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The cold canadian winter is fast approaching and I want to install heating in my 24X24 insulated garage..to keep my baby warm. I have been looking at two options forced air furnace and radiant tube. I have easy access to a gas line and venting. I think I am leading towards radiant vs. forced air (way less dust). My only question is can radiant heat damage the paint on your car ? it is covered and stored for the winter. I know it sounds like a stupid question but can't seem to find a good answer by googling it. My ceilings are 10 feet and 9 feet high. Any advice from your experiences are greatly appreciated...

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The cold canadian winter is fast approaching and I want to install heating in my 24X24 insulated garage..to keep my baby warm. I have been looking at two options forced air furnace and radiant tube. I have easy access to a gas line and venting. I think I am leading towards radiant vs. forced air (way less dust). My only question is can radiant heat damage the paint on your car ? it is covered and stored for the winter. I know it sounds like a stupid question but can't seem to find a good answer by googling it. My ceilings are 10 feet and 9 feet high. Any advice from your experiences are greatly appreciated...

we use radiant heat in our shop at work and they work great.with your ceiling that high you won't have any problem.they do tend to be very warm directly under them so i would tend to put it on one end or the other.check with an installer on location, but they do work very well. iv'e had the cars on the lift litterly inches away from it when it's running and have had no issues with paint or even rubber or plastic.

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The cold canadian winter is fast approaching and I want to install heating in my 24X24 insulated garage..to keep my baby warm. I have been looking at two options forced air furnace and radiant tube. I have easy access to a gas line and venting. I think I am leading towards radiant vs. forced air (way less dust). My only question is can radiant heat damage the paint on your car ? it is covered and stored for the winter. I know it sounds like a stupid question but can't seem to find a good answer by googling it. My ceilings are 10 feet and 9 feet high. Any advice from your experiences are greatly appreciated...

 

They can, I've seen it happen in some of our shops. However, that being said, they have to be pretty close to the paint and beaming down on it. I had the same dilema as you did and went a totally different route. My solution ended up costing 1/5th of either radiant heating or gas heating. I went with a 5000 watt ceiling mounted electric garage heater. It's hooked up to a double pole thermostat and requires 220v power. Kept the garage toasty all of last winter in Edmonton and you would think the electrical bills would be crazy but they were pretty nominal. You would need a slightly larger one for your size of garage. 5000 BTU's is good for about 500 square feet. Electric heaters are pretty much 100 percent efficient and the cost on the isn't that larger anymore. 1000 BTU's = 1kwh per hour to run. My garage heater was costing less then 40 cents an hour to run. During the coldest months(jan-feb) I was paying 60-80 dollars more on electrical.

 

While gas is cheaper to run it also costs 2500 dollars to have a decent heater installed. It's going to take a very long time for me to pay 2000 dollars more in electrictiy as my whole setup including electrician cost under 500 dollars.

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we use radiant heat in our shop at work and they work great.with your ceiling that high you won't have any problem.they do tend to be very warm directly under them so i would tend to put it on one end or the other.check with an installer on location, but they do work very well. iv'e had the cars on the lift litterly inches away from it when it's running and have had no issues with paint or even rubber or plastic.

 

Thanks this helps alot... :D

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They can, I've seen it happen in some of our shops. However, that being said, they have to be pretty close to the paint and beaming down on it. I had the same dilema as you did and went a totally different route. My solution ended up costing 1/5th of either radiant heating or gas heating. I went with a 5000 watt ceiling mounted electric garage heater. It's hooked up to a double pole thermostat and requires 220v power. Kept the garage toasty all of last winter in Edmonton and you would think the electrical bills would be crazy but they were pretty nominal. You would need a slightly larger one for your size of garage. 5000 BTU's is good for about 500 square feet. Electric heaters are pretty much 100 percent efficient and the cost on the isn't that larger anymore. 1000 BTU's = 1kwh per hour to run. My garage heater was costing less then 40 cents an hour to run. During the coldest months(jan-feb) I was paying 60-80 dollars more on electrical.

 

While gas is cheaper to run it also costs 2500 dollars to have a decent heater installed. It's going to take a very long time for me to pay 2000 dollars more in electrictiy as my whole setup including electrician cost under 500 dollars.

 

Thx for the info , I just may look into the electrical route, however the only crappy thing is I would need a sub panel because I don't have any room left on my current box, and my Electrical is on the other side of the house so it may get a little pricey....

