Heating a detached garage/workshop

I just bought a house with a 30 x 40 detached garage / workshop and it has a regular home furnace for heat. When the heater is running, the condensation runs pretty good and I don’t have a good way to deal with it. It appears the previous owner just had it plumbed to run outside and onto the ground, but that of course wouldn’t work too well in winter. When I moved in, the drain pipe was disconnected and draining into a 5 gallon bucket on the floor. This works fine I guess, but I’d be hosed if I had to leave for a couple days as that bucket fills pretty fast.

Any ideas how I can deal with the condensation in the winter? Any opportunity to put a drain in the floor that won’t freeze?

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try to rotate picture……

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Plumb it to a drain or outside in a manner that won’t freeze up or plumb together multiple buckets.

I personally like ejecting the water with a condensation pump to outside. Just need to make sure the hose can’t freeze up and block itself

Looks like the guy did a decent job of installation but he should have dealt with the condensation line a bit better.
Can you punch a hole thru the rim and into the basement to access a waste line or a floor drain? If so run a stand pipe (w/trap) for to a waste line or a straight pipe (w/o trap) to a floor drain and run the condensation line to one of those.
I’m not an HVAC guy, but is OK to run a furnace on its side? That’s not going to cause premature wear on the squirrel cage is it?

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This is a detached workshop on a slab, so there are no options to run into an existing drain or basement.

Randy- I like your suggestion to run it outside, but do you have any ideas how I can do that without it freezing up and blocking the drain pipe?

Eelpoutguy wrote:

I’m not an HVAC guy, but is OK to run a furnace on its side? That’s not going to cause premature wear on the squirrel cage is it?

I thought the same thing when I looked at it, but it seems to have been there for awhile without issue, so keeping my fingers crossed it would be a problem down the road.

Detached garage ep. Can you run it back out side and attach a heat tape in a fashion that won’t allow it to freeze up? I assume there isn’t a hazardous waste tank or daylighed floor drain of any kind?

If I have to pump condensate outside I use a 1/2 gallon sump condensate pump. Make sure you remove the check valve on the exit of the pump and use a small diameter hose. Pitch the discharge pipe so the leftover condensate drains back into the pump so it won’t freeze. Remember the condensate is acidic and will eat steel and concrete.

Punch a hole in the floor. Run the line into that. Kind of a sand drain of sorts and it wont freeze. I live in the country so its not a big deal for me to do.

I guess I should’ve asked if your soil drains (Sandy) or if it is clay. That would make a difference. Mine is super sandy. You May have to auger out a bit of soil for better drainage. You could drill a bunch of holes and knock out a 4 in hole and then Cover with a normal drain cover to make it look nice.

Hey Dave what makes it acidic? Isn’t it just water vapor out if the air?

Red Eye wrote:

Hey Dave what makes it acidic? Isn’t it just water vapor out if the air?

Chemical reaction in the combustion chamber from the burning gas and oxygen pulling Nitrogen from the air creating Nitric Acid.

DTW wrote:

Punch a hole in the floor. Run the line into that. Kind of a sand drain of sorts and it wont freeze. I live in the country so its not a big deal for me to do.

Careful doing this. The flow of water will cause the soil to loosen up and could potentially cause the concrete floor to crack or sink.

Also it is not necessarily legal to put a floor drain in a garage without proper plumbing.

Byproducts of incomplete combustion make it acidic. Perfectly normal for high efficiency condensing furnaces . As far as it being on its side , they make horizontal and vertical units . If you don’t keep this garage above freezing you could have issues with the traps freezing and breaking . As far as getting rid of the condensate , I’d run it outside with some sort of freeze protection in the drain line

A power vented 80% would have been a better choice for that particular situation,eliminating the need for condensation pump/drain.Looking at the picture furnace looks way oversized for the garage.I think no matter what you come up with to remedy drain,without running into a proper drain system,could sneak up and bite you at anytime.I would be afraid of freezing and backing up or damage to slab if you went floor drain route.

A condensate pump is going be your best solution. I’m assuming you keep the garage above freezing when your not using it. If not your going to have issues with breaking condensate piping.

Maybe just have a plastic 50 gallon drum on hand if you are going to be gone and want it heated. Could just sump pump that out once and a while.

I have a detached 26 x 32, insulated, heated outbuilding. It uses a 95% efficient
condensing boiler to heat the floor. Different heat type but similar problem.
What i ended up doing is install

Little Giant/Franklin Electric 554401 Condensate Removal Pump, .5-Gal Capacity, 25-GPH
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CCMUCM/ref=asc_df_B000CCMUCM5361824/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B000CCMUCM&linkCode=df0&hvadid=193994427542&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11876263781823166564&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9020145&hvtargid=pla-313117019016

Which collects the condensate. It then pumps it through upper leg of a large Ell of 1 1/2″ PVC drain pipe through the side of the building about 2 ft. off the ground.

I works great, over the winter it build a small stalagmite that I kick over every once and a while.