Garage Heaters

Jordan Budd

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NW Nebraska
Wondering about a heater for our 2 car deep garage. Strongly considering a 240v electric ceiling mounted unit, but wanted to see if anyone else has it figured out on here.
 
If your electricity is cheap, that is a great way to go. Here in Vermont where our electricity runs $.18 a kilowatt hour, electric doesn't make sense. I picked up a used mobile home (trailer) oil furnace and it keeps my 28X32 with 10' ceilings very comfortable.
 
I just put a DIY 3 ton ductless minisplit in a 3000 square foot garage and it does pretty good. I would think you would be really happy with a 2 ton ductless mini in a 2 car garage.
 
Get gas if you can vs electric (barring the price of energy near you making sense)

I had an electric in my first home and that puppy sucked power.
 
Ive had good luck with mr heater gas units in a couple garages. Northern Tool offers them pretty cheap and If you sign up for the club you can get much cheaper shipping.
 
are you trying to keep the garage at a certain temp or bump up the temp occassionally?

I use to keep my pole building at a certain temp, then winter hit and i did not like the affordablilty.
 
I think electric heat for spot warming here and there is the way to go. Anything above 50 garage temp works for me
 
I have a ceiling electric heater it works well but it runs the electric bill up.. Hopefully bye next winter ill have a mr heater gas....
 
Here is the King heater I installed in my two car garage that has a taller than normal ceiling. It plugs into a 240 volt outlet and will make the garage into t-shirt weather in under an hour even when it's 10 degrees out. I only use it on days when I am working on cars or other projects because it definitely has a high draw of electricity. I bought mine used but here is a link for a new one if you are interested.


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I have a King in my 1200 sq ft garage. Insulated, sheetrocked, 11' ceiling. Works great. Guessing it takes a couple hours to heat garage from 40° to 60°. Frequent use probably bumps my bill up $100 per month. The heating coil failed after a few years of use. King sent me a free replacement coil.
 
Not electric but does a dang good job. My shop is 32x48 w 2 12’ garage doors. I hear it with a new Reznor 125k BTU propane. I keep the thermostat set at 50, when I go out and tinker around I can have it up to 65-70 in ten minutes.
Typical winter in NW/Pa I burn 2-3 of the 100 gal tanks.
 
I have a Reznor in my garage. It heats it fine but it rattles and is loud!

Replacement fans are expensive so I haven't made it a priority

Sent from my SM-N976U using Tapatalk
 
I installed a Mr. Heater Big Maxx natural gas 120v heater in my garage when we built our house. The unit came from Northern Tool and was about $500 plus the cost of installation. I have a 3 car oversized garage. That heater is the bees knees for sure. Can't recommend it enough.
 
I started with a propane, non vented. Terrible condensation, but heated the space fast.

Then went electric. Easy install (I'm an electrician), but expensive and took a while to heat the whole space

I now have a vented natural gas hanging heater. Cheap enough that I keep the temp at a constant 45 degrees, then turn up to 60 when I want to work. Nice having everything warm, heats the rest of the way fast, and no condensation. I installed the unit and venting, hired a contractor to run the gas line, which wasn't too far, and fairly simple install. Total cost to me was around $700.
 
one thing to think about is i was able to install an electric heater for approximately $200 between heater, breaker, and wire (easy to install myself). a natural gas heater would have cost me probably atleast a $1000 by myself (not sure i trust my pipe fitting) and probably $2500 for a plumber to install. the heater maybe adds $30 per month (in montana) in the winter so say $150 a year it would take approximately 15 years to recoup the cost of a gas heater. i also don't keep the garage at 60 degrees either which would make a difference too.
 
I went with a 80,000 btu mr. heater gas garage heater. Had a plumber install a new 1" line from my meter into the building (30 ft poly and 60 ft of black pipe) for about $1,000 total. Heater and venting was about $500. Installed that portion myself (and the wiring).

Keeps 2,400 sq ft with 16 ft walls plenty warm. You could get by with the 50k but unit in a 2 car garage no problem.
 
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