Heating my garage?

[gasser]

Trying to heat my garage so I can work on my bikes this winter. I live in St Louis so it's not too bad. I'm thinking a kerosene heater. Any other ideas?

[Rocket_Cowboy]

You could do what I do ... just eat lunch at Taco Bell before working on the bike, and wear baggy clothes in the garage.

[OoPEZoO]

That last comment was just gross

 

Funny, but gross.

 

I have a kerosene heater that I move back and forth between the family room and the garage. It is cheap to use, and heats the room up quickly. Just make sure you can put it some place where it won't be too close to anything flamable.

[David]

I've come to believe over the years that any form of heating that involves open flame in a garage is a really bad idea. Your home, your vehicles, your life--they're all more important than saving some money. Do it right or don't do it.

[harleyjohn45]

I've come to believe over the years that any form of heating that involves open flame in a garage is a really bad idea. Your home, your vehicles, your life--they're all more important than saving some money. Do it right or don't do it.

 

i agree david. no open flames in a garage or workshop.

[jakfrost]

No open flame? What consitutes an 'open flame'...I have propane in the house, stove, furnace, hot water, 2 fireplaces and so it was easy to tap the gas into the garage for a 'cabinet heater' on the back wall. I keep it at the lowest setting, about 55f, and never woried about blowing the place up...

 

The installation was done by a gas tech and he never mentioned any elevated risk due to the propane flame

 

Jim W.

[Bruce C]

Keith

 

If you are using an un-vented space heater. You are just asking for carbon monoxide poisoning!!!

[Paul Mihalka]

I've come to believe over the years that any form of heating that involves open flame in a garage is a really bad idea. Your home, your vehicles, your life--they're all more important than saving some money. Do it right or don't do it.

+1 DAMHIK

[David]

I have propane in the house, stove, furnace, hot water, 2 fireplaces and so it was easy to tap the gas into the garage for a 'cabinet heater' on the back wall.

 

Yeah, but the difference between your house and your garage is what you keep in it, right? Like gasoline in a liquid and vapor state.

[Shaman97]

I keep one of them oil-filled radiators near the area I'm working in. Keeps the immediate area warm, but the area outside that gets pretty cold. Well, as cold as Sacramento gets, anyway.

[GoGo Gadget]

I have propane in the house, stove, furnace, hot water, 2 fireplaces and so it was easy to tap the gas into the garage for a 'cabinet heater' on the back wall.

 

Yeah, but the difference between your house and your garage is what you keep in it, right? Like gasoline in a liquid and vapor state.

 

 

That is why all my fuel cans are stored outside of the garage.

[David]

That is why all my fuel cans are stored outside of the garage.

 

That's not good enough for me--there's still a lot of maintenance on a motorcycle that involves the fuel tank, fuel lines, etc.

 

But knock yourself out--life's too short. I used to have a propane heater and a kerozene heater. Then heard about too many accidents.

[KMG_365]

You might look at this stuff., to keep the heat from being sucked out through your feet. If you've got the money and want the toastiest flooring ever, try THIS stuff--STEP Warmfloor!!

 

There isn't a distributor near me, but I installed mine under pavers/tile in the house myself (incredibly easy) and I bought mine from Franz Rogmans in NorCal If you're outside of CA I suppose you'd save on tax as well!).

 

I have no affiliation, but Franz spent a LOT of time explaining how this product worked and I am just a VERY happy customer! There is NOTHING like toasty feet when it's cold!

 

Franz Rogmans Radiant Heat:

 

Address:

8180 Sturm Lane

Granite Bay, CA 95746

 

Phone:

916-797-9744 or

1-800-781-STEP

 

Fax:

916-797-3341

 

Email:

franz.rogmans@rogmans.us

 

Website:

www.rogmans.us

I just checked and it seems like his website is down, but he answers his phone at odd hours, too so it's worth giving him a call.

[NoHeat]

I wonder how many houses burn down due to heaters in garages.

[KMG_365]

That is why all my fuel cans are stored outside of the garage.

