How to cheaply heat your garage?

[slcdawg]

With Covid and winter coming I need some reprieve from the family. The kids have taken over the basement. Looking for inexpensive options to heat a 2 car garage for a couple hours here and there to work on projects, tune skis, etc. that don't involve plumbing a new gas line. I've got a small directional dish heater like this which is good if you're standing in front of it. But I want something that will heat the whole space. I am thinking about an indoor approved propane heater like this.

How do you heat your garage?

[Buster Highmen]

Insulation first.
Then one of those standup oil filled electric heaters.

[SKIP IN7RO]

Hot-Tronics and a puffy coat

[stealurface831]

burn acetylene tanks.

[Fadeenad]

burn acetylene tanks.

Not a bad option

[Crock]

Woodstove

[DeathRaven]

Kerosene heater. Get a decent sized one and it'll heat up the garage fast, and double as an emergency heat source for your home in the event of a power outage.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Wear more clothes.

[Wookiee]

Get a pellet stove you can vent it right out the side of your house; you’ll be toasty in no time.

[The Tortoise]

I just bought a 9000 BTU Buddy heater. It seems to throw out a ton of heat. I'm hoping it will make hanging out in the ski hill parking lot more comfortable. My kids in the racing program so we're there every weekend.

I bet if you ran that 18k one for a bit it would get the temperature up. I'd consider some sort of fan setup to move the air around.

[rideit]

Insulation, insulation, insulation. A well insulated space can be heated with a very small heater. Not totally sure how you insulate the garage doors if you want them to open.
Bonus: cooler in the summer.

[slcdawg]

Kerosene heater. Get a decent sized one and it'll heat up the garage fast, and double as an emergency heat source for your home in the event of a power outage.

Good thought. We had one of these as a kid, somehow forgot about them.

[tetzen]

Heated floors. Lay down the hose and put a new concrete slab on top of the existing slab.

[Core Shot]

Kerosene heater. Get a decent sized one and it'll heat up the garage fast, and double as an emergency heat source for your home in the event of a power outage.

This is the best option.

We had kerosene wick heaters in our cabin. Works great and not stinky once you get it lit.

Pellet stove for the long term man cave solution.

[Djongo Unchained]

Googlz a : Forced air propane heater, known in the trades as a torpedo heater. Mr. Heater, Master, Dyna-glo and even Dewalt make them.

Between 75-$200 bucks. hook to bottle, plug in, igniter, boom heat cranking at you and will heat a garage in minutes, not hours. Fuck insulating your garage now.

[beaterdit]

Googlz a : Forced air propane heater, known in the trades as a torpedo heater. Mr. Heater, Master, Dyna-glo and even Dewalt make them.

Between 75-$200 bucks. hook to bottle, plug in, igniter, boom heat cranking at you and will heat a garage in minutes, not hours. Fuck insulating your garage now.

This is what I have. Heats the garage in 5-15 minutes depending on starting temp. Loud as fuck due to continuous ignition and high powered fan, don't like to be in there with it on. I use it to heat up the joint then turn it off an run a small electric space heater. If it's really cold blast the torpedo for a few minutes intermittently to warm it back up.

I should insulate my garage but it's pretty far down the list.

[Core Shot]

Googlz a : Forced air propane heater, known in the trades as a torpedo heater. Mr. Heater, Master, Dyna-glo and even Dewalt make them.

Between 75-$200 bucks. hook to bottle, plug in, igniter, boom heat cranking at you and will heat a garage in minutes, not hours. Fuck insulating your garage now.

Way more expensive to burn propane.
But quicker.

Those Japanese Kero heaters are better for continuous heat.

[glademaster]

Googlz a : Forced air propane heater, known in the trades as a torpedo heater. Mr. Heater, Master, Dyna-glo and even Dewalt make them.

Between 75-$200 bucks. hook to bottle, plug in, igniter, boom heat cranking at you and will heat a garage in minutes, not hours. Fuck insulating your garage now.

If you do this, make sure you have functional CO detector in your garage. Or don't and roll the dice on killing yourself. If we happen upon someone running one of those in a garage on a site, we shut the site down until they apply for a temporary heat permit, and have the installation of said temp heating system inspected.

We view them as unsafe in any kind of enclosed structure, including garages.

Air seal and insulate the space, then look into a wall mounted electric heater.

[slcdawg]

I just bought a 9000 BTU Buddy heater. It seems to throw out a ton of heat. I'm hoping it will make hanging out in the ski hill parking lot more comfortable. My kids in the racing program so we're there every weekend.

I bet if you ran that 18k one for a bit it would get the temperature up. I'd consider some sort of fan setup to move the air around.

I was thinking it could double as an outside heater for covid social activities

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[slcdawg]

If you do this, make sure you have functional CO detector in your garage. Or don't and roll the dice on killing yourself. If we happen upon someone running one of those in a garage on a site, we shut the site down until they apply for a temporary heat permit, and have the installation of said temp heating system inspected.

We view them as unsafe in any kind of enclosed structure, including garages.

Air seal and insulate the space, then look into a wall mounted electric heater.

I started to go down this path but decided not to for these reasons.

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[east or bust]

subbed, need to read this later

[Djongo Unchained]

EoB - next time you're over, I'll show you the deadly torpedo heater. When you get big, I'll let you ignite it.

[BCMtnHound]

Googlz a : Forced air propane heater, known in the trades as a torpedo heater. Mr. Heater, Master, Dyna-glo and even Dewalt make them.

Between 75-$200 bucks. hook to bottle, plug in, igniter, boom heat cranking at you and will heat a garage in minutes, not hours. Fuck insulating your garage now.

Working up north, this was how equipment operators would service their big iron. They'd get a big army surplus parachute to over the whole equipment, then put one of those blast furnaces in there. -40C outside, and a balmy +5C under that chute. It would definitely cook a small garage space.

[SoVT Joey]

EoB - next time you're over, I'll show you the deadly torpedo heater. When you get big, I'll let you ignite it.

We use those to heat the tents for outside masonry in the winter. They fucking rip. I wouldn’t want it in my garage though.

https://m.northerntool.com/shop/tool...8579_200578579

I use that in my shop. It works well and is safe. It’s expensive to run but when you pay the bills and it’s your escape heat the $$ is worth it. I have a thermostat on it and I just shut it off. It’s not gonna make it the Bahamas but it will suffice for sure. Thermostat was like $75 though for a digital because of the 240v and hopefully you have an electrician you can barter with as well!!

[warthog]

Not totally sure how you insulate the garage doors if you want them to open.
Bonus: cooler in the summer.

Can't really help on the heating issue. We have the opposite problem here.
Insulate the garage doors with that insulating styrofoam and some spray adhesive or double sided gorilla tape.
It works pretty well to keep a garage cold, so I would imagine it works well in reverse as well.