I would suggest researching a mini split heat pump system. You mentioned you wanted A/C, this way you'll have both with one high efficiency unit.

SR

Here is a link that might be useful: Mitsubishi Mr. Slim

Thanks, I have been reading a little about these but must admit it gets a little confusing trying to compare differences in all the types of units & types of heating available. I got the impression that if you are in a cold climate such as MI that they do not really heat that well? Also from what I see the smallest unit runs from about $1500-$2000 plus install? Compared to electric heat & window unit prices, wouldn't it be a very long time before it would really pay off having this sort of expensive unit for my circumstances? Not trying to say you are not correct, I do appreciate any & all help, just trying to understand it all & make a good choice. I am not rich but I can work & save to pay for what I decide will be best for my situation. Thanks again, Terri

Unless your garage is HUGE... I would think that the electric heat might not be too safe. Just playing the devils advocate here.... but if you put an electric heater out there with all that water.... ouch! Sounds like it might not be the best thing for the workers AND Fido!
I dont live anywhere near MI, but I know its cold as heck there! I wouldnt think heat pumps would be too good there... but I would have to defer to some of my northern colleagues for accuracy.
If you go with gas-- it will be imperative that you have fresh air for the room as well, unless you could put it in the attic etc. Best of luck--

The garage is definitely not that big maybe 10Â x 14Â maybe? I will have the bathing area sectioned off with a partial patrician & there will be a slightly raised bathtub in there. They have baseboard heaters in bathrooms; do you think this would be much different? What do you think? Thanks, Terri

Electric heat is almost always the most expensive heat you can have in an area.
Oil and natural gas are both used to generate electricity.
Propane is so expensive already the POCOs ignore it.

I live in a very old house that had a very old air conditioner in a back room, I installed a combinaton heater-air there, and it would heat Walmart, and cools the whole house. Now I wish it was in a better location. Barb in Ar.

Barb what kind was it & about how much money? Was it some sort of heat pump like mentioned above? Thanks everyone, Terri

I went to an appliance store, they let me see the catalog and ordered it for me. I cant find a name on it.(maybe outside) It was about $700. It takes 220 wiring. I also have one I ordered from Home-depot,pportable, on the net, that is 110 and just plug it in. It was $500 and has to be vented for the air, but I just vent it out a window in the summer.It is a Maytag and right now, it is 68 degrees in there.(prob. 45 degrees outside.) Be sure when you are looking, that it says heat and air. They have cheaper ones that are just air.The 220 is much more efficient, but you only have one room to worry about. Barb

Thanks Barb, I will check into what you sugested. Terri

I just installed a mini split heat pump system in a 16x20ft room with a 12x10 extension. I run electronic equipment so I oversized it to 18,000btu. I think 12,000btu would be more than enough for you and you can find them for under $800. A decent handyman can do the install as you only have to mount the inside unit on the wall and run 2 pipes from the outside unit to the inside unit and hook up 220v ac. They all say that they are very quiet but all the ones I have seen the blower runs constantly when the Air condition is on and it switches on/off when the heat pump is running. Its not that quiet in my opinion.
You can also find them with backup electric heat strips for when the temp gets below freezing.
I also looked at window mount air condition heat pumps and for the money I think the window units are a better bang for the buck although they are not as efficient and slightly more noisey. If I had to do it over again I would buy a standard central unit and run 1 or 2 ducts and mount everything outside. I like quiet.

OK, I just had a furnace company come & clean & check my house furnace. They gave me a price for my garage room conversion I am having done. The room is 10Â x 22Â with 9Â ceilings. One door with a window & 3 energy star windows, cement floor, entire room very well insulate. They said it would cost me $5000 for them to install a mini-split air conditioner-heat pump but with warranty etc. I told them I would definitely have to check all of my options first. The brand they would install would be a Fujitsu that they said is rated to work at 5dgree temps outside. I thought I looked on line & they ran a lot less than this & fairly easy to install. Any suggestions on what size I would need for this room? It does really sound like a great little system but I donÂt want to spend a fortune. Thanks again for all of the replies. What are backup electric heat strips larrylwill mentioned? Terri

Terri: Heat strips are electric coils that can be installed into SOME mini split heat pumps, most any standard split house hold system will accept them. Its just a little box with bare electric coils that in an emergency or when the temp is so cold the heat pump wont work the electric coils kick in and the blower blows the hot air off of them. The biggest problem is there more expensive to operate than the heat pump. Depending in where you live you can get them usually in 5kw banks. In south Alabama 5kw was enough in the north 10kw to 20kw would be a better choice. The more expensive mini splits usually can be fitted with them and I have seen them advertised as included.

I am an electronic engineer and handy man, plumbing, electric framing roofing anything I think I can handle I do I was the designer and contractor on my last house. 1/2 the time I haven't a clue what I'm about to do but I research for weeks before I try. By no means do I know it all, however when I needed a heat/cooling system for my new business office as in the above post I did my research and bought a mini split system off the internet. I did the complete install in 1/2 day. I would not recommend just any one to do it though. I had the gages and vacuum pump to pump the system down which I would recommend you have a pro do, should cost about $100. I think most handy men could do the rest of the install in 1/2 day. You need a 220v 20 amp circuit if you have NO heat strips. The most important thing is to make sure you don't get anything into the copper tubes including moisture. I paid $900 shipped for the unit. It is NOT an inverter compressor which the one you are looking at is. The inverter technology varies the speed of the compressor to save electricity when you don't need full cooling or heat. However almost every other one I have seen the blower varies the speed depending on how much air flow you need and the compressor runs full tilt as in most house hold systems. I found out the inverter compressors can have a higher failure rate and cost more to repair and over 5 years don't save that much. Others may disagree. Its a personal decision. If you purchase a good name brand 12,000BTU heat pump over the internet about $1500 - $2500 is the norm. Non name brand $600 - $1100, inverter compressor add $500. 1/2 day labor to install it and 1 hour from an air condition tech, although many will not connect the system unless they also install it, a racket in my opinion. You can find a local guy to do it, if you look.

I would think that a 9000 BTU unit would be big enough unless you have a lot of equipment heating the room a lot of bodies inside, or lot of windows. If you look on the net you can find calculators to calculate your heat load. If your afraid of the do it your self route than a pro is the best choice, although expect to pay 2x to 3x more.
Right now I'm researching surface electric heat wire to warm a cold floor.
Good luck.

Wow thank you for the very detailed response. I know nothing about any of this but I do try & research before I do any projects, seems to help a little. I canÂt say I exactly understand all that you have explained but I will reread it & take what I can from it. LOL Not exactly an engineer here thatÂs for sure but I muddle by most of the time. My husband does have 220 already run to the room since it used to be his room before he got booted out to the barn so I could have this for a dog grooming shop. Bless his heart. I live in MI so it does get pretty cold here in the winter & there will only be 1 or 2 people working in there at a time. Now I am off to read & see if I can absorb more of your knowledge. Thanks a million everyone for your time & advice. Terri

Today is June 15, 2008. Happy Father's (TWIMC). This was a very interesting read, Sunshine. So what did you finally decide on?

I went with 2 220 electric baseboard heaters, an 8,000 Btu window air conditioner & a ceiling fan. So far everything seems to be working out excellent. I haven't started the grooming in there as a job as of yet, but will start practicing & perfecting my grooming skills a lot more starting in July. We did have the heat this past winter & it heated up very nice. Just put the air in yesterday but I think it will be great. Terri