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6 Smart Tips On How To Heat A Garage Without Electricity

If you have a garage that doesn’t have electrical wiring, you may be scratching your head wondering how you can keep it at least tolerably warm in winter. Luckily, there are several easy alternatives to heating your garage without electricity. In this article, we review six of the best way to waste heat your garage even if you don’t have electricity and it. Read on to learn more.

How can I get heat without electricity?

How can I get heat without electricity

You can easily purchase a standalone kerosene or gas space heater that will keep your garage toasty and warm while you are in it. To choose the right type, you’ll need to measure the square footage of your garage.

If your garage is quite large, you will need naturally a large heater or several heaters. Of course if you have a small garage, you may need only one small gas or kerosene heater.

Many people find that it’s better to purchase two or three small gas or kerosene space heaters than one large one. When you do this, you can move the heaters around to heat specific areas more as needed or to provide more even heat throughout your garage.

A large heater may be difficult to move and may cause overheating in one area and little heating in another.

When you go heater shopping, check the specs on the packaging to find out how powerful the heater you have in mind really is. Most will tell you how much space they will heat effectively.

Remember that when you use a gas or kerosene space heater or one that uses a small propane tank, there is a bit of danger involved.

With all of these options, you are burning a petroleum product, so you’re dealing with a fire hazard. There may also be potentially dangerous fumes that you will need to vent.

You should never use this sort of heater unsupervised. This is especially true if you’re using the heater in a building that is intended to provide shelter for pets or livestock. If a petroleum powered heater is tipped over, fire will ensue.

How can you keep your garage warm when you’re not there?

Even if you are heating with a petroleum fueled space heater, you can still keep your garage quite a bit warmer while you’re gone by simply providing good insulation. A well insulated garage will retain quite a bit of the heat generated by your space heaters.

Good insulation may involve an initial outlay of a fairly substantial amount of money, but it will pay for itself over and over again as the years pass. There are several different types of insulation you can choose from.

See our articles, Top Tips On Heating Your Garage Cheaply and How To Heat A Garage In Winter for details.

What other fuels are available?

If you’d prefer not to deal with burning petroleum products, you might like the idea of keeping your garage warm with a wood-burning stove. This is especially true if you’re using the garage as a recreation space. A nice, new wood-burning stove with a glass front is an attractive and enjoyable source of heat.

When installing wood-burning stove, you naturally need to take steps to eliminate any potential fire hazard. You’ll have to install a proper chimney and flue to carry away smoke and toxic fumes.

You’ll need fireproof backing behind and around the stove and you’ll need to make sure you have good metal flashing to prevent your roof from catching on fire.

Just as with petroleum fueled heat sources, there may be local ordinances involving wood-burning heat sources in your area. Be sure to check with your local authorities to make certain that you are installing your wood-burning stove in a manner that is up to code.

Another important consideration is the fact that any heat source that produces a flame may have a negative impact on your homeowners insurance rates. Check with your carrier to make certain that having a wood-burning stove on your property won’t make your insurance unaffordable.

Unlike other garage heat sources, there is quite a bit of maintenance involved with a wood-burning stove. You need to keep the flue and the chimney clean, and you’ll need to carry out ash and dispose of it properly and safely.

Can I go green with garage heating?

Another option for heating a garage that is not electrically wired might be use of solar power. Of course, solar power is electric power, so you will need to provide the wiring necessary to make it work, but this is a fairly simple matter.

There are a number of different DIY and ready made solar options for garage heating. You can start from scratch by assembling a painted black, soda pop can solar heater, or you can purchase a ready made solar heater, and there are many choices in between these options.

No matter how you decide to heat your garage, you can boost that heating by adding passive solar with large, double paned windows on the south side of your building to allow in the natural heat of the sun. In temperate areas, this solution combined with good insulation may be all you need.

How to make a concrete garage warm?

The best heating choice for a concrete garage is radiant floor heating as explained in the video above. This is especially effective if you are building your garage and pouring a new concrete floor.

Combining under the floor radiant heat with active or passive solar in a concrete garage is an especially good idea. As with any other heating project, remember that good insulation is your friend.

Can I Use my home furnace?

If you have central heating in your home, you may be able to connect it to your garage using a split duct heating and cooling system. To do this, you are best off engaging a professional to help you. While this will increase your overall heating bill, it will definitely add a lot more living space to your property.

Another real advantage to this method of heating and cooling your garage without it being electrically wired is that you can control your garage temperature from inside your house.

What’s The Cheapest Way To Heat Your Garage Without Electricity?

No matter what heat source you choose, you must factor in the cost of insulation. Without it, none of the methods we have discussed will be effective. With insulation in place, passive and active solar heat is the least expensive once your installation is complete.

Second to that, petroleum burning heaters are probably the most economical of the options we have presented here because they amount to a single, one off purchase.

Of course, once installed, wood-burning stoves may be very economical to run if you have a good source of cheap or free wood.

1 thought on “6 Smart Tips On How To Heat A Garage Without Electricity”

  1. I used wood for burning 5 years ago, but decided to switch to electricity as it does not produce smoke and smells. A bit more expensive though.

    Reply

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