I'm debating on which heater I should pickup to heat my garage this winter. I keep going back and forth on forced air kerosene or radiant propane heaters. I just want something that will keep me warm when I am out there working on something. My garage is just a standard insulated 2 car garage so anything in the 40k-60k btu rating would work fine. Might even be a bit overkill. So what is everyone's preference? Is propane better for heating enclosed areas, or is it about the same as kerosene when considering the build up of carbon monoxide?

Thanks for the input!

 

I don't know to much about kerosene heaters but propane creats moisture when it burns. In the winter months, in new construction we try to avoide propane heat, but the choice is not always avaible.

What about electric heat?

 

We picked up a new 90k btu forced air propane furnace online for about $650, and I just did about $20 worth a duct work on it, and it is sitting in a corner, with a thermostat at the other end of the garage. I've got it vented right out the side of the garage using PVC drain pipe. Works like a charm, and it heats the garage... not to mention the air is dry.

The only thing I had professionally done was the gas piping... which was using flexable copper with the proper regulators. Cost me about $85 to run it to our main 500 gallon LP tank.

Off that tank we run our fireplace, house furnace, garage furnace, and our gas range in the basement kitchen. Don't ask about cost to refill it at our runout of 25%.

 

Heated garages? Im in south florida and we still have the A/C on.... it's about 78-80* today

 

I have a trailer furnace in my 40x30 garage.I bought it from my cousin for $200, it works well.I usually leave it off unless I'm out there working.It only takes about 10 minutes before it starts warming up my garage,then I'm working in a t-shirt.
You can barely see it in the pic but I have a blue plastic 50 gallon drum right beside the furnace.I just put 5 gallons of kerosene in it at a time with a gas can.Last year I ran diesel in it sometimes but this year diesel costs more than kerosene.

 

ceramic space heater at walmart. 24.99 haha

 

Second for ceramic space heater... Altho that usually just gets tugged under the truck with me, or isnt even on. My truck doesnt fit in my garage unless its all the way up to the wall and I cant work on it from the top. Then I have to backout 3 feet to work on it, so my door is always open....

My dads garage is heated with an electric fan heater hanging in the back corner about our 2nd set of cars.

Its a 2car deep by 2 to 3 car wide garage, and the heater isnt anything huge, but man it makes it nice to have a high ceiling and heat when I go home for Christmas and work on moms and mine.

 

Floor heating similar to this one and one radiator, part of the central heating system.

 

Texas.

 

I guess I should have specified that I didn't need the comments from the smartasses that live in warm weather states.

 

just close the garage doors and turn your truck on with the heater on while you work

 

I do that while I am working on changing the fuel filter... and changing the spark plugs on my F150... I also do it while I am changing the oil... when I do that, the engine makes some weird noises. But if I put oil back in like really quick, it quiets down.

Too bad I go through engines faster than I do my oil changes.

 

Alright -- who leaked that I was a smarta$$....???

 

well, I suppose it's better to be a smart one than a dumb one.

Have a small 2-car garage. Have a 90,000 BTU portable propane heater from Northern Equipment to warm things up quick - however, it does burn the oxygen out of the garage, so can't leave it on indefinitely. After the temp is comfortable, have a 4kw electric heater (= 13,500 BTU) to maintain the temp. Ran the 220VAC from the clothes dryer outlet using an appropriate extension cord. Still need to wear an insulated jumpsuit, but at least it's a comfortable temp - much better than the butt-cold temps outside, and no wind to boot!

The truck metal at outdoor temps is a tremendous heat sink, offset somewhat if you can have the motor at operating temp - takes a while for things to equalize.

This is why I make sure I get everything I can see coming done before it gets cold. Then just have to work on the surprises.

 

Both heaters work well. Ive got a propane heater for my garage and it works well. It can be -20 outside and if I fire up the propane heater and let it run for 10 minutes it warms up the garage enough that I can work out there without a jacket on.