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They can, I've seen it happen in some of our shops. However, that being said, they have to be pretty close to the paint and beaming down on it. I had the same dilema as you did and went a totally different route. My solution ended up costing 1/5th of either radiant heating or gas heating. I went with a 5000 watt ceiling mounted electric garage heater. It's hooked up to a double pole thermostat and requires 220v power. Kept the garage toasty all of last winter in Edmonton and you would think the electrical bills would be crazy but they were pretty nominal. You would need a slightly larger one for your size of garage. 5000 BTU's is good for about 500 square feet. Electric heaters are pretty much 100 percent efficient and the cost on the isn't that larger anymore. 1000 BTU's = 1kwh per hour to run. My garage heater was costing less then 40 cents an hour to run. During the coldest months(jan-feb) I was paying 60-80 dollars more on electrical.

 

While gas is cheaper to run it also costs 2500 dollars to have a decent heater installed. It's going to take a very long time for me to pay 2000 dollars more in electrictiy as my whole setup including electrician cost under 500 dollars.

 

 

Just curios on how much the noise level is when running the electric fan?

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They can, I've seen it happen in some of our shops. However, that being said, they have to be pretty close to the paint and beaming down on it. I had the same dilema as you did and went a totally different route. My solution ended up costing 1/5th of either radiant heating or gas heating. I went with a 5000 watt ceiling mounted electric garage heater. It's hooked up to a double pole thermostat and requires 220v power. Kept the garage toasty all of last winter in Edmonton and you would think the electrical bills would be crazy but they were pretty nominal. You would need a slightly larger one for your size of garage. 5000 BTU's is good for about 500 square feet. Electric heaters are pretty much 100 percent efficient and the cost on the isn't that larger anymore. 1000 BTU's = 1kwh per hour to run. My garage heater was costing less then 40 cents an hour to run. During the coldest months(jan-feb) I was paying 60-80 dollars more on electrical.

 

While gas is cheaper to run it also costs 2500 dollars to have a decent heater installed. It's going to take a very long time for me to pay 2000 dollars more in electrictiy as my whole setup including electrician cost under 500 dollars.

 

So what temperature do you keep your garage at?

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If your Garage is connected to your House, what will it cost to run Ducting into it and using your Central Heat System?

Not a good idea for a couple of reasons:

 

1. Code requires a fire separation between the garage and your house. A duct would breach the firewall separation.

 

2. Pulling carbon monoxide in through the ductwork would NOT be a good thing. Even if you run the supply duct in from above, I wouldn't take the chance.

 

I would suggest considering a gas fired infrared heater. It's essentially a tube you mount at the ceiling to heat the objects in the space. This is what you would typically see in a lot of commercial garage areas.

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If your Garage is connected to your House, what will it cost to run Ducting into it and using your Central Heat System?

 

Don't do it, well, not if you want to continue to heat and cool the rest of your house properly. The heating and air system in your house is designed specificaly for the design, construction, and layout of your home. By adding duct to a room not calculated into the load with hurt.

 

 

 

Anyone wanting to add hvac to your garage hollar, I will sell ya equipment for 10% over cost plus freight. You find the installer. We carry Bryant/Carrier.

 

Chris

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I just installed one of these that I picked up from a buddy for cost (he works for Modine), so we will see how it works this winter. But I did plan ahead when I built the house as everything was pre-plumbed and wired, so all I needed was the roof vent installed. I am very excited about not needing to worry about the water lines freezing in the utility sink... along with having a cozy temperature for modding!

 

garageheater.jpg

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Just curios on how much the noise level is when running the electric fan?

 

Next to none actually. I was a little surprised at this as well but the model that I purchased has an indicator light to indicate when it's heating. Sometimes it's very difficult to hear it and the elements don't turn red so you don't really know it's on when you see the indicator light. If I have the TV on in the garage at any volume it totally drowns out the fan, any back round noise and you can't tell it's on at all.

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So what temperature do you keep your garage at?

 

With just the cars being out there about 8 degrees celcius which is 46 degrees for our friends south of the border. That's plenty to melt the snow off my wifes escape and for me to squeegee it outside. As an aside the racedeck flooring is awesome! When I'm doing something in the garage I heat it up to 21 degrees celcius(70 Farenheit). Bear in mind night time temperatures here are often in the -30's(Celcius and Farenheit) in Jan and March.

