Heating the Garage

[riltri]

Does anyone put a small heater (thinking about a radiator heater) in their garage. We will be spending this winter in an area that regularly sees temps in the 20's. I don't want to drain the lines every time we are away for a few nights on short excursions and don't like leaving the propane furnace on.

Opinions/ideas??

[Lantley]

I think any 1500 watt electric space heater will keep the area above freezing.
It won't be toasty warm but it will be above 32ºF

[Dick_B]

Just noticed several `plug in' ceramic heaters on Amazon for under $30. Don't know if they will do the job for you but may be part of the conversation.
Those natural gas heaters will heat the whole neighborhood 🙂

[dedmiston]

Don’t forget to use your indoor manners.

I had to clean up an unkind post and the replies.

[JimK-NY]

wa8yxm wrote:

Not for my RV. Winterizing means pulling the plug and draining the HW heater and switching to bypass. Then I need to pull antifreeze into every line and fixture with enough so the waste traps are filled. I need to empty the tank for the cassette toilet and add a gallon of windshield washer antifreeze.

Just blow the lines out with compressed air. Like 10 times
Drain water pump and ice maker lines (After first blow manually cycle the ice maker) on the water pump open and drain the inlet strainer on the pump and run it for like one minute after the first blow) I blow about 10 cycles using a 6 gallon compressor.. All vlves inluding low point open.

Then pink drains and toilets only. One gallon on a bath and a half model and I'm done.. Don't have to flush all that pink come spring either.

First step would be buying a compressor. I don't have any use for one or know a friend or neighbor that owns one. Then I would need to figure out where to attach it and the fittings needed. Once I figured that out, I suppose it would be easy to blow the lines clear. That still leaves the HW tank and I would need to be sure to blow out both the regular and bypass lines in addition to draining the tank. I would be concerned about the grey water drains. My RV does not have a "low point" or any valves in the fresh or waste water systems. I would need to add antifreeze for the waste lines and traps. Since it only takes a half gallon or so to completely winterize my RV, I am not sure I would save much on the cost of antifreeze.

[schlep1967]

riltri wrote:
Does anyone put a small heater (thinking about a radiator heater) in their garage. We will be spending this winter in an area that regularly sees temps in the 20's. I don't want to drain the lines every time we are away for a few nights on short excursions and don't like leaving the propane furnace on.

Opinions/ideas??

Judging by the replies we need at least one more bit of information. Are you talking about the garage on your toyhauler or the garage where you park your cars?

If toyhauler, putting a heater in the garage and not running the furnace will not keep your water lines from freezing below the floor. A heat source in the belly/storage area would do that. But that wouldn't keep your drinks from freezing. However, your fridge is insulated. It would take a several day freeze before the inside of the fridge would lower temps.

[wa8yxm]

Not for my RV. Winterizing means pulling the plug and draining the HW heater and switching to bypass. Then I need to pull antifreeze into every line and fixture with enough so the waste traps are filled. I need to empty the tank for the cassette toilet and add a gallon of windshield washer antifreeze.

Just blow the lines out with compressed air. Like 10 times
Drain water pump and ice maker lines (After first blow manually cycle the ice maker) on the water pump open and drain the inlet strainer on the pump and run it for like one minute after the first blow) I blow about 10 cycles using a 6 gallon compressor.. All vlves inluding low point open.

Then pink drains and toilets only. One gallon on a bath and a half model and I'm done.. Don't have to flush all that pink come spring either.

[JimK-NY]

spoon059 wrote:


it takes 5 minutes to run antifreeze. Just winterize and don't worry about it.

Not for my RV. Winterizing means pulling the plug and draining the HW heater and switching to bypass. Then I need to pull antifreeze into every line and fixture with enough so the waste traps are filled. I need to empty the tank for the cassette toilet and add a gallon of windshield washer antifreeze.

