Garage Heaters

The number one thing that you want to look for in a garage heater is a heater that can heat your garage quickly. You’re not going to be running the heater when you’re not in the garage, so you don’t want a heater that you have to wait to get warmed up before it really starts working. This means that you’re going to be looking for a specific type of heater called a radiant heater. Allow me to explain what that means and why.

There are two basic types of heaters: convection heaters and radiant heaters. Convection heaters work by using the thermal properties of air to heat a room. To put things simply, they heat the air, the air circulates around the room, and in doing so, moves the heat all around the room. This is effective but slow. Convection heaters take a while to get going because the air takes a while to move around, even if a fan is involved.

Radiant heaters, on the other hand, emit heat via infrared waves that travel through the air until they contact a solid object, such as a human body or a piece of furniture. These waves are not absorbed by the air; they travel through the air and send the heat directly where it is needed. This means that radiant heaters, or as they’re sometimes called, infrared heaters, start working the second they’re turned on, and you can feel the effects almost instantaneously. This is great for heating your garage, because things start to get warm very quickly, and you don’t have to wait for the air currents to move the heat around. This type of heater would also be great for many similar situations. For example, if you were doing a basement remodel and were working long hours in a cold, unheated basement, a good quality radiant heater would go a long way towards making that room more comfortable.

Types of Garage Heaters

The most common type of garage heater is an electric garage heater like the one pictured to the right. The horizontal bars behind the grate will heat up and emit the infrared waves (the bars are a bit hard to spot in the picture, but they’re in there behind the grate and the wire mesh). The bars get very hot so the grate is there to keep you from accidentally burning yourself or setting something on fire.

That actually brings up an important safety point. Radiant heaters get much hotter than convection heaters do. You can pick up a small bathroom heater and touch pretty much any part of it without getting burned. Radiant heaters, on the other hand, get extremely hot in places and you will get burned badly if you touch them when they are on. You need to be aware of this not only for yourself, but for any children or pets that will be around when you’re running your garage heater. They won’t know not to touch the heater and could be badly injured. Another thing to watch for is potential fire hazards, such as oil or gas in your garage, stacks of newspapers, or anything else that’s flammable. Make sure to keep the area around your heater clear.

Other options for these heaters are a propane garage heater or a gas garage heater. These heaters will work much the same way as electric garage heaters but will generally be a little bit bigger. The propane garage heater to the right is a good example of this. Not only is the heater itself bigger, but you have to factor in room for the propane tank as well. A natural gas garage heater will work much like this propane heater.

Buying a Garage Heater

When you get right down to it, just about any small, portable heater would work as a garage heater. They’ll all get your garage warm eventually, even if it takes them a couple hours to get the job done. However, if you want a dedicated garage heater, then I suggest you look for the things I mentioned above. Get a small, powerful radiant heater – I recommend electric just for the convenience, but you can go with whatever is easy and available for you – and you’ll be happy you did the next time the weather is cold.

Price is always going to be a factor in what heater you end up getting. Prices for garage heaters start around $100 and can go as high as $1,000+ for the high end models. If the heater you’re looking at costs more than $750 then you’re really looking at an industrial warehouse heater, and chances are good that you don’t need anything near that powerful. I would recommend going for something in the $200 range for most people. That will get you a great heater without breaking the bank. If your garage is unusually large or small, then you can adjust your price range accordingly.

Things To Consider Before Buying

The primary thing you should think about before you purchase a portable heater is to consider where you’ll be using the heater. Is it indoor or outdoors? Are there electrical plugs available? Is it in some remote and distant location without access to any amenities?

Another thing to consider is how long you’ll need to use the heater for at a time. Are you going to be in the location you need heated for hours or days at a time? Or are you just there for a few minutes intermittently? Another thing to consider is how much money you want to spend. You can probably pick up a cheapo heater at Walmart for 10 bucks, but if you spend a little more you can get a much more powerful and efficient model.

Indoor Portable Heaters

If you’re going to be using your heater indoors, your best bet is to go with a portable electric heater. Electric heaters are great for indoor use as they are powerful and efficient, and electrical plugs are widely available in any home or office building.

There are several types of electric heaters that would work well for your needs here. We’ll cover the basics, but if you want to know more, you can read our electric heater guide.

