Garage heaters???

[BuddyP]

Have a 1000 sq/ft insulated workshop (24 x 40 pole barn). Ceiling height is 8 ft. What is a good yet cheap/easy way to setup a heat system? I have electric and Natural gas available. I'm assuming NG is the way to go. Want to have it on a thermostat to hold 40 degree's when I'm not using it.

Had radiant heat in mind or even a wall mounted unit. Is 30000 BTU's enough to efficently heat a space that size? If not, what BTU size unit should I be looking for?

Thanks
Buddy P

[toxicz28]

Radient heat is great, but it would have to be done before the slab is poured. My wife's uncle has it in his garage, and set at 60-65 you're working in a t-shirt in the winter (NY). As for providing the heat, I would suggest NG, but you have to compare the cost between that and electricity. Keep in mind that it is cheaper and easier to maintain a temp of say 60-65, than to bring it up from 40 when you want to work.

[astroracer]

Buddy,
Talk to a heating/cooling guy that does a lot of restoration work. A used forced air furnace will provide plenty of heat. Also check into mobile home furnaces. They are perfect for heating a garage and sometimes you can pick up a used one for next to nothing. If you have room in your rafters and have a choice, get a downdraft unit and it will be up, out of the way.
Mark

[BuddyP]

Radient heat is great, but it would have to be done before the slab is poured. My wife's uncle has it in his garage, and set at 60-65 you're working in a t-shirt in the winter (NY). As for providing the heat, I would suggest NG, but you have to compare the cost between that and electricity. Keep in mind that it is cheaper and easier to maintain a temp of say 60-65, than to bring it up from 40 when you want to work.

Well, I guess I used the wrong term, the radiant heat I was referring to is a heating unit that you hang up in a corner of a building and it heats up without use of fans. It radiats it out. They run on gas I think.

[dropit69]

i have a 42 x 30 garage with a house furnace in it...it works good but wish i had went with the radiant floor heat or possibly the hanging type they work good too...

[Bill Howell]

Just remember that heat rises, so radiant heat from above without fans will keep the ceiling nice and toasty, but may not keep the lower half of the room warm. What you are talking about is what I have in my cabinet shop, but after a couple very high gas bills with the thermostat turned to 68 we installed a couple of cheap ceiling fans. Solved all issues and cut the gas bill. Just be sure the fans are on anytime the heater is on. Eight foot ceiling would probably just need one fan.

[Jim Nilsen]

It depends on where you live and how cold it really gets. Radiant floor heat is a very good way to heat a room but if you want to be able to keep up with extreme changes you will need both radiant floor heat and a forced air gas setup. One of the problems you can get into with just a radiant floor setup only is when it goes down to below 0 temps quickly, it will take hours to ever get the room warm and in some instances it will cause condensation inside of the walls where you can't see it. I was told this by a boilerman who did a lot of radiant floor only units when it first became popular. The condensation problem rarely shows up to your eye but it can cause signifcant problems with the building that don't show up for several years. I really trust this mans advice and would go with both types of heating.

You can get another type of radiant heat that uses gas and it creates infrared heat that will only heat up the surface of objects and not the air. These units work a lot like the radiant floor heat and don't reall keep up like forced air.They do work well and it is nice to touch warm objects instead of cold ones when working. These are like tubes that will glow orange when you look at them. Remember that heat is like light and vice versa which is the principal that it works on. These are used in many garages where the doors are opened and closed a lot along with the ceiling mounted gas Modine forced air heaters. The infared heaters keep the tools and equipment from condensating.

If you really want to keep cost down it is just best to have both and keep the radiant heat down at a level the forced air can quickly bring your shop up to the temp you like to work at.

If you live in a warmer climate most of this advice won't matter much and one source of heat will be fine.

Jim Nilsen

[SatisTraction]

its still 70-80* here

[c.schulz]

I use a radiant type system but 10' walls are a min.Very good system.Feels warmer than it is.Usually keep mine at 50 and work at 60.Keep in mind that condensation will burn off at more than 45.Cheap to run also.Go with NG.

Chris

[BuddyP]

It depends on where you live and how cold it really gets. Radiant floor heat is a very good way to heat a room but if you want to be able to keep up with extreme changes you will need both radiant floor heat and a forced air gas setup. One of the problems you can get into with just a radiant floor setup only is when it goes down to below 0 temps quickly, it will take hours to ever get the room warm and in some instances it will cause condensation inside of the walls where you can't see it. I was told this by a boilerman who did a lot of radiant floor only units when it first became popular. The condensation problem rarely shows up to your eye but it can cause signifcant problems with the building that don't show up for several years. I really trust this mans advice and would go with both types of heating.

You can get another type of radiant heat that uses gas and it creates infrared heat that will only heat up the surface of objects and not the air. These units work a lot like the radiant floor heat and don't reall keep up like forced air.They do work well and it is nice to touch warm objects instead of cold ones when working. These are like tubes that will glow orange when you look at them. Remember that heat is like light and vice versa which is the principal that it works on. These are used in many garages where the doors are opened and closed a lot along with the ceiling mounted gas Modine forced air heaters. The infared heaters keep the tools and equipment from condensating.

If you really want to keep cost down it is just best to have both and keep the radiant heat down at a level the forced air can quickly bring your shop up to the temp you like to work at.

If you live in a warmer climate most of this advice won't matter much and one source of heat will be fine.

Jim Nilsen

I'm on the MI/IN border so it get's down to 0 here fairly frequently throughout the winter months.

[derekf]

If you're planning on shooting paint (or primer) in the shop, wouldn't it be better to not have flames involved in your heating? My water heater is in my garage and I'm paranoid about even using spray paint out there because of the pilot light.

[Jim Nilsen]

Keeping saftey in mind Derek is absolutely right for being worried.
So for those of you out there that will be painting in your garage, do what I did. Get your garage or paint area as warm as you can and a few degrees warmer, then get all of your paint all setup and your car all tack clothed down and turn off your pilots and get to work. When you are all done and cleaned up light the pilot back up and start heating the room back up to temp. The loss in temp won't be that bad since the car will be still warm and the flash should have been over before you start the pilot back up.

The easiest way to avoid all of these problems is to paint in the times of year that don't require heat at all and if it is just your hot water heater you will still have hot water for several hours anyway and you can replenish it in less than an hour if it does get used up.
But do think that it can blow up your garage if you don't turn off the pilot because I have seen a garage that did just that. The fumes drop to the floor and as soon as they build up enough KABOOM it will go and you will have thought that it was alright before it happens. At least the guy who blew up his garage thought so. He said all of the overspray had just settled and it seemed to be alright. His was ignited by a furnace pilot even thought he had turned the heat down which he thought turned it off.

Be safe and turn the pilots out until all of the fumes are gone.

Jim Nilsen