As a usually quiet productive person this winter is already working to freeze my off. I need some advice for best bang for buck to heat my two car (insulated!) garage.

Are you looking for continuous heat or just to warm it up so you can play with the car?

Like Adam said, it makes a difference. For continuous heat, look at a mini split. Economical heat and a/c & dehumidifier in the summer.

I use radiant heat in the concrete floor.

If you're not looking for anything permanent then it sounds like either a kerosene bullet or a propane or kerosene convective heater.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kero-Heat-23-500-B...Heater/50433624

We use a trifecta in our shop, and it's cold in NY.

I used to use a combination of a pellet stove, gas wall heater, and a kerosene missile. I replaced the missile with a gas heater that hangs from the ceiling. But if you're only doing a small garage any of these individually will work fine. We have to heat a large shop with high ceilings.

Continuous heat would be great but probably expensive. Probably more a less somthing so i can go and play. Do i have to worry about fumes or oxygen with a propane bullet heater?

If you can run a gas line to the garage I recommend one of the gas wall heaters, they put out a lot of heat and you don't have to have much clearance around them. The bullets need clearance, you don't want to walk in front of one.

In my career I have removed 3 deceased individuals from garages where they used the kerosene/propane bullet heaters without proper ventilation. Along with 6 more people with extreme Carbon Monoxide poisoning. All used some type of petroleum burning portable heating system in there garage other then a properly installed natural gas or propane system.

One call I will never forget, the bullet heater had the garage door lowered down on top of it so it was blowing hot air in the garage while exhausting the CO out. The wind changed direction and pushed the CO back under the garage door. We pulled the victim out from underneath his car after his wife found him unresponsive.

Choose wisely my friend and get smoke and carbon monoxide detectors installed.

Yes, and lots of moisture. My mini split cost me $850 for a one ton high efficiency unit.

Continous heat may not be that expensive but of course that depends on your budget. Since you mentioned the garage is insulated it should be doable depending on size and such. One advantage with constant heat is that everything gets much dryer. If you only heat the air when you use the garage the tools and everything in it will still be cold untill warmed thru. I use a mini split in my two car garage and I keep a year around temp of 60-65 F depending on the outside temp and even in the heat of summer I live far enough north that I dont have to use the AC function.

Your cost may be totally different but I spent about $1000 for a good quality air/air heat pump and installation. Running costs are maybe $20 a month in the summer and $40 in the winter. Totally worth because the garage is always warm enough to work in, I can head down for 10 minutes if needed without needing to worry about warmup time.

I hung a an electric heater from the ceiling. Runs on 220 and gets warm quickly. Built in thermostat...but it's an energy hog, so important to remember to shut it off.

Here's a link to what I bought...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AXEZ...c=1&fpw=alm

I have a split AC/heat system as well in my garage, I use the heater to get the chill out of the air and do not run it for all that long.

One thing to think about is what you wear. I have a pair of Dickies insulated coveralls which help a lot and often do not need to turn on the heater when wearing them. I also use cardboard as an insulator on the floor if standing in one place for a bit. (and to lay on as an insulator)

I've always wanted to make a waste oil heater to use old cooking oil.

400 square foot garage, insulated.

Been using a 55,000 btu kerosene bullet heater for 25 years - no issues.

A little common sense goes a long way. Garage is not sealed tight as a drum.

Used on a thermostat it cycles intermittently.

My bullet is the old style that uses a spark plug for ignition. I can tell you it burns much cleaner than the modern hot surface ignition units. Proper maintenance and setting of air pump pressure makes all the difference in the world on how clean these run and how well they work.

Radiant floor heat is the dream for my retirement pole barn. Once worked in a race prep shop in Deluth MN with radiant floor heat and I swore I could have taken a nap under the car on the floor. Cozy!

In Canada it is normal to insulate very well, amazing if you also get the best window, we also insulate our garage doors. I agree about the mini split for cost and safety, check the specs though, some stop working below a certain temperature, an issue here but maybe not where you live.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

Just went down this road as well this fall.
Tired of a garage unusable for several months a year.
I got one of the Mr Heaters Big Max (50000btu). Hangs from the ceiling, vents through ceiling, runs on NG.
Have a thermostat that keeps garage at 45 degrees, takes about 15 min to bring it up to the point it’s too hot to be out there.

Heater itself was about $500 (on sale), most of the cost went to having it installed by local company.