The first type of electric heater is called a convection heater. Electric convection heaters run the electricity through a resistor of some sort which gives off heat. This heat is absorbed by the surrounding air, which then starts to circulate around the room as it becomes warm. Cooler air is pulled down to the heater and is then warmed, and the cycle repeats. Convection heaters are very efficient and do a great job of warming a room or office, but they take a while to get going. The heat they produce is dispersed around the room so it can take some time before the heat builds up to a noticeable level.

Another type of heater, called a fan heater, uses the same principles to work as convection heaters, but they use a fan to force the air through faster, thereby heating the room more quickly.

The third type of electric heater is called a radiant heater, or infrared heater. Radiant heaters usually look like they have a large light bulb in them. This “light bulb” is actually the heat source and it is designed to be more efficient in giving off heat than in lighting. Radiant heaters work by emitting infrared waves that travel through the air and are converted into heat when they contact a solid object, such as a person or piece of furniture.

The main advantage to using portable radiant heaters is that they can heat a room much more quickly then convection heaters. The reason for this is that the heat given off by radiant heaters is not absorbed by the air, but instead travels through it until it reaches a solid object. This means that the heat given off by a radiant heater is usually felt almost instantaneously. The disadvantage to this is that the heat does not linger after the heater is turned off like it would with a convection heater.

If you are going to be using a portable electric heater indoors, the main thing to consider is how long you’ll be needing the room or space to be heated for at a time. If you’re going to be heating an office all day long, then a convection heater is going to be more efficient, as it can be switched off at times without the temperature in the room falling. Since convection heaters warm the air itself, the heat they produce will linger for some time. In fact, many portable convection heaters come equipped with a thermostat that will automatically turn the heater on and off to keep the temperature constant.

On the other hand, if you don’t need the room or space to be heated for hours at a time, then a radiant heater would probably be a better choice, as it will heat the room much more quickly.

Outdoor Portable Heaters

If you’re primarily going to be using your heater outdoors, then a portable propane heater or portable gas heater is going to be your best bet. Propane and gas heaters are both very efficient and the gas tanks they run on can be taken virtually anywhere. (Again, we’re only covering the basics here, but if you want to know more about these heaters, read our propane heater guide and our gas heater guide.)

The best way to go when choosing a portable outdoor heater is to go with a radiant or infrared heater, like the one pictured. The wind currents outside are unpredictable, and this can disrupt the heat generation of a convection heater. Radiant heaters operate independent of the air currents, and will heat whatever area they are aimed at regardless of how the wind is swirling and blowing.

Another option for outdoor heating is a portable kerosene heater, pictured to the right. These heaters are going to be less efficient than radiant heaters, but can do the job in a pinch. The biggest issue with running them is that kerosene is not as widely available today as it once was. It’s certainly harder to find a reliable source of good kerosene than it is to find a propane or natural gas supplier.

Kerosene heaters are technically convection heaters, and so will also face the issue of having to battle the air currents to provide heat. Some people do like to use these heaters, but a good radiant heater is going to do a much better job of heating outdoors.

One other thing to consider if you’re going to be outdoors for several days is a portable water heater. These heaters run on propane and can provide you with a hot shower pretty much anywhere. I can’t see one of these being used at a job site, but they’d be great on a long camping trip.

There are a couple of different types of electric heaters and they vary in the method in which they produce heat. Each type of electric heater has its own unique advantages and disadvantages to being used in a particular situation. Sometimes one type of heater will do a better job for a situation, and sometimes another type of heater will be better suited for the task at hand. Let’s take a look at what the differences are between the various types of electric heaters and see what you should consider before buying one.

Types of Electric Heaters

There are four distinct types of electric heaters: convection heaters, fan heaters (also called forced air heaters), radiant heaters, and infrared heaters.

Convection heaters use the natural properties of air and convection to heat the space they are in. The heat given off by the heating element is naturally absorbed by the surrounding air, which then rises as it becomes less dense. The colder, more dense air flows down to take its place near the heating element, becomes warm, rises, and the cycle continues. Electric baseboard heaters are commonly convection heaters, as are many electric space heaters.

