A few hints for anyone who wants a heated garage (long but worth the read I think!)

[Roland L-Ocala FL]

Having had a heated garage for about the last 7 years now, (I stored my '70 T/A 340 Six Pak in there for a few years before we got the Viper), I have a bit of a story to tell. I bought a wall mounted vent-free heater for the garage, (I insulated the heck out of it when it was built), so I figured it would be a good way to go. Wrong, let me put a bit of a do's and don'ts together here.
1) Do not use a vent free gas heater, it puts water vapor into the garage, because it can't vent the products of combustion.
2) Do get a vented gas heater, either direct vent or actual piped up chimney to the outside.
3) Do get a unit with a fan or blower on it to help circulate the air inside the garage better.
4) Do not open a window to allow outside air into the garage, you don't need to do this with a vented heater anyway. Unless your garage is about air tight, enough outside air gets into it to allow for combustion with no problems.
5) Try to vent the heater up through the roof instead fof out the wall. (This is a personal preference, but it doesn't look so good out the wall and it could be either a knee knocker or a head knocker, depending on which tpe of unit you get.)
6) You can also add a celing fan to help circulate the air better in the garage.
The garage had built up so much moisture in it because of the extended period of cold weather we have had here in West Michigan, that water was condensing on all the windows, and on the metal parts of the garage door and side entrance door, and was actually making puddles of water on the floor from the run off! After just two days of use with the new ceiling mounted unit I got, most all of the water has dried up and gone away, the windows are clear and moisture free, and I only have the temp set at about 49-50 degrees, what a difference!
I had not experienced this much water vapor in the garage before, because we have not had such a cold snap of weather as we have had this winter, but the water vapor is now a thing of the past. It seems that the water vapor was not a problem on the car itself because it was in the middle of the garage, but the outside windows and doors were real condensate builders.
Hope this helps some of you out there that are thinking of heating your garage. I got a natural gas fired unit called the "Hot Dawg" made by Modine, the automobile radiator people, and it is reasonably priced at about $420 to $450 on the internet, for the 24,000 BTU unit, more than enough for a 1 1/2 car garage.

 

[BADVENOM]

Hey, Next time you want to do something like heat your garage ask a professional first like myself, I am a N.Y.C. Licensed master Plumber. With over 28 years of experience as a Plumbing and Heaitng contractor you might want to confer with someone like nyself before messing with gas heat. You might just save your life as CO poisoning is a real possibilty!

Just putting my 2 cents in!

adam

 

[Roland L-Ocala FL]

Adam,
I consulted with the local dealer I bought the unit from (this is why sometimes it is better to buy from a local dealer than on the internet), and he took me through all of it, step by step. I also have some experience with plumbing, hanging pipe and pulling wrenches, being in the fire protection industry for over 35 years now. Remember, the heater in my garage already had a gas line running to it, all I did was to add a bit more piping from the existing piping to the new unit. I also wired the garage when it was built, and inspected, so I know a bit about that part of it too. Additionally, the laws on heaters and wiring, etc., do vary greatly from State to State, or even from city to city.
However, I agree with some of what you said, if you do not feel confident in your abilities to do this kind of work, by all means have it done by a professional! I would never think of taking a Viper engine apart and doing any internal mods to it myself.
All I was trying to do here was to throw out some advice as to what my experiences were with a vent free heater versus the new vented unit. No comparison at all, the vented heater wins, hands down!

 

[lleone]

For those of us in the North, something else to consider when heating a garage is that if your daily drivers are keep in this garage, it's best not to keep heat on (even low) as salt activity increases with temp.

Lou

 

[genXgts]

good thread and tips.

I avoid pulling my daily driver in the garage beside my GTS when there is snow on the ground. The chunks melt off the wheelwells within a few hours and send humidity levels thru the roof (over 75%) regardless of temps, even ambient.

Things have settled in around 50% when the winter drivers are kept out, this year going to seal it off, perhaps a Viper section alone, heated seperately would be nice.

 

[Jack B]

I have been using a 35,000 BTU gas radiant (Mr Heater) unit. The garage is 1000 sq ft with 10' ceilings. They require no venting and because of the efficency there is no moisture problem. They recommend a 4" X 6" air inlet in the ceiling.

When I started my research I thought it was a gimmick "we heat objects", it is not, the advantages are many and the heater is about as cost efective as it gets. When ever you are heating air at a high delta above the ambient air it is hard to maintain efficency and control condensation.

 

[Roland L-Ocala FL]

I put the Viper in its winter home all by itself in November, no other car or other toys go in it after that, so no snow, etc gets in there. Since Tuesday night when I finshed the heater installation, (still some odds and ends to clean up), all the moisture on the floor, doors, windows, is essentially gone! This unit is doing a great job for me, even in this extreme cold snap we are in the middle of. It hasn't gone above 20 degrees out here for about 15-20 straight days now. I can't wait for spring so I can get that baby back out on the road again.
I think this spring I will finish seal and paint the floor or look for some sort of garage flooring to install. Lots of guys have posted what they did for flooring so there are many good selections to choose from.

 

[shifter]

I have to admit that I had the same moisture problems Roland speaks of. I had the Enerco Radiant Heater on a programmable thermostat, kept at roughly 60 degrees when we were home, off when we were at work.

I used to get water droplets forming on the ceiling of the garage (10 foot ceiling) when we had a decent amount of snow outside. Also, the area directly above the heater (mounted according to required clearances per instructions) started turning a slight brown-ish color. Using a laser type surface heat gun, I recorded drywall ceiling surface temps directly above the heater at about 120 degrees F. Not enough to make me concerned, but enough to tint the paint. I did have a outside vent per instructions.

Despite the moisture, which usually only happened after continued use (weekend) and cold outside temps (below freezing), it did work well heating the garage and monthly utility cost wasn't much.

I have decided to try the Modine Hot Dawg in my next garage, and the heating contractor will install it for me with the rest of the HVAC units in building my new home, just out of convenience.

To Adam, your advise doesn't apply to the masses, IMHO. Some of us may not be licensed installers, but are smart enough or have the necessary experience to do a fine installation. No flame (or pun) intended, but it's not rocket science. For instance, upon the final inspection of my last new construction home, the Final inspector (not even the HCAV inspector) found a gas leak from one of the furnace connections done by a licensed contractor from a major company. It seems they are just as prone to errors as the rest of us, and I soon realized (like with much of the work done on my home) I could do a more diligent, careful job (after all it was MY home) than many of the professional crews. Just takes some common sense and a little know-how. To be safe, I had Carbon Monoxide alarms installed through out my house and garage. Never a problem.

Like many of us who do our own work on our cars, but aren't licensed mechanics, but still take them out on tracks and public roadways, you shouldn't be afraid to take on any project that you can approach intelligently and with common sense. Albeit, sometimes enough common sense to know you shouldn't do it after you learn about what it requires.

 

[BADVENOM]

I totally agree with your advice Joe, All I was trying to say after hearing someone talk about using non-vented heaters in their garage that it wouldn't be my #1 choice dut to safety issues.
A vented heater would be the choice. Also yes there is a bit of common sense that comes into play when installing ant mechanical piece of equipment, If you or anyone feels comfortable that it is within your capabilities by all means jump right in!

PS..There will always be a bunch of sloppy and poor mechanics out there in any trade so if you feel you can do better work than them the go for it! But there is nothing wrong giving good
advice as to the proper precautions that should be adhered to when installing gas equipment..Make sure that it is AGA approved.
American Gas Association.

adam