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Heater for Garage

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  • Oct 21st, 2018 6:38 pm
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Newbie
Jul 27, 2018
63 posts
77 upvotes

Heater for Garage

I have a 1.5 car insulated garage that is attached to the house and I'm looking for a 120V heater. I'm not looking to heat it to a comfortable temperature, more to prevent the garage from freezing as I also use it for storage and I sometimes do work in there (refinish some furniture, etc). Probably keep it no warmer than 10C. Which electric heaters have a thermostat that will go that low? What is better, fan or oil type?
28 replies
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Mar 23, 2008
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flyingpostman wrote: I have a 1.5 car insulated garage that is attached to the house and I'm looking for a 120V heater. I'm not looking to heat it to a comfortable temperature, more to prevent the garage from freezing as I also use it for storage and I sometimes do work in there (refinish some furniture, etc). Probably keep it no warmer than 10C. Which electric heaters have a thermostat that will go that low? What is better, fan or oil type?
Is your garage insulated and/or drywalled? Where are you located? 10 degrees could be tough for a 120V heater if you don't take care of the basics.

C
Newbie
Jul 27, 2018
63 posts
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CNeufeld wrote: Is your garage insulated and/or drywalled? Where are you located? 10 degrees could be tough for a 120V heater if you don't take care of the basics.

C
Yes, it is drywalled and insulated with an insulated garage door.
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Feb 11, 2007
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GTA
How attached is your garage? 1 side? 3 sides?
Mine is 3 sides (back, left side and ceiling attached to house), so with only 2 exterior walls my garage stays above 5'C all winter. I do plan to insulate my exterior wall and improve the weather stripping of the garage door.

Do you want to heat it continuously? Or only at certain times? When I need to work in the garage I just turn on a couple 1000W halogen flood lights, which radiate heat onto me nicely. Sometimes I just open the attached door and let in warm air from the house.
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Deal Addict
Jun 16, 2009
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Vaughan
This may be a good option but its on 240V :
https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/ ... -prod-com1

Tstat that goes along with it :
https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/ ... -prod-com1
flyingpostman wrote: I have a 1.5 car insulated garage that is attached to the house and I'm looking for a 120V heater. I'm not looking to heat it to a comfortable temperature, more to prevent the garage from freezing as I also use it for storage and I sometimes do work in there (refinish some furniture, etc). Probably keep it no warmer than 10C. Which electric heaters have a thermostat that will go that low? What is better, fan or oil type?
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Newbie
Jul 27, 2018
63 posts
77 upvotes
The garage is attached on one side only, I just want to keep the contents from getting below 0 for extended periods. I've read that you are not suppose to let chest freezers get that cold, plus I store all kinds of stuff in there from wet cat food to my steam cleaner, etc. Plus things like tools and small machines (drill press) get rusty when they go through the freeze-to-warm cycles as they condensate. I would keep slightly above freezing, and if I plan to work in there I would just crank up the heater. I'm thinking maybe a radiator-type would be better as I could just position it next to me while I work at my bench.
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Mar 23, 2008
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The other thing you have to keep in mind is "How much is this going to cost me?". If you're trying to keep your garage above zero all the time (and given the price of electricity out in the GTA), an 1800W heater running for the winter will not be particularly cheap.

Personally, I run a 4800W (240V) heater in my detached garage when I want to do some work out there. Takes about 30 minutes to get it up to a comfortable working temperature. And then I unplug it when I'm done. If I want to do any finishing work, that comes indoors, as does any materials that shouldn't be frozen (glues, etc). It's a bit of a pain, but not the end of the world. Haven't noticed any condensation issues.

C
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Nov 10, 2015
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Monte Creek, BC
I have a similar situation with my garage.
I do have a small work area at the far end of it, framed and insulated. It has my chest freezer and a refrigerator. Between the two them they keep that small room at about +10 until the outside temp gets close to -10. Then I turn on an oil filled electric heater. A lot of fridges will not operate below zero.
As for the garage itself, anything that I don't want to freeze is stored on the wall against the house. Coldest we get is -23 and those items never freeze. In fact the garage seldom gets below zero.
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May 16, 2011
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poleman wrote: I have a similar situation with my garage.
I do have a small work area at the far end of it, framed and insulated. It has my chest freezer and a refrigerator. Between the two them they keep that small room at about +10 until the outside temp gets close to -10. Then I turn on an oil filled electric heater. A lot of fridges will not operate below zero.
As for the garage itself, anything that I don't want to freeze is stored on the wall against the house. Coldest we get is -23 and those items never freeze. In fact the garage seldom gets below zero.
Why would you want a fridge that operated below zero?
Deal Guru
Jan 25, 2007
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Paris
I went full NG. Was around 1500 or 1700 all in. Costs me 12-30 cents a day to keep garage 10 celsius when its under -10 outside. Can warm to working temp at 16-18 in about 15-20 mins.

Standard 2 car garage.
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Oct 20, 2011
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Jerico wrote: I went full NG. Was around 1500 or 1700 all in. Costs me 12-30 cents a day to keep garage 10 celsius when its under -10 outside. Can warm to working temp at 16-18 in about 15-20 mins.

