cheaper the better - but don't want junk.
my garage is about 25x25 - is 75000 btu enough?

Bigger is better.
The issue with these is the smell and fumes.
Run a larger one for a shorter period of time.

Rich

Be sure to vent it. Carbon monoxide isn't the healthiest thing to inhale all day.

Take care of good isolation in the workshop. Good isolation needs a smaler heater and you save fuel over the time.

Woundering if you have looked at propane heaters. Cleaner, oderless and cheaper for the same BTU's

http://www.lowes.com/Heating-Cooling/Space.../_/N-1z0zq53/pl

For free kerosene, if there is an airport nearby that services jets, find out who fuels the jets and see if they have any contaminated jet fuel they don't want. I have a friend who heats his hangar with a kerosene heater and the fueling guys let him have all he needs.

i've filled many salamander (tube style) heaters for temp heat on job sites. remember that the kerosene is going to produce moisture as a by product. no matter what you do, filling, storing, spilling, and getting it on clothes is a stinky mess. look for a heater that runs on LP or NG if your house is plumbed for it.

k

I have a 30k BTU tubular propane unit like that. I used a couple of times. Haven't used it since. Too loud. Those tube/blower types are noisy. If I really need to heat my garage up some (pretty rare actually), I put the 15k BTU propane bottle top mount radiant heater. Mr. Heater I think is the brand. Start it up a couple of hours before I need to go out there.

If you have an 8 foot ceiling, you have5000 cubic feet of air space.
1 btu heats or cools 1 cubic foot

Just remember that gasoline fumes are heavier than air and sit on the floor. A friend of mine almost lost his whole house because of a kerosene heater in the garage. If you must, get one of the wicked kerosene heaters and put it on a table 3' or so above the floor. Less fumes and a more even heat.

35 btu/square foot is a good rule of thumb here in the Northeast. For a 25x25 garage you'll need about 22,000 btu output. I've got a 30,000 in/24,000 out btu unit heater in my garage which is roughly the same size and it does a great job even when it's well below 0 deg F outside.

Bigger isn't always better. Go too big and the unit will cycle on and off. Size it right and it runs longer (and more efficiently) resulting in a more consistent space temperature.

For those running a unit heater with a heat exchanger (HX), running longer means that the HX gets hot enough to burn off all the moisture inside which reduces corrosion of the HX.

consider the propane vent less units. easy to install, convenient to operate if you use propane, cost about the same as the ones you posted. my 30,000 BTU does just fine in the 25 x 25 size room.
Gary

Hmmm, I can't remember what we use to warm up the garage in southern CA. Oh that's right, we open the garage door.

I have one of these:

70K BTU.
Its not NEARLY as loud as the torpedo type, and keeps me working in short sleeves in the attic of my uninsulated garage (where I have my wood shop). You have seen my garage. I keep it at one end while I am working at the other. The heat gets there, but not as much of the fumes. I do have big vents that stay open.

On the car level, I have to wear a flannel shirt and jeans with the garage door cracked and the heater is a bit closer to me.

It will burn 5 gallons of K1 in about 16 hours. At $4 a gallon, its expensive to feed. But man does it work.

If I ever get enough brains and money together at the same time to insulate my garage, it will roast me out of it quickly. It works really well.

Zach

I bought a 75k propane shop heater last year off craigslist for $200, I've got it in my 25 X 25 garage, works awesome, I can go from 50 to 75 in about 10 minutes.

I was going to put it in my shop when its finished, but now I think I'll look for another one, kinda like having a heated garage too.

Click to view attachment


Jeff

jeff - that is sweet.

i have a craisglist 50k btu kerosene tube style in route, seller transporting it to me tomorrow, $40 total. i am familiar with their operation : ( but will give it a try anyway. the winter jobs i have should not have me in garage for too many hours.