The advantages to this sort of heater are that it runs almost silently, is very efficient, and does a very thorough job of heating all the corners of the room that it is in. In addition, since convection heaters warm the air in the room, the temperature in the room will stay constant for some time even after the heater is turned off. This allows the heater to switch off periodically to save energy.

The disadvantages of convection heaters are that they can take a good bit of time to heat a room – since the warm air will rise to the ceiling first, it can take some some before you will be able to feel the warmth the heater is producing.

Fan heaters, or forced air heaters, are quite similar to regular convection heaters, but they use a fan to facilitate the process. The warmth given off by the heat source is pushed into the surrounding air by use of this fan, which can speed up the heating process considerably. The disadvantage to using fan heaters is that they are somewhat less efficient and have some operating noise from the fan.

Radiant heaters are a very simple type of electric heater. They generally have a single heat source – a heating element encased in a glass tube, strongly resembling a large light bulb – that is partially surrounded by reflectors to angle the heat away from the body of the heater. The reflectors allow you to aim the heat directly to where you want it to go, making radiant heaters great for outdoor work and any situation where you need to direct the flow of heat.

Radiant heaters use electromagnetic waves to emit heat, rather than using air currents. The heat they produce is transmitted via electromagnetic, or infrared, waves that travel through the air until they reach a solid object. The waves are then converted to heat. This means that radiant heaters do not heat the air in a room, but rather only heat the objects in it. What this means in a practical sense is that you will feel the heat from a radiant heater much more quickly than from a convection heater, in fact almost instantly.

Disadvantages of radiant heaters are that, since they do not heat the air in a room, the heat they give off dissipates very quickly once the heater is turned off. This means the heater has to run constantly to keep a room or space warm. Another downside to radiant heaters is that they do not heat a room evenly. The heat is far more intense close to the heater, in contrast to convection heaters, and this can lead to people near the heater being too hot while people on the other side of the room are still cold.

The last type of electric heater is called an infrared heater, and it is essentially the same as a radiant heater. Both use a radiant heat source to emit infrared waves that are converted to heat. The main difference between infrared heaters and radiant heaters seems to be a marketing choice: electric radiant heaters are generally marketed as radiant heaters, and gas propane radiant heaters are generally marketed as infrared heaters.

Using An Electric Heater

The primary drawback to using electric heaters is that they require a steady supply of electricity to function. If your power were to go out, due to a storm or other similar event, then your heating will go out as well. For this reason, if you live in an area that gets a lot of winter storms, it is wise to either use gas or propane heating as your primary heat source (and have electrical heating for back-up as needed) or make sure that you invest in a good generator to power your heating should the power go out. If you have an electric hot water heater, that is also something to consider needing a back-up for.

Other things to consider when deciding on which type of electric heater to use are where you’ll be using it – convection heaters work great indoors, but are much less efficient outside – how long you need the room to be heated – convection heaters are more efficient over long periods of time than radiant heaters – and the size, location and shape of the building or room to be heated.

Power Sources

There are two main methods for classifying heaters: the power source they run on and the method in which they heat a room or space. Let’s look at the different power sources heaters can run on first. There are three varieties of heaters in this category: electric heaters, gas heaters and propane heaters. All heaters use one of these power sources exclusively and cannot be run on another power source.

Electric heaters run solely on electricity and this can be both an advantage and a disadvantage, depending on your situation. The advantages to using an electric heater are the high efficiency of those heaters, the low costs associated with running them, and the ease and convenience of using electrical power – anywhere you have a plug, you can use the heater.

The main disadvantages to using electrical heaters are that they are limited by the availability of electricity – you will have a hard time using one in the outdoors, for instance – and if your power goes out, your heat will go out with it. This can be a very bad thing if you live in a place that has a lot of winter storms. You don’t want to have your power go out and take your only source of heat with it.

Gas and propane heaters run off of natural gas (methane) and propane (which is a petroleum derivative), respectively. The primary advantage to using gas and propane heaters is that they can continue to run even if there is no power. For this reason, it is generally recommended that you use a gas heater or propane heater as your primary heat source, and have an electric heater as a backup. In addition, if you want to use a heater outdoors, for instance at a job site, then a propane or gas heater will be much more convenient.

The disadvantages to using gas and propane heaters is that they can be less convenient than electric heaters (especially indoors), they are generally more difficult to install and set up, and gas and propane often cost more than electrical power.

