Garage heating, what do you guys use?

Heating constantly means either gas or electric which will work out quite expensive. Electric will produce dry heat whereas gas produces condensation. Obviously wood / coal fired not suitable due for the need 24/7. No idea therefore what would be best for you.
I have an electric patio heater that is great for working outside as it heats you and not the air. For the garage I've a small blown heater as well as a radiant - both LPG and running off a 47kg bottle. When I build a workshop / shed behind the garage the intention is to have a solid fuel burner (mainly coal as doubt I'll be able to get much free wood) because of condensation on my lathe and milling machine that gas produces.
Paraffin is also an option but again condensation produced - something like one gallon of water for every gallon of paraffin burnt !
If you don't mind the condensation that a greenhouse paraffin or gas heater will probably work out the cheapest to run constantly but will only take off the chill rather than raising the temp too much.
Joking aside traditional granddad underwear (long sleeved vest and long "johns") do a great job of keeping you warm as I found out years ago whilst riding motorbikes in winter.

Paul H

Insulating the roof would help massively with condensation. Seeing it's concrete then there are numerous choices. You could batten up, add fibreglass then clad in plasterboard. Polystyrene tiles aren't really to be recommended as they burn. I am going to do my garage roof with Grafo Therm as it's steel but same produce can be used on concrete -
www.grafoproducts.co.uk/index.htm
Probably best would be Kingspan type board www.secondsandco.co.uk/

Paul H

Condensation is caused by hot air meeting cold surface. If you insulate properly then the heat can't get to the cold surface so condensation won't be formed between the insulation and the walls.
Damp on the other hand could be a problem of the outer surface of the wall, covered by soil, isn't waterproofed. Might be worth making an exploratory dig into soil to see how damp proofing was originally made.

Paul H

start becoming friends with all you local building/plumbing/electrical wholesalers etc.

we heat our house pretty much all day long with old pallets from the electrical wholesalers, and they burn well.

I heat my garage by consuming kale ,brussel sprouts , mackerel and copious amounts of guiness . Works well but the fumes are strong.

Its depressing isn't it fella!

I'm sure there is an element of damp in the garage due to its construction but it can be made better.

The cold air is condensing on the concrete ceiling and making lots of water, if i get rid of the cold air it would be a nice place to be!
I'm going to put an extractor fan in one of the air bricks to actively draw air from the other and across the garage to try and keep the air moving.

Then i reckon a stove of some type to warm the garage while i'm in there + the residual heat should keep it fairly dry, i'll insulate the ceiling once its dry then.

Thanks for your input too mate

When I had a greenhouse (will have another when garden landscaped) one thing I came across was an idea for a heat sink. Basically I got an old storage radiator off Freecycle. The plan was to build it into a box and stack the radiator blocks inside (they have spacers to separate them) and using a computer fan suck hot air from the top of the greenhouse then blow it into the box so slowly the blocks got hot. The fan was to be run off a small solar panel. Obviously when sun went in the fan would stop and heat could then be released. Not much more complicated than that. Similar idea could be used in the garage. Computer fans use a lot less power than a mains extractor unit so several could be left running continuously. Drain pipe could be used as ducting to "suck" from the middle of the garage rather than just around the airbrick area. If you have heat from say a gas bottle wood or coal burner then stacking storage radiator blocks on top would then give off heat when fire goes out.

Paul h

hi mate, i had the same problem and solved it in an unusual way after talking with an old man down the pub. he suggested a greenhouse heater. but he did say make sure its a parwin 3kw heater (british made) not chinese rubbish. they have a seperate lead as well with the thermostat attatched ,so you can set it in increments of 1 degree at a time, up to 30 degrees if i remember right. the only problem is they went out of business a few years back, so you will have to keep a lookout on ebay etc. if you google these PARWIN 3KW heaters you will see peoples comments, THEY JUST NEVER BREAK DOWN!!!
a nice one will set you back around 80/100 but worth every penny. i found one 2 years ago and use in my 9x18 garage and its the dogs bo###x.
they are made to be left on in outside conditions and so very very safe. heres a link to one i seen the other week on ebay, because i will still buy another as backup. it was a bit rusty but still made 60 odd quid, but i missed it. they do come up now and then, but with winter here i suspect all the gardeners will be looking for them. heres the link.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200985521108?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
good luck mate ,and let me know how you get on.
gary.

thermals, why warm a space when you only need to warm yourself ?