# Heated Garage



## BavarianBiturbo (Dec 27, 2009)

Hi guys, I'm looking into putting some sort of heating into my garage and I'm wondering if anyone would know what the CHEAPEST (in terms of running cost) method is. I would only use it in the winter months obviously. Any input is greatly valued. Cheers!


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## Puntoboy (Jun 30, 2007)

Oil filed radiator.


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## BavarianBiturbo (Dec 27, 2009)

Puntoboy said:


> Oil filed radiator.


Where can I get one and how much? baring in mind this is a double garage with peaking roof? Roof soon to be sealed off and insulated.


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## Puntoboy (Jun 30, 2007)

Aldi have them on offer this week. You might need a couple to fill that space. The one I have is a 10 fin and it's big enough to heat a single.


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## John-R- (Feb 4, 2007)

Cheapest running cost is probably a heat pump unit but they cost 1K + 

John


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## DEANY1 (Jan 1, 2008)

How about a portable calor gas heater?Really heat well and you can put as big a bottle as you want on it.As allready said oil fed radiator does well especially one with a timer on.


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## slim_boy_fat (Jun 23, 2006)

DEANY1 said:


> How about a portable calor gas heater?Really heat well and you can put as big a bottle as you want on it.As allready said oil fed radiator does well especially one with a timer on.


Don't they generate moisture when burning though?  Not the best of things in a garage.


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## The Sheriff (Jul 15, 2008)

I too have just had a single garage built and need some heater of some sort. May look into these oil filled radiators. Will keep a keen eye on this thread:thumb:


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## chch (Jan 2, 2010)

If the running costs are the key, I would suggest an air conditioning unit with heating capability (all of them nowadays). 

The oil filled radiator will have output heating power equal to consumed electricity power (COP factor 1). Good aircon in contrary has COP factor around 3-4, means that for every kilowatt consumed power you will get 3-4 kW heat (only 1 kW heat with oil radiator).

You have to ask for aircon that's capable of heating at -15°C outside temp (probably the lowest temperature peak point where you will use the garage). The heating power demand is calculated by various factors, an experienced contractor can tell only by looking aroung your garage. Basically calculate around 150 W heating power required for every square meter of space. This is of course highly dependant on insulation of the walls, doors, windows, floor, celing, etc.

TOSHIBA has aircon unit called Nordic (don't know if available where you live tho), which is especially designed to work at low outside temperatures, and even has a setting of +8°C maintain temperature. This means, it will run only on low capacity to maintain +8°C inside to avoid temperature shocks when switching on/off in times of use/not using. Standard aircons have the minimum temperature for heating around +18°C, which is too much for garage.

Hope that helps.


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## peteb (Mar 8, 2006)

I've got 2 , eight foot rads in mine , plumbed into the house combi boiler on thermo valves , it's like having the car in the front room


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## Andy_RX8 (Jun 6, 2008)

peteb said:


> I've got 2 , eight foot rads in mine , plumbed into the house combi boiler on thermo valves , it's like having the car in the front room


That was going to be my suggestion. My dad has one radiator in his garage, his boiler is in there too so it was a piece of cake putting a radiator in.


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## Mirror Finish Details (Aug 21, 2008)

I have electric underfloor heating in mine and ceramic tiles on top, very cheap to run and keeps my toes real toasty.


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## Delboy_Trotter (Jun 7, 2007)

Easiest if you can is add a couple of rads to the house run, the only downside is they will be governed by the house temp but will help. Also a floor covering, whist it might not be asthetically pleasing old carpet is great and makes working on a car more comfortable on the old knees, but after all a mans home is his castle but his garage is his sanctary!:lol:


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## Ebbe J (Jun 18, 2008)

We use an oilfilled radiator with a small in inbuilt fan. Heats up the space quite fast, and the running costs are bearable.

Kind regards,

Ebbe


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## GlasgowRob (Apr 3, 2006)

or look at one of the small stoves from machine mart










advantage is you can make your own briquettes to burn too  might be a bit of messing about fitting a flue though but generally will give more heat than most alternatives


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## markc (Mar 4, 2009)

Puntoboy said:


> Oil filed radiator.


