Natural Gas garage heaters

[eyexer]

I have a 1200 sq. foot garage and my 45K reznor is barely enough. I'd go no less than 75K. But I would really consider going with a standard high efficiency 75K furnace. Suspend it up off the ground and just run a return air trunk down close to the floor. run a service duct along the back of the garage with your ducts angled down about 45 degrees. The reznor heaters don't have enough air movement to cover a 1400 square foot garage very well. I'm going to pull my reznor out sometime and go with a furnace and put the reznor in my barn

 

[guywhofishes]

Install a ceiling fan. Got in-floor drain? If so you are lucky.

 

[Hookin8easy]

Guessing for $38 difference might as well go with the 75,000. Is it bad to go to big? I know with an AC unit you don't want the compressor kicking in and out a bunch so to big is bad if it cools your place down to quickly, would think with a heater it wouldn't matter.

Yes too big can cause several issues, rusting out the heat exchanger, vent, inducer due to short cycling and condensation. Go with the 60,000 and be done, trust me that's what I do. As far as brand sure you can go find anything at any store possible but when it comes to parts, and it will eventually, you need to stick with a name brand. Reznor, Modine, Hot dawg, and ADP are all great heaters. Personally, from a service mans perspective, the Reznors are the noisier of the above mentioned, vibration noises on warmup. I personally am the bigger fan of the ADP heaters. As far as sidewall venting goes-check your install vent requirements, many want you 2' past your overhang of the roof, so if you don't mind a 4' pipe hanging straight out the side than ok, up is more aesthetically pleasing to most, slope it downward also if you sidewall it. There's my 2 cents

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And if your gonna keep the space heated all winter keep it warmer than 45 or you'll rust it out also, you'll need a garage stay, many house stats low end is 55

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My 60,000 does my 1200 square ft with 11' sidewalls with no issues

 

[guywhofishes]

Don't install near the wall that is shared with the house. You will hear it more in the house.

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(The studs "conduct" noise/vibration - so distance away from wall helps more than you would think)

 

[johnr]

Thanks guys, I have a buddy that owns a welding and refrigeration business in town here. He sells and installs garage heaters too, so it turns out I have an expert in my speed dial. Not sure what brand(s) he sells, but I am guessing he would carry one of the aforementioned ones.
I do have a floor drain, and hot and cold water in the new place. The previous owner never put heat in it as he didn't fish, hunt, or do any work in the garage in the cold months. He claims he is a native NDr but seems suspect to me.

 

[huntinforfish]

I don't want to divert to conversation too much, but does anyone have a cost estimate to heat a two stall garage through the winter? Low 60S upper 50s is all I would want for maintained temp and I would likely use it intermittently too. Just curious

 

[guywhofishes]

I don't want to divert to conversation too much, but does anyone have a cost estimate to heat a two stall garage through the winter? Low 60S upper 50s is all I would want for maintained temp and I would likely use it intermittently too. Just curious

insulated? if so - maybe $120 tops

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so it turns out I have an expert in my speed dial..

I feel used.

 

[Hookin8easy]

I don't want to divert to conversation too much, but does anyone have a cost estimate to heat a two stall garage through the winter? Low 60S upper 50s is all I would want for maintained temp and I would likely use it intermittently too. Just curious

LP or natural gas? If LP you may want to check into dual fuel rate from elect company and do an air handler with a 20kw heat strip

 

[huntinforfish]

LP or natural gas? If LP you may want to check into dual fuel rate from elect company and do an air handler with a 20kw heat strip

Natural Gas

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Looking ahead and considering I have owned the house less than a week, I would have to finish the garage (3/4 done now) and I am pretty sure there is no in floor drain. Is this a necessity? How do you handle snow melt otherwise? Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

 

[johnr]

Natural Gas

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Looking ahead and considering I have owned the house less than a week, I would have to finish the garage (3/4 done now) and I am pretty sure there is no in floor drain. Is this a necessity? How do you handle snow melt otherwise? Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

I did not have a floor drain in my last garage, it puddled on the western edge of the garage toward the overhead door. It eventually would dry up, but on a sticky snow day it would puddle rather large and I would just broom it out the over head onto the lawn, sometimes creating a ice slick a couple feet wide, and a couple feet long in the driveway.

Most times it would just eventually dry up from sitting in the warm garage.

