Don’t let cold weather slow you down in your workshop or garage. Heavy-duty industrial and garage heaters are designed to stand up to tough environments and provide instant heat where you need it most.
Before purchasing a garage heater, you need to make sure you find one that’s right for your space.
- Garage Heater Sizing: Main Considerations
- Quick Garage Heater Sizing Guide
- Garage Heater Safety: Stay Warm and Safe
- Garage Heater Efficiency: Tips for Saving Money
- Additional Resources
Garage Heater Sizing Considerations
It’s important to buy the right size heater for your garage or workspace, but it’s also important to keep how you’re heating your space in mind:
Here are a few general tips, in order of importance, for finding the right size heater for your space:
How You’re Heating
Do you need to heat one area (like your desk) or the entire garage/workshop? This is the most important question to consider when buying a garage or industrial heater. If you’re unsure, lean towards the more powerful unit since most garages and workshops don’t have proper insulation.
If you’re heating a smaller area like desk space, consider heaters like the QMark Commercial Heater which easily sits on a table or the NewAir Electric Garage Heater (pictured above).
Need to heat an entire garage or workshop? Consider a more powerful heaters like the propane-powered Dyna-Glo Forced Heater or the King Electric Single Phase Heater.
Climate
Do you live in a traditionally warm or cold climate? If your temperatures drop down below 0 degrees F or wind chill drastically changes how cold your air feels, you’ll want to increase your power by about 10%.
If your area only gets truly cold for a few months and you avoid tough conditions like the Northeast United States, you can likely drop the power by 10% or more.
Insulation
How well insulated is your garage or workshop? Well-insulated areas don’t require quite as much heating power since there’s more protection from wind gusts and other elements.
Quick Garage Heater Sizing Guide
In terms of heating output, there are ways to measure heating power. Electric heaters are measured in watts, while propane and gas heaters are measured in BTUs. The higher the watts or BTUs, the more heat is produced by the heater.
Many customers prefer propane heaters for extreme conditions because they tend to have higher heat ratings to cut through bitterly cold environments. Electric heaters tend to be easier though; simply plug them into an electrical socket.
If you're looking to heat a large garage, use these general guidelines as a starting point for heating your space:
Single Car Garage (12 x 20)
- Cold Environments: 45,000 BTUs or 13,000 watts
- Moderate Environments: 37,000 BTUs or 11,000 watts
Double Car Garage (22 x 20)
- Cold Environments: 120,000 BTUs or 35,000 watts
- Moderate Environments: 100,000 BTUs or 30,000 watts
Garage Heater Safety Considerations
Garage heaters are built to stand up to the elements, but they’re also designed with safety in mind. As with any heater, it’s important to review your heater’s owner’s manual and any installation instructions.
Select wall heaters may have specific locations to avoid or clearances from desks and other items.
There are two main safety features to consider:
- Overheat Protection: Most heaters are backed by overheat protection. This switch cuts off operation if its internal parts start to overheat. Shop all garage heaters with overheat protection.
- Tip-Over Protection: Another important safety feature is tip-over protection, which cuts off heating function if the unit tips over during operation. Shop all industrial heaters with tip-over protection.
Garage Heater Efficiency
Electric heaters tend to be more efficient than propane heaters since up to 20% of propane heaters fuel is burned off during operation. However, propane heaters offer a lot of power to cut through freezing temperatures.
The most important aspect of efficiency is getting the right size heater, which you can do by following the steps mentioned above. Finding the right size heater will make sure it’s running as efficiently as possible.
Heaters without enough power will run longer and work harder to heat your space, while heaters that are too powerful require a lot of energy to heat up fully then will cycle on and off more often than needed.
Additional tips for efficiently heating your garage:
- If you’re using an electric heater, consider using it during off-peak times for potential discounts from providers.
- Add insulation or sealing to doors, walls or windows.
- Consider directing heat only where you need it most with a radiant heater. These heaters won’t warm your entire space but can offer direct heat to work areas.
- Add carpet or some type of flooring over the cold concrete.
Additional Resources
View our list of best garage heaters based on customer reviews, or see our full buying guide for even more information on the types of heaters and other buying considerations.
Not sure what's best for you? We can take the guesswork out of decision-making. Call us at 1-800-934-9194. We want to help make your indoors healthy and comfortable.