 

That's not good enough for me--there's still a lot of maintenance on a motorcycle that involves the fuel tank, fuel lines, etc.

 

But knock yourself out--life's too short. I used to have a propane heater and a kerozene heater. Then heard about too many accidents.

I can't stress this enough. ANY sort of open flame in a garage where you're working on cars--but especially bikes--is literally playing with fire. Even if you don't PLAN on working on the gas tank or spilling flammables--schist happens . . . the best laid plans of mice and mechanics gang aft agley . . . and the results can be not just catastrophic, but fatal.

 

If you can insulate the garage, seal off drafts and put something on the floor to insulate (and pad! ) your feet, you'll be pretty comfortable even without heat, but if you've got one fairly contained work area even in a large garage (like a bike lift with a workbench nearby), those radiant parabolic heaters are pretty efficient and cheap, though they heat YOU and NOT the space, which is also more efficient and good if you can't insulate your garage to keep "hot air" contained.

[awagnon]

I thought there was a national building code that requires garage heaters to be located at least six feet off the ground because gasoline fumes are heavier than air and stay low to the ground. I'm looking at mounting a gas heater with a contained combustion chamber and forced exhaust near the ceiling of my garage. It should meet national and local codes.

 

I have a friend in Rochester, MN, which must be about as cold as the North Pole. He was smart and had heating pipes installed in the concrete slab so he has heat with no flame. Must be nice.

[GoGo Gadget]

That is why all my fuel cans are stored outside of the garage.

 

That's not good enough for me--there's still a lot of maintenance on a motorcycle that involves the fuel tank, fuel lines, etc.

 

But knock yourself out--life's too short. I used to have a propane heater and a kerozene heater. Then heard about too many accidents.

 

I can't stress this enough. ANY sort of open flame in a garage where you're working on cars--but especially bikes--is literally playing with fire. Even if you don't PLAN on working on the gas tank or spilling flammables--schist happens . . .

 

those radiant parabolic heaters are pretty efficient and cheap,

 

 

So open flame in garage = bad

 

4000deg quartz radiant heating = good

 

 

Got it.

 

 

[OoPEZoO]

Keith

 

If you are using an un-vented space heater. You are just asking for carbon monoxide poisoning!!!

 

Thanks for the concern, I'm well aware of the dangers. I removed a non-vented LP fireplace for just that reason when I first bought my house. The kerosene heater doesn't get used much. I don't use it as a main source of heat. It just gets used for maybe an hour or two at a time, maybe once or twice a week. I think I burned maybe 15 gallons of kerosene all of last winter. I haven't even fired it up yet this year.

[realshelby]

There may have been a time when Kerosene and propane heaters were economical. I think those days are over.I am paying right at $3 a gallon for propane and I hate to think what Kerosene costs. If you really want to enjoy working in your garage it needs a good source of easy to use/leave it on and don't worry about it heat. Get a 240 volt electric shop heater and have it installed by someone that knows the right way to do it. Electricity has become a real bargain. It is the safest way to heat a shop. Instant on and no worries if it is left on.

[George Brown]

I don't recommend and open flame heating unit. Having said that, if your planning to use an open flame in a garage the best place to mount it is up high - like a ceiling mounted natural gas or propane unit heater. Gasoline vapors (the real danger)are heavier than air and will gather low near the floor.

 

It is not a good idea to use gasoline as a cleaning fluid either. Better to use kerosene, which isn't as volatile.

[Gregori]

Now that I'm living in the arctic northeast, I've been thinking about a Swingfire heater.

It's a pulse-jet heater, gasoline fired, blows heat out the end like a leaf blower - you can then vent it into whatever space you want heated.

I had one years ago, and it was awesome. It came with a Unimog I purchased. I lived in San Diego at the time, so didn't think I'd ever have a real need, and sold it. (Doh!)

 

Alternatively, though not as flexible or portable as the Swingfire, I've thought one of these might be nice:

http://www.gas-space-heater.com/modine-hot-dawg.html

[GregB]

I wonder how many houses burn down due to heaters in garages.

