posted 11-11-2002 10:16 PM                  

TIA

posted 11-11-2002 10:23 PM                  

Assuming you use your garage for your daily driver, and assuming you track snow into your garage during the winter, heating the garage (I'm told) could actually speed the oxidation process (a.k.a. rust). Your cold car (with snow) warms, the snow melts, the moisture drys, then back into the snow, then heat, then snow, then heat, etc, etc. This cycle, especially when there's salt and sand mixed in with the snow, could cause more harm than if the garage stays cold and the snow doesn't get a chance to melt.

I could be off my rocker, afterall, I bought a GOLD Prowler (oh no, now what have I started?!).

Other opinions?

Kevin

posted 11-11-2002 10:25 PM                  

If you're worried about moisture, try putting a 60-100 watt bulb under the hood on 24-7. The heat from the bulb will keep it dry and prevent corrosion especially if you are using a car cover.

posted 11-12-2002 01:07 PM                  

I have a gas forced air furnace in my play garage. It's my play garage, because that's where I keep all my toys, including the Prowler. The garage is about 600 sq ft with a 15' ceiling. Because of the high ceiling, I have (3) ceiling fans to keep the air circulating. I usually only run one of them in the colder months when the furnace is on. The furnace is a 62,500 BTU "Cozy-DVCF653B", which can heat up to about 1000 sq ft with normal height ceilings. It is a wall mounted unit with direct through the wall ventilation and intake. It comes complete with everything you need for about $900. I am very pleased with this furnace and have experienced no problems with corrosion in the garage. You can check out the unit on their web site http://www.tanklesswaterheaters.com/counterflow2.html?AID=5747862&PID=235564.

On the other hand, the garage in my last house was a different story. I had a small gas space heater type furnace in there, with a standard exhaust stack through the ceiling. The exhaust system allowed cold air into the garage when it wasn't being used, which was most of the time. This was also my daily use garage, so it was frequently opened and closed and only heated when I worked out there. As mentioned by JKBurns, this caused serious corrosion problems in the garage, until I figured out what was causing it. Needless to say, this was not a good setup.

Good luck with your heating system, Kraut

posted 11-12-2002 06:43 PM                  

( OR )

posted 11-13-2002 07:50 AM                  

Wow so many options. As for the garage, it was built next to my existing garage. The attic space is shared with the previous garage space. Unfortunately, that attic space is separate from the rest of the house so no duct work in it. You can kind of see that in this picture :

Now the existing garage does have part of the house living space behind it. About a 10 foot wide section runs the length of the garage behind it. That section of the house is on crawl with the other portion on basement. The crawl is only like 4 inches above the floor in the new garage. So I don’t think I’m going to get much from there into the garage although there is duct work in there. Typically that section of the living space is the coldest in the house so I really don’t think I want to take any heat from that. So I don’t think I have the setup you described available.

Kimo,

Shouldn’t I be able to just remove the seal from the hood and allow the heat to escape from the cat? That temperate difference noted in a previous thread should be helpful for me! I just got to figure out what to do with the Carbon dioxide!

All,

Thanks for your advice. Most of it I’m a little leery in exploring as I use this as a wash bay. There will be water everywhere. So mounting something sitting on the wall or free standing on the floor isn’t my first choice. I did pre-wire a water proof switch to install some type of ceiling mounted heat source figuring that would be the way to go. But not until I got the ideas here, did I find the proper search words to find some of these units on the web.

Now there is all sorts of attic space above this bay as we matched roof pitch from the house. I could put a unit up there that had vents in the ceiling of the bay to regulate temperature. I just assume that would be too costly. But it might help with the humidity level being too high in the summer issue that I’ll post in the spring. It’s like a cloud forms in there when it’s warm and I wash the cat. I did receive an email about window units that cool and heat. Didn’t really realize that there was an option to have both in one unit. While adding windows to the bay doesn’t seem like it would be a big deal, having the unit exposed to the hose would be.

posted 11-13-2002 11:00 AM                  

Your garage addition is very similar to what I did at my place. Here are a few pictures of mine while still under construction. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of it since I finished it. You'll notice the furnace pictured in one of them. I maintain a temp of 58 degrees, and turn it up a bit higher when I work out there.

If you're concerned about getting water all over the walls when you wash the car, try using a larger nozzle to reduce the overspray. I don't wash mine in the garage because I have lots of other stuff out there, including several toolroom machines I don't want to get wet.

Kraut

posted 11-13-2002 06:13 PM                  

what are you wanting to achieve? maintain a temp and heat up when I come over to use it...LOL....or just warm it up a few times during the winter?

If you want to keep it warm and since you have water out there it would be a good idea to keep it in the upper 40's or 50's I would go with gas wall furnace as pictured. I had a unit like this in my 1st house. How close is the closest gas line?

If you just want to heat up every once in awhile you could get a ceiling hung electric unit, the easiest to install. A friend had one in his 24X24 and heated OK in the winter. Would need to have 220V available for it.

If you do not know heating and air guy let me know. One of the guys in local T/S car club has Heat/AC business and will treat you right.

posted 11-13-2002 09:50 PM                  

quote:

---

Originally posted by WildCat:
Bill, My 2 Cents

what are you wanting to achieve? maintain a temp and heat up when I come over to use it...LOL

---

Larry,

Hey a winter wash party sounds like a good idea. but who's going to come out for it?

Some good options here - thanks all.