Propane Garage Heater
Propane garage heaters are usually the simplest solution for heating your workshop, barn, or garage. Several important questions come to mind when someone is looking to buy one since there are many choices, fuel types, and features that are available on the market. If you are one of these people, continue reading, you will find out something new.
What types of heat come from propane heaters?
These shop heaters will either warm the air in the room or focus radiant heat on an object, depending on what you want. If you are moving around your garage or shop and want the whole thing feeling warm in the air get the former. If you are at a work station on one side of the garage, go for radiant heat. Most models will be explicit as to what types of heat they emit. You only have to figure out which one would suit you best.
It’s important to understand the total output of a propane heater, it is measured in BTU’s (British Thermal Units). You have to match the BTU with the size of the room you want to heat.
The size of the propane heater is determined by the total amount of air that in the room. Take your square footage of the room and multiply it by the height. Then take this number and multiply by 3 or 4 depending on how well insulated the room you are in the higher number if poorly insulated.
Lets say that you have a 750 square foot garage with 10 foot ceilings, you will need around 22,500 to 30,000 BTUs.
Also many models will give you an estimated square footage that they can adequately heat.
Why use propane versus another source of energy like electricity?
This all depends on your goals. Some like the convenience of just using electricity and never thinking about refilling their propane tanks while others like the idea of having heat in case the power isn’t on or available in their shop at the time.
With a propane heater, you can keep warm regardless of electricity being available.
There are diesel and kerosene heaters as well but these tend to be noisy compared to propane or electricity.
What about proper ventilation?
Always follow the instructions given from the manufacturer. Each propane model will have a vent or hose to get the emissions out of the air that must be followed explicitly for your safety. You have to take measures in order to prevent any accidents or damage to your propane garage heater at ll times.