I know of ONE, my repair shop was sued for the total destruction of the house. The cause was fuel vapor from a car being ignited by a garage heater. They tried to say that since we were the last shop to service the car, then it was our fault. Worked out OK since it had been 3+ years since the service even though it had only been around 7,000 miles. Can anyone imagine why repair shops are reluctant to work on cars owned by attorneys - in this case both husband and wife were attorneys.

[SWB]

You might look at this stuff., to keep the heat from being sucked out through your feet. If you've got the money and want the toastiest flooring ever, try THIS stuff--STEP Warmfloor!!

 

 

Jamie,

 

This stuff looks terrific. We have an upstairs master bath that my wife has refused to use for 18 years, because being made of concrete (i.e. tile), it's cold as a tomb in the morning. I'm preparing to renovate it, and have been looking at subfloor hearing. This might be a more efficient solution, and easier to install.

 

Bookmarking the site for later review ....

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

[KMG_365]

 

 

So open flame in garage = bad

 

4000deg quartz radiant heating = good

 

 

Got it.

 

 

Point taken.

 

The parabolic heaters are often wall-mounted high up "shining" down and/or across the work space as opposed to those large, portable kerosene heaters that usually sit on the floor (and the CO is not vented out of the enclosed space). The vapor density of Gasoline is 3-4 (air=1) so the vapors will collect on the ground. That said, hydrogen gas (from battery charging) will rise and collect at the ceiling, and fans for doing throttle body synchs could stir up gasoline vapors and still cause a potential issue. I was surprised at how much difference just the rubber matting made in my garage! Also, if you can, insulate and drywall the garage which helps a lot. I also put four windows in my south facing garage door (and bought weather stripping for the gaps) which with the low winter sun makes a HUGE heat gain into the space.

 

Scott, the neat thing about the STEP Warmfloor is that it's so thin you could roll it out under rubber matting for garage use. Also, I know you said your floor was concrete, but if you have access to the floor joists under existing tile you can also just staple it up to the subfloor from the bottom and it heats the whole floor! I did my bathrooms 10 years ago and I didn't want to re-do the floor tile. I just heated both of the floors (including the shower pans! Sweet!) and it makes a very cozy shower in the winter! It's also much more pleasant not having that stuffy/dusty air gathering at the ceiling--it's like standing in the sun on a cold day--your head is cool, but your body is warm. There's nothing like the feeling of radiant heat!

[gasser]

Wow! Thanks for all the input guys. That's one thing about this forum--lots of input. Jamie, thank you especially. The fact that you're a firefighter really got my attention. After I read your first post, I decided to return the kerosene heater to Home Depot and bought a ceiling mounted electric unit that puts out 1200 watts. I also bought a two-unit work light set that puts out 1200 watts--light and heat. Got this at home depot. Combined cost--$125. Put some indoor/outdoor carpeting in my work bay. My garage is insulated and drywalled. I may look at that floor system for next year. It was 43 degrees F outside and 62 in my work area. That's 10 degrees cooler than the other side of the garage. I also went to Dick's sporting goods yesterday and bought a pair of inusulated bib overalls. ALl of this should work for me as long as the outside temp is above 20. Much below that and I may not feel like being in the garage. You can probably tell that I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to the cold. May have something to do with flying a Stearman open cockpit biplane from Laconia NH to St. Louis a few years ago just before Christmas. Swore I would never let myself get that cold again.

[RBertalotto]

Kerosene heaters create a huge amount of moisture in the air. I nearly destroyed my machine shop a few years ago with a torpedo type kerosene heater.

 

The only way to "safely" heat a garage is with radiators from your house boiler, forced hot air or electric or gas plasma radiant heater. You do NOT want any type of exposed heat source in a garage.......

 

I went with a gas plasma radiant heater. This unit has two large pipes that natural gas is fed into and ignited. No exposed flame, and no dust blowing around from a hot air type furnace.

 

And it heats surfaces, not the air. Once the concrete slab, the machine tools, bikes and vehicles are heated to the ambient temperature, the unit rarely cycles. Very cheap to operate.

