I’m looking to heat a 24 x 28 garage. 9′ ceilings, 3 3′ x 4′ windows and a 7′ x 16′ garage door (insulated) walls R-13, ceiling r-25 with poly over all of it. Garage is new. I’m looking at a Mr. Heater “tube” style heater (propane )rated at 75,000 – 100,000 btu. All I want to do is heat it to 55 degrees so I can tape the drywall in it and in the future for changing oil, etc… On sale right now for $149. All of this assuming it’s between 10 – 25 degrees outside.
Will this unit be sufficient or am I wasteing my money?? Will it gas me out of the garage considering it doesn’t have venting? Will the 20# tank off my grill last 8-10 hrs?
upnorthframer
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!!!”
Replies
Unvented propane puts out alot of water vapor. Wouldn't be my first choice for finishing sheetrock.
Plus it smells bad. I heat my garage for auto work with a torpedo Kerosene heater. Works great, does not smell bad, and a 65K BTU works for an uninsulated 25 X 25 garage. I picked up a 115K BTU for 175 last Feb on sale at HD for another building I need temp heat at, but that was a killer one day inventory reduction sale.
I bought the largest Ecotherm there is for a client, direct vented. Nice unit and it was less than $300, shipped, NIB, off ebay.
Around here, propane and electricity cost almost the same, once you figure in the 85% efficiency on one of these units. If you only need occasional heat, is an electric source an option. You can move it close to your work. Also, propane being heavier than air, if you're working near the floor on your vehicle, any oopsies in the connections and you'll be in the danger zone.
Still, people do it all the time...
i use a free standing radiant style heater to heat my garage which is similar in size to yours but not as well insulated and has 2 8 x 9 ' uninsulated doors
it uses about 20 lbs propane for 8 hours , i run it on a 100 lb tank for convience or 20 lb for short sessions
i have had it for 25 years & it works great also good for emergency heat in the event of a power failure
I've had to work with unvented heaters, both propane and kerosene, many cold days on jobs where I had no voice or vote about the heat source. Most of the time, I'd have prefered to have been outside with painfully cold hands, feet and face rather than breath that ####. It always made my chest feel tight and my mind lose sharp focus. Either type of fuel.
I recall being sent out (union) on a new three story office building which was being sheetrocked and taped, floor by floor. Being January, the whole place was enclosed with 6mil rolls of clear plastic and heated with those propane torpedoes.
I began work on second floor, cutting and fitting drywall. At one point, after about fifteen minutes in that environment, I bent over to take a measurement and almost passed out.
Long story about trying to get it fixed but I had to quit in the mean time, for my own health and safety.
IMO, no one should live or work in a closed space with an unvented gas or kerosene heater. Don't kid yourself about what that #### is doing to you.
if i understand .your just needing heat for mudding and not permant heat.what you found will work fine. i just finished doing the same thing on a 24x24 9' clgs. and used one of those 6' tall propane patio heaters,it worked real well. quiet and put out great heat. uses a 20 lb about evry 12 hours.
like someone said non vented will put out moisture ,,but i didn't really find it to be a problem for a temp heat.larry
if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
Sounds like a nice project. As for me, I have spent way to much time with unvented heaters on construction sites, always end up with a pounding headache by the end of day. I would take the $149.00 and add another $276.00 to it an puchase a 45K BTU ceiling mounted power vented heater. You can run this though the sidewall, just pitch the vent lower and you won't need a drain. Depending how much you will heat the place, the cost and hassle to refill 20LB. cylinders over bulk propane will problably save you money in the long run. You won't have a headache and your homeowers insurance company will be happy. Plus it will be a nice place to work. Here is a link. Roger
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200307961_200307961
i've got 2 of those type of units,one is a 75k the other a 45kbtu. not mr. heater but beacon-morris brand. they both have been such a disappointment.
first neither one worked out of the box,1 had a bad 24v transformer[factory told me tough luck get menards to replace,like the have the correct trans] the 2nd one i worked with and worked with,finally called the factory,oh yeah,some of those units need a extra ground wire! didn't even say sorry.
both units fans are so noisy ,the put out a humming sound,that believe it or not i can hear outside the shop 50' away.
any way just thought i'd spread the word on this brand and hopefully no one else will get stuck with them. larryif a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
..or you could wait a couple months until the weather moderates.
I have a new garage in a marine/coastal environment but will admit that it does not get as cold as your area. Walls are r19 and cielings r33. I use a small electric wall heater 2000W, I believe it is a King something....I usually set it on a very low setting and it keeps the 25 x 30 x 9 1/2 tall area at about 50* when I run it.
I have the same unit in the adjoining workshop 20 x25 & separate well pump/mechanical room (kept at 55-60*) and the adjoining studio apt. of 450 sq/ft(kept at 60* with one) has two. Altogether my power rate is about $1.75/day and dry. But I did have the dw done last summer.
...The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it. -Mark Twain...Be kind to your children....they will choose your nursing home....aim low boys, they're ridin' shetland ponies !!
For temp heat, I have a 200,000 BTU Ready Heater (Propane), that heater doesn't smell at all although it is very moist heat. I can't leave the heater on high for more than ten minutes or the 20 lb. tank will freeze because it seems to draw to much fuel to fast. This heater actually brought an 1800 sq. ft., two story house, up to 80 degrees when it was only 15 outside. I built a similar garage to yours 2 years ago and when we use the wood shop area ( 24x15), we use the same style heater but it's an 80,000 BTU and we can bring that area to 50 in about 10 minutes.
Good luck
Dustin
That's quick and a lot of heat. I lived in Rochester many years ago and have family over in Oswego county so I know your weather. I just have to start my workshop or garage heat an hour or so before I go out for any extended stays.
I wish we had natural gas in this area but we don't so I elected to go with the smaller electric units. They seem to do the job quite well for little expense. We have a lot of power outages in this area in the winter so I set everything up to run on our generator. It has worked well this year with all our hurricane force windstorms.
The generator is in it's own "house" and anchored to a concrete pad so that way I have no worry of CO or CO2 fumes in the building. Fuel, fumes & noise are separate and away from living and working areas....The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it. -Mark Twain...Be kind to your children....they will choose your nursing home....aim low boys, they're ridin' shetland ponies !!
If it's a tight garage, be careful using any gas heater that isn't vented to the outside air. Carbon monoxide poisoning a good possibility.
Second, when you use a propane heater indoors, for every gallon of propane you burn you put about a gallon of water vapor into the air.
If you're likely to use the heater later for other garage projects, take a look at and electric heater. It may not raise the temp inside the garage to 75 degrees but for taping, if you can raise the temp to 55 or 60 degrees with dry heat you should be able to get the job done just as quick.
I use a 250,000 BTU "Hi-Hat" style , a vertical (about 28" tall) cylindrical shaped heater, with a 100# propane cylinder.
If you have D/H windows drop the upper sash an inch or two to allow venting, if no D/H's open the garage doors and let some fresh air in while your working. If you can get a "cross flow"of fresh air that's ideal.
Geoff