Had a full day in the garage however it's slow progress due to being so cold!
Its fairly draft free and about 21x13ft in size, what would be the best type of heater to take the edge off things?
I was thinking something like this do you think it'll be up to the job? I'm tight on space too.
Valor Gas Heater with Calor gas canistor on eBay (end time 26-Nov-10 17:35:35 GMT)
Thanks in advance from a cold cold Lincolnshire.
Forget the calor gas it makes too much condensation
gas heaters put out a lot of water vapour. I've said it many times, if you have a metal door, its a great big radiator taking the heat from the garage and pumping it outside, insulate it. My other trick gp to put cheap hardboard on the ceiling to reduce the volume of air in the garage you need to heat. I then wear thermals, lots of layers, a hat and gloves and have a electric heater. After a while i'm toasty, but still haven't solved cold fingers :-( got gloves with just a couple of fingers exposed to try this year.
a pair of plastic pipes to and from the house hooked into the central heating....
Insulate it as best you can (if you can loft it, even with small beams to put thin ply boards/insulation on top), door sealing strip on the bottom
etc.
That makes by far the biggest difference in my experience.
If it's moderately well sealed (and doesn't have a bare metal door), then even those little fan heater and oil filled heater things will be
able to keep a single garage up to comfortable temperature.
Comfortable temperature implies you're still wearing layers and actually doing some sort of physical work - it'll never be warm enough to
sit around in tshirt with this weather.
Those radiation heaters work really well but I've never had one - they tend to heat you (and other objects) more than the air so you get a lot
more warm "feeling" out of them for the same electricity.
quote:
Originally posted by mangogrooveworkshop
a pair of plastic pipes to and from the house hooked into the central heating....
I lined my big old garage door with foam insulation and then covered that in tin foil. The tin foil also helped reflect light back into the garage.
I'm doing this right now. I just put 3off oil filled rads on the wall yesterday, 800W each.
Had them on all day today and it only just took the edge off the cold and certainly wasn't warm. I also find the 2KW fan heaters are crap.
I'm going to insulate the ceiling with polystyrene and I'm going back to the butane 3 bar fire. Much better. I can be out there in a t shirt
when it's snowed outside.
The thing that sealed it I think was my roof still formed condensation and rained on me with just the oil filled rads on, not a great deal less
condensation than the fire caused and when that baby's on it's hot in there! That and the fact that the last bottle of gas cost me £16 for
25KG and has lasted since Dec 2007!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (ran out last week though 
)
wood burner, pot bellied stove etc then drip feed old engine oil into it
A few bags of builders sand spread on the garage floor, a fake palm tree and Steel drum music played on a loop will fool your subconcious into
thinking you're in Jamaica and you'll feel warm and toasty all day long
[Edited on 25/11/10 by Benzine]
What's a garage? I have to use the car port, now that's cold.
"I lined my big old garage door with foam insulation and then covered that in tin foil. The tin foil also helped reflect light back into the
garage."
That is a good idea with the tin foil,
i have insulated the rafters with loft insulation, that has silver foli on the bottom, and you are right it does reflect the light quite well, i may
do the door soon as well!!
On a slightly different note (sorry to thread hijack!)....
Is there any kind of rubber strip I can fix on the bottom edge of the garage door to stop drafts? I'm thinking something C shaped where the top
edge gets screwed to the underside of the garage door. Needs to take up about 20mm of space.
Garage door is wooden btw! 
Chris
Chris i bought some of this on fleebay, and pov riveted it to the metal door, it has made loads of difference !
RUBBER STRIP 5 METRE LONG 50 MM W X 2.5 MM THICK on eBay (end time 18-Nov-10 18:15:55 GMT)
Padded overalls at Lidl next week, I've got my name down for pair already 
the only advantage of having a built in garage in a semi, one oil filled rad on for 30 mins and the garage is pretty warm, no condensation. The only
down side, living in a 70's semi with a built in garage taking half my lounge.
M
quote:
Originally posted by Peteff
Padded overalls at Lidl next week, I've got my name down for pair already
quote:
Originally posted by ChrisW
On a slightly different note (sorry to thread hijack!)....
Is there any kind of rubber strip I can fix on the bottom edge of the garage door to stop drafts? I'm thinking something C shaped where the top edge gets screwed to the underside of the garage door. Needs to take up about 20mm of space.
Garage door is wooden btw!
Chris
Do it, that's what forums are for.
I disagree with it making the door difficult to open,
mine is an up and over, and i pop riveted the rubber strip to the bottom, allowinf about 10mm overlap so that when the door is closed the strip
actualy bends into a L section and seals the gap, it does not impede the door movement by much
Steve
Locost solution ...........
get some gaffer tape. fold it in half. now get some more gafffer tape and tape it to the inside of you door. The folded bit rubs on the ground and the
other bit sticks half on the garage door and half on the folded bit.
I did it a couple of years ago and it still there stopping drafts
I bought a cheap halogen heater in Argos for 25 quid. It's brilliant.
I think its a multi prong attack.
- Keeping the heat in with insulation etc.
- Heating the space with a dry heat (elec etc)
- Heating yourself with a IR heater (halogen etc)
Carpet helps a lot too...
Daniel
http://www.tfmsuperstore.co.uk/product.lasso?product=Clarke-Little-Devil-Propane-Heater-33000BTU/HR-Max+11517
This what my mate has and its great only needs to be on a few minutes to heat a garage 25x25ft
quote:
Originally posted by steve m
Chris i bought some of this on fleebay, and pov riveted it to the metal door, it has made loads of difference !
RUBBER STRIP 5 METRE LONG 50 MM W X 2.5 MM THICK on eBay (end time 18-Nov-10 18:15:55 GMT)
Well by a stroke of luck i happened upon one of these earlier today surplus to requirements which was donated to the car building cause.
http://www.housecharm.co.uk/items/104-4152514/JCB-24kW-InfraRed-Black-and-Yellow-Radvector-Radiator.html
will let you know how i get on at the weekend.
Don't bother heating the air - an IR heater works wonders, and actually makes you feel warm rather than just defrosting your tools 
Propane heaters are fine and dont make that much condensation, especially in a garage where its usually a little drafty.
I have a radiant tube heater in my workshop. I attached it to the wall. Its probably only about 2KW so doesnt make that much difference. A quick blast
(30mins) with a propane fireball (about 14kw equivalent) is enough to take the chill off for a couple of hours as long as the door is shut.
To be honest I rarely turn it on, and just pop a few layers on. Its -2 here and I was plenty warm enough in my t-shirt and hoody with the door shut.
My workshop isnt that draft free as its really a 200yr old stable with a pan tile roof.
The worst thing is handling cold metal, which just sucks the heat from your hands. Unless you can keep your garage at a constant 12deg+ that will
always be a problem unfortunately.
quote:
The worst thing is handling cold metal, which just sucks the heat from your hands. Unless you can keep your garage at a constant 12deg+ that will always be a problem unfortunately.
Soft b*****ds the lot of you...
Alan
(in FL....)
OK, OK, I suffer in summer...but this is my peak wind up time against you guys....
I can confirm the JCB heater has now been tested and it is brilliant. Thermostat to adjust the output, takes the chill of the air and the infra red thing kept me toasty. A pleasant garage experience!