Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Heating a garage/workshop in Northern New England

The challenge is how to warm up an uninsulated garage workshop in an outbuilding in northern New England. Winter time gets colder'n a brass doorknob and then some. I'd like to be able to use the place to keep vehicles warm, not just protected, as well as maintain a workshop for the endless fix-it chores due to country living.

Wood would be a first choice, as that fits right into how the house is heated, however one issue is gas fumes (in vehicle and boat tanks), that I worry might be easily ignited by a flame source. I do have a spare - older - wood burning stove that could be installed, but want to look at other options as well. Safety is key.

I guess there are other choices, like electric and propane, but I have never used anything of the sort except a small portable electric unit to dethaw a car in sub-zero temps, enough to get it started.

Thoughts? Advice? Thanks!

I have infrared in mine, but it's insulated.

The nice thing is it warms you up instantly.

Wood, with proper intake and drafting. Even just stapling heavy poly to the inside walls and ceiling provides an air barrier helping to insulate.
Deal with it here as well.

Osky

I have oil furnace that came out of a trailer you can usually find them for around a 100 bucks, a converted 50 gallon barrel sits outside. I fill it with fuel oil and add a jug of diesel 911 to stop it from jelling. Saves a few bucks compared to kerosene. If I was doing it over maybe a ceiling mounted propane heater to save floor space

The first thing I’d do is insulate the building.

Then I’d install a gas powered furnace that mounts to the ceiling. Set the thermostat and enjoy a winterized garage.

If you really want to use wood and are concerned about the open flame in the garage you may want to consider one of the wood stoves designed to sit outside that has a water heat exchanger in it. You pump glycol water to inside your building and run it through a hydronic unit heater hung from the ceiling.

I'd insulate as best I can first. Otherwise you're just going to have humidity problems and energy loss.

To the OP, care must be taken for fumes of course but my building in northern MN has a tractor, multiple ATV’s, multiple snowmobiles, boat motors and tanks, restored Land Cruiser, chainsaws, generator, lawn tractor….and many other small fuel burning engines. I also keep at least 4, 6 gallon fuel cans full and ready (I’m a long ways off grid).
The most I do is put a piece of plastic bag over spouts before lightly screwing caps back on things. Helps on evaporation as well.
I keep it vented, nothing more. Maybe there’s a big boom in my future but wood stove has been working just fine for decades.

Osky

Those work really well Hunts… particularly with the horizontal baffle in the upper part of each.

Osky

Do you wear sunscreen out there?

Insulate it.

OP I have a two car garage 24 x 24 and do all my own repairs on cars, trucks, tractors, you name it. When I working in one bay the other has a kerosene salamander heater running. Many times I have had to disconnect fuel lines and spilled small ants. of gasoline. Been doing it this way for over thirty years and never had a problem. Your wood stove should work just fine.

i put a shop in last year and a woodburner this year. call me paranoid, but i won't have any gasoline source in that building when the fire is going. its mainly a wood/metal shop anyway but does get used for small mechanical stuff. if i wanted a heated garage and had a good source of wood, i'd put a boiler outside. i know about propane or gas heaters being used in garages but that would not be my choice. again thats my paranoia. something starts to leak when you're not there and the vapor drifts across the floor, you open the door and give it a big push of oxygen and boom.

another alternative is to build a small insulated bump-out and buy a propane or oil furnace and put it in there and run a duct.

i would definitely look into insulation. doesn't take much to make a big difference. last winter mine only had tyvek on the outside and the attic insulation blown in and i used two kerosene heaters and it took the chill off. wasn't what i would call warm but better than outside.

Gotta wonder if a guy that needs informed of that is competent enough to operate a wood stove.

You guys are mean.

Funny, but mean. 🤣

As already pointed out insulate it, it will not only allow for a more even heat, much less fuel it will keep the moisture down. Heating-n-Cooling an uninsulated out building is a sure way to rust up everything in there.

Get a Propane Hot Dawg and be done.
After you insulate.

https://www.modinehvac.com/products...ot-dawg-series/hot-dawg-power-vented-hd/

If you insist on wood, check with your homeowners insurance first.

When I bought this house it had a UL Listed wood stove in the garage.

I was with State Farm at the time and my agent said it had to go, or he could not write the policy.

I put in a Hot Dawg with a 120 gal propane tank ,

Solar panel and wind turbine? It's quite the 'thing' here in California, doesn't work of course, but it's the ultimate in virtue signalling, and you would be the darling of Northeast cocktail parties.

NG radiant tube heat

50x30 steel framed

Lots of insulation

68* all winter