Heated Garage or not?

Maybe I am mistaken, but I don't see how a heated garage would speed up rusting. Remember, a heated garage does not mean heated to 70 degrees when it's cold outside. Just keep it heated to about 50 something for faster vehicle warm-ups on those cold winter days. What difference would it make to the vehicle's rust problem if the vehicle is in a 50 degree garage or a 25 degree garage?

I am in Cleveland, Ohio, and have an attached garage. We do get cold winters. Even though the garage is not heated, just the heat escaping from the walls of my house adjacent to the garage keeps the garage about 20 something degrees (I would guess) warmer than the outside temperature in the winter.

Tom

I have a kerosene heater that I really enjoy. You have to keep the door up about an inch so air can get in or let the carbon monoxide out, whatever. In any case, my heater is cold to the touch, except for the front grill, and it can be refilled while it is running because the fuel tank comes out, and it can keep my garage warm. The benefit is that the garage heater is independent from the rest of the house. I suppose you could have a valve installed in your garage to shut off the flow to the radiator, and acheive the same result. Oh, one more thing, I think I paid about the same for my kerosene heater as the guy is quoting you for a radiator.

1) heating the garage speeds up the rusting. It's a chemical reaction that goes faster as a function of the temp. Not only that, if the crud stays frozen in the garage, you are not bathing the metal in the salt water. Best thing here is to power wash the underside on a regular basis.

2) The kerosene bullet heaters are decent to make it warm enough to work on the vehicle. ( I have 2 of them a 40k btu and a 115k btu) Downsides are the stink from the kerosene, the issue of carbon monoxide (only have to to do that once to not do it agian, assuming you live through it), and the amount of water it dumps into the garage. Keep in mind that for every gallon of kerosene you burn, you dump a gallon of water into the garage air. Creates lots of rust potential on your tools. Propane heaters are slightly better on the CO, stink, and water problems but still are only a temporary fix.

Best bet is a hanging (unit) heater. We see them advertised for around $500 for a 45kbtu unit, a bit more for the 75kbtu version. Add in the gas piping and vert stack so they are not cheap.

Kev> I just had the heater man out to fix my heat, and I talked to him about

Ever thought about adding in electric baseboard heaters? You could go all the way like the garage at my buds house in northern Ontario oil fired furnace with central air. The garage is about 1400 sq feet. He keeps his two classic cars, his spare parts vehicle, in the winter he also stores a boat for someone and in summer he has their sled. A second "extra" car sits out in the drive, which can fit about 8 vehicles.

Snow...

We live where it is relatively cold in the winter. It was 18-degrees F this morning. Our garage right now is 61.3 degrees F. Plenty warm enough to work out there. The secret for us was to insulate the garage door (2-car garage) and install good seals. The walls and ceiling are insulated. The other part is to keep the door closed at all times, except when entering or leaving. Before we insulated the garage door, I used to freeze my patooty off out there. It was so cold stuff in bottles would freeze. Now, the lowest we ever see is about 55-dgrees F.

The only heat the garage gets is from the engine(s) when we get back from somewhere.

I have issues with hot water heaters and drafts and frozen pipes or frozen heaters. Well, actually I make a fair living repairing said pipes and heaters because of said drafts.....

The only safe way to do it is to use the heated wire wrap around the pipes going to the rad. How to safeguard the rad is a different story. I suppose if you got a small cast unit, (they make 2"x6" units in 18" lengths that can join) the heat tape could be wrapped around it. This would work as long as there is power. Cut the power and that garage could cool off fast and you end up with busted pipes anyway.

I would recommend either a temporary use kerosene like the others mention or a permanent electric unit instead of water. Even a permanent kerosene unit is nice. They are vented with a 'stove pipe' type vent so the door can stay closed. If run along the wall, the pipe actually becomes part of the heater.

Heated garages are 'sweet' for working in, that's for sure!

My $0.02,

Mike (up in The Great White North)

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Kev>

Bottom line is if your vehicle stays frozen it won't rust as fast. I installed 2 X 2400 watt baseboard heaters in my garage for times when I want to work on the vehicle and that is the only time I turn them on.

I wouldn't use radiant heat in your garage -- unless -- it is on it's own zone with it's own thermostat.. If the zone it is tied into doesn't require heat for many hours the pipes in the garage could freeze, causing some serious flooding when they break... -- unless -- of course you plan on upgrading to a glycol system..

Heated garage.... YES! (in my case anyway). I use a combination of a permanent vent-free propane heater and a kerosene unit for supplement when it gets real cold (0 deg F at times). I just had a 100 gallon propane tank put in. I spend most of my evenings and weekends in the garage (attached to house)... my two Jeeps, this PC, a refrigerator (full of beer), and a TV make it like home. I was not aware of the rust factor others have mentioned, but my older CJ is not a daily driver anyway and the TJ is well protected.

hydronic heat is both effective and efficient. will you have forced air hydronic (fan blowing over it) or just radiant?

here in montana a heated garage is pretty standard. if you spend any time at all in your garage its definately something you want in the winter. while there are cheaper ways of heating your garage initially, it wont cost you anything to run the hydronic so if your system can support the added draw i would certainly do it.

as for premature rusting i wouldnt worry about it....but in all fairness i dont keep anything longer than 2 years anyway.

Which, since CO is lighter than air, can KILL YOU.

Do not just crack the bottom of a door and think the CO will be dissapated. Or go ahead, just make sure your life insurance is paid up so someone else benefits from the mistake.

At the very least make sure you've got a working CO detector in the upper rooms of the house and in the bedrooms.

one word HEAT!

jmho later, dave

You might be over-protective. I have been using a kerosene heater in my garage for years, and don't even crack the door... I ain't dead yet! (but my garage doors as most, don't seal air tight and do allow some fresh air in).

A properly maintained heater does not emit that much CO. After all, CO is a product of incomplete combustion.

"since CO is lighter than air, can KILL YOU" - Since when dose the specific gravity a gas have anything to do with whether it fatal or not? CO is actually very close to density as that of air.

I sure wouldn't run one even in a leaky garage without a CO monitor or a door cracked open.

Most garage doors that I have seen crack open at the top at the same time or even faster as the bottom gets cracked open, so it only needs a little opening to be effective. In this case the gas wouldn't be trapped up high. That is what the last poster was talking about.

The OP was talking about an insulated garage that likely is pretty air tight.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

JimG wrote:

I have a couple and have used hundreds over the years as well as propane ones.

You know, they all have this funny label on them that says to 'never use in a closed area without providing fresh air'. It even says 'how much' (40 square inches) fresh air is needed on my Coleman heaters.

I am in Canada and we are very aware up here about how dangerous heaters are. Folks die every winter from using them, especially in power outages.

They are deadly if used wrong, what else can be said.

Mike

FrankW wrote:

Yell louder, Mike. We just had a retired fireman die from CO poisoning when he left his Jeep idling in the garage. No one knows exactly how it all came down, but he apparently pulled in, closed the garage door, and forgot the engine was running. He died on an upstairs couch.

Coleman makes it very clear that even a tent requires some sort of flue if you use their heater - folks die all the time runn> I have a couple and have used hundreds over the years as well as propane > ones.

Although the retired fireman story is sad, there is a huge difference between the topic of discuission and a running vehicle in a closed garage.

JimG