gas garage heating questions.

[IndyGunworks]

Ideally I would like to have a wood burning stove or furnace in the garage, that way heating it for the rest of the time I own this place is free, but there are some headaches with that as well. So I am looking into other options as well and found this.

Dayton Hanging Furnace

I believe that would be enough to heat the space but I am not sure. What I don't want to happen is for it to cost me hundreds of dollars a month to heat the garage.

Its 1864 square feet, 9 windows, two walk in doors, two 12 foot garage doors, and one 18 foot. Spray foam insulation in the walls, post frame construction. The ceiling will be insulated once I know where all my wiring and everything will go.

If I put in a furnace like this one I would keep the thermostat set to around 40, and I would guess about 1/3rd of the winter I would have the garage at or around 60-65 degrees.

I have a 1,000 gallon tank that is the source for cooking, hot water, and heat when its below 32 degrees outside, otherwise its a heat pump for heat.

I do NOT want to have to buy gas in the winter. If a gas furnace is going to push me to that point then I don't want it. If it will be fairly efficient and I can still get away with only buying gas once a year in the summer then I would consider it.

I would consider a gas furnace that's capable of my afor mentioned heating requirements if it used less than 300 gallons a heating season.

I like this set up because it doesn't take up much wall space (I have 10 foot ceilings) but wouldn't be opposed to buying real furnace (used of course) and using that and putting flex duct in the attic if that's what it would take.

 

[Bfish]

I can't tell you how much gas is gone through but my parents furnace is in their garage, and the garage is heated... If you can do it, then I highly recommend it! I do all sorts of work in it in the cold months and you just can't beat it. Heck we even had tables out there during thanksgiving for people to eat. I am certain that it doesn't just suck the gas all winter and the furnace is about 15 years+ and I know there are more efficient models out there now.... I know I didn't answer your question per say but heating it shouldn't break the bank and it's well worth it!

 

[steveh_131]

I can't tell you how much gas is gone through but my parents furnace is in their garage, and the garage is heated... If you can do it, then I highly recommend it! I do all sorts of work in it in the cold months and you just can't beat it. Heck we even had tables out there during thanksgiving for people to eat. I am certain that it doesn't just suck the gas all winter and the furnace is about 15 years+ and I know there are more efficient models out there now.... I know I didn't answer your question per say but heating it shouldn't break the bank and it's well worth it!

Are you saying their furnace heats their house and their attached garage?

I don't think he's talking about an attached garage, and since he's discussing propane, I doubt he has natural gas available there.

Maybe shed a little more light, IGW?

 

[ghitch75]

i would say with the way it is insulated would be around 35 btu's per sqft which would be 65,000 btu's input....the hanging heater you show there is only around 60% fuel rate....

a 80% unit like this would be a better choice and save you 20% of fuel.......you best would be to have someone install a 90% gas furnace with duct work.......but the best would have been if you would have done in-floor then you could have heated it with around 10 but's per sqft......

https://www.simplyplumbing.com/cata...NDC-l-VlYKD8eigduJTGaH9dGAnx86wo9DBoCSV_w_wcB

i'll only burn 200 gallons of LP all year heating 2400sft.......

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

My garage is much smaller than yours, stick-built 24' X 35' with insulation and drywall, and a 16' overhead door.

I had an old 80+ natural gas furnace (1984 model) and I set it up in the garage when I built my place over 15 years ago. I keep the thermostat at 40 when I'm not out there and it stays above freezing without running too much. Even with the furnace in the garage, along with the one in my house, my gas bills have often been lower than my neighbor's who has one furnace in a house small than mine. I make sure to keep that old furnace clean on the inside and I change the filters often.

 

[91FXRS]

Radiant heat is the way to go, combined with good insulation.

 

[Bfish]

Are you saying their furnace heats their house and their attached garage?

I don't think he's talking about an attached garage, and since he's discussing propane, I doubt he has natural gas available there.

Maybe shed a little more light, IGW?

Yeah, an attached garage... That's what I was thinking of. OP your garage seems like a great size!
As far as a detached garage, there is also a small furnace in the detached but it's not constantly on. Only when working out there. Sometimes a torpedo will be run too.

As far as heating something like that and you are planning on using wood if you have the ability, the suggestions of radiant heat are great if you can run a boiler! I know a guy who heats his garage with a boiler and it's run through the concrete slab. It takes a bit of work to get the slab up to temperature, but once it's there it's pretty awesome! As far as being cheap though a plain old wood stove or torpedo are great. It just depends on if you want it heated all of the time or just when you are working in it I think... Church Mouse is an HVAC guy isn't he?? Where's that guy or one of our other experts at on here??

 

[churchmouse]

IGW and I just had a long discussion on his needs. He has a serious shop/garage. It will require a bit more than the furnace he listed.

 

[IndyGunworks]

Are you saying their furnace heats their house and their attached garage?

I don't think he's talking about an attached garage, and since he's discussing propane, I doubt he has natural gas available there.

Maybe shed a little more light, IGW?

Middle of nowhere.... Propane is all that's available, but I do own my own 1000 gallon tank.

Yeah, an attached garage... That's what I was thinking of. OP your garage seems like a great size!
As far as a detached garage, there is also a small furnace in the detached but it's not constantly on. Only when working out there. Sometimes a torpedo will be run too.

As far as heating something like that and you are planning on using wood if you have the ability, the suggestions of radiant heat are great if you can run a boiler! I know a guy who heats his garage with a boiler and it's run through the concrete slab. It takes a bit of work to get the slab up to temperature, but once it's there it's pretty awesome! As far as being cheap though a plain old wood stove or torpedo are great. It just depends on if you want it heated all of the time or just when you are working in it I think... Church Mouse is an HVAC guy isn't he?? Where's that guy or one of our other experts at on here??

