Garage heating options

[Pjohnson]

Found the answer it’s not permissible to install solid fuel heating appliances in a garage

I know from experience if you get the correct fuel/air mixture and an ignition source it will blow the windows out of the basemeny.

 

[Sidecarflip]

I heat my shop with in floor PEX and a 40 gallon propane fired HWH. Keep the slab at 68 degrees all winter plus I have a bio mass stove (corn burner) in the shop as well and it's air conditioned in the summer as well. Lots of high accuracy machine tools and fabrication equipment inside that has to have a stable temperature to operate correctly. Hell with the insurance company, what they don't know won't hurt them.

 

[blades]

Until something happens and then you are SOL. Machine tools are not cheap even used in good condition.

 

[Lightning Performance]

I got a Chinese diesel heater, works great and only £100 sterling runs on cheap diesel and very effective.

How much is it consuming on low or high?
Output?

 

[Sidecarflip]

Until something happens and then you are SOL. Machine tools are not cheap even used in good condition.

18 years now and never been an issue.... I don't see it ever being one either. HWH is filled with Cryoteck as well as the entire system and I use a remote bulb Honeywell T'stat to control the feedwater pump and a Califfi distribution manifold and air-water separators on each run. My slab is 12 inches thick with 4" of pink foam board and 8" in the rat walls over 6" of tamped sand and the PEX is stood off the rebar in the concrete. I did it myself a long time ago. I never shut it down either, always energized. Think I paid 75 bucks for the HWH at Lowes, had a dent on the outer jacket, which is not relevant to me at all. I pulled the OEM T&P relief and tossed that and it's electronic ignition so no standing pilot either.

Like I stated, what they don't know won't hurt them and yes, everything inside is insured and always has been.

 

[sean donato]

Its a National Fire Protection Association code no open flame in a garage. Don't think any insurance company is going to go against code.

plenty of other heating appliances that have similar flame box designs that wouldn't be any more or less likely to explode the shop from flammable fumes.

 

[sean donato]

Just looked up the code, it's an interesting bit of verbiage. By uts definition, I should not be able to have my wood furnace in my house, as a section of the basement is the shop/garage area. I did have to jump through quite a few hoops with the insurance company when we moved in, but non the less they fully well know my place is heated with a wood burning furnace. I'd expect no different for in my shop, after that's finished.
In reality, if they wanted to give any grief about it they would have to cancel thousands of peoples insurance because of that 13.2.3 and 13.2.4 paragraph. Makes no sense since a gaseous furnace and an oil furnace would be allowed so long as it is at least 18 inches above floor height, as per 305.1. Guarding against damage just says ir has th be behind a physical barrier. 305.1.1 kinda sounds like a circus to me.

 

[Sidecarflip]

Sean...

If I followed all the rules to the letter, I wouldn't get anything done. Why I keep my T3 tractors. I don't want or need the emissions grief.

 

[sundance]

Just looked up the code, it's an interesting bit of verbiage. By uts definition, I should not be able to have my wood furnace in my house, as a section of the basement is the shop/garage area. I did have to jump through quite a few hoops with the insurance company when we moved in, but non the less they fully well know my place is heated with a wood burning furnace. I'd expect no different for in my shop, after that's finished.
In reality, if they wanted to give any grief about it they would have to cancel thousands of peoples insurance because of that 13.2.3 and 13.2.4 paragraph. Makes no sense since a gaseous furnace and an oil furnace would be allowed so long as it is at least 18 inches above floor height, as per 305.1. Guarding against damage just says ir has th be behind a physical barrier. 305.1.1 kinda sounds like a circus to me.

Any chance you could post the code? Or a link?
TIA

 

[jhellwig]

Lots of things were allowed in the past but anything new is going to be shot down. All gas heating sources have rollout sensors now for that reason. Hard to do that with wood or coal.

As said I am an electrician so fully aware of the electric options and I don't want to use them or gas. Looking for options to use wood and not use water as a transfer media.

 

[Captain Bruce]

I bought a house this summer on some land that has overgrown woods and lots of dead trees and poorly grown trees than need thinned out. The house has two gas fireplaces and furnace. I don't think I ready to be able to commit to managing an OWB. Maybe in a few years when my kids are able to take care of it when I am not able to due to work.

Short term I would like to heat the garage. It is insulated but not heated and I am to cheap to pay for propane when there is a bunch of firewood around. I am looking at either putting an old cast iron pot belly or something along those lines in the garage but am not crazy about having a chimney through my room. Also the insurance part. I like the idea of an outdoor forced air furnace but they are not too common around here and look like a crummy setup when I do see them around. I know I could get a used OWB and fill it with antifreeze but people still want 2k for a used Hardy and the like.

What would be a good option here? The OWB craze kinda died off but there are still a few dealers around.

My Family have heated with wood for 8 decades. Whether it was the farmhouse, of the barn, or the smokehouse, free wood, and the pleasure of cutting, splitting, burning, and smelling........so to your puzzle......whats an OWB? and, while failing to point it out, clearly, your garage is attached. If its a 1-car, whats the point?

If its a 2-car, than thats an outdoor space for parties, or man cave activities, + fixing stuff. That calls for a direct vent fireplace thru the outside wall. Thermostat, mega heat, 95% efficent, internal blower, and the cool factor. Look at Heat n Glo.

