Kerosene Garage/Space heater

I'm looking for pros/cons from 1st hand experience for heating a 4 car garage space (for a few hours at a time-while I work on a project) with a kerosene space heater.
I'm mainly concerned with carbon monoxide, smell (especially if it permeates the inrerior of the NSX), and fire/explosion potential.
Thanks,
Tom

Something dumb that may help if you park your DD in there as well run some errands before doing any work making sure that car you've taken out is nice and hot. Then park it and close your garage door. It's worked for me a few times, haven't tried it in the winter though, and only in a 2 car garage...

Sduff@Composites said:

Something dumb that may help if you park your DD in there as well run some errands before doing any work making sure that car you've taken out is nice and hot. Then park it and close your garage door. It's worked for me a few times, haven't tried it in the winter though, and only in a 2 car garage...

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I consciously do this...close the garage quickly to preserve the ambient heat from last car I drove. Unfortunately, not enough on these cold days.

I went with a Mr. Heater 35,000 BTU Propane heater - I did so because of less odor from the fuel and I always have at least one spare propane tank around for my BBQ.

Same as this one:

http://www.toolpan.com/Mr-Heater-MH...ftrk=gdfV27228_a_7c824_a_7c2023_a_7cMRHMH35FA

There are some minor fumes, but nowhere near what my friend's kerosene/diesel heater puts out. My intake for my furnace is connected to my garage, so thats another reason I went Propane - less odor being introduced into the house if any. I always crack the garage doors when I run it - after having taken a trip to the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning once (and almost dying) I will take a slightly cold breeze over an ambulance ride any day of the week.

In about 5 minutes on high my oversized 2 car will be toasty hot. The first time I ran it, I didnt think it would get so hot so fast and let it run for 15 minutes. It was so hot I was sweating in there. It is rated to heat 2,000 sq. ft. so for $100 its not a bad deal. Ultimately though I am going to be going with a ceiling mounted heater that runs off of Natural gas...

http://www.mrheater.com/product.aspx?catid=42&id=119

i can heat a 3 car garage in about 45 mins on high. Doesn't use much propane unless its on high. i dont notice any smell and i've used it inside to knock off the winter chill with no problems. propane refills are 20 bucks at Walgreens.

Ko-nsx said:

http://www.mrheater.com/product.aspx?catid=42&id=119

i can heat a 3 car garage in about 45 mins on high. Doesn't use much propane unless its on high. i dont notice any smell and i've used it inside to knock off the winter chill with no problems. propane refills are 20 bucks at Walgreens.

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I really like the simplicity of this design. Minimalistic and functional - like a race car.

I had a mr. Heater forced propane heater in my one car garage. A lot of fumes with mine. Used to burn the eyes right out of me.

I've been trying to do the same thing with my garage and I'll share my experience which included a stand up kerosene heater.

My father gave me a kerosene heater years ago and I used it in my garage a couple of times. I found that it did not heat the garage quick enough for my tastes plus the kerosene was pretty expensive. I found a guy on Craigslist selling an industrial Pelsue heater which works on propane. It was designed to run out side and put the heat in via duct work. Well I ran it inside and almost killed myself with the fumes. I still have that set up and I think I'll get some ducting for it. To heat a small area of my garage I bought a Mr. Heater Big Buddy (link below) and I found that it works pretty well to deliver heat to an area if you're working in a localized area. It also has a CO shutoff so you're pretty safe. Those torpedo heaters work very well but make sure they have a CO alarm so you don't accidentally kill yourself or put a CO detector in your garage.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...i_sku=173635&gclid=CO-tl_6D47sCFUpnOgodWkYAOA

Be careful with any open flames in a garage esp if you will be spending time wrenching.....CO can build up quickly.....at very least place an CO detector in there.We have two electric heater fans on a 220 circuit mounted on the wall...this is very inefficient and costs an extra 100/mo in the electric bill over colder months....will be switching to an infrared radiant type system.

