nicholascanada

For those in the northern states and Canada, what is the best way to limit condensation (our garage door windows ice up badly in the deep cold (-30c)). I realize warms cars and snow melt is the culprit.

I am not sure I would want to start cutting holes for venting, but would a simple good quality shop 240V ceiling heater be better than nothing? Would a ceiling fan be a benefit to add along with a heater? I worry about the safety of a heater as well. Any comments are greatly appreciated.

LexVan

Get a new garage door without windows.

Or.

Epoxy your floor, and squeegee out the snow melt, when needed.

I have a commercial Allied natural gas heater in my garage on it's own thermostat and ducting for exhaust and cold air intake for the burner box.

koala

I'm debating putting in a de-humidifier, but I typically just crack open the main garage door 4-5 inches and let it vent out for an hour or two on the winter days that are closer to 0 C.

nicholascanada

I try the open door thing during winter but difficult when its -30C. Wondering if a heater would help at all, or just a fan on its own? Would both be best, or are there any negatives to heating the garage?

koala

I could be totally wrong, but I believe the less you melt the junk hanging off the undercarriage the slower everything's going to corrode - so I've never heated my garages for that reason

bkrantz

Hard to retrofit, but for planning new garages: floor drains.

LexVan

That's against building code in many-many towns.

thesaintusa

FWIW.

Current house in Canada:
Forced air (NG) heater in a corner suspended from ceiling.
Thermostat at man door height.
Epoxy floor
Floor drains

Previous house in Canada:
In floor heat.
Thermostat in the floor.
Sealed concrete
Floor drains
Ceiling fans.

Observations
Floor drains rock.
Ceiling fans eliminate any standing water and keep the temperature VERY even.
Radiant heat is superior and cheaper to run than forced heat. Even temps from floor (including the floor) to the ceiling.
Radiant heat costs more to install.
Humidity with radiant floors and fans was lower than current house, despite Alberta being 'drier' than Manitoba. Even with higher humidity in Manitoba there were no issues with any moisture on the windows of the garage.

I didn't have a chance to choose radiant floor in my current house, but I will never again buy a house that doesn't have radiant heat (if located in Canada or Northern USA).

koala

When we built our new home in 2016 here in Alberta, I wanted underslab heat in my garage floor and basement. Eventually decided against it as the current building regulations made it a very costly addition. Floor drains also seemed tricky here, our builder wasn't willing to do them. I had them in a home years ago and I loved it. We sort of "lucked out" that our cement floor in the garage had a small depressed area near one of the doors, so the builder drilled 3 holes and installed a metal cover. Basically, a free floor drain that hits the weeping tile below.

What I have noticed is that we had polyaspartic floors done a few weeks ago and even though we only had a few really cold days in Calgary last week, the garage was very warm, even without a heat source! I did also find a couple of gaps in the insulation at the bottoms of both garage doors, so my crazy amount of spray foam probably has more to do with it.

nicholascanada

Thanks. We do have a floor drain but no heat. But attached garage. Would a ceiling fan help much just on its own? I wouldn’t unfortunately be able to go full out with your radiant heat setup which sounds perfect.

thesaintusa

The concrete floor is a HUGE heat sink, and is likely still much warmer than the air. Not surprised the garage is still warm without a heat source. Is it insulated underneath? and you are smart to fill in all the 'leaks'

Our last place had insulation under the garage floor, which was suspended on piles, backfilled with sand, and then poured on insulation over compressible cardboard. Overkill, but that is how our builder built the house. As mentioned earlier, it took less electricity/boiler energy to keep the garage warm than we used to cool the house in the summer. But we did keep the garage just warm in the winter, not 'room temperature'.

LexVan

I don't think so. I don't think your issue is air movement. Your issue(s) is humidity/moisture content and temperature gradient. I think you need to address those.

At the very least, go to Home Depot (just don't take the 911) and buy a 3 foot rubber floor squeegee to remove as much melted snow/ice as you can, every few days.

JS3B

We get pretty cold and bad weather in Quebec. A lot of snow gets in the garage and melts from my car. My garage is attached to my house, has an epoxy floor, a center drain and radiant heat. I keep the temperature around 11-12C during winter. I have no issues with condensation of either my 911 or the big window in my garage.

nicholascanada

So as mentioned I have a good floor drain.

want to install a 240V electric heater. Any safety concerns with these? If I have a fan and this type of heater, can I get away without any venting to the outside? Am I going to cause corrosion to the vehicles if I am heating things up?

GKGEIGER

In my new home built 2017 I added a overhead radiant heater. I had one at my last home which had a 32'X48' detached garage. It works very well by heating object in the garage.