Garage Heater Help (so I can keep chasing oil leaks all winter long!)

[dougie]

I plan to put a 60000 btu natural gas forced air heater in my 3 car garage; the kind that hangs from the ceiling. I got a quote from a very reputable contractor in my area of $1900. This includes the heater, programmable thermostat, and running new gas and electric lines. Also he is venting it through the roof, all done to code.

Anyone installed a garage heater like this recently? Does this sound like a fair price? I know there are other types of heaters out there (radiant, electric, etc), but my plan is to keep the garage at about 50 degrees all winter and turn it up when I'm working out there, and I think this will be best. The garage is well insulated. I live in the Chicago area. Anyone else do one or have any contractor recommendations if this price seems high? Thanks.

 

[2GNS4ME]

Dougie,

Let me know what you find out I have one sitting in my basement that I need installed. If you find a good installer let me know.


Thanks
Denny

 

[t3intercooled]

I plan to put a 60000 btu natural gas forced air heater in my 3 car garage; the kind that hangs from the ceiling. I got a quote from a very reputable contractor in my area of $1900. This includes the heater, programmable thermostat, and running new gas and electric lines. Also he is venting it through the roof, all done to code.

Anyone installed a garage heater like this recently? Does this sound like a fair price? I know there are other types of heaters out there (radiant, electric, etc), but my plan is to keep the garage at about 50 degrees all winter and turn it up when I'm working out there, and I think this will be best. The garage is well insulated. I live in the Chicago area. Anyone else do one or have any contractor recommendations if this price seems high? Thanks.

That does seem a little high. I am in Minnesota got a quote from a few people between 1100-1300. However I have the exact same one and I talked to my father and got a book from the library and after taking his reccomondations into account and reading the book, I did it myself and never had a problem with it at all.

Long story short


find out where your gas lines are
tap into them
bury lines into the ground
run them to the garage
hang it
hook it up and your good to go.

I never done one prior and finished mine in a weekend working on it a 5 hours a day or so. Its really easy to do, if you can work on a GN you can put that heater in trust me. Save the money :biggrin:

 

[dougie]

If this turns out to be a fair price I'll probably just bite the bullet and do it with this guy. I know he'll do a good job and to code. It's something I could probably do myself, but it would be a problem if not done right and I sell the house. Plus it's an attached garage and I don't want my own shoddy workmanship to create a fire risk.

For example, I would have just connected the gas line to the one on the opposite side of the wall for the clothes dryer, but he told me you can't do that because it already had the dryer and the stove on a 1/2" line, and the pressure drop would probably prvent the heater from firing if the stove and dryer are also on at the same time. He has to run a new line from a 3/4" line in the house for it to work properly.

 

[norbs]

Those unit heaters are not very efficient, radiant heat the most efficient as most of the heat you capture in the last few feet of pipe. Something to think about.

 

[t3intercooled]

If this turns out to be a fair price I'll probably just bite the bullet and do it with this guy. I know he'll do a good job and to code. It's something I could probably do myself, but it would be a problem if not done right and I sell the house. Plus it's an attached garage and I don't want my own shoddy workmanship to create a fire risk.

For example, I would have just connected the gas line to the one on the opposite side of the wall for the clothes dryer, but he told me you can't do that because it already had the dryer and the stove on a 1/2" line, and the pressure drop would probably prvent the heater from firing if the stove and dryer are also on at the same time. He has to run a new line from a 3/4" line in the house for it to work properly.

Thats true thats what the book i got from the library stated. Just thought I would tell ya price wise froma few people I found out as well as how easy it is and "general" procedure