Infared heater in garage.

[phil p]

Morning,

With the colder months on the way I’m looking to add a bit of heat into my garage workshop and wondered if it was safe to use an electric infared patio heater?

I was thinking of either mounting one to the wall or making some sort of portable stand.

Would it be safe to use in this environment?

 

[HappyHacker]

As long as it is not exposed to a lot of dust it should be fine. Wood dust in the right concentration in air like flour is explosive. IR is ideal in a garage as it will heat you rather than the air around you as long as it is pointing at you. Make sure it cannot heat anything that is flammable such as wood nearby. Heaters made for use indoors come with instructions regarding minimum distances.

I have one to fit in my garage/workshop but it is a mess and needs reorganisation so I do not know where to put it. As it is 3KW ,from my failing memory, and needs a separate power supply, I would not be able to afford to run it these days. I will have to get my thermal underwear out.

 

[Sachakins]

Depends on why you want heat in garage. If its for personal heat, there are enclosed panel infrared heaters.

Some patio heaters are infrared quartz emitters, that get extremely hot to touch, and I wouldn't trust them in workshop.

They are also very fragile when hot and the least tap or shake can crack the element easily.

Most cheapo patio heaters are that type and act more like radiant heaters, but with an element within a quartz tube not exposed, but still hot to the touch
I'd go for more like this


https://www.toolstation.com/ximax-infrared-panel-heater/p53811
And more layers of clothing.

 

[sams93]

Would an electric oil filled radiator not be a safer solution. You can probably pick loads of used ones up cheap on facebook marketplace etc. They start at like £19 from screwfix radiator

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I've had one of these for a few years. I suffer from poor circulation so my hands get cold quickly. This is ideal, I can leave it on one bar for hour or so before I use the 'shop without breaking the bank.

https://www.primrose.co.uk/1-8kw-ip...-heatlabr?cPath=1299_1300_10433&src=list_name
Cheaper now that when I bought mine.

 

[leisurefix]

If your garage is next to the house then run central heating pipes into garage & put a couple of radiators in there. Adds a little to heating cost, as lower return temperatures that needs reheating. Works well for me, but garage is attached to house.

 

[Doug71]

I ordered a cheap 2kw IR heater on a stand from Amazon yesterday.

My workshop is 9m x 9m, very high and badly insulated so heating is a bit of a problem. It has a large wall mounted 9kw fan heater which I don't like running for long (£££) and a kind of stove that burns red diesel but that gets through 1.5ltr an hour so again not cheap and it takes half a day to warm the space.

I really don't function well in the cold and sometimes I'm only in the workshop for a couple of hours so liked the idea of instant heat and can position it wherever I'm working in the shop. It was only about £40 so will see how it goes, if it's a success I will buy a more industrial model next year.

 

[baldkev]

I ordered a cheap 2kw IR heater on a stand from Amazon yesterday.

My workshop is 9m x 9m, very high and badly insulated so heating is a bit of a problem. It has a large wall mounted 9kw fan heater which I don't like running for long (£££) and a kind of stove that burns red diesel but that gets through 1.5ltr an hour so again not cheap and it takes half a day to warm the space.

I really don't function well in the cold and sometimes I'm only in the workshop for a couple of hours so liked the idea of instant heat and can position it wherever I'm working in the shop. It was only about £40 so will see how it goes, if it's a success I will buy a more industrial model next year.

That'll cost a bit to run i had ( have but dont use ) and lpg ir heater but it didnt do a lot.
I recently bought a diesel space heater which i needed on a job to dry out a floor. It runs on heating oil too, which is cheaper ( just ) but at full tilt it can burn 10 ltrs in about 3 hours

I used it today in the workshop for the first time, took maybe 10 minutes to get the place warm enough to want my jacket off, another 10 and i was in my t shirt the problem came when i turned on my extractor, i could literally FEEL the cold air flooding in as the hot dissapeared outside

 

[Robbo3]

In reply to the OP, I have a wood burning stove in my garage workshop. It is next to the lathe & regularly gets covered in dust & shavings without setting them alight. Embers falling or being spat out into the shavings are the biggest risk. I am careful to move the shavings off the fire before leaving the workshop, even if it's only for a few minutes.
I also have a diesel space heater which is economical to run & is ideal for when I'm only in the workshop for an hour.

 

[Fergie 307]

I have two of the gas powered jet space heaters. The little one is only about a foot long but will hear up a space the size of a single car garage in a few minutes. The other one is a beast about 3 feet long and looks like a small jet engine on a wheeled cradle. Don't use it often but will have the whole shed, 10x7m, toasty warm within 10 minutes. Only have to run either for a few minutes every hour so not too bad on gas. The little one, very similar to the image attached, currently about £100. The big one, about the same size as the one pictured, I picked up at an auction in tidy used condition for about £50 years ago. Never really thought about how much they actually were, turns out to be about £5-600 now so got a bargain there.