Heated Garages???

[944boy]

My garage is not heated normally, but If it's cold and I am working down there, I will fire up a kerosene 'salamander' heater. works great, not too expensive to run, but it is a really big open flame (jet exhaust basically).

[Grizzly]

My garage is heated and air-conditioned and it's the best thing ever! I also put in a floor drain and hot and cold water, so that all winter I can wash my cars in seventy degree comfort. I highly recommend it. I did mine with a 1.5 ton heat pump. Sounds expensive, but the whole set-up cost me about $1,800. Actually, the 1.5 ton is way overkill for my 20x50 garage. You should be able to buy a smaller heat pump and still heat your space for much cheaper.

[chrisdridley]

I built my garage onto the house in such a way that it is cooled and heated with the HVAC from the house. I love going from the house to the cars and never having to go outside. I keep the duct dampers adjusted in the winter to keep the garage in the 60s and in the 70s in the summer.
I wish I had that floor drain......that's a good idea.

[coreseller]

I looked over all of the options a couple of years back; electric ceiling hung (220 Volt), natural / propane gas wall mount, infra-red, craigslist sourced furnace, etc., if $700 is causing you pause your options will be very limited. I ended up buying a simple 23k BTU Kerosene heater (remember to crack a window), it heats a 3 car garage up in no time. Cost was about $100 and I can (and have) use it as a backup in the house in case of furnace problems. Also my garage is very well insulated; doors, walls and ceiling. I wasn't adverse to spending the money, it was just the aggravation and time invoved with install of the other options, running 220 service or a gas line. Good Luck.

I have a heated garage. Love it.

[Burg Boxster]

After going thru the whole evaluation process and trying little torpedo units, etc, I decided to go with this and finally have a heated garage!

Reznor UDAP45 - 45,000 BTU Nat Gas unit:


I looked at the Hot Dawg (too much $ for what it is), Mr. Heater (can buy thru Northern Tool - great value - but read more than a few complaints about fan noise and mis-fires/no heat) and Reznor (known leader in industry w/ great warranty on unit - parts/labor and heater core/burner unit). Picked it up for ~ $530 + tax (since it was local). I almost bought it from an outfit in IA which had a special of $518 but w/ frt to me, it would have been same/more than local. Since your in IL you might want to check them out: http://www.denniscoinc.com/special.pdf

I looked hard at IR units but the recommended min height was 12-14' and mine is only 10' and w/ 700+ sq ft, it would have required multiple tube runs which I did not want.

Good luck!

[chitowndad]

Thanks for the idea, I'll look into the prices here and ask my heating buddy.

How many square foot is your garage? Mine is 30 foot wide by 24 feet deep and 13 foot ceiling.

-Steve

[chitowndad]

Grizzy,
Now that's the way to go! I was also thinking about putting in a drain pipe and hot water but I was puzzled on how to install a shutoff valve in the garage but the seat is in the house, otherwise it will freeze...

Yeah I've considered the costs to heat the garage as well - On a bad month I already spend up to $400 a month to heat the house... My master bath is above the garage and it gets really cold so I'm thinking that I can heat the garage for the Porsche and also help heat the bathroom floors. The real problem is that the ceiling in the garage isn't insulated properly. Anyone know a good insulation guy in the Chicago-land area?

-Steve