F-85 4-4-2

I have a 1000-sqft detached garage with natural gas and 200A electric service. Garage is framed and bricked/sided, and will be insulated and drywalled. I'm considering these options:

1. Ductwork and natural-gas furnace, and ready for air-conditioning. A Cadillac for sure, but it's only money.
2. Overhead NG shop heater, vented, with blower.
3. Overhead NG convection heater. I have one of these in my attached garage (1100 sqft), and it does quite well. CO detector never goes above zero, and no blower noise is really nice (for enjoying music).

The concrete floor was poured without tubing, so a heated floor is out.

Thoughts?

firefrost gold

we did the tubing for heat in the walls at work it was a retro fit in a open space that the people were freezing in worked better than I would have thought it would dont know if it is any better than the other options you have listed but it is still a option.

wmachine

I'll throw a Radiant Tube heater into the mix to consider. Mine is a Solaronics STG-85-25MBN. (The tube is 4" dia, 27 ft long)
I'm sure it is overkill for my 1250 sq ft, but I really like the radiant heat. Nice even heat, no open flame, no moving air. Extremely efficient.
I'm sure what I have is a relatively expensive, but there are reasonably priced units out there.
http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/hv...FcZFMgodbWsAZw

F-85 4-4-2

Kurt, that's exactly the direction I'm headed. Is that type of unit vented or ventless?

wmachine

Vented. I see I had an incorrect attachment in my previous post. I've corrected that now. Go to the second attachment and you can see the layout. There is Outside Air Induction (yes a cute analogy) on the burner end, and the exhaust vent on the other end. You can see both in the pics too.
So it is an "Internal Combustion" system (yet another cute analogy).
To continue to the surprising analogies, the exhaust half of the tube is a "chambered exhaust" where there are baffles on the inside. But instead of for sound, it is for heat transfer.

oldzzy

I have a Mr Heater Big Maxx, and i love it! I keep my thermostat set around 55-60 and i hardly even notice a difference on my gas bill.

oldcutlass

Mobile home central heat and air unit, best of both worlds. Used they are inexpensive also.

Something along these lines.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-ton-13-See...item1e77fe8b90

jensenracing77

I have been looking into these for the past two years. How well do they heat up a cold garage? Does it take a long time to get it to temprature? I would only keep the garage at around 35-40 but when I work I would bump it up to 55-60.

ziff396

I put a pellet stove in mine 2 years ago, and am very happy with it. I don't heat it all the time, and just put it on low the night before I plan on working (to heat it up slow) and have it up to 60-70 in 2 hours the next morning. It's dry heat so no problems with tools or the car. I looked at the radiant heat also, but I have LP so it would have been expensive to run.

wmachine

Seems to heat up pretty quickly, but it is a little different with radiant heat, as it heats objects, not the air (directly). It is a very even temperature throughout the room. I keep mine at 50 deg. The building is well insulated the heater does not run a lot. 50 deg there is generally warm enough to work in, and the tools are not cold! One o the main pluses of a constant or near constant temperature is humidity. There is not a problem with cold metal. Until warm air hits it.

arbys

I'm planning a new garage for next year and seeing your system sparked my interest. What type of efficiency does it have? 85 or 90%?

wmachine

Sorry, I don't know.

arbys

I'll try contacting the supplier tomorrow, thanks.

rptw32

X2 on the infra red radiant heat .

I have an insulated 24 x 24 with a 35,000 BTU NG infra red radiant heater. Keep garage at 40* when not in use and within 10 mins after
turning up thermostat to 55 it's there and working in very comfortable
temps even when in single digit temps outside.

Wouldn't go any other way personally - and they make same unit in
50,000 - 80,000 BTU output.

costs me about $150 to heat all winter - pilot-less ignigion and
ventless style - I do have a small flapstyle window that I open when in full
use just to keep some fresh air intake to be on safe side.

oldzzy

That seems like a lot. I run mine at 55-60 all the time, and i don't really even notice much of a difference on my gas bill.

m455sx

you need to become good friends with hvac contractor...LOL. I purchaced a brand new gas furnace damaged for$75. paid $600 to hook up, used outdoor unit and ac coil and duct work including registers and return cover. my garage 1000sf.