Installing a garage heater

7 years ago

Where is the best spot in the garage to install a heater. We are building a 4 stall garage. The 4th stall is a random behind the third stall. I am not sure if we should put it in the middle, side or back of the garage.

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Jake The Wonderdog

7 years ago

If it's a typical ceiling mount heater with a blower, yes, gas piping and vent are going to be the big issues. Avoid it pointing at the overhead door that's most used if you can... you don't want to blow all your hot air out of the door. You do want to be able to direct much of the heat near where the cars are to melt snow and overcome the thermal inertia of the cars.

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Comments (11)

tatts
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
What's the heater for? A person working in there? Just to take the chill off? How would anyone know? What does the heater company say?
Summer A
Original Author
7 years ago
The heater is in order to heat the garage in the winter. We live in Minnesota. We would like to be able to work in the garage in the winter. we are having the garage insulated. we haven’t talked to the builder about the exact spot of the heater in the garage yet. I wanted to have an idea in case we have a saying in where they can install it.
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tatts
7 years ago
What kind of heater? Hot water? Gas? Electric? Forced air? Radiant? They all have specific requirements. And I don't know how one will meet the needs of a 4-car garage.

This is not something that can be answered in a vacuum on the internet. For one thing, you need a heat load calculation first.
Summer A
Original Author
7 years ago
I just know its a gas heater.
HU-955941711
7 years ago
It should probably go where it's convenient for the gas piping. Ducting and a fan would be used to distribute the heat.

JM$.02W
chiflipper
7 years ago
Snow country and a heated garage will require a floor drain. That melted snow has to go somewhere.
User
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
A typical cheap wall hung gas fired garage heater is not compatible with an attached residence, or an air sealed garage. Not unless you want you CO1 detectors to shriek constantly and take the chance of being dead. They were designed for air leaky garages not attached to houses.
geoffrey_b
7 years ago
Well I'm in Minnesota and have a 3 car garage. I have a natural gas Dayton (Grainger) unit heater, hanging from the ceiling, in the rear of the garage. It is power-vented, pointed diagonally across the garage. Thermostat is on the opposite wall. Garage is well insulated, and has an insulated doors.
Jake The Wonderdog
7 years ago
GreenDesigns: How so? They are aren't unvented - they have a heat exchanger like a 65% gas furnace
Steve J
7 years ago
I have basically the same setup as geoffrey, and I live in MN as well, and it works great. I leave the thermostat set at 40-45 in the winter to keep the edge off of everything. Moisture is evaporated from melted snow, don’t need a floor drain. I also installed magnetic switches on each door in line with the tstat to cut the heater when the doors are open (fan still blows as needed to cool off) so I dont need to turn anything off manually when i open the door to snowblow.