Thoughts on Natural Gas Garage Heaters?

[Mike/Mass]

Rather than using multiple electric heaters to warm up my 2-car garage, I'm thinking I should install a ceiling mounted natural gas heater. I have a more than adequate over-sized gas line and meter coming into the house because we have two gas fireplaces, a gas range, a whole-house Kohler genset, and a plumbed large gas grill. The grill is rated at 58,000 BTUs and we don't use it in the Winter anyways, and the genset would only get used in an emergency. The garage is about 550-600 square feet and I'm thinking a 50,000 BTU heater would suffice to warm up the garage on those days when I want to go work on my '69 Camaro. Ideally, I'd like to have a horizontally mounted stack that exits out the back wall of the garage. If I can get it up to say 65° I'd be a happy camper. I'm in Western Mass and the garage ceiling is insulated and the 16' door is an insulated door. I haven't checked the two outside walls for insulation, but if they weren't I guess they could blow in insulation from the top.

I know there's two types of heaters, one type has a dual pipe... intake and exhaust, the other just has an exhaust. I'm leaning towards the latter, I'm not living in the garage LOL... I just want to be able to warm it up maybe on weekends or when I need to do something to the car. Northern Tool has some decent looking heaters in this category. I might hang it myself, but have a licensed plumber tackle the pipe/connection bc in MASS you need a permit for the installation of any kind "permanent" gas heater.

 

[Mike/Mass]

Just an update... I decided to go with an energy efficient 240v heater. No exhaust plumbing was needed, and it works like a charm. This past winter it was 15 degrees outside, and within 45 minutes the inside temp went from about 25 degrees to around 65... which is plenty comfortable when working. I have the remote/holder located by the hall door, all I do is turn it on before breakfast and its decently warm by time I've finished and had my second cup of Joe! Digital display is nice too. I mounted a 12" analog wall thermometer diagonally opposite and close to the garage door just to check it out.

 

[Ian]

Brilliant car!

I like the look of that heater, much easier than dealing with gas too. I'm actually tempted to get one of these myself, as I've been using a small portable one which gets in the way for the most part.

 

[udraft]

I switched from a propane gas buddy (becaue they are junk) to a 240v electric. Seems like the thing uses a lot of electricity. Seems my electric bill is higher in the winter than summer with the central AC running. Garage is my smoking lounge, so I heat it to roughly 60° 5 days a week, about 5 hours each day. This is in central Ohio