Garage was already insulated, just added to it by drywalling and insulating the ceiling.

So far quite happy with it and has motivated me to do more work recently.

Went with a Mr Heater 50k as well, quite, no smell, on a thermostat. If the garage is detached you can have a propane tank set up and have it filled by a local co op. In my case, ran a natural gas line from basement. About a $1 a day to heat, set at 55 degrees. 24x30 garage.

If you are going to work just a time or two a month, get a small propane bullet. 30k btu. Will work fine. As others have said, do yourself a favor and buy a plug in Carbon monoxide detector. To be safe.

Good luck with it.

I have to agree with Mark, @mepstein - the mini-split is the way to go. I have one in my 3-car and when I turn it on the garage is nice and comfortable pretty darn quickly. In the heat of summer, when I turn the AC on it gets cool quickly too. You can see it installed on the wall (white & rectangular) above the Porsche crest. Sorry the picture is sideways.

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If he's in a rental, I imagine a split is out of the question. Space heater and wear long johns. It's only a couple of months. Find something else to do.

I use a modine hot dawg and it heats my very large 3 car garage and keep it 62 degrees all winter. Costs $25 extra in gas per month

How cold does it get in Tacoma?

If CO is a concern, and you cannot install something permanently, then what about a propane Mr Heater Big Buddy? Even though I use floor radiant to keep my garage above freezing through the winter, I use my Big Buddy to heat the garage from ~45 to a comfy ~55 (wearing work clothes) in a short enough time. I also purchased the hose extension to use it with a standard propane grill external tank. One tank will last a long time.

It is approved for indoor/enclosed space use; we use it at the race track to heat the enclosed trailer.

$125 for the heater plus $45 for the regulator/hose, plus whatever for the propane tank (I just swap them at Lowes). I strongly encourage using the external hose and tank, as it blows through those small camping stove bottles pretty quickly. They also offer a carrying case.

Search for Mr Heater MB18B and F271803.

Natural gas is the cheapest, but you must live in a high residential area to receive this.

Wood/coal cost about the same. Coal is my personal favorite, its a constant warmth.

Propane/electric cost about the same and are a lot more than wood or coal.

The only electric heat I recommended is a mini spit with soft start the makes heat down to and below 0.
What ever you do, make sure its up to codes.

I was wondering that too. Google shows 35-45F averages through the winter months...wish it only go that cold in CT!

I like the Mr. Heater too. Works well, relatively low investment cost, portable, and inndoor rate (big deal for me).

My place near Tacoma? This AM? 44*. Last week? 28* same time period. When cold it stays cold. My YARD sees an about an hour of direct, in spots, sun over the course of the day due to the sun being lower than the tree line this time of year. My garage is insulated with Roxul and dry walled. Combined R-38 in the ceiling. Doors are insulated too. No heat on it stays 50*, minimum, if the doors are kept closed. 60+ if a warm car is parked. Coolest room in the house during the summer. The hybrid HWT is like an AC unit. Blows cold air. Hybred mode only in warmer months. No AC in the living portion of the house. Efficiency is the key. No long johns required. There is a fanned inwall elect heater, but I never have to turn it on.

I too used the kerosene bullet heater for a while and did not like it at all. Did not like the smell and the loud operation. Didn't heat the area sufficiently anyway. Ended up with a natural gas fired "Hot Dawg" heater hung from the ceiling. Cost about $850 for the heater shipped and I plumbed and wired it myself. A 60000 btu heater for my 3 car garage is overkill. Should have gone with the 45000 btu version. Love this unit. Keeps me toasty warm all day long starting it up about 1 hour before I head out to the garage. We live in Ohio so temps in the teens are expected and this heater is up to the task. Sorry no installed pics

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The Red Barn is 36 x 30 with a 17' center peak. It's certainty not the Midwest, but we do see mid 20's regularly. I use one of these. It's mounted on one side of the shop, about 6' off the ground and I just aim it in the general direction of where I'm planning to work. It takes the chill off pretty quickly.
And then it's down to clothing choice.

Does your shop have it's own elect sub panel?

Absolutely best thing to do is to insulate your garage fully, especially the roof. Best money I ever spent, cost me around 600 for materials and doing the work myself.
. After insulting mine, a 100$ 230 volt electric heater that hangs from the roof and a 300$ 230v window air unit are plenty to keep it warm and cool no matter the outside temperature. They are by the window in the picture. Before the insulation, both would barely do anything to make it warm of cool. I have a 2 and 1/2 size garage. I live in Nebraska and in the summer when its hitting 100, the AC doesn’t even need to kick in until about noon.

