Opinions on Vent-Free Heaters?

OpTiCz

OpTiCz

Coast to Coast
Just curious if anyone has an opinion about vent-free heaters?
I just finished insulating the garage, and I also have a vent-free wall-mount unit.
I can definitely tell there's an odor from burning gas.
I'm also a bit concerned about burning up the O2 in the room.
Should I install a louver, or just buy a canary :)
 
I've used vent free Natural gas heaters for quite a while in my house no problems here, but canaries are still pretty cool.
 
Any concerns in a small closed room? Garage is about 20 x 20

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk
 
had one in 15X15 kitchen and another in a tiny bathroom. No worries with the nat. gas, could be a different story with another fuel source.
 
Electric is the route I went. I have a 12 x 20 poorly insulated (walls only, with 2nd hand insulation, no ceiling insulation) and I heat it with a 5000w 220v construction heater no problems. Costs me $0.50 / hour when it's running full blast and it doesn't need to for me to work very comfortably in there in the middle of an albeit mild Toronto winter.

Compare costs / hour against propane, kerosene etc. and at least for me, it was a no brainer and helped justify running proper power to the garage.
 
I run a propane tank top 15000 btu heater in my shop which is only 10 X 12. No headaches or dizzyness noted so far. And with that thing rockin and rollin it has been -10 outside and 70 in the shop, working in a tshirt :)
 
I tried using unvented propane heaters in my shop. Shop is about 850 sq ft, and very well insulated. I work in my shop all day most days. Within about three weeks, I was exhibiting symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. I was flushed, had elevated heart rate and blood pressure. I kept wanting to take naps in my shop. I didn't know what it was, freaked out and made an appointment with my doctor. Then it occurred to me that I was poisoning myself with my heat. I thought I was ventilating adequately. Once every hour or so, I would turn on the exhaust fan and change the air. Except when I purposely ventilate, my shop is quite air tight.

I stopped using the heaters, and my symptoms started to subside after about two weeks. It takes six weeks for your body to replace ALL of the affected red blood cells, but I had significant improvement after two weeks. That confirmed it for me NO UNVENTED HEATERS. My shop is so well insulated, that I heat it with two 1,500 watt portable electric heaters.

It's one thing if you are just talking about a couple hours a day, but if you are there day in and day out for the whole day, it is NOT the way to go.
 
my garage is smaller than your s and my heater is built for a 4 car garage, never have any issues i do have a CO2 detector and every now and then crack the garage a bit to get some fresh air,.
 
i have one of the ventless wall ones in my garage ( small 1 car uninsulated block/concrete deck-roof above )
seems after 4-5 hrs the roof of garage is dripping w condensate from the heater,,,no worries on co as the door is a shitty fit
to the slab..
 
Sooooo maybe the smell is just the smell of gas burning.


Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk
 
OpTiCz said:
Sooooo maybe the smell is just the smell of gas burning.
Click to expand...

You didn't say whether it is natural gas or propane. I am running a small radiant propane heater in my shop on low during the night when I am not in the shop so that it's not real cold when I get here. I can definitely smell the heater. It is not a gas smell, but by-products of combustion. Propane combustion produces some odor. Natural gas should not.

First thing I do when I get here is open the door and turn on my exhaust fan and change the air.
 
I just have to toss in my own experience:

I used to work in a drafty two car garage in Chicago with a portable propane heater. I never had any carbon monoxide problems (that I noticed) but I did develop rust issues! As soon as I started running the heater, all the moisture in the air would condensate on the cold steel parts and tools and rust like crazy! I wish I had found a heat source I could have left on a low setting at night.

Thought you should know.
 
trick i use to fight that in my own garage. is put some charcole on the seat of the bike under the cover... this will absorb the moisture in the air, works great!
i do have a bit of the moisture issue, but after the carpet in the garage is all but vanished... most of this i am told is because the moisture comes from the cement... but i dont knwo must about that
 
Problem i ran into with running electric... was 220... my box is in the back of the house, to plum my 220 lines for my compressor and welders, it took all day running lines over in the attic down in the wall in back... was a nightmare... so when it came time to heat... i had a gas line right there, took litteraly 10 min to hook the heater up.
 
In a case like that, I ALWAYS put in a sub-panel. It's much easier to run a single, high-amp 240V line to a panel. Then all it takes is easy, short runs for anything that you have to add later on.

I like to have LOTS of circuits. Every outlet location is a dedicated 20 A line. That way I can run my 16 A shop vacuum as a dust collector, and my belt sander at the same time without popping a circuit.

Of course, there there is my powdercoat oven which can draw a peak of 60 A. <G>
 
Yup - I invested in a 40A line out to the garage with a subpanel. 2 x 15a 120v circuits and 1 x 30a 220v breaker (I think - maybe 20a?). Plenty for my needs - I don't weld or anything yet and if I did I think I'd have enough power.

Had to run the line in conduit along the side of my brick house 40 feet, then into the ground for a few feet under a walkway, and then back above ground along the fence to the detached garage. Total length is about 70 feet or so.

That replaced a single 15a line the previous owner buried in the ground that kept shorting every time it rained. I gave up and had an extension cord running into the garage, and finally insulated it and ran the electrical a couple years back.

If I had natural gas into my garage I might consider a furnace with a chimney etc. but that would be WAY more expensive than my $50 electric heater.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DTT Light or Dark

  • DTT Light

    • Spread the Love

    Back
    Top Bottom