Jronman Posted March 8, 2019 Report Share Posted March 8, 2019 I am wanting to heat my insulated garage. I am thinking around 50º F would be good enough. I don't need any 70º but above freezing would be nice. I came up with 3 options. Option 1: 120v electric Option 2: 240v electric Option 3: gas/fuel based Option 1 was plan A. It seemed like it was the best option. It would be easy to setup and wouldn't have carbon monoxide or flames produced. I picked up a 1500 watt unit for around $50. It isn't the biggest unit I have seen but one of the bigger ones I found that day. I found some 1500 watt heaters claim more square foot than others but 1500 watts is 1500 watts right? One thing I don't understand is how one 1500 watt unit can heat 1000 sq ft while another can only heat 150 sq ft when they use essentially the same amount of power. According to the math you should heat around 1 sq ft per 10 watts. I tried out the heater in my roughly 24' x 24' insulated garage and it basically did nothing. The heat was nice right in front of the heater but everywhere else was as if there were no heater at all. If I am am working in one spot for extended periods of time I could just set it a few feet from me and it might be a doable option but when I am working all over the shop it probably won't be enough. Maybe I just got the wrong kind of 120v heater? I couldn't find anything 120v that was over 1500 watts. Option 2 was going to be my last resort. I figured I probably wasn't going to happen. I don't own my garage so adding a 240v plug probably was out of the question. I am also tight on space so a great big 240v heater might be in the way of garage storage. Option 3 was going to be plan B. It is very effective but my biggest reason I didn't go with this option first is because of the danger involved. Carbon Monoxide, is it really something I have to worry about? I see guys use them in their shops but I just wanna make sure I don't put myself, the garage, or the contents in the garage in danger. Also there are propane units like the DeWALT 20v max radiant heater, or MrHeater radiant heater that claim safe for indoor use but are they really? At around 12,000 BTU's they should be sufficient to heat my 24x24 garage to a temperature that is warm enough to go without gloves. I have never used a radiant unit before. How do they compare to the forced air heaters? Another concern is there are explosive gases and flames involved with this option. Do I have to worry about burning the house down when the heater is enclosed in my garage? Opening the door would let the bad air out but also the heat too. Do you guys got any suggestions? Maybe there are better options I didn't think of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BT32 Posted March 8, 2019 Report Share Posted March 8, 2019 I am currently running a 23000 BTU kerosene heater and a 9000 BTU Mr Heater buddy heater. I have a similar sized garage that is insulated. I live in Wisconsin. This set up does ok, but you still need to warm your hands up every once in a while. These heaters are rated for indoor safety. I also have a forced air propane heater that is 60,000 BTUs that is not indoor safe and does need venting. I think you will need more BTUs than 12000 to heat that size of space Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rrich1 Posted March 8, 2019 Report Share Posted March 8, 2019 I have a 240v heater attached to my ceiling. One of our officers is an electrician so he hardwired it for me. Works pretty well. King model I got from Menards. Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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