I’m looking at getting one of these to heat my two car garage while working out there this winter.

The 18,000 BTU model is the one I’m considering. Anybody have one or any experience? It’ll be used maybe three to four hours a week.

Burning anything and you may experience condensation issues. So beware of that

I have significant experience with the smaller units.
9000 BTU on high setting if I recall correctly.
We use several of them for heating deer hunting blinds.
When we use them, the windows are open for ventilation and for shooting deer.
So I can't say anything about condensation, we have none, but the windows are always open
when the heaters are operating.

If you plan on running them off a 20 pound gas grill propane tank,
you may need a special rubber hose and a inline propane filter.
Tractor Supply sells both items.

If I was going to attempt to heat a garage with one, I would likely add at least one
carbon monoxide detector in the enclosed space.

I have nothing but praise for those little heaters.

I keep six 20 lb propane tanks to heat my garage to work on projects.
When it gets really cold, single digits, I'll fire it up in my downstairs family room for a little while.
Heats up the whole house, been doing it for 25 years. No worries! Propane burns pretty clean.

I have the Big Buddy portable heater that I used for years as a supplemental heat source. Used indoors without issue.

I have a few of them I use when hunting and they do work well. Buy a refill kit (and I would suggest the refillable cylinders) off spamazon since those little cylinders are expensive now. Or, get one that goes on a large propane container.

I use one for heating my 16x24 shop and love it. Two things I learned real quickly with this unit:

1 - On high it will burn through two - 1 pound propane bottles fairly quickly so I purchased the hose extension that allows you to use this unit wit larger bottles. You only need one even though this units accepts two - 1 pound propane bottles. I do leave an empty bottle on the extra side just to ensure the unit does not leak propane back from the other side. Hose unit (made by Mr. Heater was about $35.00

2 - Purchase the 110/120 volt wall plug that converts power to the provided adapter plug that runs the fan. This model also loves to eat through “D” size batteries and I found that the blower makes a big difference related to heat distribution from this unit. Cost was about $14.00

I'm not to far away from you and I would have to question if you can heat up the garage (in this type of weather) enough to really do much work.

I have used the over two decades,deer camp .garage and barn.
Had to heat the home a few years back when ice too power down for a couple days
as others have said be careful with venting and fresh air.

If I was real serious and planned a lot of garage work I’d look into a nat gas furnace out there but realistically I’m probably going to limit my garage work time to a couple hours per session. And not when it’s brutally cold outside. Garage walls are insulated and topped with drywall, ceiling is open, roll up door is not insulated, I was planning on doing something about that next year.

The CO detector, I have an old corded Nighthawk that’s on the opposite side wall, I’ll probably pick up a new one for the side I’m working on. The garage door will be cracked at the bottom and when I’m running off a 20# tank the side “man door” will be cracked to allow the tank to sit outside.

I guess you’ve ruled out an electric IR heater like this?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W...%7Cr322080850104qyr3

No potential fume issues.

I've used a propane heater in my "garage" for over 15 years. It's clean-burning and warms up the 16x20 space to 55-60 degrees in about 1/2 hour. Condensation may be a problem as mentioned..... I have both a Smoke and CO2 detector there that haven't gone off yet.....

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
I guess you’ve ruled out an electric IR heater like this?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W...%7Cr322080850104qyr3

No potential fume issues.

Electric is out, that bill is high enough and takes another jump in January. Every time they go to the state the Public Service Commission oks their rate increase. All allegedly to improve serv8ce and minimize outages.

If you just use it 3-4 hours a week, your garage will never be warm.

I've had one for decades, bought for emergencies and supplemental "camp" heat for late season stuff. I've never been terribly impressed with how well it works, even when hooked to a big bottle. I think you will be disappointed trying to heat a garage with one. I wouldn't buy another one.


Lately I've been looking into diesel heaters, but they don't seem to have much longevity.

My house is all electric. I keep a hundred pounds of propane on hand in case of subzero temperatures and the power goes out. Those two little heaters will save my house. Just run them on and off for an hour. Mine burns about one pound per hour.

I believe you are asking a bit much. However if the space is insulated and your expectation is lowered you can get by. I would not expect to add more than about 20 degrees to the space.

I would look to a propane torpedo heater if you need to actually heat the space. Oxygen and CO must be accounted for.

FYI Home Depot has a couple of the heaters listed on the Daily Deals/Special Buy of the Day.

Well torpedo heaters are out due to the noise level, both objectionable to myself and,the neighbor’s house being pretty close. I remember in the late 60’s using one of those at a friend’s house and it was loud.

A friend’s suggesting one of these instead at $74.99 st Rural King: Mr. Heater Double Tank Top Heater - F216600
SKU: 60530028

Again, it’s mainly to direct heat where and when I’m working out there, not to,heat the whole garage.

They throw the heat but do be mindful of your health around them. Please use a CO detector, there have been a lot of dead ice fishermen attributed to those things. A garage is much larger though.

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
I’m looking at getting one of these to heat my two car garage while working out there this winter.

The 18,000 BTU model is the one I’m considering. Anybody have one or any experience? It’ll be used maybe three to four hours a week.

Check these out- https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mr...tor-MH18CH/305088547

I have two and have been using them for close to 20 years. One in the fish house and one as a house back up in case of power outage. These can roll around and would be perfect for the garage.