Paolo1

Winter is coming. It is finally revealing itself and I would once and for all like to wrestle this issue to the ground.
What is the best (electric) space heater to use for the garage to enable us to work later into the season up north?
I imagine our Canadian, Vermonter, NH, Swedish, Norwegian, Swiss, Austrian, Black Forest friends must have figured this out and I would be greatly appreciative for the insight.
Bang for my buck is secondary. Did Dieter Rams ever tackle this one?

Thank you. Likely the wrong forum, but I have come to appreciate the insight of this particular group.

Quadcammer

electric likely won't cut it.

EMB pilot kindly gifted me a propane rocket style forced air heater, and it works the ****, but you can only run it for a bit before it gets a bit fumey.

IXLR8

Having actually seen a few in action, I was going to get one of those natural gas (also available in propane as well) ceiling mounted heaters, but my local Porsche and commercial HVAC friend talked me out of it.

I'll be going with a heat pump / AC unit to heat and cool the garage. No fuel or heater duct required.

Mark in Baltimore

I'm probably going to go with a ductless AC system with a heat pump, along with closed cell spray foam in the roof joists and wall studs.

AOW162435

This is the route I took a few years ago (Mitsubishi mini split) - zero regrets.



Andreas

IXLR8

Exactly the brand my friend recommended. Top quality units apparently.

_snowbird_

I have one in my house for AC, and works well. You can also run in circulation mode to reduce humidity without running full AC.

I plan on transferring it to my garage when I get around to next phase of renos in my house.

Foxman

This for the occasional garage project, and great for tailgating.

P-daddy

Any fumes or odor issues?

Foxman

No odors but definitely some fumes that require venting. This is NOT something to operate in a closed garage. I typically keep a garage door half-way open. But it heats up super-fast, and is relatively inexpensive. Great for isolated projects in the garage or outside.

FrannyB

Hi All,

I'm in Colorado and the garage is attached and about 2/3 dry-walled. I keep a remote thermometer in there so I can keep tabs on it and it runs about 40deg at the lowest with the new insulated garage doors. For heat (and light) I have a pole-mounted set of twin halogen lights that I set up to shine on my back as I work and it actually works great. Lots of light too. They do get scary hot, so be super careful with any flammables around them. They may be a bit specific, but not a bad solution. Easy and helps with the dark garage too...

Franny

p.s. of, another trick it to take a car out, get it up to temp and bring it back in the garage. That is a lot of heat too!

bobbyp

These are surprisingly good with the fan attachment for small spaces:


Also great for camping or tailgating. Runs off of 2 camping propane bottles.

Propane produces extremely small quantities of carbon monoxide when burned properly but I would never run a heater indoors without a good CO detector.

http://www.propane101.com/carbonmonoxideandpropane.htm

In any case, first figure out how many BTUs or Watts you need to heat up your space.
http://www.calculator.net/btu-calculator.html

IXLR8

Don't I know it on those hot summer days while doing an oil change

AZ Targa

^^ Hot summer days in Canada?

IXLR8

Not as high as Phoenix, but we get 90F or more. The damn humidity doesn't help.