Build a Simple Solar Heater for Your Garage

[PatS....]

OK, I admit it, I'm a wimp. I have some time off, actually alot of time off, and should be working on my Chrysler. Problem is it's winter and I have only a 35,000 BTU Salamander to heat a 30X30 rented garage.

The garage is very well insulated, but at temps like we have now it really does little. The big problem is I can't leave it running. So, when I get there it's colder than a witches heart. I fire up the salamander and go grab a coffee and it's still not warm enough for a wimp to work comfortably.

This particular article in the Mother Earth News may help some in adding heat safely while I'm not there. I have a great south wall I can use. One thing about where I am is that there is lots of sunshine even if it's 40 below.

I have enough salvaged 8 foot 2X4's and 2X6's and 2X8's to build the frame, so that just leaves a few things to buy. I don't like adding value to rented property, but this will make it much more usefull to me. Right now it's just an oversized storage shed.

If the solar heater can heat it some, then the salamander can get it the rest of the way so I can work in comfort.

Has anyone used solar heat or any other passive heating?

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Alternative_Energy/2006-12-01/Build-a-Simple-Solar-Heater

[Plymouthy Adams]

Pat..not sure about all that being totally effective...my uncle did a solar heater for his swimming pool water and though it did a bit..don't think the total outcome was worth the investment of time and meaterial. Would a second salamander heater be a bit quicker and faster as this thing works best only during sunny hours, how long will it take to benfit your early morning starts for at night..she be in shut down mode..I have a fairly large shop that also is very well insulated..now I agree I do not live in any very extreme low temp zone and even so with the large double barrel heater its can be a bit of time heating the area up to a confortable temp..I do perfer to work in shirtsleeves and at most a heavy flannel shirt...

A Hardy heater would be my best choice and may eventually go that route...all sits out of doors, hot water piped in..thermostat controlled firebox and circulation...best part here also is that if you have room to set it out of doors it fires up real fast..and is not pernament. Can move it later. My bud has one in Indiana in an old uninsulated two story farm house..draft is a very kind word to describe it..he did a test run and found he could hold 92 degrees inside the house on coldest day..

[55 Fargo]

Pat, this looks very interesting, right now my garage is heated with 2 -4800 watt construction heaters, the output for both is about 32000 btu. If I put both on the garage iheats up to 60+ degrees in no time at all. Even when it's off it's around 30 to 32 as long as it doesn't get colder than about 10fahrenheit. Today it's about 30 outside and I have the garage at 45, the heaters aren't running all that much. My shop has 8 foot ceilings and is 24 x 36, so that could be the difference, the walls are insulated with R20, and the ceiling is R32. Hydro is only about 5.5 cents per kilowatt hour, which is very cheap..............Fred

[Ed Griffin]

Been a long time since I've even checked out their website but awhile back i was reading up on the converted electric water heater used to burn old oil for heat. Basically like some heaters still used in places like shops etc. but one that could be made pretty easily. Hadnt looked at the solar heater but liked the idea of using up old oil plus getting free heat out of it sounded good to me.

[PatS....]

Tim, I don't expect it to heat the garage to a comfortable temp, but to give it a kick start. So, instaed of being the same temp as outside which it is now, it would be maybe 20-30 degrees warmer giving the salamander less work to do. There would be little investment as I have most of the materials.

If I owned the garage I would approach it differently.

Fred, the problem is that there is only one gas meter and there were some difficulties with the tenants in the house wanting me to pay outrageous portions of the gas bill. I just said turn the gas off and I'll figure some other way.

The garage is insulated to the same r value that you have and has 8 foot ceilings as well. The concrete floor gets cold and retains the cold. Big hurdle to jump overcoming that cold concrete.

[Plymouthy Adams]

That was the modification I had in mind for my double barrel burner..I have that printed out here and have not been to the flea market to find a couple cheapo cast iron skillets..I have plenty of waste oil though...I remember my local junkyard by home having a setup with waste oil..it seemed to do well according to my memory. Mother Earth has this download on their site.

