Garage Furnace recommendations

[Dirty_SOHC]

I’m looking for recommendations on a furnace to be used in a small insulated attached double car garage. I would like a Calcana unit, but don’t like the cost and the fact that the heater needs to run continuously to be effective. I believe that forced air will meet my needs and will only be run, when I am in the garage. Any suggestions on units to shop for and recommendation for good installers?

FYI- There is a gas line present in the garage that goes into the house and I believe that it can be teed off at that point.


Thanks!

[TKRIS]

I bought a used furnace.
It's way bigger than I need, but it was also less than $100.

Upside is you can get them cheap from buy/sell or kijiji. They're easy to run. Can use programmable thermostats. Ducting lets you get warm air to the front of the garage and get better air circulation.
They're usually more efficient than regular unit heaters. Most units heaters (Reznor, Mr.Heater) will be ~65% efficient. Home furnaces have to be at least ~80% efficient (presuming they're not super old). Cheap.
The downside is that they're huge. Some can be vertically mounted, but not all. Size isn't a huge deal for me because my garage ceiling is over 11' high and I'm mounting on a platform about 5' off the ground, but if you've got regular heights to deal with, you'll lose 2'x3' of floor space.

[Dirty_SOHC]

I'm hoping to find a unit that can be hung off the ceiling or mounted to the wall.

It would be nice to save every inch of floor space possible!

[barmanjay]

I had a heater like that in one of my old garages,.. I miss it dearly!!

I had 16ft running along the backside attached to a t-stat. Kept the garage nice a toasty perfect in mid winter!.

Nothing like lying on a concrete floor in shorts and a wife beater working on the car with outside temps reaching -30

I vowed the next time I heat a garage, I'd use the same system and run it length-wise instead.

Don't work enough in the garage anymore to warrant a heater now, so I still haven't bought one,.. LOL

[hampstor]

You can get a smaller ceiling mounted forced air furnace installed for probably for around $1G - 1500... Kory had one installed in his garage for about that much last winter. It was 40 000 BTU's (same as my Calcana).

btw, i thought that radiant dish heater you were using was good enough

edit: my bad, turns out he already had a line run - he said it was just over 2G if he had to have the line run + install the unit.

[sneek]

Originally posted by hampstor
You can get a smaller ceiling mounted forced air furnace installed for probably for around $1G - 1500... Kory had one installed in his garage for about that much last winter. It was 40 000 BTU's (same as my Calcana).

btw, i thought that radiant dish heater you were using was good enough

Do you know who is good for forced air furnaces?

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by sneek



Do you know who is good for forced air furnaces?

I'm using a Williams in-wall stand up unit... I avoided radiant tube types because of the low ceiling in a residental garage.

[Iqoair]

Originally posted by Dirty_SOHC
I’m looking for recommendations on a furnace to be used in a small insulated attached double car garage. I would like a Calcana unit, but don’t like the cost and the fact that the heater needs to run continuously to be effective. I believe that forced air will meet my needs and will only be run, when I am in the garage. Any suggestions on units to shop for and recommendation for good installers?

FYI- There is a gas line present in the garage that goes into the house and I believe that it can be teed off at that point.


Thanks!

I had a Calcana unit installed, love it. Not sure what you mean by it having to run continously. Picked up a 15' unit for a 36x24 garage, and it heats it up. Cheaper than forced air for running costs, super quiet and doesn't blow the dust around. Talk to Darcy @ Boyce Heating, did a very nice install for me.

[hampstor]

Originally posted by Iqoair


I had a Calcana unit installed, love it. Not sure what you mean by it having to run continously. Picked up a 15' unit for a 36x24 garage, and it heats it up. Cheaper than forced air for running costs, super quiet and doesn't blow the dust around. Talk to Darcy @ Boyce Heating, did a very nice install for me.

He's only planning on having it on only when he's in the garage... a Calcana takes longer to warm up the air in a room than a forced air furnace from a dead cold.

[autosm]

Princess auto has some that look decent for about 600$

[craigcd]

Both Legendboy and I installed Modine Hot Dawg 45000 BTU furnaces. I have a 24x24 garage with 10 foot walls.... insulated of course. On the coldest winter days it keeps my garage at 5 degrees and comes on a couple times a hour. When i want to work i crank it up and its toasty in 20 minutes. There was a guy on Kijii selling Modines with install.

Craig

[thetransporter]

use your existing furance with a 1 way trap. this special vent will restrict air flowing back into the house. so if someone leaves the car on fumes will not go into the house

[Davetronz]

I stand by Calcana heaters. They're a great product and the radiant heating doesn't necessarily need to be on all the time! They heat up quickly, keep the objects/cement in your garage warm and they are quite efficient overall.

[Dirty_SOHC]

Has anyone bought/ worked with Shift Air Mechanical? I saw this add on kijiji...

http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-services-...AdIdZ142136624

[Tik-Tok]

Are you replacing your current house furnace anytime soon? My garage furnace is the old one from the house. It does take up some space, but I've got a 36'x24' garage.

Unfortunately It costs about $100 a month to keep the garage at just above zero in the depths of winter, as it's literally the original furnace from the house (built in 1959)

[sputnik]

Keeping a larger garage above freezing during the winter months with a forced air furnace is NOT cheap.

It is much better to have an overhead unit if you aren't planning on being in the garage more than a couple days per week.

[TKRIS]

If I was spending the kind of money shown in your ad, there's no way I'd be going forced air. For that much, I'd definitely be getting a radiant heater.

That said, if you need to go forced air, I maintain a home furnace is a much better, and more economical choice, than a unit heater like the one you posted.
Cheaper to buy (~$150), and if you shop carefully, you can get a more efficient one.
More options with regards to ventilation and circulation.

Finding a spot for mine is a bit of a bitch because it's fucking gigantic (100,000BTUs), but if you can find something closer to the size you actually need (~55,000BTU) then you shouldn't have a problem mounting it up high on a wall. Won't take up any more room than a regular garage unit heater.


Are you guys allowed to do your own gas fitting in Calgary? It's pretty shit simple, but I know some cities and towns don't allow you to do it yourself.

[streetdreams]

what about using a wood burning stove in there we had an old one at are place and it worked great.

[ExtraSlow]

Probably a big fire danger using an unattended wood burning stoke in an attached garage. I'm sure your insurance company would have something to say about it.

For an attached garage, do something with electric heat. Less fire danger.

[TKRIS]

Electricity is going to be by far the most expensive and least efficient method of heating your garage.

The only time it makes sense is if you're only going to be in your house for a year or so, and you don't think you'll be able to recoup any of the costs of installing a proper heating system.