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That Garage is COLD!!!

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Mark_Gibson

Mark_Gibson

Jedi Trainee
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Day after turkey day and I'm up already dismantling the chassis on my 2. I'm am very pleased with the condition of the frame. No accident damage I can see and it is 100 percent solid. Today the brake lines and emergency brake system comes off, and maybe start working on getting the rear axle loose if I don't freeze to death first. I insulated my garage year before last and it makes a big difference. Problem is it's a 4 car garage and my natural gas heater is on the other side from the 2. Oh well, that's what gloves are for I guess....
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I have a 1 1/2 car garage that is attached to the house which has no insulation and no heat. I'm able to get it comfortably warm in the coldest weather with a kerosene heater. Next year I'll get around to insulating. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hammer.gif
 
I have a 2 bay detached garage. I insulated the one side where my TR6 lives. I run a propane heater and it keeps it at about 60 degress. Perfect for working on the car.
 
It gets cold up here as well. What I do when I don't expect to be there long enough to justify turning the heat on (or I don't want to wait the 6 hours it takes to heat the garage) is to use a 1000W halagen lamp (those floor mound things that you find at Home Depot and such). This gives me light (lots) and keeps my hands warm. The rest of me stays woarm with appropriate clothes. This might be all you need on the far side of your garage these cold days.
 
I used to live in NY and had to work on my car on the street, on my back, in the snow and slush. Don't take this personally... but I'm glad I'm not up there and working under those conditions anymore.

I've had the big, torpedo kerosene heaters and they make quick work of heating your work space. However, the parts for them when they go bad (and they do go bad) are silly expensive. When mine died last time I invested in a wick type heater only to make sure I'd have a heater that would work when we loose electric power like we did two years ago during a severe winter storm. (Yes, they do have severe winter storms in NC... thankfully the snow only hangs around for about three days!)

Stay warm up there. Insulate and get a torpedo heater. It makes a world of difference.
 
That was one of the changes I made and I'm glad I did, lived in NY too long. I have a 2 car garage, work shop in one half. Spit in the other. Insulated fully and sheetrocked, I also installed insulated garage doors and put a heater in. I keep it heated to 55 during the winter and raise it to 60 when I"m out there working...
 
We have a co-op for electric here in Fairport (near Rochester) and our electric bills are very cheap. I'm thinking of putting in some sort of radiant electric heater on that far side of the garage. Anyone had any experience with those?

Thanks,
 
I mounted two wall mounted electric heaters (240v) on opposing sides of the garage. They have thermostat controls on them as well. I absolutly love them. I normally set them to keep the garage at about 50 degrees in the winter, but turn them up when I'm working. In a half hour the garage is toasty warm.

I used to have the "torpedo" style heater, but I finally chose the wall mount because:
- I'm always running out of fuel that worst times
- A heater on the floor gets in my way
- With electric heat, I don't have to worry about fumes
- Car has gas, gas + flame = bad
 
Morning everyone,

Went out for a drive this morning & it was definitly winter. The diff swap I was supposed to do this summer will probably wait till the spring now , I'll just have to put up with the noise .

On this end of Long Island the di-hard car nuts still gather every Sunday morning, starting at 8:00 am & ending by 11:00. Everything from american muscle, Ferrari, alot of Vettes,Mini's to traditional British sportscars.On a good day almost 200 cars. It's one of the only things that gets me through the NY winters. As long as the roads are clear & there's no rain it's usualy a good bet to have a fun morning.
It's a good reason to keep the car running all year round. By the time the summer comes there's no surprises.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I don't freeze to death first. I insulated my garage year before last and it makes a big difference. Problem is it's a 4 car garage and my natural gas heater is on the other side from the 2. Oh well, that's what gloves are for I guess....
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hammer.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Mark

Why not move the car closest to the heater to where the 2 is and move the 2 closer to the heater side?

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Paul
 
[ QUOTE ]
use a 1000W halagen lamp (those floor mound things that you find at Home Depot and such). This gives me light (lots) and keeps my hands warm. The rest of me stays woarm with appropriate clothes. This might be all you need on the far side of your garage these cold days.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have 4 of those lights, bought them at Canadian Tire. So far, I have only needed to put two on at a time. And you are right Adrio, they sure throw the light and the heat.

Paul
 
Like Shannon, I have a wall-mounted electric heater -- Cadet Red Hot or something like that. It was about $200 at Home Depot, and all I did was wire a 225V outlet (it's mounted close to breaker box, so it was easy.

It's fantastic. I don't run it that often, so it's very cost effective. I can walk out, turn on the heat, come back in and use the bathroom or have something to eat, and by the time I go back out, it's a much nicer temp. (I just have to remember to close the windows, which I usually keep open so the cars don't stink up the house!!!
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gifI can remember the days when I built my first race car in my carport, during the Colorado winter. Lots of planning around when the sun was up... Now I have an oversized 4 car garage, divided into two sections, a paint booth and a workshop... Ah, and a furnace for both sides, so I can heat them individually. If I'm not painting or working on my PU(#$%^% thing is big), the paint booth is where my race car and Stag spend the winter. I had a Spit in there as well last year. Of course, both furnaces are older than me, but I can get the booth from 40 deg to 75-80 in about an hour if I try... Sorry about the bragging, but after 20 years or so of freezing my butt off to work on my cars, the last 2 have been great! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif
 
It's such a pain to move my wife's Z-3 into the other stall, and push the chassis out and move it over. Plus, once the wheels come off the -2, it will be on jackstands while the suspension is removed. I purchased a 17,000 BTU heater today online ($199.00), 220V and 25 Amps. It says it will warm up 500 sq ft, which is much more than I need working in just one stall space. Can't wait to get it hooked up, as it looks like winter is here to stay in upstate NY!
 
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