My report on garage heater

[Craig D Peltier]

I have had a 4000 watt 240 volt electric heater (13648 BTU rating) in my shop for maybe 4 months now. I use it every day. My garage is 3 stalls. The doors are wood with noticeable lite outside. The ceilings are 9 feet with insualtion, walls as well are insualted.
So id say the shop is 18x35. Temps here for the past 4 days have been 20 in morning 35 in day. My shop which does share a common wall with house is about 40-45 in morning on all days during winter. If I leave it running for 1-2 hours its up to about 60 and then as day goes on I can get it up to 70. Its quiet, it has a thermostat.
It cost $99 from Northern Tool item # 173004-1812. I got free shipping when I bought it.
Im happy with it, I didnt have 600-1000 to get anything real big or even 400 at the time. My electric bill went up about 30-40 a month. Its very light, I leave it on top of my jointer and it shares the plug with the TS.

Just thought Id let you know how well a $100 heater works for me. I also from time to time leave door open into house from garage, its laundry room so some heat does come from there.

[Lou Ferrarini]

Thanks for the info. I was getting ready to buy a propane heater for my basement shop, but I like this idea a lot better.

[Eric Haycraft]

Something to consider is what this will cost you in the long run as opposed to a gas option. A small gas garage heater will cost 5-600 dollars..but it may save you 100 bucks a year over an electric option.

[Craig D Peltier]

Something to consider is what this will cost you in the long run as opposed to a gas option. A small gas garage heater will cost 5-600 dollars..but it may save you 100 bucks a year over an electric option.

Each part of the country has different rates. I beluve gas here is a bit more pricey.
I wanted a Hot dawh heater but not enough funds.This has served me well.

[Brad Townsend]

I have a very similar situation. Shop is 20 x 30' with 9' ceiling and one 8' single insulated garage door. R19 in 6" stud walls and R30 in the ceiling. I heat it with a 5000w electric. The past several days, it has been -10 at sunrise with -25-30 degree wind chill during the day. I can get it to 60 and it's not the beach, but it's very comfortable for working. I leave it set at about 50 when I'm not in there. I'm sure it's impacting my electric bill, but not to an extreme amount. With gas prices around here, payback on a gas unit would be very far out, if non-existent.

[David Gunn]

Was there a big sale when you bought it? Their website shows it for $219.99 now. I have a one car garage/shop I work in, and I am looking for something to knock the cold out a little too.

[Craig D Peltier]

Was there a big sale when you bought it? Their website shows it for $219.99 now. I have a one car garage/shop I work in, and I am looking for something to knock the cold out a little too.

Its actually on sale right now for 90 http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...049905_1049905

[rocky brown]

this heater is out of stock but i ordered a similar one for $79+ shipping- thanks op!

rb

[John Canfield]

My 30x50 shop (with a 16' ceiling) was numbing me to the bone the last few days. The temps outside were hovering around freezing for several days and my shop was about 38-42 degrees in the morning when I got started for the day. After three or four hours, my old body was not doing well with the cold.

I have resisted buying any kind of heater since winters here (Texas Hill Country) are fairly mild and not real long in duration, but I just got fed up with being cold and uncomfortable and I knew something needed to be done.

Off I go to make my rounds at the big box DIYs and Tractor Supply to heater shop. Nothing at the big "L" jumped out. Next stop was to see Homer. Found the heater section and the kerosene space heaters were on sale - $86, reg $125. Okay - maybe I should buy two of these since I have so much volume to heat.

I turned the corner and on the endcap aisle display was a forced air kerosene/diesel/heating oil 125,000 BTU heater on sale for about $200 reg ~300.

Wow - that puppy is coming home with me! Got it set up, poured about two gallons of diesel in the tank (tank holds 10 gallons and burns 1 GPH) and flipped the switch "on." Look out - it sounds like an MD80 spooling up for takeoff. Loud it might be, but in the space of ONE hour, it raised the temperature of my shop from the low 40s to about 55 degrees.

I was absolutely flabbergasted the heater could be that effective given the volume of my shop. My sole regret is I didn't buy sooner (of course it would have cost me another hundred bucks.)

[Eric Haycraft]

I don't mean to be such a downer today, but I feel I should warn you about those non-vented combustion heaters. When they burn fuel, one of the byproducts is water vapor. When this isn't vented outside, it has a tendency to raise the moisture content in the air and this can cause condensation on your metal tools which leads to rust. Be careful..If you notice rust forming on things, it is from the heater.

[Jim McDonald]

With lp reaching $2.00 gal. I have looked at alternative heating. It would seem that the break-even point with $.07 / kilowatt is $1.44 propane. So, for the time being, electric is cheaper...last month, electric bill was $100. higher, but that would only bought 50 gal. propane. I'm using 3 oil-filled radiator style in the rooms we occupy...propane is set to come on if temps fall too low for the electric to keep up...happy with the system so far....

[John Canfield]

Thanks - yes I am aware of the moisture problem with unvented propane and other fuel heaters, but our humidity is pretty low. Adding some moisture to the air shouldn't be a problem. In any case, the heater only needs to run maybe two or three hours a day to keep my bones functioning.

When I had the shop in Florida, rusting and mildew was literally a 365 days a year problem and I got real adept at dealing with 100% humidity and the accompanying rust.

Thanks for the head's up!

-=John=-

[Jason Scott]

I'm looking at the Dayton 220V 34000btu electric garage heater for my basement shop. They are 289.00 shipped, my Dad has one in his 2 car garage and it kicks on and warms everything up toasty in minutes.

[Dane Ball]

I just built my dream shop over the past year. Since winter has come I needed to heat my 24 X40 with 10' side walls and 14' center crest. I explored many options. Due to needing all my wall and floor space I chose the big max propane 75k BTU from Northern Tool. Wow!! This thing will go through some propane but it heats my shop to a comfortable 70 degrees even with todays high of 29. I am in North East Texas. Our weather is crazy. For me this was the best option. Just thought I would share my experiance with yall.

[Tom Leasure]

Guys,
You might want to be careful with those non vented propane & kerosene heaters. They work pretty slick but do give off a fair amount of carbon monoxide. Could be a real problem in a tight shop.

Tom L.