My garage is 26'x42' and work in progress with no insulation for the roof. I just installed a 75,000 btu propane heater and it's the cats pajamas.
Honestly, I have had the ones that mount on the tank, but they were not nearly as nice as this one. It heats the space fast and I don't notice any fumes at all. It really makes a huge difference in comfort and garage work is much more enjoyable this year.

Mr McCool - you got it all man, lol.

That is exactly what I'll be putting in my garage come spring, except for use with Nat Gas. It may be "for the shop I'm building", but the shop is going to get radiant heaters in it...

What's heating the rest of your house? As an electrician here in Connecticut, I do a lot of installs of wall-mount heaters in garages. Only a few all-electric. The majority of what we install are what we call "Modine" heaters, which utilize a hot water coil coming from the house's main burner and an electric blower fan. These are set up as if they are a seperate zone on the house's heating system, with their own low voltage thermostat. When the Tstat calls, a circulator pump kicks in and sends hot water to the coil in the unit. An Aquastat ( temperature sensor strapped to the intake pipe on the heater ) closes the circuit on temperature rise, which then starts the blower fan. Might be a bit more expensive initially, but much more safer in the long run. No fumes, no sparks, no CO. They look quite a bit like the heater posted in the photo by cmc140.

Great support...thanks.
Since its a detached garage and I didn't plumb for natural gas, I am leaning towards Mr. Heater LP.
I borrowed one from a friend and it does a good job for a work "zone" with no noticeable smell or CO (I also got a CO sensor).

NSXLNT - you have now struck my interest. If I can avoid drilling any holes in my roof for an exhaust I'd be all about it!

ProOnThaSnow said:

Mr McCool - you got it all man, lol.

That is exactly what I'll be putting in my garage come spring, except for use with Nat Gas. It may be "for the shop I'm building", but the shop is going to get radiant heaters in it...

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Haha, Not everything that's for sure. However, the heater was a worthwhile improvement. I wish I would have had the time and money for radiant heat. However, I did get the concrete slab insulated and put down moisture barrier during construction, which seems to help greatly.

What's heating the rest of your house? As an electrician here in Connecticut, I do a lot of installs of wall-mount heaters in garages. Only a few all-electric. The majority of what we install are what we call "Modine" heaters, which utilize a hot water coil coming from the house's main burner and an electric blower fan. These are set up as if they are a seperate zone on the house's heating system, with their own low voltage thermostat. When the Tstat calls, a circulator pump kicks in and sends hot water to the coil in the unit. An Aquastat ( temperature sensor strapped to the intake pipe on the heater ) closes the circuit on temperature rise, which then starts the blower fan. Might be a bit more expensive initially, but much more safer in the long run. No fumes, no sparks, no CO. They look quite a bit like the heater posted in the photo by cmc140.

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This sounds like the optimal solution.

At my shop/warehouse we have a oil boiler with radiant floor heat, and a forced air heat pump with a hot water coil. It's great the floor stays at 55 degrees. Then if you need it warmer just turn on the forced air. The heat pump doesn't cut it once it gets down below 35. It's a big space so I usually run the hot water coil then switch to the heat pump to maintain.
At my house I went with a 18,000 btu Mitsubishi Mr. Slim heat pump for my 2 car garage. It's great since everything is electric in my house. Works fast and is so quiet.
Since my family business is HVAC we've went overkill with the shop setup. The modine or reznor vented gas fired heaters are what most people go with. But if you have a chance to do the piping in the floor and install a gas or oil boiler do it. It's so nice not laying on cold concrete.
But if you have no gas and plan on doing a lot of work in your garage summer or winter. The mr slim mini split is the way to go!

The Mr. Heater ad says "for outdoor use only" for a reason. My buddy just switched over to an electric fan style heater from his natural gas one and is raving about it. I'll find out tomorrow what it actually is.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00002N5W8/ref=aw_d_dsc_home-garden

I use mine next to the fire place to knock the chill off. 9 foot ceilings and a few days out of the year it gets chilly sitting on the couch.