You have multiple options for making your home warmer. Maintaining the required temperature is crucial to avoid damaging anything you store, since some items may require special temperature conditions. Still, choosing the best space heater for garage you also need to consider the installation costs and how often you are going to use the heater. There are two major groups of such solutions – gas-fueled and electric ones. An electric space heater for garage can be an option if the area is not large.
The output heat
Electric solutions are not only very versatile but they are also efficient since they turn 100% of the power consumed into heat. Modern models are versatile – you can change the power of the heater. You can slightly reduce it and it will consume 70% of the necessary power and again it converts all the power consumed into heat (but in this case you get less heat). A gas-fueled solution may use around 80% of the consumed fuel to heat the air, while the other 20% are byproducts. Plus, you need a good venting system to remove any unnecessary products, while electric models do not produce anything.
Flexibility
Some models can be wall- or ceiling-mounted, which is a good option when you do not have much space. Such models can be positioned easily to direct the airflow. If you want to cover a larger area then getting a solution that supports the radiant-style heater would be a good idea.
Some electric models are portable – they do not cover a huge area, but you can easily place them wherever you need. Gas-fueled models of garage heaters do not provide you with various installation possibilities.
Installation and safety
It is necessary to consider all the aspects of garage space heater usage to determine its efficiency. The best electric heater models are not very expensive, their prices vary from $100 to $400, while gas-fueled models may cost you from $400 to $800, plus you need to get additional parts, like a venting system. If you have a portable electric model then you just need to plug it in. There are also stationary models that require you to use a circuit breaker box. Everything is more complex when it comes to gas-fueled solutions. You need not only use a circuit breaker box, but also a gas line and that is where you need professional help. Moreover, gas is inflammable and leaking may lead to a disaster.
Why you should choose such models?
Choosing heaters to heat a garage, you need to know how often you will use it. Gas is cheaper as a fuel, but the whole heating system is quite expensive, while an electric model does not require buying any additional accessories and hiring a professional how can install it. If you need an easy-to-install solution that you can place anywhere and you are not going to use it frequently, then an electric-powered model is a proper option.
Calculate BTU: heating the garage efficiently
You not only keep your car in your garage but also like to spend your spare time in it. Besides this, your car should be always ready to start without any frozen engine or other winter problems. That’s why the atmosphere in the garage should be comfortable throughout the year.
Commonly, people using forced-air garage heaters or low-intensity infrared heaters. Still, before choosing right garage heater you should calculate BTU to your car shedder. Otherwise, you may be frozen with a too small one or to burn your money if you buy a too big heater. You can find the key to the problem by fitting a proper heater in your case.
The best BTUs level to your garage
While go shopping you can see how many BTUs to heat a garage at labels depend on the heater type. This parameter is always marked by the manufactures at the heater’s trademarks. So if you have a 1 car you need 22,500 BTU for a forced-air heater and 15,000 BTU for a low-intensity infrared tube. Generally, the BTU figure for the average garage ranges from 30 to 60 BTUs per square foot.
How to calculate the BTU?
First a wall you need to find out the next parameters:
- Garage footage. Multiply the length by the width of the garage to find the square footage and then multiple this data by the ceiling height to get cubic footage. Just bear in view that a required place for parking the one car should be more than 200 square feet.
- Insulation. The better you fill a crack (hiatus) of your garage the less heat loss you will obtain. Let’s say that very good insulation ranges 0,5; average insulation is 1; little insulation – 1,5 and no insulation equals 5.
- Temperature rise. You should calculate the difference between your average winter temperature and the comfort temperature in your garage you’d like to have. You can find useful information about winter temperature with the online tools as climate zone map etc.
For example, you have a garage with 20 feet in width and 26 feet in length, so to calculate BTU needed for a garage you should multiple these figures, and you will obtain 520 square feet. Then you should multiply the result by the ceiling height. Let us suppose that it equals 8 feet as on whole.
Add temperature rise, for instance, the winter temperature is 45 Fahrenheit’s degree and you like that in the garage will be 70 Fahrenheit’s degree, so the deference works out 25 degrees.
The whole calculation looks like this:
(520×8×1×25)/1.6 = 65 000 BTU, where 520 – Square footage; 8 – ceiling’s height; 1 –insulation coefficient; 25 – temperature rise.
Obviously, you can find BTU calculator for garage heater on the Internet or calculate it using our tips. Nevertheless, these calculations will help you to keep your garage cozy and warm in any weather with the right size heater.