Foxman

Some helpful links here, thanks for posting these. According to the BTU calculator my 24x24x11 garage needs about 50,000 BTU. The Mr. Heater seems a bit underpowered with only 5,000 to 9,000 BTU. The Coleman has 45,000 BTU. It also has several product liability suits now pending, so thank you for the reminder on carbon monoxide. I'm going out and buying a new detector.

bobbyp

Thats really weird.
I posted a link to amazon with the 18,000 btu heater. Your link gets converted to a link at sportsmansguide.com. Internet Brands doing something or time warner cable?

BTW it is 18,000btu at full blast with 2 1lb bottles of propane.

Amazon says "Not to be sold to California or Mass". Wonder why?

Nice sized garage Foxman.

Toddster

Do you know if there is any insulation in the walls and ceiling?
It is not uncommon for this to be absent in a garage with no heat?
Make sure this is addressed or what ever you install will be EXTREMELY expensive to run. Have you looked at the Modine Hot Dawg heaters?
Not sure if they run off LP but that would be ideal

Cemoto

The OP being in northern NJ probably will not experience what I do at elevation in central MA where we get sub freezing temps for weeks on end. Since he is inquiring about "space" heaters, I'm guessing he does not want to keep the garage at a constant 65 degree temp, but wants to warm it up on occasion.

What Quad says is true, an electric unit will not cut the mustard.

Years back I installed a ceiling mounted high wattage 220 volt electric unit. I've found that when 45 degrees or higher, it works fine all by itself (24'x32' three car, insulated) but does require a half hour warm up to make it comfy. For an eight hour run cycle it costs approx around $8/ day to operate.

Below 45 degrees, the electric unit never seems to catch up and is a waste.

A couple of years ago I purchased a propane "rocket". It works extremely well. I've found even when it is 15 degrees outside that running it for a half hour will bring the temps inside up to approx 80 degrees. So I have three 20lb gas grill bottles which I can switch out when needed. My detailer is Brazilian, and he likes it hot, says the wax flows better. Last January we had it 83 degrees in there when it was 9 outside.

With the rocket, once it brings the garage up to temp, the electric unit maintains the temp for the most part and I really need to only run the rocket two or three times in an 8 hour period.

My wife will pull her DD into the garage loaded w/ ice and snow and the rocket turns that into water fast.

The electric unit has a thermostat, so if I chose to do so, I could run it and maintain an ambient 50 degree temp if desired. I have done that in the past, but find that because the rocket works so well, I turn the electric off. For me that is cost effective.

I designed and built this custom home almost 30 years ago. If I was to do it again, radiant flooring and a heat pump would be my choice.

Regards,

.

Paolo1

Thank you I am intrigued by this Mitsubishi product. I think I have seen these around, but I didn't realize they were a (new?) ductless technology. There are a few rooms in my home that aren't quite where they need to be with my central air so I would like to see if they will help.
http://www.mitsubishicomfort.com/pro...l-mount-deluxe

Does anyone have experience with this European product, Runtal electric baseboard. The aesthetics are great, but it has a price to match and don't know anything about their effectiveness.

http://runtalnorthamerica.com/cartpa...baseboard.html

Thank you

coreseller

I've been running one of these in a 3 car garage in Southern Ohio for several years, knocks down the cold nicely.



I crack the windows about an inch and use an additive in the fuel to minimize any smell. It also proved a lifesaver a couple of times when the furnace went on the fritz, used it in the main floor of the house, worked great.

_snowbird_

Not new technology, although they keep improving it. For example, I can run up to 4 units off my one one outdoor heat pump. And the variable speed compressors are more efficient at maintaining a temperature than a traditional compressor.

These have been popular in Europe for a while because they often don't have ducts in their residential buildings, and because these are so much more energy efficient than a ducted system (which lose 25-40% of their heat/cooling en-route to the room).

The main downside is the size of the interior wall mounted unit. Not as elegant as a hidden duct outlet, but probably not an issue for a garage

Paolo1

_snowbird_ and all. Thank you.

I could be better insulated and sealed up for sure. I'd hate to be spitting into the wind on this project.

As I research the mitsubishi split technology, I see a drawback in running the tube to the outdoor condenser. I can do without the cooling aspect, so I wonder if just the heating aspect is available.

I sure hope some of our Scandinavian friends join in the discussion eager to hear what they do.

EMBPilot

+3
year round comfort. delivered straight to your door for less than 2k.
you can self install if you carve out a full day. but you will need to insulate, seal, and circulate the air (ceiling fan). you also need someone who knows how to put a flare on a copper pipe but not too big a deal.

or you can just enjoy heat and get high on fumes with quadcammer

just run 4 conductor power to the condenser outside, attach the lines and you're in business.

_snowbird_

As you can see in EMBPilot's photo, it's actually quite easy to run those lines through the wall. He placed his outdoor unit directly on the other side of the wall (a very short run). Or you can have quite a long run of tubing (running inside or outside the building), depending on where you want to place the indoor and outdoor units. A trained installer will make short work of a garage install I'm sure.

ThunderRolls

I've been looking at this too. Practically speaking, I don't feel the need to heat the entire garage to work on my home projects, just get enough heat around the car to make it comfortable. I have been doing it this for a long time, and if I focus a portable 20k BTU around the car, I'm plenty comfortable. Besides, we don't have severe or prolonged winter temps.

paul29

Have a 28x42x12, use a NG 45K Hot Dawg which is also available in propane. it will easily warm area enough to wash cars in -20 outside temps and the fan driven down draft dries the floor so it is not icy when garage goes back to ambient. Has operated as needed for ten years with no repairs.

Ed Hughes

Funny, I would have not given a flying F about this a year ago. Got 15" of snow in the new digs last Tues. High was 13F for 4 days, -4 to 0F lows. If I don't open my garage door, I'm easily in the high 50's in the garage. I open the door to smoke my weekend cigars, and everything gets cold quickly. If I stopped the cigars, I'm fine with nothing more than a quartz space heater.

Foxman

That vented 45BTU Modine Hot Dawg looks great. I've got a propane tank at the house for cooking and will look into adding a line into the garage. Naturally the propane tank is at the opposite corner of the house. Thanks for the recommendation.

95_993

I had one of these in my garage growing up in NJ. I remember keeping the garage almost 70 degrees in the winter while rebuilding my 340 Duster. I've been considering the same again, but finding Kerosene isn't that easy in some places.