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Heating a Garage
I’ve been thinking of heating my soon to be built 30 x 50 x 10 tall insulated garage with hydronic floor heating using a wood fired boiler to maintain a 65 deg. Temp. in the winter for wood working and some auto repair I also can use it to heat the house. Has any one used one of these and if so, how much wood does it use? I know the amount of wood is based on temp. and I understand that, I’m looking for an estimated amount wood it would burn. My other options are forced air gas and or wood burning furnace.
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Heating a Garage
I cannot answer your question, but I considered doing this and thought it just wasn't an effective way to heat a garage. Hydronic heat has a very slow recovery rate so you can't just walk into a cold garage anytime and heat it up quickly for a work session. You'd end up running the boiler almost constantly. And it seemed that it would get old mighty fast to keep the boiler fed. I concluded that gas fired infrared heaters were best, quick heating, low hassle, and economical if you only run them warm when you're actually working in the garage.
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Heating a Garage
I don't have a wood boiler (I have an 85% propane boiler instead) but I do have floor heat in my 44 x 38 garage. It has the Icynene system for isulation, 2 x 6 walls, and three 10 x 11 overhead doors and one 8 x 8 overhead door on the side. If you are planning on heating it all the time, it is the way to go. I keep mine at about 60 and heat our 1,000 sq. ft. apartment to 72 (which is above it) on one 500 gallon tank of propane per year. We do have an electric water heater (oops!) and oven however so the boiler is the only thing that runs on propane. I absolutely love it and would recommend floor heat to anyone who want a consistent and economical heat.
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Heating a Garage
I soon will be building anouther house. If you have access to wood for free (then it would be a no brainer especially if it is hardwood) Or can get wood hauled in to your place by a flat bed (bulk). If any of those apply I would go with the wood boiler and floor heat. If your planning on your house along with the garage then it is doubley effective since you will keep the fire going anyway to heat your house. A good outdoor wood buner will only need to be stocked once a day. What ever the company say's the time inbetween stocking is, subtract 25-50%  . Most of my neighbors where I am moving to have these systems (atleast the ones with newer houses or revamped houses. I stock up a friends wood furnace once a day for him over the christmas holiday (not this year but for the last 3 before). He leaves for a trip every year. This is the one down fall I can see. You need someone willing to come and fill it up once a day. This takes all of 3 minuits.
The heat is awesome, staedy and warm. Never again will you have cold feet and we all know that if your feet are cold you are too, or soon will be. It is not the most conveinant but if wood is available it will pay for itself shortly instead of losing money every year on the furnace as it gets older, you will be making money reducing the initial cost which is higher. One thing I worry about is the price of LP. I have not seen it below .88 in many years, most of the time I pay $1.10 or so. Wood on the other hand is made locally for most of us.
I vote for the wood heat but if conveinance is a factor like Kwschumm said then go anouther route. Cool thing about the heated garage is that it will always be workable, keep it at 50-55 degrees (which is very tolerable) When you plan on working out there open up the valve a bit more. Nothing like laying on warm concrete in the winter!
Good luck
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Heating a Garage
You would probably be in the 7-10 std cord range. You have minimal splitting. That is based on the systems here. All of the systems her run year round for domestic hot water and 90% have their own wood.
If you travel, I'd recommend using the anti-freeze mixture and have a secondary furnace, oil or propane, for back up tied in the circuit.
A heat exchanger does the swap.
A small generator is also very desirable if you live far enough out in the skicks.
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Heating a Garage
Harvey
Thanks for that tip, I never gave it a thought about a generator! Great advice!
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Heating a Garage
Thanks for the info. I too have heard they use about 7 to 9 chords of wood per year depending on the out door temperature at the time. I found out it would not be to economical just to heat the garage alone with one, you would have to also heat your home with it to recover the cost of one of these units, since the price range I was quoted by about six different companies was in the ball park of about 7 to 8 grand now that is for heating both the house and the garage. That is a whole lot of dollars when I could hang 2 ceiling mounted NG heaters and use a wood burning furnace (when I’m out there) for about 1600.00 for all three pieces. The pay back cost is in about three years. I do thank you for the input on the subject.
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Heating a Garage
I had a forced hot air gas furnace installed in my garage & it suites the needs perfectly. Very efficiant & I dotn have to think about it when I am working out there.
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Heating a Garage
With the high cost of propane I usually start thinking about wood heat about this time of year too. But as someone who grew up in a house that was heated with wood exclusively, it seems that much of our life was centered around the woodpile. From cutting wood to ash removal you handle firewood nine times before you're finished.
So just as I did this morning, I write a check to the gas supplier. 
Dave
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Heating a Garage
I am paying $1.60 per gallon for propane right now. I only consume about 80 gallons a month for the garage but it has been a mild winter.
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Gas Generator Weather Protecti
01-11-2005, 20:53 
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