I would'nt worry about the place blowing up I use to paint in my uncles garage with a buck stove all kinds of fumes fling everywere and no explosion or fire just great heat with no worries about dust cause there was no blower on this stove to cause dust from leaving any walls or anything but thats just my opinion i really would'nt want you hurting yourself good luck!!!

what about heat up the garage first then shut it off when it's time to paint and use the infrared lights.

greenb98 wrote: I was thinking if I could heat up the garage to about 75 degrees, cut the heater (actually move it from the garage) shoot the paint and give it about twenty to thirty minutes for the majority of the fumes to be blown out by the fans. And then bring back in the heater. What do you think. Anybody?
Thanks greenb98

That's exactly how I do it. As long as it's not real cold outside.

I'm hoping to get my heater set up changed by the end of winter, as gas prices are rising.. My uncle is going to make me a shop heater that runs off of a water heater and a A-coil. It's what he uses in his shop and it'll burn you out of there, and that's with him not even running a circulation pump... it's pretty impressive.. Plus don't have to worry about flammable's as there is no flame, and all air travels past the A-coil.. I can't wait.

Just my two cents...sorry for bumping


I am a big fan of radiant heat and suggest that some form of it would be what you would like to have for a workshop. I agree that hot water radiant heat installed in the slab would be the ultimate way to go. It would not have to be all that expensive either if you are going to install a slap anyway. You can heat the water using a more or less conventional electric water heater too. A tankless type would be a good bet. You could also create an array of tubing external to the slab something like a large towel warming radiant heater.

If radiant heat in the floor is not an option then you could try some of the following:

If you do need to stay with electric and don't mind moving the heater around to the area you are working I think the following type of electric radiant heater would be great:

homedepot.com enter sku# 866581

In looking for the type of electric radiant heater I was thinking of I stumbled across the following electric garage heater that seems to have received good reviews and could be just the ticket:

homedepot.com enter sku# 344117

If you want to go the route that would be more typical in comercial garages and shops you might take a look at the following type of propane fired radiant heater. You would have to make sure you had enough ventilation but I think all you would have to do for that would be to pick a ventilation fan with the coresponding amount of CFM and make sure it is turned on when you use the heater.

Grainger Industrial Supply: Heater,Infrared 3E460

Grainger does have a lot of other types of heaters too by the way.

Are you indeed thinking of building a workshop garage? I have been wanting to do that myself for some time now and will one of these days. As you may recall when you paid me a visit to look at my floor replacement project my Airstream is not only entirely outside it is also parked on a sloped driveway. I have been looking at a lot of different construction options and may be able to help you figure something out if you like.

I see you are a newbie here, welcome aboard. Always note though..... the time of the last post that you are answering. This was a "hot" topic about 12 years ago......

I live a few hours north of you in the Detroit area. I just installed a 12,000 BTU heat pump in my garage. Air-Con was the brand. It's good down to -5F for heating, so maybe a few of the coldest weeks in winter it won't work well for me. But in Akron, I imagine it would be good year round. The nice thing is, it provides AC in the summer as well. It was around $700, and took only a few hours to install myself. Autozone has all the tools needed in their loaner tools program. There is a federal tax rebate for installing a heat pump as well.

Unlike a natural gas heater or electric heater, there are no coils that get super hot, so your risk of fire is lower.

EDIT: Missed the last post, looks like you likely already solved this one... Anyway, my advice for the next person reading is still relevant.

DarrelK wrote: This was a "hot" topic about 12 years ago......