Yes it does, ive been looking at a 220 electric heater that i just plug into the socket for my welder. a mini split is out of my price range, especially when considering its a rental house. I also have no natural gas at my house and im actually in north carolina now its been about 27 overnight for like the last week. too cold for me, i dont know how all of you midwesterners do it!

Had really good luck with low watt, slow to heat up oil heaters. Once they warm up, it's super cheap to keep them warm and it takes a long time for them to cool down. Two of those keep 1,000SQFT shop/hangar just fine.

Best bang for the buck? Carhartts. Not even kidding. If I'm welding, the rest of me is covered in flannel and leather and that's usually enough.

I agree with the modine Hot Dawg gas/propane ceiling garage heaters.
I was going to put one in, but changed direction during my new construction with radiant heated concrete floors.
Radiant heated floors work best, but cost wise only with new construction.

Tom

get the elect plug in and call it good to go. The fuel for salamander/tube heaters is a stinking mess. No matter how hard you try, the stench gets into the house. Not even counting the exhaust.

Have a rental shop that I use sometimes, it has a large commercial gas heater hanging from the ceiling. It works Awesome! But, it's properly vented and doesn't stink. To do something like that at home isn't feasible.

So I guess the true answer is: it depends. Depends on your preference, space, use of space and resources. Me, I like a couple of space heaters at the home shop. They work, are safe, no open flame, don't stink etc. If they tip over, they shut off.

My bother uses a split heat pump from Mitsubishi... IIRC it was a $2,500 unit but he spends a lot of time in the garage.

Our new garage, under construction, has floor radiant heat and a solar system to heat the water. Getting ready to retire and become a Porsche mechanic

When we built this house, we had the garage walls insulated like the rest of the house. Before we decked the attic floor, we put in insulation for the garage ceiling.

I know it is Texas, and it is almost 70 degrees out today, but when it is close to freezing out, I can run just a stand alone plug in 110v space heater and bring the garage to a somewhat comfortable temp. Granted, I wear a light coat and a long sleeved shirt, but I am not constantly blowing on my fingers to warm them up.

In the summer, the garage stays cooler, longer into the morning than just outside the door. It is not comfortable mid day. I take a clue from the Mexican culture, and get up early, work until it gets uncomfortably hot, then stop for a while (Siestas are a great invention/idea). I pick back up when it cools down in the evening.

Current plan is a mini-split for AC/Heat to be added sometime soon, hopefully before summer. It would make the 100+ degree days tolerable in the garage mid-summer.


Clay

I have some 110 plug ins that area really small. If im working on the floor I point them in my direction. It helps enough when its 30deg or if im just in one area sitting fiddling on something.

Im planning to put a minisplit in the garage when I put in a lift.

I have natural gas, forced air with AC. And yes, 2x6 wall and lots of insulation. Results, the most comfortable garage you could ask for.
You can lower temp to save a little money but not much, tools will rust and it just get to be a mess. Keep mine at 60 and above. Then you go on to soften water, wash sink, lift, man cave with TV and wet bar. Yup, love working on my cars. Best, Mark

I think there are multiple factors to consider. They include the size of garage, height of ceiling, and if you are looking to heat the entire place or just a smaller work area.

My house has a large garage for toys, but the previous owner only installed 3 electric wall heaters. As already mentioned, these types of heaters can get expensive to run. The garage is well insulated so the temperature is pretty moderate year round (I live in MD where temps range from 10-100 degrees). If I were to build it today, I would have installed radiant floor heat, but that is not happening after the fact. When I had a smaller garage at my previous home, I just set up a small fan driven electric space heater that heated the area I was working in. The next step up I liked to use was an electric oil filled radiator. These are pretty safe and more efficient for larger areas than the fan driven units. All of these would be fine in a rental property.

If you own the home and have the means, the mini-split is likely the best current way to go that doesn't require fuel. I even heard that some of the systems now come pre-charged with refrigerant (units and lines all have valved ends to hold the factory installed charge in the components until it is all hooked up. Then you don't even need to get an AC tech there to start the thing up. I figure one of these may be in my future, but no plans for it anytime soon.