 

[AlotL1keVegas]

I have 2 torpedo heaters that I use. One is 110k btu. The second one is 115k btu. I don't use both at the same time. The 1 is more of a back up, or I can use it in my other garage where we store our tractors and equipment.
erosene is expensive, so I run diesel in them. It takes about 5-10 seconds for them to initially light with the diesel when it gets real cold out. But after the first start, and it warms up, they work just fine. I have them hooked up to inline 110v thermostats, so they shut on/off by themselves.
I tried a pellet stove a few years back, and it was an absolute pile. I didn't feel comfortable with it running 24/7 while i wasn't in the shop. And even if I lit it in the morning, and waited a few hours, it just didn't put out heat. Thats why I like the torpedo heaters. They produce instant heat. It takes 20 minutes for my shop to get up to 65-70° in the middle of the winter. Plus I only burn about 60$ of fuel a month.
The 115k btu I actually just recently picked up a couple weeks back for $30.

 

[Iaff113]

I had this issue also, I couldn't get enough clearance for a traditional stove in my garage. I ended up finding a new pelpro pellet stove on craigslist for $100. guy said it wouldn't feed. All it ended up needing was the feed door switch bypassed. Bought a pipe kit and piped it out of the side of the garage. this works great for now, I don't run it 24/7 so I'm not using a bunch of pellets. As soon as I get my pex run to the house I will switch it to a forced air blower.

 

[Mike Van]

I have 2 torpedo heaters that I use. One is 110k btu. The second one is 115k btu. I don't use both at the same time. The 1 is more of a back up, or I can use it in my other garage where we store our tractors and equipment.
erosene is expensive, so I run diesel in them. It takes about 5-10 seconds for them to initially light with the diesel when it gets real cold out. But after the first start, and it warms up, they work just fine. I have them hooked up to inline 110v thermostats, so they shut on/off by themselves.
I tried a pellet stove a few years back, and it was an absolute pile. I didn't feel comfortable with it running 24/7 while i wasn't in the shop. And even if I lit it in the morning, and waited a few hours, it just didn't put out heat. Thats why I like the torpedo heaters. They produce instant heat. It takes 20 minutes for my shop to get up to 65-70° in the middle of the winter. Plus I only burn about 60$ of fuel a month.
The 115k btu I actually just recently picked up a couple weeks back for $30.

Don't these things gag you with fumes? I had one years ago, finally scrapped it -

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

Don't these things gag you with fumes? I had one years ago, finally scrapped it -

On heating fuel they do, diesel runs cleaner but is also bad, kerosene is pretty good, avgas (aviation fuel) is great. The air/fuel ratio and fuel pump need to be maintained so there's not so much carbon monoxide output and there needs to be fresh air entering the space being heated because they put out a lot of heat but use a lot of oxygen doing so (which is expected) and why home furnaces vent fresh air from outside (or should in new highly insulated airtight homes). Startup is when they tend to burn dirtier if they're not adjusted correctly.

 

[sean donato]

Any chance you could post the code? Or a link?
TIA

https://up.codes/s/installation-in-garages
https://up.codes/viewer/portland/nfpa-211-2016/chapter/13/solid-fuel-burning-appliances#13Here you go. They are pretty short and concise. Imo, kinda open to interpretation. Guess I'll be finding out, here shortly. My insurance company would live if I didn't have my wood furnace in my house, and part of the plan for the new shop was installing an owb in one section of the shop and piping heat into the house and shop via insulated water pipes. It will be sectioned off from the main body of the shop, but thats more so for ease of wood access then any regulation that were imposed.

 

[Sidecarflip]

Lots of things were allowed in the past but anything new is going to be shot down. All gas heating sources have rollout sensors now for that reason. Hard to do that with wood or coal.

As said I am an electrician so fully aware of the electric options and I don't want to use them or gas. Looking for options to use wood and not use water as a transfer media.

I would never use water as a heat transfer medium because if the system fails and it's below freezing, the water freezes and destroys the system. I use Cryoteck which is good for 30 below freezing, has a PEX and seal conditioner and is non toxic if it leaks. You can also use RV antifreeze as well. In fact, I top up my system with RV antifreeze. I use oxygen barrier PEX as well.

 

[Hulpio]

Keywords here seem to be "lots of firewood". If code/insurance company does not allow any kind of fire inside garage the only way I see it utilized is fireplace outside the garage. Having liquid in that system is most likely way too slow.

 

[sean donato]

Keywords here seem to be "lots of firewood". If code/insurance company does not allow any kind of fire inside garage the only way I see it utilized is fireplace outside the garage. Having liquid in that system is most likely way too slow.

What do you mean "way too slow" ? Water has been a heat transfer liquid since the cave men have learned about fire. The only "slow" part may be heat up time, and even that isn't terrible.

 

[Sidecarflip]

Keywords here seem to be "lots of firewood". If code/insurance company does not allow any kind of fire inside garage the only way I see it utilized is fireplace outside the garage. Having liquid in that system is most likely way too slow.

That depends (Liquid) if the system is continuous heat transfer or not, and mine is. I keep my slab temperature at a steady 68 degrees all fall, winter and early spring and allow the system to totally regulate itself all year. When the slab temperature exceeds 68 degrees during the summer, the system idles itself. Mine is 100% hands off other than an infrequent monitoring of the internal system pressure and fluid temperature and to that end I have analog gages on both the outflow as well as the return flow to real time monitor the heat exchange and I also have metering valves (Full port WOG valves) installed in the inflow and outflow lines so I can 'feather' the flow of heated Cryotec fluid into the outflow manifold. I keep a constant mix of heated fluid mixing with return (colder) fluid to balance the heat exchange. Took me a while to achieve that equilibrium but now that it is established, it's basically hands off.