The sunshine propane heaters (the infra red ones that attach to the
top of a propane tank) work great for heating up specific areas.
They shine infrared and heat what they shine on, but move no air.
There are salamander heaters for propane and kerosene. These actually
blow hot air. 30 or 40,000 BTU should be enough to take the edge
off.
If you really want to get fancy, find a used hot air furnace and
install it in your garage with a chimney. Set the ductwork up to
blow straight on the floor, where you need the heat most. For your
needs, again 40 or 50,000 BTU should be fine. Your options are natural
gas, propane, or fuel oil, depending on what is available where you
are. Try to avoild pilot lights so that you can just turn the furnace
on with no muss or fuss when you want to.
Wood stoves work great if you can get cheap wood. A 50 gallon barrel
stove will heat your garage just fine. For this you need a real
chimney.
The ultimate heat if you are building a shop from scratch is slab
heat where warm water pipes (with anti freeze) or electric cables
are buried under the floor. This puts the heat just where you need
it and can be fired with any fuel (for the water variation). If
I was building new, I would put the pipes AND cables in under the
slab, even if I didn't use them right away.
On ventilation, you need some to replace the air used by the fire.
It doesn't take much, a cracked open window or the crack under
a door will go a long ways.
I would give anything to have my garage 30 to 40 all winter long :-)
Bruce Kettunen
57 3200
MN
Let's be safe out there.
One other word on ignition sources. If you are using sprayed solvents
or lots of sprayed paint, the flame source should be outside the
room.
At Saturday, 5 January 2002, you wrote:
>What do you use for heating your shop??
>
>I'm tired of freezing my butt off and trying to work on the oletruck
>with numb fingers. Would one of those tank-top propane heaters (~$50,
>15-20K BTU) be sufficient to take the chill out of a standard
>residential two-car garage??...or would I need something
>bigger??....how many BTU's should I get??...the outside temps are
>typically 30-40 degrees, and I'm not looking for room temp, just
>something comfortable to work in. What about the monoxide
>fumes?...any concerns about running a too small heater for too
>long?....seems venting defeats the whole purpose.
>
>your thoughts?
>-A
>'49 3104
>'49 3105
>oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
>
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