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That unit appears to be fairly deep. That may not be an issue for you. The shallow units that will fit above the swing of a standard door are a popular choice as they don't use space that could be used for shelving, cabinets, racking etc.
Blackhat
Bad experiences come from poor decisions. So do good stories.
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My sources are completely different from yours so I don't have a link. I know Reznor and I believe Modine and Hot Dawg have units in that profile.
Blackhat
Bad experiences come from poor decisions. So do good stories.
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I put a 100K BTU ceiling-mounted unit into my shop. It does a decent job. Couple things:
- I do find that it's more efficient at uniform heating if I have a couple wall-mounted oscillating fans pushing the air around while the heater is running.
- I wish my unit was quieter. I didn't think much about heater noise four years ago because having a heated shop building was vastly better than the unheated garage shop I had before. But now that added noise is a growing irritant to me. I can see replacing it with a quieter unit. If you need to spend a few extra hundred dollars for a quieter unit, do it. Cheaper unit may also vibrate more, adding to the unwanted noise.
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11-08-2018, 04:46 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-08-2018, 04:46 PM by fredhargis.)
I had a detached garage, 24x32x8 that I heated with a Sterling GG 45K BTU, very similar to the Mr. Heater you're considering. It was more than enough for the building, and for the 5 years we lived there it never had a problem. Mine was a little deeper (13+") and with an 8' ceiling I mounted it as close as possible to the ceiling, about 1" away and it was a little tight directly under it. I'm not a fan of forced air in a wood shop, but the heater itself should be way more than adequate. When we moved I upsized my shop slightly (32x30x10' R19 walls and R40 ceiling) and installed the same heater, but the new one is 60K BTU. I'm thinking I should have stayed with the 45K unit. But as for the brands, I think most of them are pretty much alike. Consider whether you want direct vent (draws outside air for combustion). They don't all offer it, and it sometimes takes their specific hardware (according to them) kit to set it up. I went direct vent with my first one, but skipped it on this one..the kit was expensive, and i wasn't sure it was really worth it.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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Doug, I have a Hot Dawg which looks similar to the one in your link. It's brackets are mounted directly to the ceiling and doesn't really take up a lot of space. It's in a back corner of my two-car garage and keeps the place toasty when I want it that way. I put a low temp thermostat on the wall so I can put the temp down around 45° when I don't need it warmer.
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Couldn't advise any size since we don't know what part of the country you're from.
20k btu would heat my old shop easily- 50k would be way to big.
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Doug is up near Great Falls. Well up to you, down to me. 40 to 50k btus will be pretty close.
Blackhat
Bad experiences come from poor decisions. So do good stories.
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Thanks guys for your comments and suggestions. The specs for the unit I linked from Northern Tool says the output is 50K BTU's and that it will heat up to 1250 sq. ft. (didn't mention volume). As I said I have 8' ceilings and the footprint is ~900 sq. ft. so I'm thinking this should be adequate. The one thing that caught my eye in the reviews of it was that at least a couple of the buyers mentioned how quiet it was.
This will be for my garage only, i.e. my shop is a separate area and I already have a Rinnai propane heater exclusively dedicated to the shop, which has worked nicely for 10+ years now. Keep it on 60* which is comfortable for me.
I'm in western Montana, outside the capital city of Helena.
Doug
