Garage heater recommendations?

I am finishing my garage right now and want to heat it so I can work on projects all winter. It is a small two stall garage. What types of heaters do any of you recommend? I would like to keep the overall cost to below $500, so that rules out bringing a pipe in for natural gas. I am looking at the 30,000 BTU blue flame vent free heater from Mr. Heater. Does anyone have any feedback on this unit? I like the vent free aspect, and I can run it off a 100 lb LP tank, which would be fine because I would only turn it on when I want to work out there. For safety, does the LP tank have to be stored in a separate room or outside?

Any suggestions welcomed. Thanks guys.

Chad

not sure what the best option for you is, but vent free is gonna leave a lot of moisture in the air…

Another vote against non-vented in the garage. Especially if your going to use it often. With an outside LP tank you can easily run a nice unit heater like the brand on this link. A side chimney is not a big deal. You wont regret it.

http://www3.modine.com/v2portal/page/portal/modine/modineMarketsDefault/modine_com/markets/building_HVAC/market_level_3_content_013.htm

I strongly recommend going with a vented unit. I had the type of heater you’re considering for three years and the moisture in the air was crazy. I could not keep up with a dehumidifier. You will do damage to your garage with that ventfree heater.

I ended up replacing it with a vented heater, a Reznor brand that came recommended on this site. $500 might be hard to hold to unless you do some of the work yourself.

Eric

Run this buy Jake over on the fishing side. He’s a guy in the know.

Thanks for the feedback so far. I didn’t even consider that moisture would be a problem.

Kooty – thanks for the suggestion. I can’t get on the fishing side at work, so I’ll have to wait for that.

Do the Reznor or Hot Dawg heaters work well in a dusty environment? I may want to do some woodworking out there.

Those heaters will handle far more dust than you can.

I have a MR. Heater brand power vent and it works very well heating my garage. I have a 100lb propane tank inside that I use on it, my garage is 24X32. It was easy to install and I put an outlet plug on it to turn it on and off. Just make sure you don’t run the thermostat wire next to the power wire, the thermostat doesn’t like it (I went through 3 of them before I figured it out). I think mine is 65K BTU’s.

i like my kerosene heater. i just finished my garage also, i have a 24X24 foot. i have a 35,000 btu keresone heater and it heats my garage no problem. lp burns my eyes when being used indoors. some of the higher end kerosene heaters have thermostats otherwise you can buy a cord with a built in thermostat

Rezor or Hotdog are good heaters. A low profile side vet heater is the way to go. You might have a half day istallig it.