I agree. I have the dual top mount propane one that just sits on the tank. My Barn/shop isn't exactly heat friendly. No insulation & plenty of gaps for wind to come through. Sinc eI am renting it is nothing I am going to change. I keep the heater fairly close to where I am working & it is enough to keep me working. When I get off my ass to do it that is

I got this one from McMark. I think he used it when his shop was in Napa. His new shop is way too big for it. This picture was taken just now. It is currently 70 degrees in my garage and 34 outside.

I messed around a bit with those, hated the smell, then I got wood heat but insurance got after me. Now I have a real DV propane furnace.

I had a wicking style heater, smelled. Got a propane tube heater after that, sounded like the takeoff runway at SFO. Then got one of those propane ceramic heaters that harbor freight sold, was made in Italy. Not a ton of heat but worked well for our climate and could run it all day without problems.

Great thread! It answered questions I did not know I had...However, How long does propane last compared to using kerosene?

anyone want to comment on that 240z

i do

CD, she is sweet : )

and thanks for all the heating info guys!!!

jim

Jim, my garage is 26 x 26 x 11 and I use a 55,000 BTU Reddy Heater. It has a thermostat, doesn't cycle a whole lot, and very easily keeps the space at 68 degrees. I use a carbon monoxide detector and have never had the heater set it off.

I installed a packaged unit, like you see in motel rooms. Good heat and A/C in the summer. Mine is a heat pump with electric back up heat. Works great!

Oh thanks Jim... I am the second owner, I've had it forever it seems like. Just finished a complete new interior. I had been planning on selling it but Yopu has decided she wants it so it is kind of her car. Today, I put on a new lower valance and a BRE style spoiler. Here is a better look at her before the spoiler removal and new BRE style... McMark has done a bunch of work on it. It actually runs thanks to him!

very nice pic

and an awesome example of one of japan's best

aside from my wife of course

I've seen that car in person several times.....VERY nice car
Everytime I see it makes me wish I hadn't sold mine, they are fun cars to drive.

Looking good Rob, glad you're keeping it.

Jeff

got it - practically delivered.

its been running got 5-10 mins and garage feels real good and garage smells like a shop should.

wife is already complaining about the smell : )

It will give you a headache....eventually.

I run it for about 30 minutes, shut it off and open the doors for a few seconds to let some fresh oxygen in.....good for an hour or more of warmth.

Rich

In our work shop we lifted the rear and had it set on a timer about 1 hour before opened if the night shift left it alone. The concrete would get warm and when we got in we would shut it off. This was in a tin building with no insulation in the
san Fernando valley. I lived in canada so I do know what cold is. Gordon

breathing kerozene fumes is a bad idea. They contain polyciclic aromatics that are cancerigenes. If the garage is not well isolated better use radiant heaters like gaz heaters. They will provide more comfort without heating the air. They are way more efficient in not isolated garages. They will also provide instant heat. Radiant heaters will save you a lot of money. You will burn less combustible and breath less fumes. Gaz fumes that are burned in catalitic radiant heaters are cleaner than those from kerozene heaters.

I also use reddy style, military heater Campfire heater but I used some sheet metal and extended the heat output side about a foot. I then cut a hole in my rear shop door and put the unit outside and put the extension through the hole. The unit is outside so there are no fumes in the shop, only heat. It's a lot safer, the only drawback is the unit will always have to heat up external cold air vice re-circulating the interior air. I did have a second hose that I did have attached to the air intake side but it did't make that of a difference.

Jon

My shop is 30x40 with 18' to the peak. I use a 120k btu Ready Heater kerosine/ diesel heater. On the few cold days we get here it does a good job of taking the chill out of the shop. My main complaint with it is noise level and cost to run it. It will easily burn 15 gallons in a 12 hour day. At 4.00 per gallon for diesel it really adds up. I used a propane patio heater the has the umbrella style top and it works really well. It is much quieter and heats well and about 1/2 the cost of the diesel heater.
I would really like to build a drip waste oil heater for my building since I have tons of waster motor oil around here. There are several on youtube that burn very clean but it does require a chimney.