Garage Heater Source

[leiterch]

Just wondering if any of you could point me in the direction of a good Heating unit for my garage.

Yes, I have been lurking here for a while now. Just got register a little while ago.

Here is my setup.

OWB. Full house Hot water radiant heat system. I am really just looking for some cheap heat in the garage. It is an attached garage. Just looking to take the chill off in the winter. I use a kero bullet heater now and it works, but I have the heat, just want to hang a unit up for the garage.

Looking for a good low cost option/source.

Thanks.

by the way, love this site. I am a big internet forum guy and I love reading this site.

chad

 

[urhstry]

If you have an OWB I would think it would be easy. Get an old car radiator and plug the OWB lines into it and put a fan behind it. Add a thermostat if necessary and that should be it.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

I was at the hardware store the other day and ran onto programmable thermostatically controlled outlets. 40-some bucks, price wasnt bad, I forget how much current they would carry, but a box fan doesn't draw much.

Even using the return line from your central heat going to the radiator would help things out in the garage. You wouldnt need to run a seperate line in from the OWB this way

 

[coostv]

A radiator would be the cheapest solution. You could use a smallish one and run a lower cfm 12v cooling fan made for a car with the aid of a 120 to 12v converter.

Or, you could pick up a 12"x12" coil from ebay (I think $130-140 shipped) and an AC fan in the 600-700 CFM range. Build a box out of OSB or what have you, paint it, hang it in the garage, and run your lines to it.

Same premise I have in my shop, minus the plenum and duct work. Just a fan blowing through a coil.

EDIT, now that I think about it, my FIL has a 12x12 coil he would sell. I will ask him about it if you want. PM me if you are interested.

 

[Blazin]

Look into a hanging modine type unit piped in to your OWB loop with a 110 thermostat in the garage and you'll be golden..

 

[leiterch]

Thanks for the quick replies.......

I am going to put the feelers out to our Trucking company. A tractor trailer radiator would be money. I would put that to the side for the hanger which is next on getting some heat.

chris, I am def interested in you FIL's exchanger.

 

[coostv]

I just got off the phone with him, check your PM box.

Chris

 

[mtfallsmikey]

here's mine...converted a gas upflow furnace...duct ain't done yet. I posted other pics in a different thread.

 

[CharlieG]

Ball valve on the return line and send/divert it to the garage, and then back to the return line on another diverting ball valve. If you use the garage enough, maybe next summer run another zone(s)in the floor of the garage. I envy your radiant heat-next, smaller timberframed home will have it in addition to a requisite wood burning stove .

 

[leiterch]

Thank for the PM Chris.

I like all of your ideas. I love the floor idea. I actually wish the floor wasn't poured already. Heated floors are nice. The master bathroom has heated floors, very nice. The kitchen, dining & living room are next. Provisions are being made during install for this to take place.

 

[germy01]

Here is my shop heat setup. I just had it installed last year this is the first full winter heating my work shop. It comes off the second outlet on my central boiler. Works great.

 

[coostv]

Here is my shop heat setup. I just had it installed last year this is the first full winter heating my work shop. It comes off the second outlet on my central boiler. Works great.

That is exactly what I would have done had I not been given my furnace. I had planned to duct it to the corners of my shop, but after running it I found I do not need to (aside from the duct I put into my partitioned off third stall).

This is butch, but it works. I cut a slot in the plenum so I could slide in the piece of OSB to keep the heat in the exchanger when I am not in the shop. I developed a ritual of sliding the OSB in and unplugging the furnace when I leave the shop for the night, I have a thermostat I could turn off, but unplugging it works for me.

The plenum was always warm before which let me know I was wasting heat. Not to mention how warm it was up near the ceiling.

Chris

 

[beerman6]

So,I'm thinking about using a old car radiator to heat my basement,I'll use the return line to my OWB.

Whats the best way to hook up Copper or Pex to the rad?

 

[waterman]

a short piece of straight hose the size of inlet and outlet, a king nipple(a barbed fitting that pushes into hose) hose clamps and whatever bell reducer to get to pex or cu size. i set up a large rad this way and it works great . you could set a cheap box fan behind it and it will make alot of warm air

 

[beerman6]

Thats what I was thinking,a box fan with a line voltage t-stat.

 

[david78]

I picked up some old cast iron radiators for $30 each from a guy doing a house remodel. Quiet, no electric needed, nice heat. Three of them heat my 24' x 24' garage.

 

[blakey]

I have a couple of rads/heat exchangers in front of squirrel cage furnace fans. I personally wouldn't use an old car radiator. If and when it leaks, it would drain your owb and ruin it. Also I tried to use a electric heat type line t-stat on my furnace fans but they don't handle the motor load very well. It worked ok for a while, then would stick on or not shut off.

 

[beerman6]

Any thing that has water in it can leak,not really sure if a old car radiator is any better or worse than a HX?

 

[RuralCruiser007]

I have a couple of rads/heat exchangers in front of squirrel cage furnace fans. I personally wouldn't use an old car radiator. If and when it leaks, it would drain your owb and ruin it. Also I tried to use a electric heat type line t-stat on my furnace fans but they don't handle the motor load very well. It worked ok for a while, then would stick on or not shut off.

The first time I set up a boiler system all I was controlling furnace squirrel cage. I was using a hot water tank as the heater, grundfos pump and diesel truck radiator. I knew that a standard t-stat would not handle the wattage (voltage times amperage) of the blower system.

Standard household t-stats only run at 24 volts. Blower motors in general are 110 volts. You can run a baseboard heater t-stat. These units in general, baseboard t-stats, can either be set up as either 110 volt or 220 volt.

The only draw back to running the t-stats is that you have to run 14-2 wire or greater to control the blower unit. 24 volt t-stats usually only run 20-4 wire. The baseboard t-stats are more money, but you are not constantly having to replace them.

HTH
Glenn

 

[blakey]

Any thing that has water in it can leak,not really sure if a old car radiator is any better or worse than a HX?

I guess what I was implying was to bite the bullet and get a new heat exchanger then you don't have to worry about it.