Morris Minor Owners Club

i'm finding it harder to build up enthusiasm to work in my garage in colder weather,must be my age
can anyone recommend a good inexpensive to run heater for a double garage?

I wouldn't use anything with a burner and no flue - they put loads of moisture into the air which makes any exposed steel rust.

Depends if you want temporary heat or constant warmth in the garage.

Electricity is the dearest option. So...

1: Propane powered space heater, incredible heat. Be aware of fire hazard if spray painting though. In particular flash over fire.

2: 250V 50W Halogens, as in the type you normaly fit in a kitchen.
This may sound strange, but if you setup a quad bank of four on a rail, the heat build up is pretty impressive. Plenty light into the bargain. Total energy consumption 800 Watts about 10p per hour.

MoggyTech wrote:Electricity is the dearest option.

Not necessarily. I did some calculations a couple of years ago and back then bottled gas heating worked out slightly more expensive (and much more hassle) than mains electricity. I would expect mains gas to be cheaper but then installing a balanced flue heater is going to be expensive.

I always fancied a pot-bellied stove but I live in a smokeless zone.

I've found the electric convector heaters to be pretty good for garages, but don't run too many on 1 power point !!

My current garage is rather drafty so I don't bother - I have plenty of thick socks and second jumpers for those days. Latex gloves keep your hands warmer as your skin moisture can't evaporate through them.

Just shut the door and run the engine like the rest of us!

opps no that was a joke

RogerRust wrote:Just shut the door and run the engine like the rest of us!

opps no that was a joke

Have you fitted suicide doors to your Moggy perchance ?

Just thinking about lighting... I had a tripod light with twin 500W floods. Needless to say, if you were withing 5 feet of it with both turned on it would be nice and warm!

I have since downgraded it to have 350W bulbs - mainly because they were on special offer (half the price of 500's) but it also makes me feel better regarding how much it costs to have them on a few hours every evening.

I have far too many cars therefore sometimes end up working out doors as the garage is occupied. So far this year, only one of my own cars got into the garage and that was for a mere 2 weeks - best not to ask about the other 41 weeks

When I rebuilt the shell on the 54 I found a tarpaulin and some props were necessary so I could carry on working whilst it was raining/hailing and... snowing!
I tend to find blind panic of having a deadline to meet meant I could carry on regardless of the weather - the rest of the time I'm a bit less stupid with it.

As for working in a garage - as long as you can get decent lighting where you're working, it's a luxury...

pm sent dave 1949

I've got propane blown heater but find it too hot for the garage and tend to use it only in winter when under a car.
Might seem a waste of heat but I assure you if lying on your back when below freezing a few pounds worth of gas is well worth spending.
I use the garage mainly for storage and work outside all year round.
Because of this I built a carport which obviously is diffiuclt to heat.
The answer was simple - an electric patio heater.
I bought it duiring the summer (last year) when the prices where low and it's brilliant.
Not too hot but also not affected by wind (infared) so no problem outside.

Paul Humphries

Might seem a waste of heat but I assure you if lying on your back when below freezing a few pounds worth of gas is well worth spending.

I have a couple of those insulated car/picnic blanket thingies. When lying on frozen concrete they are worth their weight in gold. They are also useful when getting under the car in sandy or prickly terrain!
On gravel drives they also stop tools and nut/s bolts from dissapearing quite as often

that was for a mere 2 weeks - best not to ask about the other 41 weeks

2 and 41 made 43 wnen I was at school.

8009STEVE wrote:

that was for a mere 2 weeks - best not to ask about the other 41 weeks

2 and 41 made 43 wnen I was at school.

but its only the end of October.

only 63 days to Christmas!

RogerRust wrote:only 63 days to Christmas!

Don't remind me!

Think a cheap way is those halogen infra red jobbies - you can get them Lidle etc for 10-15 £. Cheap to run 20p an hour or something and they heat you not the air so when in sight of it your always basking in a warm glow.

i know your place Dave if that was me i'd run the central heating into the garage

easy enough to do just tap into existing system but remember to really lag the pipes between house and garage otherwise they might burst with the outside temperature

and then that way the garage will be as warm as the house for no extra cost apart from the outlay

that way u could have 2 or 3 rads in the garage and be snug as a bug.

pm if u want any more details as i've done it before a few times

That isn't no extra cost - the central heating boiler will have to burn more fuel to keep the water temperature up if you connect an outbuilding up to the system.

Unless you have your own personal hot spring as the heat source...