Garage Hot Dog heater
 

Whose running them in the garage? How much propane do they eat? Gotta have to do something for next year. Too cold to work out there long. My dilemma is...Go with Propane and HotDog or I have my Harmon P38 pellet stove from my MA house I sold. Could run that on a low setting. Pellet stove takes up precious floor space though. garage is 28x26......

Do you mean a "Torpedo Heater?" I understand you need good ventilation.

I prefer electric heaters to avoid fuel and exhaust issues. I got this image from the Tractor supply website.

I tried a propane floor heater for a while but I would put it in front of the garage door and open the door about a foot to get some air. Opening the door defeated the use of the heater so I finally hung a hot dog hydronic heater from the ceiling. I keep the t-stat at 40F when not in use.

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My father used one of those for a while when we were younger but stopped once his tools started rusting from all the condensation. I'm not sure if ventilation would've helped, but, as noted above, it doesn't take much ventilation to cancel/reduce the heating effect.

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My bad...

There really is such a thing as a "Hot Dawg" heater.

https://www.acwholesalers.com/heater...%20-%20Heaters

Correct thats it. Mounts on the ceiling as opposed to floor. Run about $700/800 for the unit.

I've Got One--Friends Impressed...
 

An electric radiant heater (or two) aimed from ceiling corners would keep a workbench warm--with some gain in ambient warmth around the garage.

Work in shirtsleeves! (Unless, of course, this is a commercial enterprise with multiple employees).

No introduced condensation problems.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Optimus-120...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

You could also try a mini split but I think the cost of the install would be higher than a propane Hot Dawg.
I went with the Hydronic unit because I have oil forced hot water heat.
I had a Natural gas Hot Dawg heater in a 30x30 garage in a previous house I owned and it worked great, heats the garage up quickly.

Yes
 

I am running a Modine Hot Dawg heater in our 24X30 Morton Building. I keep the heat on 55 all winter but push it up to 60 or so when I am working down there (65 or so if I am just sitting there watching a video or gawking at motorcycles). Amerigas just came this AM for the first time since late fall. I have two 120 gallon tanks. I keep one tank full and off as a spare for the house, but had to turn it on. 1 tank was at 0%, the second was at 20%

So... I have used 168 gallons of propane so far this winter. The building is cold weather insulated with insulated doors and windows. I would heartily endorse the Modine- I can go from 55 degrees to 60 degrees in 15 minutes!

Feel free to check mine out! I am in Moultonboro near the country store

John

Doesn't the LP HotDawg cost a fortune to use?

The avg sized heater for a two-car garage uses 100,000 BTU/hour.

A gallon of propane contains 91,502 BTU of heat energy.

Dividing 91,502 by the BTU per hour rating gives you the number of hours that one gallon of propane will last.

Basically, 1 hour of HotDawg Heater usage is just over 1 gallon of propane.

A standard 120 gallon tank (54" high x 30" diameter) holds 96 gallons of propane. This is a typical tank for someone who uses propane for a fireplace insert, cooking, or clothes dryer....not a full time LP boiler to heat the whole house.

So...if I use the heater 4 hours a day, I'll need an LP delivery every 3 weeks at about $350 each delivery with the bs fees included.

If you're an occasional user of propane, you are not going to get a discount propane price; you're going to pay around $3.50 - $3.75 a gallon... the only was propane is discounted is if you're getting 500 gallon deliveries at a time to a larger tank to heat your whole house - or - constantly refilling, which includes $35 safety fees. Propane delivery pricing is funny like that.

And that’s what is weighing my mind.....I’m thinking pellets would be cheaper

Vent
 

Although the exhaust is vented on the unit I do not believe combustion air comes from outside.

