Who has 'em....

I am in the process of trying to set up the garage to something I can work in...i already got a nice cabinet system with work bench, etc....

i am going to get a "bike area" set up and what not...eventually my garage will be a sweet little place to work....

as a result, i am looking at a garage heater...for a couple reasons...one, at my condo, the underground garage was heated...and it was nice........

two, i have a mustang which won't be driven much in the snow-laden chicago winters and would not like to keep my new mustang (doesn't even have mods yet ) in sub-zero temps if i don't have to.....three, i would like to have a warm area for my wife and son to get into the car in the mornings...rather than freeze walking from the house into the garage (and yes they are attached but garages get damn cold)....

four, (most importantly)....i want to able to work on the bike in the winter and not have to winterize just because i am not riding it much....i plan on doing a lot of work..some of which will require me to start it every now and again and i really don't want it freezing it's *** off all winter and give me troubles when i try and start it occasionally....

so...now that you know my reason why...and i have NO idea why i told you all this......anyone have 'em...

if so...electric, natural gas, propane?? do you keep them on all winter? how much do they cost to continually run...i found some on a garage site (awesome by the way) and I could snag a propane one to heat the entire garage for less $300....but i have no idea how long the 100lb propane tank lasts, etc....so let's hear...anyone???

 

I'd go with the natural gas route but it's not gonna be cheap if you want continual heat. How well insulated is the shop? We use a 14k heater off a 100lb tank and I think that it had to be refilled once thru a winter...but that's just being used when we were working, not all the time. This isn't going to be cheap anyway you look at it. [:@]

 

i would LIKE to keep it at like 50 degrees....i can throw a thermostat in there....actually i definitely would....unfortunately, the walls are NOT insulated as far as i know...i really have to check...i am not 100% sure....it shares one wall with the house so that is okay...the garage door is insulated so MAYBE...i dunno....

i think insulating the thing might not be a great idea, the only reason i am not really for it is there is a VERY good chance within the next 5 years i'll be knocking the whole house down to build a new house with a nice 3 car garage and work area....

right now it's a 2.5 car roughly...deep though....ugh...i am just not looking to tack on a TON of extra money billwise....

how often did you run off the 100lb tank?

 

That's the sad part, I bet it wasn't more than a month working say 8 hrs a day not even. Maybe 160 hrs guessing, I think you may want to just heat it when you work...not all the time. At the rate of fuels...any fuel, your going to be looking at one hell of a bill (with or without insulation)

 

arghhh...that is what i am afraid of....i REALLY don't want to winterize my bike....and having temps drop to sub-zero in a chicago winter (as you know in neighboring WI)....will not do good to my bike....

 

Dah, shouldn't hurt anything as long as your not running straight water or starting your bike in the middle of winter

I normaly take my batterys out and put them on a shelf downstairs while my babys sleep. I was told that it's better to leave them in and trickle charge them oncea month or so. Ol' jack frost isn't gonna hurt our trusty Hondas!

 

nah i know...but i MAY be starting it in the middle of winter...LOL...i was riding in Jan last year...i have my batt on a trickle when i am not riding in the bike and am setting up my "work area" for that....i just want to be able to sit in there (garage) for 2-5 hours working in the winter since that is when i do tear downs, have things powdercoated, etc.....ugh...

 

Get yourself some visqueen plastic wrap and staple yourself a lil work area to help hold the heat and lethal fumes

http://www.heater-store.com/convecti...n_120_prd1.htm
This is the kinda gas heater that I was talking about, I'm guessing that I was wrong with the 14k...more like 100K! Just keep an eye on your local craigslist and find a good one cheap

 

holy beejessus that thing is HUGE....i was on a garage heater site and for a 2 garage...like 700sq/ft with 10 foot ceilings and NO insulation keeping it a 50 degrees it said a 64000 BTU electric....sooooo.....i think that would be overkill...LOL....

check this site out... http://www.ultimategarageheater.com/

 

move to florida....then you will need to get a garage wit a/c