Electric Garage Heater Suggestions

Just finished insulating and rocking a 25×25 double garage… planning on installing a 240V hard wired 7500W electric heater – (no way to run NG out to garage). Looking for suggestions of brands – been told repeatedly not to buy the $200 Menard/Fleet Farm units as they don’t last, fans are noisy, etc.

Getting darn hard to find an objective review on the internet. Have talked to 3 electricians; none of them have installed a single electric unit in the last 5 years.

Wanting to be able to work on projects in the garage this winter at 55-60 degrees. Fahrenheat, Dyna-Glo, NewAir, King, Dr. Infared are the most common brands that come up in my searches.

Anybody have any experience / recommendations?

Thanks
Pete

Are you dead set against propane?

A couple of our buildings have smaller 250 gallon tanks we drop right next to them each fall and heat off of.

I’d have a hard time recommending any electric garage heater. It’s going to cost substantially more to heat a decent sized garage.

There is no way I’d put an electric heater in anywhere. The cost to run that will be surprisingly high. Look into a propane heater and have 250lb or 500lb tank set by the garage.

I wired in 7500 watt 3 years ago. Maintains my 21ft square garage at 45f minuim and is very quick to heat it up to over 60 if needed. I most likely could have gotten buy with the 5000w. My ceiling is 7’3″. Sheetrock lined insulated doors

Denny,

Can you share the make/model of the unit you put in?

Thanks

Pete

I put in a Fleet Farm one in 2011… it did OK heating the 24X26 garage… now I finished half the garage to living space and it keeps the 12X26 garage a toasty 45′ no problem all winter. I estimate it costs about $30 a month to heat the garage.

my garage is 18 X 30, and not insulated. i run a propane torpedo heater when i want to do something out there in the winter. works for me. i dont when its -20 but it warms it up enough to be comfortable.

I made this mistake once and went propane after 1 year

big_g wrote:

I put in a Fleet Farm one in 2011… it did OK heating the 24X26 garage… now I finished half the garage to living space and it keeps the 12X26 garage a toasty 45′ no problem all winter. I estimate it costs about $30 a month to heat the garage.

Wow. I want the electric rates you are getting!

I’d do absolutely anything possible to go to propane before I’d go electric.

I have a 28X30 garage and I work out there frequently, although I don’t keep the garage heated constantly, I only turn on the heat when I work out there.

The propane heater takes less than an hour to get the garage up to a comfortable working temp. Last year I burned just over 75 pounds of propane, so a 100# tank was enough to cover the whole winter. Again, this is not constant heat, it’s heating it when I need it.

Obviously, if you need the garage to be kept at 60 constantly and then upped to 75 so that you can work in shorts and your bunny slippers, only a natural gas heater is going to work for that. Electric will put you in the poorhouse and propane will be a huge hassle at that consumption level unless you have access to place a very large bulk tank.

buckybadger wrote:

Wow. I want the electric rates you are getting!

Me too. My electric bill I just paid was $230 and that wasnt running a 5000w heater when its 10 below.

A guy I know bought a new house that had an electric garage heater already installed. His wife heated the garage for a month the first winter they lived there so her car would be warm. I don’t know the details of the heater or temp but it was a standard 2 stall garage and his electric bill was over $500 for that month. He no longer has a constantly heated garage. Like others have suggested, I would go propane if you can.

Stanley wrote:

A guy I know bought a new house that had an electric garage heater already installed. His wife heated the garage for a month the first winter they lived there so her car would be warm. I don’t know the details of the heater or temp but it was a standard 2 stall garage and his electric bill was over $500 for that month. He no longer has a constantly heated garage. Like others have suggested, I would go propane if you can.

That’s how mine was to. 350 to 500. So I made the decision to throw it out

trophy19 wrote:

Denny,

Can you share the make/model of the unit you put in?

Thanks

Pete

Click in the “7500 watt” link I bought it at Northern tool on a black Friday a few years back.

As others have suggested. Avoid electric heat if you can. My old shop / garage is heated with electric heat. 650sqft with 2 walls shared with the house, only opened the garage door 2 times a week (trash in and out) and set to 50 (lowest setting on the heater), cost was around $40 a month with electric before I changed it over. With the price jump in electricity it would be around $80-$90 a month today.

I had a buddy that just went through this in the last year

He built/bought a new spec home last year. A pretty cookie cutter split level deal with a 3 car attached garage…insulation up to code and upgraded his new windows to a midline Anderson 300 series.

I remember him telling me that keeping his garage at 50 degrees all winter with his electric heater added about $125 a month to his electric bill. That was last year’s rates. I’d bet that is easily $150-$175 or more a month today for a pretty small 3 car garage by dimensions.

buckybadger wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>big_g wrote:</div>
I put in a Fleet Farm one in 2011… it did OK heating the 24X26 garage… now I finished half the garage to living space and it keeps the 12X26 garage a toasty 45′ no problem all winter. I estimate it costs about $30 a month to heat the garage.

Wow. I want the electric rates you are getting!

It might not even be running that often, if the garage shares a living space, so likely room temp, 70*. It’s been a while since I lived at a house without a garage heated, but in college I lived in a newer townhome(Central MN) with a insulated garage. That garage would stay in the high Low 40s High 30s with no added heat. So, keeping it at 45, might be pretty easy on that heater.

I’m with the others, stay away from electric heat. My detached garage has in floor heat, it used to be heated with an electric boiler, (2) 5000 watt elements. Even being as efficient as it was, the cost was absurd. Nearly $250-300/month to heat a 800 sq ft garage, I kept it at around 58*.

buckybadger wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>big_g wrote:</div>
I put in a Fleet Farm one in 2011… it did OK heating the 24X26 garage… now I finished half the garage to living space and it keeps the 12X26 garage a toasty 45′ no problem all winter. I estimate it costs about $30 a month to heat the garage.

Wow. I want the electric rates you are getting!

Its fully insulated, shares a heated wall with the house and the ceiling. It really doesn’t run much at all… we haven’t begun parking in it yet but I suspect when she does, the price to keep heated will go up.

Thanks for the feedback.

Don’t have room on lot for a large propane tank; don’t even know where I would set an upright 100LB tank, what code is for plumbing into the garage, or cost of installing/venting a propane heater. Sounds like it would be worth checking out. If I can run propane at $3.00 or less per gallon and use 100# each winter as Grouse stated above (23 Gallons X $3.00), that’s pretty attractive. Moving and refilling a 100# tank is also a pain in the rump.

Only know my son lives in ND where everything is electric and his electric heater works well for him without breaking the bank. Keeps his ’70 BOSS 302 and ’53 Ford F100 nice and cozy and easy to work on.

Again, if it’s below zero, not going to boil the ocean and heat the garage.