyards dont want ash either,one place said they would let me dump them in a junk car "once",but after that,tough luck...

There is a good way to heat a garage or shop, but it's not cheap or easy to install. In floor heat is the way togo. The few garages that I've been in that have it have all been very comfortable to work in. It's not very practical for an exsting structure though. When I finally get around to building a shop...it'll have in floor heat.

Ever try using a magnet to pull the metal out of the ashes? Thats what I do. One of thoes big bar type, think I got it from Harbor Freight. I'll stick it right into the ashes while the are still in the stove (once they cool), then again as I'm scooping them out. My city has no problems taking the ashes in the trash, as long as they are not hot anymore. I just put them into paper bags (again, once they cool). They'd probably take them with the metal still in...I only pull that out for the scrap value.

 

[blazinzuk]

I have used propane and electric. Both cost about the same.

I have a wood stove that I am hoping to get installed sooner than later.

There is more than one reason for the wood stove though. It requires no electricity to heat. The house may be cold in a power outage but we can go hang in the garage if needed by the wood stove. In addition to that in a dire emergency I can cut a hole between the house and the garage into one of the bathrooms to put some sort of heat into the house.

My house is well insulated so it would not take much to heat it to 50 or so which would keep the pipes from freezing for the most part

 

[K5dreamer]

im also a fan of the cast iron wood stove idea. We've got a small redwood cabin out in southern maryland that gets ball retractingly cold in the winter. It has a fireplace, but it dosnt do crap to heat the house, its just for good looks. My dad has bought a propane insert for it, but what id prefer to do is a wood stove insert with convection tubes on the sides. Wouldnt have to be big. I think thats the major problem with those 55 gal drum stoves, they have a huge volume and poor thermal efficiency. A smaller cast iron stove would radiate alot more heat, burn less wood, and would be alot prettier

secondary air tubes, and the convection tubes would get the full energy out of the wood and into the surrounding air, and be free. and in my case, the fireplace is already made, just gotta run the flu up the chimney.

 

[cybrfire]

Supposedly, Electric is the most efficient from a purely BTU's perspective.

 

[sixb]

I have used propane and electric. Both cost about the same.

I have a wood stove that I am hoping to get installed sooner than later.

There is more than one reason for the wood stove though. It requires no electricity to heat. The house may be cold in a power outage but we can go hang in the garage if needed by the wood stove. In addition to that in a dire emergency I can cut a hole between the house and the garage into one of the bathrooms to put some sort of heat into the house.

My house is well insulated so it would not take much to heat it to 50 or so which would keep the pipes from freezing for the most part

Yeah i also have 2 wood burning stoves in the house. We don't use them them much but would be more the sufficient for heating the house, actually that's the main reason we don't use them is it just gets to hot in the house with them.

 

[offroadblazer764x4]

wood burning stove in the garage and propane bazooka in the tent
I like the wood allot more plus free fuel. The propane smells and makes my eyes burn after a while. and if im working inside the truck the propane does not do a great job heating in there.

 

[shady]

http://www.carguygarage.com/btupropanegarag.html

These work great and cost little to run. They also have natural gas models. Sort of pricey to start, but the payback is awsome. My uncle runs a large one in his truck garage, and my buddy has one in his 4 car garage. The one in the 4 car stays at 55 all winter in northern illinois and he says it raised his bill about 30 bucks a month on natural gas.

 

[wazzabie]

I used a kerosen heater but it got to smelling bad. i just go out and dress warm in the cold. Lately it has been in the 40's so it is not too bad.

 

[sledheadak]

natural gas.

 

[diesel4me]

I've been living in my Zero-Zone "grease monkey suit" for weeks already,its been frigid here early this season and I've already consumed a cord of wood,but a lot of it was punky and burnt faster than it normaly would have...just got almost 20" of wet cement snow here too,with winds topping 80 mph Sunday night!..I have a cherry tree that cracked and fell from the weight of the snow that clung to everything like epoxy,so at least I'll have some fresh wood to season for next winter--if I still live here and dont croak first thanks to the "blizzards" we keep getting here that is..


My barell stoves dont really consume THAT much wood really,I blame the uninsulated metal building for why I need to burn so much--in the smaller room that is 5x10' with an 8 ' ceiling I can keep that at 70 degrees pretty easily with only a good sized log,for about an hour..out in the bulk of the quonset that is uninsulated,you can stuff the barrel full and leave the draft wide open till it looks like a pumpkin,and it will heat it up to about 50 ,but you'll need a barell full of wood about every 30-60 minutes to maintain it at 40-50--less if its below 25 outside or windy!..still beats being outside in the wind though..

My biggest problem with the stoves is all I want to do once I get one going good,is sit in front of it,and watch TV,preferable with a favorite beverage within close reach!..that aint too good for productivity when your actually trying to get some work done on something!.....

 

[76zimmer]

Keep in mind that burning propane or nat. gas, if your heater isn't exhaust vented, it will create a lot of moisture.

 

[shady]

the radiant ones that i left a link to pull air from outside and exhaust outside