Garage Heater Tech Needed

drmike wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:

drmike wrote:

z31maniac wrote: Not to completely jack, but I AM looking for an electric heater for my 2 car garage. But I can run it off the dryer outlet, so 220V will work for me.

I use a ghetto-version of this: similar to what I use I installed a dryer socket in the garage for one like that, along with a 30-amp, double-pole switch. When it's below freezing out, I turn the heater on for about an hour, and it's almost too warm in the garage (decent sealing, mediocre insulation).

How bad would that bad boy be for my electric bill?

It costs me about $5.00 to $10.00 per month to run it for a few hours every weekend day. Well worth the cost to me.

Damn... so way cheaper than kerosene in my case.

Electric as a primary heating source can get expensive, but as a secondary source for occasional spot heating, it's not that bad.

The plan for next summer is to run a 50 amp 240 V line to the garage (it's detatcehd so I have to trench a line out there. The ground's a little frozen for that right now.) and add a panel there so I have more power.

So based on everyones' recomendations, I'm going with propane infrared for this winter (found a new one for <$40) switching to electric (radiant) next year. Thanks, guys.

http://www.harborfreight.com/ceramic-heater-67118.html

What about something like this? I need something for my garage. I am down south though so it doesn't need nearly as much heat as some of you guys.

93EXCivic wrote: http://www.harborfreight.com/ceramic-heater-67118.html What about something like this? I need something for my garage. I am down south though so it doesn't need nearly as much heat as some of you guys.

Might be enough if you just keep moving it to where you're working. I wouldn't expect it to heat a whole garage, though.

Here is a question.

Is Kerosene heating really as expensive as it seems? Yesterday I was looking at heaters and such and noticed that for an 18,000 BTU heater propane and kerosene were pretty much equally priced yet kerosene was around $11 a gallon.

I am sure it can be found cheaper through a heating oil place or solvent supply but if my pellet stove taught me anything I will always run out after hours or on sundays so I have to think of avaliability in the budget.

$11/gal??? Good grief. And I thought the ~$5/gal at the 7-11 around the corner was high.

I think i pay around $6/gallon. (But i'll go through 4 gallons in a day)

Don't buy the cans that you can get at the hardware stores, it's $11/gallon there.

It was at Lowes that I saw $11 gallons of kerosene and "synthetic kerosene". 5 Gallon pails were only $44.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: (But i'll go through 4 gallons in a day)

That answers that question. One $14 tank of propane will easily last 4 11hr days of wrenching in the garage.

My curiosity in kerosene has evaporated.

I have a very poorly sealed 40x40...

I use forced air kerosene.. (diesel really) to take the edge off.. Even in sub 20 degree Fahrenheit weather the shop is very toasty in well under an hour..

More like 30 minutes.. During this time the cheapo barrel stove gets a nice fire going... A good fire burning junk wood from the summers construction projects does the work from there...

Maybe about every couple hours the big gun needs fired up to take the edge off...

But what I really want is a waste oil setup...

Keep thinking I am going to just build one..

but yeah..

time for another project.. yeah right..

I thought about a waste oil set-up, but the problem there is somewhat similar to doing a veggie-oil diesel set-up: collecting and storing the oil. After checking the per-hour used, I figured out that if I changed the oil in all 8 of our running cars, the waste would heat the garage for a couple of days, tops...

Not saying it can't work - I know a guy in York, PA for whom it works quite well, but he has guys bringing him oil all year and he has a room full of old oil cans - but the logistics need to researched before diving in.