Garage Heaters

Types of Garage Heaters

There are several types of garage heaters including forced air, convection, and radiant garage heaters. Standard Heating sells and installs forced air Reznor heaters which work well for heating garages during Minnesota winters. This heater uses power-venting, which operates at a thermal efficiency of up to 82-83%.

Things to Consider When Choosing a Garage Heater

What Size is Best for Your Garage?

These are the typical guidelines for most garage uses:

  • 2-car garage: 45,000 BTU
  • 3-car garage: 60,000 BTU

You should also consider why you want to heat your garage, because this could impact the size heater you need.

  • Is it solely to keep your cars warm? Is maintaining the temperature at 55F all you need?
  • Are you planning to work for longer amounts of time in the garage and want to keep it warmer and closer to 65F?

What type of maintenance is required?

Maintenance will vary, depending on the type of garage heater you install. Very little maintenance is required on the Reznor heaters.

  • Every year do a CO test.
  • Clean the flame sensor.

Things to Consider Before Installing Garage Heater

Gas Lines

One of the first things to consider is how are we going to get a gas line to your new Reznor heater. Depending on how your home is constructed, sometimes the gas line is easy to run, and sometimes it is more complicated (and more expensive).

The location of your gas meter is typically an indicator of how simple or complicated it will be to run a gas line. Is your gas meter on the garage side of the house? If so, it should be easy to run a gas line. If it’s on the opposite side of the house from the garage, it will likely be more complicated and expensive to run a gas line.

Installation and Venting

There are two possible ways to vent the Reznor garage heater. It can be vented through a side wall or through the roof. Either method of venting is fine, but it’s more difficult to install a roof vent, especially in the winter when the roof is covered in snow and ice, which will increase the time (and cost).

Electric, Wiring & Thermostat

When installing a garage heater, it has to be wired. This is something you can do through Standard Heating, or through your own electrician. You should consider where you want to put the thermostat, because this is what you will use to control a Reznor heater. These heaters are also compatible with wif-fi thermostats, like a Nest. Most homeowners choose one of two locations for the thermostat:

  • Behind the heater, because this is the part of the garage to warm up last, or
  • By the garage door openers, for easy and convenient access.