garage heaters?

[paul_h]

anybody got any recomendations for a garage heater?

 

i want to do some work in my single sized garage over the winter but could do with a heater to warm the place up a bit

 

what do you all use?

 

paul

[Andy Blyth]

I've spent most of the last week working in the garage. I use a 3kW fan heater bought a few years ago from B&Q. Keeps the garage just nice.

 

Another trick I use if I'm only doing a small job is to take the car for a short drive, enough to warm the engine up, before starting work. The heat in the engine should be enough to keep the garage warm for a few hours.

[AndyT]

This'll do it.

[scotty71]

I use a Calor gas heater in my garage in the winter.... they can be picked up pretty cheap on fleabay. The gas lasts ages for me as the garage is insulated and quite warm anyway.

 

something like this ----> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Calor-Gas-Heater-Avanti-Delonghi_W0QQitemZ350293870640QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Home_Garden_Hearing_Cooling_Air?hash=item518f244830

 

Scotty

[skim41]

is it a stand alone garage (box) or next to your home? You could use a normal electric 2 or 3 KW electric heater unit or a used oil burner.... but these are expensive.

[Chris Wilson]

The two things you should think about are does it give off fumes that can make you feel, or even become ill, and does it give off water vapour, and am I bothered? The blower heaters that are direct fired and run on bottled gas, paraffin, diesel or fuel oil produce a LOT of water vapour that will condense on cold objects like a newly cleaned crank or block and can cause rust within minutes. They also give off fumes that mean you need to ventilate the place well, allowing expensive heat to escape. If you can arrange a flue though a wall or the roof an INDIRECT heater is FAR nicer to have as ALL the fumes and water vapour go out the chimney.

 

A simpler set up is a halogen heat lamp, they heat people, not objects, but buy a good (expensive) one, as the cheap Chines stuff uses coloured halogen floodlamp bulbs, not the real McCoy at all, and the casings are terrible, with the contacts likely to fail after just a short time (ask me how I know.... ) As a clue a proper bulb for a proper halogen heater lamp, like a Phillips Gold, is about 50 quid, JUST for the bulb. However they are so much better and more efficient as to rule out the cheap ones altogether.

 

An electric fan heater may cope, if the place is pretty well insulated and draught free, and you only want to take the chill off it. If the garage is attached to the house consider a spur off the house central heating, assuming a wet radiator system, and having a BIG rad in the garage.

 

Waste oil heaters can be a nightmare unless you buy a modern, none abused one, and filter the oil you feed it. In my experience they tend to be more trouble than they are worth.

 

Of course, it goes without saying you need to consider fire issues, depending on what you are doing in there.

 

HTH, I have fitted heating systems to 3 or 4 different workshops of mine over the years, and with various pals with home workshops wanting to heat them as well, we have tried most systems.

[ozz]

Chris - I've got a log cabin I use as a games room/gym, trouble is its too cold and condensation has started forming. Any ideas what would be a good background heater to help regulise the temperature? The snooker table is slate bed but I was warned they can still warp. I was thinking 2 of the oil filled pipes that go on the wall? I want something that will stay on all winter.

[AndyT]

Didn't even think of the water vapour issue.

 

Of course, that'll affect electronics in a rather major way too.

 

I'm thinking that's the issue behind eurotunnels epic failure right now. Cold trains going into a nice warm tunnel. Condensation on the electronics. Train stops.

[Chris Wilson]

Chris - I've got a log cabin I use as a games room/gym, trouble is its too cold and condensation has started forming. Any ideas what would be a good background heater to help regulise the temperature? The snooker table is slate bed but I was warned they can still warp. I was thinking 2 of the oil filled pipes that go on the wall? I want something that will stay on all winter.

 

My transporter has the same issue, I think a decent self defrosting de humidifier would be the cheapest option, and just use heat on a remote control or timer as needed. I have nicked `er indoors de humidifier to test my theory, but it's minus 4 here tonight and basic de humidifiers do *ugger all when the air temp is really low, as they never remove the frost from the coil effectively. The more "industrial" ones have a heat cycle to self defrost. There are a few cheap ones going through Ebay, if my plan works I will get something off there in the near future.

[erol_h]

Ive got a games room built out of coldroom panels at the back of my garden i was had electric heater but it used to dry out the air too much. So now i use a oil filled heater and it does the job fine and ive got a few electrical bits in there aswell.