I have one in my garage.....really good and cheap to run.:thumb:


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## bretti_kivi (Apr 22, 2008)

...depends quite a bit on just how warm you want it to be. Mine's heated but it's not really a garage and the doors fit so badly that it's only just 20-25 over ambient (i.e. when it's down to -27, it's below freezing in the garage, too). 

I'd suggest single digits C to be reasonable.

Bret


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## BavarianBiturbo (Dec 27, 2009)

Just to mention guys, the garage heating is for the car not for me...so keeping it at around 5-10 degrees C would be great.


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## Russ_C (Dec 27, 2009)

Ebbe J said:


> We use an oilfilled radiator with a small in inbuilt fan. Heats up the space quite fast, and the running costs are bearable.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Ebbe


do you have a link to this one?? also... I see oil filled radiators come with KW ratings.. say its 2kw, is it 2kw p/h? If so that would be quite expensive to run.. although if its oil filled I'd expect that once it was warm it would stay warm longer and not require as much electricity.... anyone any idea on the actual running costs per hour?


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## Daveesaunders (Nov 8, 2009)

I have these in my garage;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PATIO-HEATER-..._bbq_Patio_Covers_Heating?hash=item35a636981e

Removed them from the pole attachment and have mounted them to a large piece of box plastic, also put in double switch so I can either have one on, two on or all three.

They don't heat the air but I have used them to dry panels I have sprayed, they may not be suitable for your application however.


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## chch (Jan 2, 2010)

Russ_C said:


> I see oil filled radiators come with KW ratings.. say its 2kw, is it 2kw p/h? If so that would be quite expensive to run.. although if its oil filled I'd expect that once it was warm it would stay warm longer and not require as much electricity.... anyone any idea on the actual running costs per hour?


The kW rating on any heating device working with resistancy coil (we call them heat spiral in Slovakia) means, that it is capable of heating power output of that rating. Means 2 kW radiator will have 2 kW heating power output per hour. The drawback is, that it also consumes 2kW of electric power per hour, so it's not cheap to run in countries where the electricity is expensive.

This is the point of the economic advantage of heat pump (basically an aircon with heating capability) where the ratio between consumed electric power and heat output is much higher than 1, with the best brands can be around 4 (depends on outdoor temperature). 1 kW electric power = 4 kW heat energy.

The oil filled in the electric radiator has nothing to do with power consumption. The oil is acting as a heat accumulator. Once the radiator is heated up, and the thermostat (or the user) switch the unit off, the accumulated energy (heat) in the oil will be transfered to the ambient space until the temperatures will equal. There is no new energy created because of oil.

Of course the initial cost of heat pump compared to oil filled radiator is different world. With 3kW heat pump of good brand with labor it can be easily 1000-1500 €, where the radiator is a mere 150-200 (no idea about your prices, just guessing).

If you calculate that you will need it every second day, 4 months a year, let's say per 5 hours/working day (depends on the insulation of the garage, required temperature, etc), means it's around 300 hours of heater switched on. With oil filled radiator it's 300 kW consumed power, with heat pump it's 100 kW (calculated with energy ratio 3 to be fair).

Knowing the difference in power consumption, just multiply it by the price of 1 kW/h in your country and you will get the price difference of the running cost.


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## PaulN (Jan 17, 2008)

Our Boiler is in the garage. It nicely keeps the chill off, the only issue is the anti freeze setting kicks in a little more when the boilers not on at the moment.

Cheers

PaulN


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## Russ_C (Dec 27, 2009)

chch said:


> The kW rating on any heating device working with resistancy coil (we call them heat spiral in Slovakia) means, that it is capable of heating power output of that rating. Means 2 kW radiator will have 2 kW heating power output per hour.* The drawback is, that it also consumes 2kW of electric power per hour, *so it's not cheap to run in countries where the electricity is expensive.
> 
> This is the point of the economic advantage of heat pump (basically an aircon with heating capability) where the ratio between consumed electric power and heat output is much higher than 1, with the best brands can be around 4 (depends on outdoor temperature). 1 kW electric power = 4 kW heat energy.
> 
> ...


Thanks, this is as I presumed (kind of)... :thumb:


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