Putting the RV water system back in service requires even more time and effort. First step is to add water to the FW tank and flush each line. Then I reinstall the HW tank plug. I need to pump 6 gallons of water to fill the empty tank. Perhaps I am overly cautious but I pump for several minutes and then allow the pump to cool once or twice during the process so it does not overheat. Some residual antifreeze always seems to make it into the HW tank from the bypass and fill lines. So I usually pull the plug, drain the tank and repeat the filling process. Your 5 minute procedure easily turns into a half hour or so for me. If I also decide to sanitize the water system, that becomes a half day procedure.

There is another big issue. I keep all sorts of supplies and food items in my RV. If I am going to let it go through hard freezing, I need to remove any canned goods, liquid cosmetics, bleach and cleaning materials, my bear spray cannisters, laundry detergent, the waste chemicals stored under my cassette toilet, etc, etc. Since I keep basic supplies for weeks of continuous use, there is a lot of stuff to remove and I always seem to miss some items. Of course all of that needs to go back when I get ready to use the RV again.

My RV lives outside so for winter storage, I often have a small electric space heater running in the camper. With some tinkering I can minimize cost and keep the inside temperature at about 40 degrees or so. In case the power goes out, I also have a remote sensor and can monitor the RV temperature from in the house. My RV is basically ready to go at all times. For a trip, I turn on the refrigerator in advance and also turn up the space heater to get the RV to a useable temperature before starting out.

[bucky]

I can be there in a few hours to take care of those pesky IPAs.
All kidding aside a permanent solution would be best.
Thermostatically controlled would allow ya'll to high tail it whenever you wanted. It's going to take a long time to warm it back up from twenty, set the stat to 40 or so and rest easy.

[Fisherman]

Depending on the size of your garage, what about a direct vent wall heater? My 20x22' insulated garage costs about $150 to keep at about 45F from mid November until about mid April. It's plumbed into the NG line although propane in big 110lb tanks is an option.

[Lantley]

While a bit more insulated than a toyhauler garage I put a space heater in my bathroom to keep things from freezing when temperatures plummet. THe space heater allows me to keep my RV ready to go into December.
I also use a space heater to heat the bunkhouse area which is similar to the garage area. Very little insulation. The heater keeps that area very liveable.
I don't think my bunk house area would get below 32 with heater running

[BCSnob]

This article suggests 10 watts of heater output per square foot of garage space.

https://www.bobvila.com/articles/best-electric-garage-heater/

[Matt_Colie]

Riltri,
Without looking at the garage with my ASHRE guide under my arm, I really cannot answer your question. I don't believe that anybody else can either.
If the space is insulated and relatively tight, it just might work. It also might not.
If you are worried about the contents of the garage freezing, then put them in the coach with your little heater also inside the coach. Leave the reefer running to contribute to the heat and there is a real good chance that everything will work.
If you think that there is a real good chance of freezing the drinks, put them all in a secondary containment so that if they do break there is little to clean up.
Matt
OH, and an experience.... If your IPL looks frozen, don't pour it out and drink it. What you have there is just the alcohol that froze out. You really don't want that. It sounds good but the next morning you will know it was a mistake when you look at the half-full bottles you emptied.

[opnspaces]

Is your garage insulated? If not will a small source heater even be able to keep up with the cold?

[wa8yxm]

I would blow the lines out.. Weather is getting wilder (This is climate change) Winters can get colder, and more suddenly colder. Summers likewise Much hotter. Ok enough environmental talk.

Imagine the following: You put your electric heater in the garage to keep warm.

Hop in the 4-wheel ride and off to the airport. hop on a plane and go visit your darling daughter (ok so MY DD lives like a kilomile from me) and about the time you land a sudden and unexpected hard freeze hits your town. Temps in the ZERO range.. On top of that it shows and Mr. Idiot driving his big 4-wheeler thinks he can go like the wind on slick roads.. and so he can.. But what stopps the wind? When it hits somethign.. Like the Utility pole that supplies power to your house.. LIGHTS OUT.. Lines frozen.

[Grit_dog]

I'd heat my whole shop with a big IR gas fired heater....if it was insulated and finished inside and I had one of those heaters. Lol

Not really understanding the question...Yes many people heat their shops for different reasons, including keeping things from freezing.