LP Modine
 

I heat two outbuildings with LP Gas ceiling mounted heaters. The brand I have is Reznor. Building one is 936 sq ft, Building two is 700 sq ft. A third outbuilding is a small craft studio at 140 sq ft that has an LP monitor wall mounted heater. All three units are vented outside and all three buildings are insulated (R 19 walls, R 30 ceiling) and sheetrocked. I have a 1000 gallon buried tank that supplies the three buildings. In 2019 it cost $1400 in propane. Like others have said, I keep it at 50 degrees and crank it up when I go out there, heats in minutes.

I use a Mr Heater vent free blue flame in my little one car garage without any issues with condensation. I have to keep it on low or it will drive me out. Problem is it uses a bunch of propane. I am getting it plumbed for NG next winter.

Remember your P38 is only capable of 38K BTUs max output and it will eat pellets trying to get there. I think it will struggle greatly to get you where you want to be.

BT

Toyotomi
 

I would look into the Toyotomi vented heater. It runs on kerosene and is extremely efficient. It's easily vented outside and uses outside air for combustion. I have the older version, the Monitor Heater, and it heats my garage perfectly.

I'm using the torpedo style heater and burning kerosene. Running it with the door closed is a no go. When it's not to cold I was running it with the garage door cracked open but it wasn't very efficient. I devised this little cutout to bring in fresh air. You can pull out the heater when not in use, don't forget to put some screening on the outside vent to keep the critters out.

Attachment 16811

Attachment 16812

Fair point. I was thinking originally of running it like Thursday nights thru Sundays and I be happy with 50 degrees. Probably will take hours to warm it.
I think the P38 would do it because I heated my house with that in MA. Firt floor was always 70 but I did chew thru 3.5 tons. Not sure how much it would chew thru to maintain 50 or so. I figure if it ate 2 tons at $259 a ton thats likely cheaper than propane? Ive got 4 of the 100 gallon propane tanks behind the garage but Burn pellets in the house so I only use about !80 gallons a year.

I have one installed by Eastern Propane a few years ago. My garage is 40x22x9 and it heats it no problem. My garage doors (3) are insulated so that helps. I would have to look to see the size if you are interested. It’s nice in the fact it heats the air not the objects initially. So I can turn it on and be comfortable in short order. I like the fact it is a closed system (intake/exhaust outside) as I do a bit of wood working and no issues with the dust.

I did a quick search and found my install info.

Modine Hot DAWG 60K BTU unit (sealed combustion) and vent kit was $2k, installation was $1300 but of course this will depend on your setup. This was in 2013.

combustion
 

Do not use anything in a garage that is not closed combustion. Open flame is a no no in a garage. Modine Hot Dawg has both closed & open & are awesome heaters

Plus you already own the stove so no out of pocket other than the wall thimble and some venting pipe....

I've installed a few and it depends what your plans are. Is this something you want to use only when you are in the garage or set the TT and let it maintain a temperature? As I'm sure you're aware leaving it set to maintain temperature in an uninsulated garage can be expensive and frankly a waste of money. In my opinion buying one for your garage is the way to go if you want a means of heating it up while you are in it. As someone mentioned ... there are two units available, one sealed combustion and the other open.

If you do use a pellet stove or wood stove make sure you have it up off the floor at least 18". Any gas fumes from a vehicle stay low to the floor. That's why they use hanging heaters in garages.
Many years ago when I built my first vacation home in Sanbornton I had a garage under the house and they made me put the propane furnace on blocks at least 18" high because the basement was wide open to the garage.
Another buddy of mine built a house in Plymouth with his garage under and wide open and he had to put his wood burning propane furnace up on blocks 24" high.

So I am insulating the garage. Won’t be any cars in it, just sleds in winter. I do already own the P38 pellet stove. The hot dawg probably will run me $800. I either use the P38 or try to sell it to buy the hot dawg...

fuel
 

if your working on sleds or just filling them with fuel in garage a pellet stove is not a good idea

Get the Hot Dawg heater and be done with it. No more buying pellets and storing bags...

I gave him the numbers above. The PITA of pellets and waiting... no thanks!