240v heater recommendations

Hey guys,

Im getting a 240V panel and some plugs installed in my garage. My plan was always to install a proper forced air furnace and do that or something with gas anyway (calcana, etc). However over time I've come to think I want a 5kw-7.5kW electric. It works the best for me.

Im looking if someone has one that they really liked. Princess auto / Canadian Tire / Amazon all have half decent ones. Wondering if anyone specifically has a recommendation.

Garage is 24'x24'x12', fully insulated double, attached to the house with a room above it.

For example, thinking this one with a line thermostat.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00HS8FZAC/...v_ov_lig_dp_it

Every time I have looked into garage heaters, my research lands on infra-red being ideal. Heats everything in the garage rather than just the air, and fairly cheap to run. I believe other Beyond threads have come to the same conclusions as well. It heats you directly when you're out there working, too. The big long bar-style ones seemed like they would be the best for heating everything up.

The infrared are fairly big and take up a good amount of upper storage space, that's why I went with forced air, smaller footprint.

But I would rather have infrared if it didnt matter if it was taking up upper space.

this one is pretty sweet, you could just install them flush into the ceiling or in corners.

https://www.canadalightingexperts.co...hoCaI4QAvD_BwE

I have whatever the one that goes on sale at Home Hardware is. 4800W little yellow box thing.
I wanna guess Dimplex?
It's fine. A ceiling fan should also be added.

I did the marth on the electric ones a while back and with the cost of electricity and how warm i wanted to keep the garage, it would have cost me a fortune to go electric. I paid back my forced air unit in 18 months.

I must be the only guy that doesn't really dig the infrared heaters, folks' place had one back in the day and it just never seemed to warm things up quickly - if you kept the garage at 10 overnight and turned the heat up to 15, it'd be hours before it felt any warmer. I much prefer forced air.

As far as electric ones go, they're wicked expensive to run and there's not many situations where it would be cheaper than a gas unit in the long term unless you're only turning it on when you're working and only heating a workbench area.

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Originally Posted by BerserkerCatSplat

I must be the only guy that doesn't really dig the infrared heaters, folks' place had one back in the day and it just never seemed to warm things up quickly - if you kept the garage at 10 overnight and turned the heat up to 15, it'd be hours before it felt any warmer. I much prefer forced air.

As far as electric ones go, they're wicked expensive to run and there's not many situations where it would be cheaper than a gas unit in the long term unless you're only turning it on when you're working and only heating a workbench area.

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I think the Infrared heaters are more intended for keeping things at a constant reasonable temperature (like 5-10C or whatever when it's -20 outside) rather than blasting it up to 15-20C on short notice because you want to go out and do some work. They definitely take way longer to heat things up, but they are more set and forget. I imagine how well your garage / garage door is insulated also makes a big difference to how much power is being consumed.

A friend of mine had a box-style gas heater in the upper corner of the garage and it was loud and inefficient but it sure did heat the place up fast.

Yeah not really interested in infrared or the calcana's for length. Also not into anything gas driven right now. I have a plan on why I am doing it this way so 100% is going to be 240V 4000-7500 electric. 5-6 years down the road? Maybe go with gas. I'm leaving the space open to install it. The money to install the wiring is not lost as I am using it for my lift and welder and the electric 240V ones are $200.

So really, even if I do spend the $200 on it and it is lost. It isn't costing me a lot. Also the incremental I figure if it runs 3 hours a day (seems like a lot with the low temp I am going to set it at) but it would cost about $1.00 a day in the winter.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Cosworth

Hey guys,

For example, thinking this one with a line thermostat.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00HS8FZAC/...v_ov_lig_dp_it

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I put a similar one in my parents old garage and i hated it. It was so loud you couldn't talk while working in the garage with it on. At 4800w it took an hour + to heat up the garage to a reasonable level.

My buddy has a good quality gas fired reznor heater in his garage. Slightly quieter but it actually heats the space enough to turn off in 5-10 mins versus hours with the electric one.

Yeah, you need to figure out if you are going to be using the heater to keep a stable heat, or only turning it on/up when you want it. You'll need several big electric ones if you want to heat the place up within an hour or two. Gas fired just puts out more BTU's.

ng powered will always be cheaper than electric heaters. For anyone else considering this. OP is set on electric.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by spike98

I did the marth on the electric ones a while back and with the cost of electricity and how warm i wanted to keep the garage, it would have cost me a fortune to go electric. I paid back my forced air unit in 18 months.

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Agree but if you keep it at close to 10degC you have the option of getting to 20deg on the rare occasions and still keep low cost. My napkin math was closer to a decade payback. But again that's based on no gas rough-in already existing. If the gas is roughed in already, I would have likely gone gas.
There's no question that gas is cheaper in the long run but many home owners may not be there long enough to get payback while the tiny electrical unit leaves with you when you move and they're $120 for immediate heat.