Standard 2 car garage.
I also have a ng 45,000 btu Modine, hot dawg heater in the garage. Cost to operate is pennies, it heats the garage quickly and is mounted about 9' in the air with the baffles positioned towards the center of the garage. Before that I used an electric ceramic heater and it didn't come close the same heat, albeit, it was small in comparison, but cost more to operate as it was electric.
Jr. Member
Jun 16, 2015
172 posts
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Scarborough, ON
I have a natural gas line coming to the backyard which we dont use, my garage is about 10-15 ft away . Can I get a pipe ran along the outerwall into garage for a NG heater?
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Jul 23, 2004
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eldiablo wrote: https://www.simplex.ca/en-CA/tips-advice/btu-calculator

Hate to tell you but there is nothing with 1800watts of heating that will keep your garage above zero when you have -10 deg C days or colder. You are looking at a lot more energy to heat that space. Are you in GTA?
I'm pretty sure with a 1800W heater he would be fine.

I have a similar garage which is heated by a 2250W baseboard heater. I usually heat the garage to 10C during the winter and it's perfectly fine.

Most attached garages I see in homes in Quebec are heated that way and I've never heard people saying their 2000-2500W baseboard heater is not enough to heat their garage.
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Oct 2, 2013
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AMD wrote: I'm pretty sure with a 1800W heater he would be fine.

I have a similar garage which is heated by a 2250W baseboard heater. I usually heat the garage to 10C during the winter and it's perfectly fine.

Most attached garages I see in homes in Quebec are heated that way and I've never heard people saying their 2000-2500W baseboard heater is not enough to heat their garage.
But your baseboard is 240V and he is talking about 120V.
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Nov 17, 2012
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Multiple 120v heaters will do the same as a single 240v heater - natch. So confirm how many 15A circuits you have running to the garage and plug a heater into each one.

Start with one, and get more if you need them. I'd go with the oil ones personally.

That being said I have a 12 x 20 detached wood frame garage with 2x4 insulated walls and no insulation in the ceiling. I ran a 40A 240v circuit to it and run a 5000w construction heater. It warms it up nicely and I can work out there on my motorcycles etc. Figure it costs me about $0.50 per hour to operate during the weekends assuming a loaded $0.10 / kWh cost (although these days it's probably more like $1 per hour). Either way it's cheap to run it for 10 hours on a weekend to spend some good mental time in the shop.

So assuming your space is at least as efficient as mine, 2-3 x 1800w 120v heaters should be plenty but you need one dedicated 15A circuit for each one or you'll blow breakers.

For wood working I think you'd want more climate controlled space for both heat and humidity.
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Jul 23, 2004
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SquadG wrote: But your baseboard is 240V and he is talking about 120V.
Watts are watts whatever the voltage is.
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Jul 23, 2004
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torontotim wrote: Multiple 120v heaters will do the same as a single 240v heater - natch. So confirm how many 15A circuits you have running to the garage and plug a heater into each one.

Start with one, and get more if you need them. I'd go with the oil ones personally.

That being said I have a 12 x 20 detached wood frame garage with 2x4 insulated walls and no insulation in the ceiling. I ran a 40A 240v circuit to it and run a 5000w construction heater. It warms it up nicely and I can work out there on my motorcycles etc. Figure it costs me about $0.50 per hour to operate during the weekends assuming a loaded $0.10 / kWh cost (although these days it's probably more like $1 per hour). Either way it's cheap to run it for 10 hours on a weekend to spend some good mental time in the shop.

So assuming your space is at least as efficient as mine, 2-3 x 1800w 120v heaters should be plenty but you need one dedicated 15A circuit for each one or you'll blow breakers.

For wood working I think you'd want more climate controlled space for both heat and humidity.
You setup is great for what you need it for. It is very powerful and will heat up the space quickly so it gets up to temp and comfortable fast enough for you to work in the garage.

But if the OP was the have his heater always turned on, it would not need to be as powerful as it would never need to make up for such a drop in temperature.

OP : try a 1500W 120V space heater that has a buit-in thermostat and see how it goes.
Deal Guru
Jan 25, 2007
12694 posts
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Paris
torontotim wrote: Multiple 120v heaters will do the same as a single 240v heater - natch. So confirm how many 15A circuits you have running to the garage and plug a heater into each one.

Start with one, and get more if you need them. I'd go with the oil ones personally.

That being said I have a 12 x 20 detached wood frame garage with 2x4 insulated walls and no insulation in the ceiling. I ran a 40A 240v circuit to it and run a 5000w construction heater. It warms it up nicely and I can work out there on my motorcycles etc. Figure it costs me about $0.50 per hour to operate during the weekends assuming a loaded $0.10 / kWh cost (although these days it's probably more like $1 per hour). Either way it's cheap to run it for 10 hours on a weekend to spend some good mental time in the shop.

So assuming your space is at least as efficient as mine, 2-3 x 1800w 120v heaters should be plenty but you need one dedicated 15A circuit for each one or you'll blow breakers.

For wood working I think you'd want more climate controlled space for both heat and humidity.
Insulate the ceiling for around 200 bucks. Will change things a lot.

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