Nothing better than a warm snow free vehicle in the dead of winter, no window scraping, cold seats, frozen whatnots, etc... Plus you can leave things in the garage you don't want to freeze like your pressure washer, batteries, beer fridge, water jugs, dog, wife. haha

 

[guywhofishes]

yeah - as long as you knock major clumps of ice/snow off before driving in the puddling isn't bad

that's what the ceiling fan is for - to help dry the floor

I had the low temp stat installed - I keep it 45F normally - quite balmy feeling actually when it's -20F outside

 

[eyexer]

Yes too big can cause several issues, rusting out the heat exchanger, vent, inducer due to short cycling and condensation. Go with the 60,000 and be done, trust me that's what I do. As far as brand sure you can go find anything at any store possible but when it comes to parts, and it will eventually, you need to stick with a name brand. Reznor, Modine, Hot dawg, and ADP are all great heaters. Personally, from a service mans perspective, the Reznors are the noisier of the above mentioned, vibration noises on warmup. I personally am the bigger fan of the ADP heaters. As far as sidewall venting goes-check your install vent requirements, many want you 2' past your overhang of the roof, so if you don't mind a 4' pipe hanging straight out the side than ok, up is more aesthetically pleasing to most, slope it downward also if you sidewall it. There's my 2 cents

- - - Updated - - -

And if your gonna keep the space heated all winter keep it warmer than 45 or you'll rust it out also, you'll need a garage stay, many house stats low end is 55

- - - Updated - - -

My 60,000 does my 1200 square ft with 11' sidewalls with no issues

why would my board go out on my 45K reznor six months after I started using it?

 

[deleted member]

i don't think its code and it might not even be legal. but, i've heard of folks making "floor drains" by simply cutting a square or round hole in the concrete and digging down 4-6 feet with a post hole digger and adding a cover. the little water associated with melting snow slowly disappears. has to be dug out every now and then. and of course it will only work if your floor drains to the hole.

 

[guywhofishes]

i don't think its code and it might not even be legal. but, i've heard of folks making "floor drains" by simply cutting a square or round hole in the concrete and digging down 4-6 feet with a post hole digger and adding a cover. the little water associated with melting snow slowly disappears. has to be dug out every now and then. and of course it will only work if your floor drains to the hole.

yep - down side is the salt slowly accumulating in your soils

I have heard of people renting cement saws and cutting 1/2 to 1 inch deep narrow "grooves" toward the door or toward their "dry well" or wherever they want to direct flow - they eventually plug with dirt but can be opened up with pressure washer. The floor between the grooves stays high/dry. I was going to do that but the floor has been staying dry enough.

Then again it's been two really mild winters since I've had the heater installed... so maybe if a "Buffalo NY" style winter ever comes I'll need to install drain or grooves of some sort.

 

[Hookin8easy]

why would my board go out on my 45K reznor six months after I started using it?

hard to say, electronics brother

 

[Muzzytipped]

Mr. Heater Big Maxx™ Natural Gas Garage/Workshop Heater — 80,000 BTU, Model# MHU80NG

Item# 27465

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200577751_200577751

I had dropped shipped to my driveway for $45 dollars.

 

[eyexer]

hard to say, electronics brother

I troubleshot it by what the manual showed and came to the point where it's a bad board. I'm going to pull the one out of my working reznor and try it in my shop reznor and see if that solves the problem. It never seemed to work right from the get go.

 

[Hookin8easy]

I troubleshot it by what the manual showed and came to the point where it's a bad board. I'm going to pull the one out of my working reznor and try it in my shop reznor and see if that solves the problem. It never seemed to work right from the get go.

pm sent

 

[gr8outdoors]

I have a 55btu in my 900 sq. ft. garage n it isn't big enough if that helps. It runs constantly when set at 60 and garage is insulated well. Putting in a bigger one this year. It helps to know a guy in the business to find and install for trade for doing drywall in his garage for him!

 

[johnr]

Well we moved in last weekend, house is somewhat put together giant flat screen is installed in the mancave. I have my entire garage to go yet. The beer fridge, and 2 freezers are set up, a little bit of shelving is installed. I have some garage cupboards to hang up tonight. But the good news is my heater is ordered and being installed Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Called my buddy he came over last night measured the garage, and checked things out, said its an easy install with the gas line already being run, thinks it will take his guy a couple hours at most.

Not sure what size he order, as he is the expert, but I know he said it wouldn't take too big of one to heat an insulated finished garage area, and still have a good recovery. I am guessing it was at the 50,000-60,000 range. Of course I also live in the banana belt so I have that going for me too.