What do you use to heat your garage in the winter when you need to work on things?

[yotarider]

Here in Northern Michigan it gets quite chilly in the garage in the winter, unfortunately this is bad news for the various projects I am usually working on. Just happened across a 155,000 BTU Reddy Heater Topedo heater on craigslist for $50, price tag on it brand new is $550. Excited to give it a run this winter, maybe next year I will insulate it and get a heavy duty insulated garage door and mount a permanent heater... Then again... Probably not lol.

What do you guys use in your garages/shops?

[Nasty-Z]

I have a large oil fired Reznor unit heater in my shop, 230,000 BTU , I keep it around 55 in there all winter , just turn it up when I want it to be warmer . Got it off of fleabay , had to drive to Connecticut to get it but it was the best $ I had spent in a long time.

I used a 165,000 reddy heater and a wood stove for years , couldn't stand the smell and noise of the reddy heater, and the wood stove was entirely too much like work........

Good luck and stay warm

TOM

[Texsbluethunder]

Our big machine shop has a furnace and insulation (spoiled, I know).My woodworking shop is heated by a wood stove, but could use an externally fired heat source for safety. My storage/project area is unheated but this winter I will probably do the same as you and heat it with a torpedo heater (we call them salamander heaters). Im hoping to heat the house we are buying with a outdoor wood furnace within the next few years that way I can heat the garage and water with the same.

Alex

[mattillac]

Kerosene torpedo heater (50,000 BTU),it is 20 years old and still kicking heat just fine. Heats up a 24X22 area enough to work at just about any temperature, laying on the floor is still ice cold though.

On another note, I have always noticed a good amount of condensation build up on most of the metallic objects in the garage, when stuff like tools and cars are deep frozen and then the environment around them is rapidly heated stuff seems to condensate heavily. The condensation is probably not a short term problem, rapid heating of a stored car might cause rust issues.
Be careful with the antique cars and such when temporarily heating.

Good luck.

[1badgmc]

I just like to make sure all the doors on the garage are closed so no cold air gets in, then roll the windows down on the truck, start it up and crank the heater.

















































:windowlic

[SUBURBIAN]

I've got a wood stove in my shop, but working all winter last year, even late at night, I didn't need to fire it up once. I guess I like cold.

[93ChevyTBI]

I just built a 40x60 pole barn (uninsulated) and will definitely be doing some work out there .....4-6 hours a day. Was planning on putting a wood stove with blower in it....will that be enough? I don't want a loud-ass kerosene heater with blower on it. I'd like to maintain around 55-65 degree temps. keep in mind my work will be Nov-Dec pretty much....not bitter cold.

[94_c/1500]

In the shop (pretty much my dad's storage space and office) we have a wood stove in the far corner in the garage. Working up front he usually uses a torpedo heater. When I'm in there by myself in the winter I don't mess with the heat. I usually just wear a jacket and a coat, I usually take the coat off once I start doing something unless its really cold. Then chances are I'm not going to working on anything.

[GreaseDog]

150K salamander did just fine heating the front portion (30 x 40) of my cinder block shop... temps were -20* over the winter a couple times... then we got it the 250K unit heater working... 90* in my shop is not hard to attain even on the coldest day. LOL

[PHATSPEED7X]

The garage attached to the house is easy to heat in the winter. Just pull in a car/truck that has had time to reach normal operating temp. Pull it into the garage. By the time the car cools down enough to work on it the garage is about 60*. Nice!

[blackchevyguy]

we got an old 50 gallon metal barrel that we made a pit out of.
just add wood and good to go!it stays around 70 degrees in the cold nights

[Phatsub]

Mr. Heater 2 burner propane heater. Works just enough to take the chill off.

[Stratosman]

I just use a crappy little electric heater, works good enough to keep the chill off if I am wearing my coveralls

[TheBigBlackHD]

I wear a work coat.

[Dubyagee]

After the fire I had the garage fully insulated. A 1500 watt space heater keeps it at 70 all winter and a stand alone AC keeps it 70 all summer. Don't run them a lot though.

[Roz]

Ditto


The garage attached to the house is easy to heat in the winter. Just pull in a car/truck that has had time to reach normal operating temp. Pull it into the garage. By the time the car cools down enough to work on it the garage is about 60*. Nice!

[AboveAK]

Energy logic's waste oil burner. 200,000 btu and works like a charm. Can't say no to free heat. Keeping the 300 gallon tank full is a messy job though.

[bclax1408]

im from southern michigan, but its still cold here. but i use gloves.
or a salamnder heater until i run out of propane and when i dont feel like refiling my tanks, i use one of those cermaic heaters for like a coat closet, trn it on full blast and hold my hands in front of it until i can feel them again. cheap i know, but hey, i build on a budget.

[RednckChevy]

wussies..lol here in washington where i live it gets down in the 20's and all i have on my place is an open car port,just put on some longjohns and layers of clothing and im ready to go..i guess its from all the years i worked in the ice packing plants bnut the cold doesnt bother me too much, as far as my hands i have extensive nerve damage so i cant feel the cold anyway lol

[93ChevyTBI]

wussies..lol here in washington where i live it gets down in the 20's and all i have on my place is an open car port,just put on some longjohns and layers of clothing and im ready to go..i guess its from all the years i worked in the ice packing plants bnut the cold doesnt bother me too much, as far as my hands i have extensive nerve damage so i cant feel the cold anyway lol

Typically I like cold weather and it doesn't bother me much. But you ever seen that movie where the kid gets his tongue stuck to a flag pole? Well, I felt like my @ss was stuck to my driveway a few winters ago and I don't ever plan on doing that again. I'll buy a creeper just to get my big butt off the ground.

[deadtrep]

dumb & dumber when he licks the ski lift^^^^^

[XLR8N]

I use exhaust. :looking:

J/k I live 10 minutes from the gulf coast so it is usually between 50-60 here in the winter. So I just rock it with some extra clothes. Once I get to working I am fine in long sleeves. I may look into an oil burner since I have the new shop. Probably 1500 sq. ft.

[Auzivision]

I use a propane salamander to take off the chill... then kerosene heater to keep it warm.

The salamander is too loud and not supposed to be used in unvented areas. The kerosene takes a while to warm up, but does great once going. Also, $20 worth of propane is good for about 4 hours maybe and $10 worth of kerosene portably last at least 100 hours.

My garage is insulated, so it will remain warm enough to work on cars and truck all day on Saturday even if it’s below zero outside. The guy across the street isn’t and he can’t keep his warm enough.

[reomez71]

I have a 28x32 2 stall. A 165 btu ready heater takes the chill off then a 441 kero-sun monitor keeps it as warm as i need it. unless its really cold, i just start the montor up and in a half hour or so ,im good to go

[Buddies'Garage]

I have a kerosene salamander. Since my garage is super insulated & super low temps are rare I can run it for 5 minutes/ hour.

[Chevy Fireman]

Propane torpedo heater for now. Carbon monoxide poisoning makes me nervous though. Me and my dad are working on insulating the place and looking at heaters.

[JWolfe75]

One of these

http://www.northerntool.com/images/product/images/173607_lg.jpg

I used to have a torpedo it was soooo loud I couldn't take it anymore

[dvldog]

I have a 100,000 BTU kerosene torpedo heater that will get my garage as warm as I want.