Kerosene heater for shop

[John Cooper]

I'm looking at kerosene heaters for my shop/garage. Garage is roughly 39x59 inside and not insulated.

Something like this if it will give me some heat.

Will it work??

 

[Scoutmapper]

I had a brother in law bring one to a 1 car uninsulated garage and it got over 80 in there. It was below zero outside and I was down to a t-shirt eventually. I believe the one we used was smaller than that one too.

 

[Apparition]

Had one of those in my three stall garage for a while. Sounds like a jet engine and I was constantly worried about setting something on fire.

I wanted to go natural gas but my house layout and finding someone to plumb it in wasn’t working out during Covid. So I went electric and have been pretty satisfied with it.

 

[FarFire70]

I looked into getting one of that style to use in my 2-car garage (20'x23' with 12' ceilings) a few years back but came across two concerns that turned me to a propane solution:

1) I don't have a very ready supply of kerosene in my area (I hadn't looked into the diesel option you linked so that's a nice option)

2) I had read that people reported finding soot or a film would build up on items all over the garage (such as any items stored on shelves, on the shelves, etc.). Which makes some sense if it's just exhausting into the garage... I don't know how true this is but it turned me off

The second issue may be a smaller issue in a larger garage but I was turned off enough to go with a double-headed heater that attaches to a propane tank like this: amazon.com/Mr-Heater-Outdoor-Propane-F216600/dp/B085N7RHJP

It'll take my garage from the 30s to a decent upper 50s with a simple 30-45 min run-time. Which is perfect for me when I need to get the temp up in the garage.

 

[MtPockets]

John, I have a similar size shop and also looking for some heat.
I have smaller versions of what you posted, though mine run on propane.
Couple of thoughts- the kerosene one stink when they run. Yes, you can run #1 Diesel but it'll smoke a little.
The propane versions dont smell much if at all.
As Apparition mentioned, they sound like a jet engine.
This is what I bought. Haven't fired it up yet. I'll let you know what I find out when I do.
It also runs on propane.
One thing I like is it doesnt require electricity.

https://www.northerntool.com/produc...-heater-lp-propane-model-rmc-lpc200dg-5998535

 

[bucky]

I have one of those that I used to heat my shop in ND. Worked great. You’ll want one that burns both kerosene and diesel. Diesel burns hotter than kerosene and red diesel is cheaper. Kerosene burns cleaner. #1 diesel is close to kerosene if you can get it but again not as much heat output as #2 diesel.
I have a wood stove here in my uninsulated Ca shop. It keeps my shop toasty warm and the wood is free for me.

 

[tworley]

Ive used the double propane tank heater before and it works great for my 500 sq ft garage. The fumes can get strong though. Last year I installed a 6k watt electric heater and that works really well too, but its expensive. So i only use it on the days im working in the garage.

 

[John Cooper]

Thanks for the replies! If and when I get the shop insulated I believe a wood heater will keep it warm, but until then its hard to work in it unless its above 45deg.

Guess I'm getting soft in my older age.

 

[Farmergreg]

These Val6 style infrared heaters and the knock offs seem to be gaining popularity buy pricy.
https://val6heat.com/model-kbe5l-2/

i've got floor heat but keep it cooler and will run a torpedo heater (on diesel) to warm it up quicker when you open the doors or just want it warmer to wash something.
But the noise drives you nuts!

 

[Farmergreg]

Every now and then i go down the youtube "project farm" rabbit hole.
He tests the small diesel furnaces in this video. One thing about those is you can vent them.

 

[Farmergreg]

Dammit i'm in there again....

 

[Apparition]

Dammit i'm in there again....

“Very impressive”

 

[NashvilleTJ]

I've run one of those before, John. I would do it.

As has been stated, the noise is horrible - and you will absolutely get tired of it. But it is quick, and it will heat your giant shop. You will certainly want to do something more livable soon.

But here's the thing: you will always have a use for it. Unless you go with a more permanent heating source which you run all the time (which would be quite expensive for that much cubic volume), you'll put in a wood stove, or a fueled heater, or something else which you won't run all the time. Those solutions are great, but take forever to get a large place up to temp.

So you come out to work in the morning, turn on you new permanent heat source - and then fire up the jet engine for a few minutes to get the space quickly up to temp, and then turn it off and enjoy the quiet as the permanent system maintains the temp. I think that winds up being a very good solution.

Near term, it gets the shop livable prior to insulation, HVAC work, electrical, and everything else it takes to get to the permanent solution. So, buying the heater now is money well spent, and certainly not wasted.

 

[MtPockets]

Thanks for the replies! If and when I get the shop insulated I believe a wood heater will keep it warm, but until then its hard to work in it unless its above 45deg.

Guess I'm getting soft in my older age.

I'm right there with you, on all accounts. I've been working towards insulating even just part of the shop so I can have a "work area" and "cold storage".
There's a small forced air overhead heater on one end but it's much too small to heat the whole thing, especially while it's not insulated.
My current "plan" is, once it's insulated, use the current heater (or replace it with a larger heater of the same type) to keep it maybe 45-50° then a wood stove to bring it up when I'm working in there.
I've only had this shop the last couple of years. I spent the last 50 years working on shit outside in all weather.
Anymore, I don't care to do that!

 

[NashvilleTJ]

I'm right there with you, on all accounts. I've been working towards insulating even just part of the shop so I can have a "work area" and "cold storage".
There's a small forced air overhead heater on one end but it's much too small to heat the whole thing, especially while it's not insulated.
My current "plan" is, once it's insulated, use the current heater (or replace it with a larger heater of the same type) to keep it maybe 45-50° then a wood stove to bring it up when I'm working in there.
I've only had this shop the last couple of years. I spent the last 50 years working on shit outside in all weather.
Anymore, I don't care to do that!

Oh man, I can't imagine heating a shop in Montana. At least John has 'Bama weather on his side.

 

[Apparition]

So, buying the heater now is money well spent, and certainly not wasted.

I got a pretty good deal when I bought my afterburner heater. When I sold it I was able to sell it for more than I paid so they do hold value too.

 

[ColoJeep]

Be sure to have some fresh air ventilation also . And NEVER let it run out of fuel while it's running. If that happens you'll get a loud power on and off sound a couple of times , then pure unburned vaporized fuel odor so bad your eyes will water and you can't breath . Trust me on this.

 

[gasiorv]

Look at a Chinese Diesel Heater, it is basically the same concept but you exhaust it to the outside. I have a small 8KW diesel heater and it warms up my 3 bay garage (non-insulated doors) pretty fast. I use 1 gal of diesel for about 3 days in the garage when the temps are in the 30's outside. I think mine is an Hcalory, but I think Vevor, and all the others on Amazon are probably all the same. For $100, they work great.

 

[bucky]

My uninsulated work room at my shop is 600 sqft with 10’ walls. The stove sits in a corner that used to just accumulate crap so I really didn’t lose any usable space. Where I'm at in SoCal we can get down in the 30s at night in the winter months. I start the stove as soon as I get in and it heats up fast. In no time I need to strip down to a t-shirt. I put a box fan blowing on the back of the stove to circulate the heat better. The only bad part about a wood stove is that the cost of the chimney was twice the cost of the actual stove. I cut and split all the wood myself so there is minimal cost of the fuel.

 

[John Cooper]

I'm honestly thinking of contacting a poultry supply company and see what they would charge to do the inside of our shop. They use fiberglass insulation and some kind of thick plastic sheeting.

They would do the walls and follow the trusses for the ceiling.

You can see what it would look like on the ceiling in the picture above.