[Ed Griffin]

Keyword: black lined Carhart's

[55 Fargo]

How about a portable blower type propane heater from Princess Auto ,it would boost your temp, then it could be shut off and you could then use the Salamander heaters. I find my Electric const heaters work very well, the floor is still cold, but if you have the heaters pointing downward and a ceiling fan driving down warm air, it makes a big difference. 2 weeks ago it was a cold -22 celisius day with a very cold north wind, I put both heaters on full blast and with in an hour or so it was 60 fahrenheit and very comfortable to work in. But as you say the floors are cold, if you have to work on the floor, try putting a piece of rigid foam board insulation and ly on top of it, this will keep the cold away from your body, you can even stand on a piece to keep your feet warm........................Fred

[PatS....]

That's what I have, I was told they are called salamanders:

http://www.mrheater.com/productdetails_extended.asp?catid=46&id=28

I should have got a bigger one, but they only had this the day I was there.

[BobT-47P15]

Old island saying.....two salamanders are better than one.

Around here they sell some wood furnaces that sit outside, some or all can burn the wood pellets, or I guess, wood. Have never checked on them.

Something to put on the floor as insulation sounds like a good idee.

[Olddaddy]

Pat, two things about fire related heating devices.....carbon monoxide, and explosions. If your space is pretty tight in terms of outside air getting in carbon monoxide can be a real problem. If you have gas or other combustible liguids explosion or fire can make the day go by rather quickly.

The solar effort will produce some benefit, but it's minimal at your latitude. I did solar installations in Maine and saw some gain, but not comfort level warmth.

Careful heating of the space via salamander or stove would be quickest in terms of time to work vs time to leave. If the solar could help a bit and firing the heaters for an hour or so before beginning work you might get a worthwhile day out of it.

Be careful and think about what you're doing and pray for early spring and or Global Warming.

[Norm's Coupe]

Pat, my garage is only a 2 car garage. However, there is no ceiling. It's all open from the floor to the roof. The walls and ceiling only have 1" fiberglass insulation covered on one side with aluminum. So, I'm also heating all that dead space above the rafters of the garage. I use a kerosene heater like this one. On a day that is about 10 degrees outside I can get the garage up to about 55 to 60 degrees, a nice working temperature. My garage is also detached from the house so I don't get any advantage there either. Think I only paid about $80 for my heater. If I remember right it puts out about 20,000 BTU's. The nice thing about it is that you can place the back side of it against the wall (only 3" clearance) when using. I don't put it on the floor. I had an old metal typewriter table on wheels doing nothing, so it's now a roll around table with the heater on it. Only takes about an hour to heat the garage up to the 55 to 60 degrees. It can burn all day (about 8 hours on one tank of Kerosene) or about 1/2 gallon. Also, I do not get any Kerosene odor from it. As for ventilation, I have a few cracks around the overhead door that compensates for any buildup of carbon monoxide.

http://www.endtimesreport.com/pictures/HeatMate.JPG

[greg g]

I wonder if some heat absorbing mass mounted on the wall would give it a little more boost effect after the sun goes down. Something like those cement things you put under wood stoves, painted black and attached to the wall within the chamber would absorb heat during the day and give it off as the temp inthe chambe went down after the sun goes down.

[Ed Griffin]

I used to use a kerosene heater close to what Norm has and it heated great but between the fumes, cost of kerosene and constant troubleshooting I parked it. A buddy of mine gave me a Patton convection heater that was brand new in the box (made in USA). This industrial grade electric heater is the same type we used to heat our trailers where we would take our lunch on the job. This thing put's out 13,640 btu's (4000 watt) and can heat up a 2 car garage pretty quick. With the temp being around 20f outside I've had to turn this thing down because the thermostat I have would show it was 80f inside. The only setback to this unit is it's a 240 volt setup.

