What's a good ventless propane heater for a garage?
I have a pretty new home, with a two car UNHEATED garage. The garage gets very cold and my master bedroom and bathroom are above the garage. I am having problems with the pipes for my master bathroom freezing at night because it's getting so cold like -5 degrees F at my house. anyhow, I wanted to put some sorta of heater in the garage to 1.) keep the pipes warm on VERY cold nights and 2.) also make the garage warm so I can work in the garage, etc. I need something that is no hazadous to my health because I will be in the garage with all doors and windows closed for a couple hours at a time working on projects. I was thinking of going with one of those wall mounted ventless propane heaters and having a 100lb propane tank installed outside my garage. I was wondering a couple things about these heaters.. 1.) What is the best manufacturers to go with? 2.) I see they come in radiant heat and also flame heat models. I read that the radiant heat heats up people and objects in the room, and that the flame heat heats up the air in the room. I don't know which one is better to go with. I want something to heat up the entire garage pretty quickly. 3.) How many BTU's do you think I need for a 2 car garage. The measurements of the garage are 20' x 24' with I think a 9 foot ceiling. I would like to be able to heat the garage up to like 55-60 degrees F in like 10-15 minutes if possible. Any help would be very much appreciated, thanks! I would never install a ventless gas appliance. squale, I have to say that the use of ventless heaters won't get much support around here. A lot of folks who are connected with the heating industry take a very dim view of these types of heaters. In Canada and some parts of the US they are not allowed to be used because of the potential of poisoning by carbon monoxide. I know Minnesota doesn't allow them but I'm unsure of other states. How these things work is that under ideal conditions the flame burns with over 99% efficiency where the carbon monoxide that is emmited is within the allowable amount. The type of safety they use measures the amount of oxygen in the air and when the oxygen begins to be depleted they shut the heater off. In many peoples eyes this is thought to place to much empasis on people's safety with a single mechanical device. Here is a link to a thread about ventless tent heaters but they work the same as home ones. Another thing to consider besides safety is the fact that if this is a workshop, because these heaters also discharge a considerable amount of water vapor to the room you will be faced with rust on all your tools. My suggestion is to install a vented heater or if you do not want to put in a chimney, an electric heater of some type may do it for you. It would be a much wiser investment to insulate the ceiling and pipes and also the garage door, and make sure the bottom of the door has a good weather strip on it. If it's still freezing then think of adding a heat run from your furnace to the area but no return as this could be dangerous. okay thanks. Well the pipes unfroze and I get water again now.. Thank God! But yeah considering these ventless propane heaters, I think I would have to put a new propane tank (100 gallon) outside my garage wall to power one of these wall unit heaters. I too am a little suspicious about the amount of carbon dioxide they put out, my friend has one of these in his basement and when it runs it sort of smells too. I think it will just be too much of a pain to even install one of these and get another propane tank, etc. Right now I heat my house with a propane tank which is a 500 gallon underground. I don't think its' a good idea to tap off of that for a ventless heater in the garage, but I could be wrong. So then if you are talking about electric heaters, what type of heater would heat my whole garage (2 car) without needing it's own 220 volt line and raising my electric bill RIDICULOUSLY high? I think my whole garage is on a 15 amp breaker so I don't want to overload it if I can help it. I was even thinking maybe going with one of those Mr. Heater Big Buddy indoor propane heaters that are portable.. http://www.mrheater.com/productdetail.asp?id=784 What do you guys think of this thing? You can get a slim line vented heater for the garage. The Mr Heater is a ventless heater as well. These ventless heater should be outlawed everywhere! YOu also can tie into the same tank you have now underground. what is so bad about ventless heaters? they seem to be fine, I know many people that have them in their homes and they work good and they keep them running for hours at at time with no problems squale, What is so bad about ventless heaters? 1. Your family could die from carbon MONOXIDE, not dioxide poisoning. 2. Your family could get sick from carbon monoxide or a lack of oxygen. 3. Your family could develop alergies or sensitivities to chemicals by breathing the allowable levels of contaminates that ARE discharged. 4. You will be adding lots of moisture to the air that will make your windows sweat, could rot the structure and cause rust on your tools. The fact that these heaters are prohibited in Canada and a great many states should be a bit of a clue. Another thing that I don't understand is that even though their use is prohibited in a good many places they are still allowed to sell them in those states. Plus, the mfr's are under no obligation to tell you they are prohibited. We are really talking about a cost issue here. I ask you, what is wrong with laying out a little more money for a proper vented heater or the proper power to run a 240 volt heater? There are propane heaters available that only need a grill on the outside wall as opposed to a chimney. The moisture issue is a given. The more you run it the more moisture will condense on your tools. Dying or getting sick is remote, but considering that governments get the stats to make the decision to ban them you. Google search on ventless heater safety. This is what I think anyway but what do I know. Someone asked me if I was so smart then why ain't I rich? very good points there.. what is the SAFEST form of heating then to put in the garage.... electric? I have seen these big 240v electric heaters, but will these use LOTS of energy thus killing my energy bill every month? damn... I miss my pellet stove.. lol just out of curiosity, why don't I have that moisture problem you talk about with my normal home heating system. My house has baseboard hot water (3 zone), with a Well McLain Gold Series Propane Boiler. It is still burning propane, and still venting outside, but I don't have any moisture issues? also, I noticed on the back of my boiler, that the back metal cover is not on. It's just leaning up against the wall. The cover seems to have insulation connected to it. Should I put this cover back on or is it okay to leave off? I guess the prior owners might have had the boiler serviced or something before I moved in and never put the back cover on? Greg said it all there! Reson for your home not to have these problme that it's vented out side. The gas that been burned gives off vaper, CO, fumes, sometime ordors in the boiler stays in the heat exchanger/cell, and goes right out side up the flue pipe. Nothing is dumped into the home.. I would put this cover on.. Might of been left off by accident. Ventless heater, all of the of the burned byproducts is dumped right into the living space. okay concerning the cover that is off on the back of my boiler, I noticed that there is this metal big plate or soemthing that the cover goes over, and this metal is sorta rusted.. but the boiler is only 2.5 years old same as the house.. Not sure what you really got there.. Are you able to take a picture of it here for us to see? I can't really get a camera back there I don't think it's just the back metal panel to the WelMcClain Gold GV boiler.. is this a good boiler by the way?
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