Heat came on for the first time last night and I have several projects lined up for when it gets "cold" The garage is as air tight as a sieve would you get one of these

Propane forced air
http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-MH55FAV-Pr...e=UTF8&s=hi

or one of these

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-MH80CV-Por...e=UTF8&s=hi

Not a big fan of infrared or electric at the moment.

I won't be doing any painting just mechanical.

2 car garage w/ wood garage doors.

Thanks

I have a kerosene verison of that forced air "jet" heater. Cant beat it, 20x40 shop with little to no insulation qualities but it still heats up in no time at all and if you are impatient you can direct it to the area you are in to keep warm.

Zen, I had one of the forced air propanes a couple years ago for my patio
and found it heated ok , but was very, very noisey
like small jet engine--noe I use a table top radient propane heater and like it
much better

I re-route the clothes dryer exhaust vent into the garage; puts out a lot of BTU's. Thats if your appliances are in or adjacent to the garage.

Andys

Sorry detached garage so no chance of routing heat from the house

Well, if its a toss-up, keep in mind that if you go with a radiant unit (like Mr. Heater) you're halfway to being able to powder coat. I just picked up a powder coat unit at Harbor Freight on sale for $60. And I ordered one of these for curing. I used a Mr. Heater once when camping, and IIRC, they make a faint hiss sound.

It's 94 here today so you don't want to ask me.

IF IT BURNS FUEL, YOU NEED TO HAVE ADEQUATE VENTILATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that I have your attention, remember that, or it's pretty likely we'll be looking at you in your casket, dressed your shorts and sandals! The Cap'n

I have the kerosene equivalent of the turbine style. It heats up very quickly. You need to be aware of not having anything flammable anywhere near the air exit. It is noisy, but heats up quickly. Need to keep a lot of ventilation open when running this one, maybe a window and door cracked open.

Joe

I've been thinking of building a 3-4 car garage grany loft completely heated. I get red oak for free at work if I have a place for it so it would be fireplace here and propain highboy backup.

Granny loft..................

Appreciate the concern as that is the last thing I want as well.

= bad

I am aware of the ventilation issue and that is not a problem in this garage trust me. I also have roof vents and doors/windows that I can open so no problem with airflow. The main question I have is since my garage is so drafty will the ***edit convection not radiant heater even work? The forced air I know will work, but am not really looking forward to the noise.

Correct me if I am wrong but it gets cold enough to freeze and then break off

a body part there in the winter, shorts and sandals?.... turn up the radio.

Those bazooka things don't have an exhaust....radiant heat is your friend. Ventilate, ventilate, ventilate.....or at least put me in your will.

The whole concept of radiant heaters is that they make you _feel_ warm when the infrared energy they generate hits you. They don't have to heat all the air in the garage to work so it doesn't matter how drafty the garage is. If the thing is pointed at you, you feel warm.

BTW, where in Dallas do you live? If you have a drafty detached garage it must be in a (cool) older neighborhood. I'm in Lakewood.

Sorry point of clarrification the second one is a convection heater not radiant. Cool neighborhood it ain't old depends on your perception. I live in Carrollton

nobody does the wood stove thing anymore?

Just move to Houston, it never gets cold, hardly ever even put a long sleeve shirt on.

Ans. from COLD N.W. Ohio.

The real solution is ,Insulate the garage well ,and run gas line from house,install small VENTED furnace. with thermostat. You will be around to enjoy for a lot of yrs. Any heating system the uses a combustable fuel that doesen't draw combustion air from outside,and exhausts to the outside is a tragedy looking to happen. We have these type of articles in the paper all the time in the winter.
For warned is forarmed!!!!!!! Dave

I would insulate, but I hope to be out of this @#$$&!@ house in under 6 months so don't want to invest the time or money into this place. This is just to get me by this winter.

Sorry Zen, I should have read your original post more carefully.

What do you have against radiant? I think it is ideal for your applcation. I would be concerned that no unvented heater could raise the air temp of the garage without poisoning you with CO. The radiant doesn't have to burn near as much fuel (and thus produces less exhaust) because it heats you, not all the air.

I use one like this:
radiant propane heaters

P.S. Old to me is pre-war. My house was built in 1939 but I built a new garage a couple years ago.

I have used radiant before and you just have to stand so close to the heater to get any effect. I will be moving around a lot, under the car on the other side of the car where radiant just won't work. If I was standing at a workbench or machine I would definitley go radiant or electric. I just don't think it will work well for what I need it to do.