If your only trying to heat a garage or small shop one or even two will do the trick depending on your geographical location. It's also fan operated so you dont just have heat rising but being pushed out. I dont know what the price of these go for but here's a link where one in British Columbia was for sale used at $99.00.

http://www.usedvictoria.com/classified-ad/2121597&category=air-conditioners-purifiers

Picture is of the same type unit I use.

[55 Fargo]

You can buy 4800 watt heaters here in my part of Canada for $79.00, these are 220 volt, Ihave 2 in my garage, they work great and heat adequately, they are safe, clean and no flame. But electricity is expensive in some locales, it's cheap here because we have many hydro dams in Manitoba, it's 5.5 cents per Kwh. You can buy these heaters at home depot, Rona, Canadian Tire etc...................Fred

[randroid]

Because we rent and have a one-car garage my solution is to use one of those itty-bitty rinky-dink space heaters. I aim it at what I want to work on and in just a few minutes the area is toasty. The fan keeps me and my tools warm without bothering to warm the entire garage. If I owned a real garage or shop I'd probably go a different route, but for now it serves me very well at a minimal cost.

-Randy

[55 Fargo]

Hi all, heres a good one, tonight I went out to the garage just to putter and put a few things away, temp inside was 35. I decided to do a few welds on the 48, after I had finished my 4 year old son came in to the shop, I had all 6 lights on overhead and the heaters were shut off. I then noticed it was now 37 inside, my son and I were jawin a bit and he was ridin his bike around the garage. Now here is the answer, when working in the garage have a number of old car guys over, everyone tellin a story, some workin and as I had Alan Jackson singin "Midnight In Montgomery" on the CD player. The room warms up like a barn full of holsteins on a cold Manitoba night. All in fun.........Fred

[greg g]

But cows heat from both ends or so I'm told...............and the solid exhaust retains heat and puts it out at a fairly controlled rate. So I guess the short answer is if ya got a two car garage, park one outside and put a couple holsteins, guernseys, brown swiss, or if you don't want the trouble of milking them angus or herfords. in the other stall. As an added benifit, I understand cow urine is an excellent rust buster. Wonder what the BTU rating is for the different bovine breeds. Does BTU stand for Bovine Thermal Units?????????

[Plymouthy Adams]

I only know that if cows wern't meant to be eaten..why were they made of meat?

[PatS....]

PETA's gonna get you for that, Tim

People

Eating

Tasty

Animals

[55 Fargo]

Went down to 5 above last night, the garage temp was 32 this morning, the one heater is on low, I have not heard it come on, while in the garage,if it is coming on it's probably once per hour or so........Fred

[1just4don]

Depending on how often you use the garage/shop I would liik at a 'corn' stove IF your in a corn growing area,,,or a pellet stove IF your NOT!! They use outside air for combustion and pvc for chimney so pretty efficient. You could always light it up when you come and throw a GOOD electric heater with it for quick heat up. CO2 is a very real and considerable problem in ANY garage,,,even with the door cracked and cracks around overhead doors etc. Had good friend come within a hairs breath of buying it!! Used to do same thing till he found out how fast CO2 accumulates and how slow it disapates.

I saw a deal on tv where a guy ran a generator for the ice storm blackouts in his garage and they actually 'measured' the co2 levels and just in 11 minutes it was at 'lethal' levels,,,would have passed out far sooner under normal circumstances.(These people were wearing protective air pacs)(like fireman wear,,,and THEIR CO2 warning buzzers were dinging.

I have used the kerosene heater in a shed and had a headache too,,,sometimes you are just a minute TOO late to enjoy your OLD cars. FOR good grief sure,,,IF you are running 'anything' with CO2 get a 'good co2 monitor/alarm and make SURE its working!! But at all costs TRY to avoid ANY CO2. Live long,live well,live happy,,,dont leave a grieving family!!

And since it worked for all these years,,it should work today. Wrong,,,inversion,occasional wind conditions, weather changes,,,all influence the outcome!! Say around here, think,,,we need you!!

[D25_Steve]

We use passive solar heating for hot water purposes, and it works great. Solar panel on the roof preheats water before it gets sent to the hot water tank.