what's a good way to keep a garage or shed warm?
- Thread starter The motor guy
- Start date
If your building is close to air tight I'd just get something like a 500W halogen light and turn it on a day ahead of your cold spell. If its breezy then using electricity is expensive, you might be further ahead to seal it up to use electricity effectively.
I have a small shed with a spring pump and expansion tank in it. The winter temps can go below zero here and I solved the freeze problem this way. I bought a "thermocube" a small wall switch that turns on power at around 35 degrees and off at I think 45 degrees. I got a "Feit Electric 250 watt Incandescent R40 Red Heat Lamp Reflector" at Tractor supply and screwed it into a ceramic socket and it keeps the shed very warm. I also put a telltale light outside so I can see when the heat is on. You could put as many of these in your garage as you have outlets.
Originally Posted By: syndydog
I have a small shed with a spring pump and expansion tank in it. The winter temps can go below zero here and I solved the freeze problem this way. I bought a "thermocube" a small wall switch that turns on power at around 35 degrees and off at I think 45 degrees. I got a "Feit Electric 250 watt Incandescent R40 Red Heat Lamp Reflector" at Tractor supply and screwed it into a ceramic socket and it keeps the shed very warm. I also put a telltale light outside so I can see when the heat is on. You could put as many of these in your garage as you have outlets.
this sounds like at my sister's farm. the small pump house( houses the well pump and all associated bits) they put up is about the size of an out house. they've kept it above freezing in there for years with a single 100w incandescent light bulb.
but since those have gone the way of the dodo.... heat lamp it is.
I think they now have a similar set up in their chicken Coop. of course my brother in law WAY overbuilt that coop. it's practically to building code for human occupation. insulation, double pane widows, etc.
I think overall the walls are about 3 inches thick.
I have a small shed with a spring pump and expansion tank in it. The winter temps can go below zero here and I solved the freeze problem this way. I bought a "thermocube" a small wall switch that turns on power at around 35 degrees and off at I think 45 degrees. I got a "Feit Electric 250 watt Incandescent R40 Red Heat Lamp Reflector" at Tractor supply and screwed it into a ceramic socket and it keeps the shed very warm. I also put a telltale light outside so I can see when the heat is on. You could put as many of these in your garage as you have outlets.
this sounds like at my sister's farm. the small pump house( houses the well pump and all associated bits) they put up is about the size of an out house. they've kept it above freezing in there for years with a single 100w incandescent light bulb.
but since those have gone the way of the dodo.... heat lamp it is.
I think they now have a similar set up in their chicken Coop. of course my brother in law WAY overbuilt that coop. it's practically to building code for human occupation. insulation, double pane widows, etc.
I think overall the walls are about 3 inches thick.
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We live on a small farm but no animals except the wild ones. I put 8 inch stove pipe all around the water pipes in the spring house and then foamed them. Where I could not put the pipe like on some bends I put metal hardware cloth. I made it mouse proof as well as insulated it. We are at 3200 feet and just off the Blue Ridge PKY so it can get well below zero for days at a time. The heat lamp is added protection.
I was going to suggest one of those red heat lamps, but the oil heater sounds like a safer option. Insulating will also have some benefit if the power goes out, and should keep the shed a little cooler in the summer.
Keep things warm in Texas? A 40 watt incandescent lightbulb oughta do it.
Funny how this thread was brought back and when I read the first post that’s what I thought.
At my place, every other winter we have a 10 day to two week period where we never see temps over -10 (ten below zero Fahrenheit), before wind chill. We deal with it and go about life normally. Very common to have temperatures hover around zero for a month at a time. The snow that falls at that temperature is actually much easier to move.
That being said, since heat rises, I’d spend money on roof and upper wall insulation first. Then explore the best way to get heat into the structure. If you could pick only one project at a time, start with insulation for certain.
I totally missed the thread resurrection. I thought the OP was reacting to last winter's cold snap.
I heat my garage to about 60 with an electric heater. I believe garage is insulated. I put a 6" duct pipe from ceiling to floor with duct fan to pull warm air from ceiling and bring it to floor level. It costs a lot to run the heater. But my dog likes it. So it's worth it.
JHZR2
Staff member
Just do the math.
How big is the footprint, how tall is the ceiling, what is the insulation like?
So let’s assume you have an 8x10 shed with a gable roof so the average height inside is 12 ft. The shed is uninsulated. Everything will retain some heat, have some solar radiance, it doesn’t stay that frigid for that long. So let’s assume that your design is to raise the temperature 30 degrees…
The calculator says:
(insulation*volume*temperature rise)/1.6=BTU/hr.
So:
(5*(8*10*12)*30)/1.6=90000 BTU/hr=~26kW!
Even if we get rid of the substantial factor for no insulation, so say,
(1.5*(8*10*12)*30)/1.6=27000 BTU/hr=~8kW!
Frankly, I believe this completely. I installed a 5-6kW 240v garage heater (heating coils with a blower), in my uninsulated multi-garage building, to heat one bay. They bays are 10x20, with no ceiling, and a roof peak of 16ft or so. So obviously heat rises, no insulation makes for big losses, etc., etc.. the bay I have it in is more like 20x20, so a big space.
I can only get a few degrees rise in the building when running for a few hours at a time. It’s enough to go in, close the door, and take the chill off. I don’t run it all the time, so it’s not a big concern, and it does add comfort when not super cold and everything is cold soaked. And that’s a larger space, higher ceiling, etc., but kind of the same thing.
So your numbers could be huge if you’re truly trying to avoid items from freezing in conditions where the max low temperature is encou;there’d, based upon temperature rise required and losses from the building. Insulation and reduction of ceiling height are the two main knobs to turn then…
If installing a heater (only makes sense after insulating as mentioned) go gas if at all possible. Electric heat for that large of a space will be unruly in cost if used frequently.
Plus 1. If the garage is wired for 220 V, get a 220 V utility heater. I just picked one up from Amazon for my neighbour. Alternatively two 120 V 1500 W heaters are good if you have two separately wired circuits on separate breakers.
Might work in the South, but here in the Midwest, if you insulate your shed, then it will keep it from freezing, but on warm up days, it will be 55 outside and near freezing inside the shed.
Also if the shed has a concrete floor, you can buy more time, since concrete takes some time to cool down or heat up.
gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
What a great necro of this thread
JHZR2
Staff member