Method For Generating Heat

The other way in which heaters are classified is the method they use for generating heat. There are four varieties here: convection heaters, fan heaters (also called forced air heaters), infrared heaters, and radiant heaters. Convection heaters and fan heaters are similar in how they work, as are infrared heaters and radiant heaters. Let’s take a look at what makes them tick.

Convection heaters use the principles of thermodynamics and the convective properties of air to heat a room or space. The power source (whether it’s electricity, gas or propane) is applied to the heating element in the heater (usually a metal bar of some sort) which then heats up to a significant temperature. As the temperature of the heating element increases, it gives off heat into the surrounding atmosphere, which is absorbed by the air. As we all know, hot air rises and that is what allows convection heaters to heat a room. The air that is warmed by the heater rises and displaces cooler air. The cooler air flows down to the heater, becomes heated and then rises itself. This cycle then repeats indefinitely.

Advantages of using convection heaters are that they are very efficient, virtually silent, and do a very thorough job of heating a room. In addition, since convection heaters actually heat the air in a room, the heat they give off remains in the room after the heater is turned off. This allows for more efficient use of the heater, as they do not have to be running constantly. Disadvantages of using a convection heater are focused primarily on the length of time they take to heat a room. Since they rely on natural air currents to heat a space, it can take some time for the heat they generate to reach all of the corners of a room. (Or to be more correct, the heat they generate can be felt quickly, but it is going to rise to the top of the room first. This can be good to know if you are trying to heat a very high-ceilinged room.)

Fan heaters are similar to convection heaters in that they also use the conductive properties of the air to transmit heat, but fan heaters use a small fan to force the air through them, rather than letting the natural air currents carry the heat. This means that convection heaters can heat a room more quickly, but it comes with a cost of lower efficiency and some noise from the fan.

Radiant heaters are fundamentally different from convection and fan heaters, and use different scientific principles to emit their heat. Rather than transferring heat into the air, radiant heaters emit heat in electromagnetic waves (also known as infrared waves) which travel through the air until they encounter a solid object, such as a person, a wall, or a piece of furniture. The object then converts the electromagnetic waves into heat.

The main practical difference between radiant and convection heaters is that the heat given off by radiant heaters is not absorbed by the air. It travels through the air until it is absorbed by a solid object. This means that the heat given off by radiant heaters is felt much more quickly than convection heaters (almost immediately), as the heater does not have to heat the air in the room first.

That point is the main advantage to using a radiant space heater. The space or room you need heated will feel warm much more quickly. Other advantages to radiant heaters include greater efficiency outdoors, as the heat they give off is not carried about by the wind, and a greater ability to direct exactly where you want the heat to be applied. There are a couple of disadvantages to radiant heaters. First, in contrast to convection heaters, the heat radiant heaters emit dissipates quickly when the heater is turned off, as the air itself has not been warmed. This means the heater has to run pretty much non-stop as long as the heat is required. Second, although the heat emitted by radiant heaters is directional, people and objects closer to the heater will be much warmer than people and objects further away. This can lead to people close to the heater sweating, while people on the other side of the room are still shivering.

Infrared heaters are essentially the same as radiant heaters – they use the same scientific principles and generate and emit heat in the same manner – and the main differences are simply marketing decisions. Most heaters that are called “infrared heaters” are powered by gas or propane and are designed for commercial or industrial use, while most heaters called “radiant heaters” are powered by electricity and are designed for home or personal use. They may look different, but other than the power source there is very little practical difference between the two.

Other Heaters

There are many other names under which heaters are sold, but these names usually just refer to the specific purpose they are designed for, and don’t reflect a new or different power source or heating method. Space heaters simply heat a space (or room or house or building), patio heaters heat a patio. Wall heaters are installed on the wall, and baseboard heaters are wide and short and run along baseboards.

Deciding On A Heater

When you are ready to buy a heater, consider both the power source and heating method used to make a wise purchase. If you are going to heat indoors, then an electrical heater might be the best choice, unless it’s going to be the only heating source available, in which case you might want to consider a gas or propane heater. If you are going to heat a room for long periods of time, then a convection heater is probably best, but if you only need the heat for a short amount of time, then a radiant heater might work fine.