Some homeowners do use garages for purposes other than parking of car and storing of not so frequently used household effects. It may be used as a workshop or as children’s playroom or even as an entertainment room. If you are using garage for any such propose or activity, you are sure to experience the heat in summers and cold in winters, while it offers protection from rains. Because of their location, garages tend to remain colder than the rest of the house. Moreover, they aren’t insulated most of the time. So, the only way to keep it warm during cold weather is to have a simple affordable garage heater.
The main features of garage heaters that facilitate their use are: affordability, efficiency, and portability. Most of these heaters are designed to heat the whole garage of normal size. You are free to work in any part of the garage as the heater heats all the area uniformly. Yet, you may shift it closer to you if the need arises. Their operation is very simple, just plug in and it works. All such heaters are provided with thermostat to regulate temperature and have a built in system to prevent overheating.
Heater can simply be called as a device that changes electric energy to heat energy that is dissipated to the area around it. Just leave a heater at one spot, and it heats the entire area, depending on its capacity. If the area is too large, you may be required to use multiple heaters.
Here are different types of heaters:
Electric Garage Heaters: The best feature of an electric garage heater is its ease of use that encouraged someone to coin an appropriate phrase for it “set and forget it”. The additional advantage is ease of maintenance compared to natural gas heaters or propane heaters.
It’s quite customary for most of the electric garage heaters to include a built-in thermostat enabling accurate control of temperature. Automatic shut offs are provided to prevent overheating. A normal heater can heat an area of up to 500 square foot, more than sufficient for most of the garages.
Propane Garage Heaters: Propane heaters continue to be as popular as ever due affordability and efficient operation. Its operation is clean and odorless and has a thermostat control for heat adjustment.
One such heater can heat an area of up to 850 square feet, more than the normal size of most of the garages. Moreover they are insulated that increases its efficiency to heat.
Natural Gas Heaters: Natural gas heaters make another good option for your garage. Though more expensive than the propane or electric heaters up-front, their operational expenses are low. So, you spend more initially but save on recurring expenses. Precaution should be taken to keep them close to some kind of a vent enabling exhaust to escape the garage.