Garage Heater

I've just bought the screwfix equivelent of the stanley one. Kicks out a fair amount of heat! My wooden garage isn't insulated yet, but it definitely takes the edge off, and you can notice it! As for the space heater you'll still need to run a power socket to it, as they also run off mains. We use a slightly bigger one at work, using the big red propane bottles. They will last more than one winter, as once its been on a while, it will warm up and if your place can keep the heat in, you won't need to run it all the time. For a small area its up to you really. Gas is more faff, and the electric one will heat but will take a while. Could always buy two for the price of the space?

I would be VERY cautious about any kind of 'direct' heater that just puts all the products of combustion into the building.

Obviously, you will need a Carbon Monoxide alarm, but even so all the water vapour and Carbon Dioxide will be emitted into the building. If you then ventilate adequately to prevent the problems of that it rather negates the point of heating in the first place!

I would rather use one of the Chinese imitation diesel-fired Webasto clones:

www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/diesel-cab-heater.86844/

What about a wood burning stove? You won't get the problems with moisture being put into the space and you don't need to worry about getting power to it.

I would suggest starting by trying to reduce draughts and possibly insulating your garage.
If you use a 2000w heater that will leave sufficient capacity for most power tools,
Ttfn Glenn

Running for any length of time a gas bottle doesn't last long and they aren't £20 a time any longer! A space heater sucks enough gas that ice will form on the bottle.
If possible I would insulate and run a proper armoured cable out for power. The Stanley electric heaters are rubbish, you'll get more heat from the mains plug when it melts than they actually put out even working right in front of it. Far better to buy one of the £10 domestic ones of the same rating.

Just to add - money spent on insulation/draft reduction will always mean that the cost to heat after is significantly reduced

If I look back at my winter electricity usage I can almost pinpoint the mile stones where insulation was added or doors and windows upgraded - the insulated roller shutter door hasn't made a huge difference but the old up and over door was pretty well insulated and draft proofed

Plus one for the derv heater. It exhausts outside so you wont gas yourself or fill the place with condensation. You can get them in most sizes from heating the cab if your truck to a proper industrial heater size.

Been through most types and quite a large garage space, so never really found the perfect solution:
Gas space heater and a gas patio heater - nice and warm, but water vapour is a pain and the fumes are worse. Ditched
Halogen heater, best for me, heats the body up lovely, but don't seem to warm the space.

Industrial type 3kw fan heater I salvaged, only runs single phase on a 3 pin plug and the specs only recommend it for keeping the frost off, so that kind of tells you what to expect from fan heaters. I do run it though for the phsychological effect.

Oil filled rads, the heat is lost in my space, but might be good in a smaller garage, especially if you could set them up with a timer switch.

I did seriously consider the diesel heaters, there is a Facebook group called something like 'chinese diesel heaters' seem the ideal solution, run on a heat exchanger so the exhaust vents to the outside and it only puts out clean warm air.

OK thanks everyone, looks like a diesel heater is the way to go. I'll read up on the links and facebook group but quite like the look of this type for ease of installation/all-in-one package.

I do need to look into the requirements for running permanent power out there (garage is at the end of the garden) but imagine it will be too much work and cost for me to undertake in the short term. Was always planned that I'd build a decent workshop in its place (the reason we bought the house) but looks unlikely that will happen for a good while now for a few reasons. Same applies to insulating the garage, I completely get it's the best thing to do but question the value for money and level of achievement on a delapedated old concrete section garage. I will look over it this weekend to find and bodge/cure the drafts but it is inherently a drafty, leaky POS. Not ideal facilities for heating and painting in but it's all I have to make do with, and it's too small to get a car into to work on or paint so it will only ever be smaller panels and bits and bobs.

That said, if any of you have any advice for undertaking this work (power and insulation) on a surprisingly small budget I'm all ears and keen. This is the space I have, as someone has suggested I usually make a divide with heavy blankets from the racking on the left to the end of the workbench on the right, so the front half of the garage can be cleared for painting. I was thinking of making space in front of the racking for the heater, and I can run the exhaust out of the wall to a usually inaccessible outside wall so that dogs/children can't hurt themselves on the exhaust.


(Mid-tidy so it looks a complete mess. It's not usually that bad. Honest)