Jim

Just bear in mind that the "best" heat source varies greatly by geography. You have cheap hydro-power electricity in Tacoma which should influence your decision. You may think it gets cold there but...

However, I agree with the suggestion to insulate. That is the universal cheap way to stay warm or cool wherever you are in the temperate world.

When we build our new garage hopefully in the next year or two, I'm going to look into adding a geothermal loop. We run propane radiant floor heat supplemented with wood but the geothermal should drastically reduce heating costs by supplying free heat.

That's a good plan for balmy Montana where winter lows only dip into a tepid -35F or so but I wouldn't pretend to have any advice for Tacoma. Listen to your NW coast buddies. Cheap, clean electricity and moderate winter temps could make a big difference in the best choice.

Move to Arizona!

I strongly suggest NO geothermal system. My son & next door neighbor when building his new home put in a geothermal vertical ground loop system to heat his basement & first floor with the upper 3rd floor a normal heating & AC to balance everything out.
The geothermal install installation with equipment was about $70k. It cools great in the summer, but winter does not get the temp above 68-70 degrees using a heat exchanger. The geothermal system uses a motor driven heat exchanger that's supposed to capture the ground water heat through the loop system. It does not get enough heat our of ground water, but great for cooling in the summer. He had to put in a gas furnace to heat the water temp to a higher temp.
BTW: My radiant heating system has a natural gas boiler and it's extremely cost effective on my new house. I have radiant heat in the basement
zoned into my radiant heated garage & perfect. Also have a typical gas/AC zoned for balance in the entire house. Money well spent up front when building new, also, lots of insulation, insulated garage door & good windows. Happy wife too.

Tom

I don't pay Tacoma Power rates either. Puget Sound Energy? Lord no! A member of a leftover collective from the Rural Electrification Project days. Very small service area. Bonneville rates plus a small percentage.

I'm pretty sure Spoke spent about 25K for his geothermal system and he likes it. I have heard conflicting reports about geothermal but I believe it has more to with the equipment and install than the tech. 70K sounds very high for residential. I don't know how you would ever get that to pay back. If I ever built a house for myself, it will be geothermal and radiant heat.

Right now, I'm just insulating the heck out of my detached garage so the mini split doesn't have to work hard to maintain a comfortable working temp.

We also built new (about 18 years ago) and super insulated the house and invested in a high efficiency system. We have radiant with an ultra-high efficiency condensing boiler running propane (we are in the sticks). It's fantastic but I'm always looking for more and would like to get near net zero.

Geothermal works great around here but I won't do a deep loop system. Yes, those are expensive. What I'm looking at is a horizontal loop/grid that installs just a few feet below the frost line that acts more as a preheat for a heat pump or solar hot water rather than a major heat source. We'll be excavating for the garage anyway and laying the tubing would be very cheap but I need to get the alternative energy pros out to see what actually makes sense.

One question though. What is AC?

If you have a natural gas line or can get propane just hook it up to a forced air furnace, the same one you find in your basement. No plenum or ductwork required. We have run this system for may years, set the thermostat to 50 and go. Crank it up to 60 - 65 when you are working. I used to burn wood, but these days I am cautious with an open flame.

Yes, deep vertical (16) 2" pipes drilled into the ground is expensive & horizonal below the frost line is more economical. Son's $70Kcost was mostly in the drilling process.

BTW: anyone putting in new concrete garage floors should consider installing the small dia. PVC type grid system before pouring the concrete. My plumber did the grid of pipe for about $1,600 bucks. Stone fill, insulation & wire mesh was extra.

Tom

Honestly...if I'm working in the garage - and that's what I do in there in the winter - 55, maybe 60 is PERFECTLY fine...

I guess it's different if it's a "watching TV drunking beer on a recliner man cave" kinda deal, but for me I start to turn down the heater when it starts heading toward 60...

<---In Connecticut, working out there in 0-15* January weather, making evil plans for when the State stops dropping all that nasty crap all over the roads...

Mine, which is heated via an on-demand propane heater made for under-counter kitchen use...note the two spots carved out for the bottom of the two-post lift...

If you have 220 volt I’d suggest a P-TAC unit. You see these in hotel rooms located under the window. It will easily heat your space, long as you buy the correct sq ft rated one. They are not that expensive and will give you AC in the summer if it gets to hot!

LOL. I barely keep my house above 60.