 

I had hot air furnaces in my businesses 80,000 sq ft warehouse and replaced them all with these units and cut my heating bills by 40%..........extremely efficient!

[RBertalotto]

 

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200316369_200316369

[awagnon]

I went with a gas plasma radiant heater. This unit has two large pipes that natural gas is fed into and ignited. No exposed flame, and no dust blowing around from a hot air type furnace.

 

Don't these still have to be vented to the outside to prevent CO, CO2, and water from building up in the garage?

[RBertalotto]

Yes, One end actually exits the wall of the garage to the outside. Combustion air is pulled in from outside on one end and it exhausts out the other........

[SteveB]

Every week I get asked several code related questions which I always tell them to check their local codes. For once I thought I would research this issue. Now it is clear to me why the questions keep coming. I find it interesting that it is extremely hard to find a copy of the Uniform Building Code or National Fire Code online. I’ll save that rant for another day.

 

While common sense does suggest that an open flame in the garage is not a good idea NFPA does allow gas fired water heaters inside the garage if set 18” above the floor. There was also a telling incident report where the wife tried to kill her husband in the garage by dousing him in gasoline. However the vapors were ignited by a baseboard heater before she could strike the match and killed them both.

[MrHondamatic]

I wonder how many houses burn down due to heaters in garages.

 

My neighbor lost his garage, half of his house, and a 3,000 mile Mustang Cobra convertible, due to a 1957 refrigerator.

 

The old fridge had an open thermostat that created a spark everytime it would kick on. On that particular very hot day, a gasoline can popped it's vent, which allowed the fumes to travel across the floor of the garage and be ignited by the refrigerator. At least that's how the fire marshall explained it.

 

I know have my gas cans in a yard barn, away from any ignition sources.

[velomoto]

The 18" platform only provides a safety margin... To put things into perspective, I had an opportunity to see the remains of a home which did NOT have a garage heater, but it did have a vintage Triumph Spitfire with a slow leak in the gas tank. When the family returned from vacation they hit the garage door opener and blew up their home. Fortunately nobody was injured, but large pieces of the doors landed against the neighbor's home ACROSS THE STREET! There was nothing left of the house except the foundation.

 

Using solvents (gasoline, paint thinner, kerosene, acetone, etc.) in a closed area is a great way to get hurt or worse. Be careful with the solvents by using them outside and avoid using gasoline for a solvent as it has several carcinogens and is more volatile than most other solvents.

 

When working in a shop warmed by a propane heater I always make sure there's a carbon monoxide detector mounted down low (knee height) as CO is heavier than air.

[Flyer5]

That last comment was just gross

 

Funny, but gross.

 

I have a kerosene heater that I move back and forth between the family room and the garage. It is cheap to use, and heats the room up quickly. Just make sure you can put it some place where it won't be too close to anything flamable.

 

 

Like Rocket Cowboy ?

[Agent86]

As long as you're workin' and not ridin' Single Malt Scotch works for me.

[Todd_Z1]

Connect the exhausts into metal flex tube and port the end under the garage door. Let the engines idle. Just stand by with a fire extinguisher, just in case.

 

 

Cheers1

[NoHeat]

Thanks everyone for the answers to my question about houses burning down.

 

re:

I always make sure there's a carbon monoxide detector mounted down low (knee height) as CO is heavier than air.

 

It's good to have a CO detector, and there's nothing wrong with mounting it at knee height, but it's actually a myth that CO is heavy and that it sinks. CO and N2 actually have the same molecular weight. Nitrogen is 80% of air, and it is always well mixed with O2 and the rest of air at all heights. Having the same weight as N2, CO will do the same. So you can mount your CO detector at any height in a room. More details here.

[stubblejumper]

I have a 40,000btu natural gas furnace hung in the corner of my garage.It lets me work in the garage when it's -30 degrees outside.I normally keep the temperature in the garage just above freezing,and turn it up about ten minutes before going to work.

[Bullett]

But ..... its warm where you live.