A torpedo could run for 3 hours before I would even notice the temperature changing. 1864 square feet, 10 foot ceilings.

IGW and I just had a long discussion on his needs. He has a serious shop/garage. It will require a bit more than the furnace he listed.

I do like where we were headed with the discussion. I am going to talk to my wife when she gets off work, but provided the number you gave me for the unit is on target, and the installation/ductwork doesn't scare me away, I will probably put a few guns up for sale to get this done sooner than later.


Now I am going to start the dreaded thread about insulating my attic.

 

[IndyGunworks]

i would say with the way it is insulated would be around 35 btu's per sqft which would be 65,000 btu's input....the hanging heater you show there is only around 60% fuel rate....

a 80% unit like this would be a better choice and save you 20% of fuel.......you best would be to have someone install a 90% gas furnace with duct work.......but the best would have been if you would have done in-floor then you could have heated it with around 10 but's per sqft......

https://www.simplyplumbing.com/cata...NDC-l-VlYKD8eigduJTGaH9dGAnx86wo9DBoCSV_w_wcB

i'll only burn 200 gallons of LP all year heating 2400sft.......

200 gallons a year is about the same as what my insurance would go up per year with the change of insurance companies, so that would be a wash, or close to it.


As for radiant.... I heavily considered it, but I just didn't think it was for me. I often only want the garage warm for a couple of hours, but when I get the time to go work I want it warm RIGHT NOW. so I opted against it.

 

[IndyGunworks]

posted in the other thread as well.... but cross reference of pictures to get an idea of the scale of the garage.

 

[IndyGunworks]

Also that radiant would have added a lot more than just the radiant to the price of the garage... I paid around 2.75 a square foot for my concrete slab.... that's 5000 psi concrete with fiber, and metal mesh. There is NO WAY things would have gone smoothly with the guys I used for concrete if I added ANY more complexity over top of the full length floor drain. If I would have paid a normal price for someone to pour overtop of radiant and the added cost of insulation I probably would have been closer to 10 dollars a square foot which would have killed the budget and I wouldn't have been able to afford the square footage, nor all of the other stuff I got done during construction.

 

[ghitch75]

your wall are 5 1/2" spray foam and 10' ceilings?.......1864sqft?????.......you are in the 35 to 40 btu per sqft that it how i came up with 65,000 btu's.......if it was a barn where you could through cats threw the wall you would be at 55 to 65 btu's per sqft would put it in the 110,000 btu range......

 

[ghitch75]

Also that radiant would have added a lot more than just the radiant to the price of the garage... I paid around 2.75 a square foot for my concrete slab.... that's 5000 psi concrete with fiber, and metal mesh. There is NO WAY things would have gone smoothly with the guys I used for concrete if I added ANY more complexity over top of the full length floor drain. If I would have paid a normal price for someone to pour overtop of radiant and the added cost of insulation I probably would have been closer to 10 dollars a square foot which would have killed the budget and I wouldn't have been able to afford the square footage, nor all of the other stuff I got done during construction.

they are high up there....anyone that pours in-floor down here charges just the same as if it wasn't there......you would a have just needed pipe and insulation....you would have spent about 3k with insulation and pipe if you would have laid the pipe your self....

$4.45 per sft for in-floor at the 2.75 per without it

 

[IndyGunworks]

Not quite.... I discussed the in floor radiant with the amish guy who would be pouring the concrete for 2.75 a square foot, he wasn't confident with him and his guys.... He already was working with a skeleton crew. So if I wanted the in floor I would have had to of gone w/ another company for the concrete which would have been at least double.

After some math the actual square footage rounds up to 1800 square feet, but I had about 200 more square foot of concrete... So I paid 5500 for concrete, and if I would have gone radiant it would have been 14,000 if I add in your figures. I only have 28,000 wraped up in the entire project to this point, and I dumped a very large portion of our life savings into building this....

Should I have installed radiant? For no holds bar yes I should have w/out a doubt. Do I regret not putting it in? No, because I am happy with the product I have.

Cant dwell on the past anyways.... whats done is done.

 

[ghitch75]

Not quite.... I discussed the in floor radiant with the amish guy who would be pouring the concrete for 2.75 a square foot, he wasn't confident with him and his guys.... He already was working with a skeleton crew. So if I wanted the in floor I would have had to of gone w/ another company for the concrete which would have been at least double.

After some math the actual square footage rounds up to 1800 square feet, but I had about 200 more square foot of concrete... So I paid 5500 for concrete, and if I would have gone radiant it would have been 14,000 if I add in your figures. I only have 28,000 wraped up in the entire project to this point, and I dumped a very large portion of our life savings into building this....

Should I have installed radiant? For no holds bar yes I should have w/out a doubt. Do I regret not putting it in? No, because I am happy with the product I have.

Cant dwell on the past anyways.... whats done is done.

you mean the guys pouring the floor or the concrete company?

 

[br9x]

not to muddy the waters here, but if you are considering a used 90percent furnace i would suggest not buying one that has been run on propane previously. I heave seen many secondary heat exchangers plugged up from improper burning on 90percent furnaces on lp. Just my opinion but if you are wantingto go the used route i would buy one that had been burnng onnatural gas then just buy a conversionkit for that model jsut a bit more less likely to have secondqry heatexchanger issues.

 

[IndyGunworks]

I would be buying a new unit from churchmouse complete with 10 year warranty.

 

[churchmouse]

Never buy a used heating appliance. I have had way to many issues with them.
Put in a good new unit and forget about it.

 

[churchmouse]

I would be buying a new unit from churchmouse complete with 10 year warranty.

Ha........posting as I was.....