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Next to none actually. I was a little surprised at this as well but the model that I purchased has an indicator light to indicate when it's heating. Sometimes it's very difficult to hear it and the elements don't turn red so you don't really know it's on when you see the indicator light. If I have the TV on in the garage at any volume it totally drowns out the fan, any back round noise and you can't tell it's on at all.

 

What brand name did you go with?

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I just installed one of these that I picked up from a buddy for cost (he works for Modine), so we will see how it works this winter. But I did plan ahead when I built the house as everything was pre-plumbed and wired, so all I needed was the roof vent installed. I am very excited about not needing to worry about the water lines freezing in the utility sink... along with having a cozy temperature for modding!

 

garageheater.jpg

 

I also have a unit heater (150K BTU) in my shop that vents directly through the wall. It works good and I keep the shop at 40 deg all winter. I can heat it up in an hour or so if I want to work out there. When I insulate/finish the walls and ceiling I will use it as backup to the radiant floor system as I had radiant tubing installed in the slab. You can see it in the pic below in the far upper corner of the shop.

 

DSC_0735.jpg

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the garage attached to the house is about 34x30, has 2 'little' looking 5kw electric heaters that have been there since 1972, and work great. I just keep them on lowest setting to keep the garage above freezing- dont get below about 45 even if sub-zero outside.

 

got a similar dilemma in the new garage- 40x40, 11 high, no way enough power to heat everything electrically...we got 225 amps, but the house has all electric baseboards, on subzero days, the meter spins so fast its a blur...I have only insulated one wall of the new garage to date- busy with other stuff- eventually thinking adding a propane furnace out there/maybe electric 'minimal' heat just to keep above freezing(but after insulating of course). hindsights 20/20, huge mistake was not insulating under the floor and adding tubing for radiant- with the high ceilings, it woulda been perfect way to economically heat out there. huge mistake not putting the insulation/tubing in...if I do go with a minimal heating setup, thinking of adding contactors and 'time sharing' between garages to prevent overloading possibility...actually been thinking might be a way to save some $ on electric bill too- interlocking water heat/oven/baseboards/garages to decrease peak and switch over to peak billing...who knows- just gotta bet the house is burdened pretty heavy if subzero and the well pump/water heat/house heat cranking full tilt...never had anything trip, but guess they sized it up pretty decent :)

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FOR ABOUT $ 500.00 I HAD A HOT DAWG 80,000 BTU NATURAL GAS SYSTEM INSTALLED

 

FOR MY 3 CAR GARAGE AND IT WORKS AWESOME AND IS THE SECOND

 

SUCH UNIT I HAVE HAD INSTALLED IN MY HOMES GARAGES. :happy feet:

 

SCOTTY

 

HOT DAWH UNIT 169.95

 

LABOR INSTALL 330.00

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  • 4 weeks later...

I also have a unit heater (150K BTU) in my shop that vents directly through the wall. It works good and I keep the shop at 40 deg all winter. I can heat it up in an hour or so if I want to work out there. When I insulate/finish the walls and ceiling I will use it as backup to the radiant floor system as I had radiant tubing installed in the slab. You can see it in the pic below in the far upper corner of the shop.

 

DSC_0735.jpg

 

 

 

Sweet lift, I just got the same one!!

 

 

I went with radiant heat for the garage, and love it... Even the floor stays warm when it is -40 outside...

 

painted.JPG

 

Plus, it makes a cool ground icicle with the water drops from the exaust!!

 

DSC07634.JPG

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Can anyone recommend a decent portable heater for a shop/garage? The oil filled radiator plugged into the wall isn't cutting it. It's basically a hand warmer. :lol:

 

Ken

 

 

Ken, I brought two of these into a 10,000 Sq ft transit bus maintenance shop that I was managing at the time, and my techs thought that I was a god because they were able to stay so toasty warm on cold winter days and nights (24/7 shop). These heaters generate massive BTU's and burn both Kerosene or Diesel fuel.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=100672753&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_sku=100672753&ci_src=14110944&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googlebase-_-D27X-_-100672753

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Thanks as always Enis! This is perfect. I've got one on order.

 

Ken

 

Glad I could help Ken. Just be sure to keep your garage door up about three feet or more to insure that you vent the heater's exhaust gasses out and have adquate ventilation too. We would place them so the exhaust end would just be sticking outside of the slightly rased garage door, and that worked just fine.

 

And in the intrest of complete disclosure, these heaters do generate some noise too. Not excessive noise mind you, but you will be aware that it's on.

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