I'm not looking to heat my garage all winter - it's a 2-car attached garage with drywall and might get down to 32dgF on a cold day.
I'm not looking to run a gas line nor more electric nor put in a boiler to heat the floor - all cool stuff but just need simple.
Just a heater to warm me up as I'm working on my brakes or doing an oil change. Electric? Little propane bottles? Mr. Buddy? $100 or less?
Those torpedo propane heaters work awesome if you have the room. I have electric, but will use that if I need it quickly.
Ventless propane, drill a hole and put the cylinder outside. Pay the extra $20 and get a fan.
Chinese diesel heater, requires about a 3" penetration to the exterior for the exhaust, cost about $150-200 all put together.
I'm planning to step up to a mini split next year as they got cheap. Currently on the easy plan of a 110v plug in oil radiator heater. It needs 20min to get the garage nice enough to work in.
I just bought a Buddy for the trailer, but I've been using it in my garage, too. So far, it's been great, but it basically just works when you sim it at you since you aren't taking the time to heat the whole space. So if you are largely stationary, it's perfect.
Mr buddy heater is nice and will help. I also have a 110V infrared heater hanging from my ceiling that I really like.
We bought a Heat Storm Infared 120V Electric Heater a little while back and I like it for garage work. We have a 2 bay sheetrocked and insulated garage with 10.5' ceilings, and it does a good job of heating stuff in it's direct path (directional heat only). It's on a tripod, which is adjustable for height up to 6.5'.
It's been really cold up here in the Northeast and my garage doors have some major gaps. It's made working in the garage bearable, and did a good job of heating up an engine bay that I was working on. Great for heating up tools, as well! Only downside it that the tripod has a really wide base, so it takes up a good chunk of floor space. We bought it on sale for $75 at BJ's warehouse.
Another vote for the China diesel heater.
I have one in my 500sq ft shop. It's a little too small for the space but i'm also heating the place from sub-zero temperatures.
In reply to dj06482 (Forum Supporter) :
This reminds me that I do use my little infrared heater that I bought for $40 at lowesdepot years ago.. I just move it around to that individual corner I'm working on when I don't want to heat up the whole shop. Looks like they're up to $65 now:
That's nice enough to have near the bench when you're working or, like I said, pointed at the corner of the car when you're serving brakes or something. I will often point that at the things I'm going to be working on for 10 minutes or so before I start working so they're warm to the touch which is nice...
WonkoTheSane said:Those torpedo propane heaters work awesome if you have the room. I have electric, but will use that if I need it quickly.
I run a propane torpedo with a 40# tank, maybe 60. The 20s will start frosting over with the amount of propane coming out.
Makes my shop about 40* on a cold day here. On a very cold day I just don't go out there.
I bought the biggest kerosene torpedo heater they had at Tractor Supply a couple of years ago. It heats things up right quick, but it does have a couple of downsides. For one, it sucks up oxygen and puts out carbon monoxide. Sometimes I will put it near the garage door and open it 18" or so so that it can suck air from outside, but for the most part I just run it for 5 minutes at a time then shut it off.
The other downside is that it's loud as hell.
I'm going to have to try one of those China diesel heaters, they really seem to be the ticket.
In reply to Peabody :
Mine is currently pumping out heat and running on a 50/50 mix of diesel and stale, crappy gas that I drained out of a customer's snowmobile.
These things seem to burn nearly anything too.
Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:I bought the biggest kerosene torpedo heater they had at Tractor Supply a couple of years ago. It heats things up right quick, but it does have a couple of downsides. For one, it sucks up oxygen and puts out carbon monoxide. Sometimes I will put it near the garage door and open it 18" or so so that it can suck air from outside, but for the most part I just run it for 5 minutes at a time then shut it off.
The other downside is that it's loud as hell.
I run one in my shop with similar parameters. Usually if it's really cold (for me, that's sub-40deg in the shop) I point it right at me and have a garage door up a foot or two and then open a man door for some cross flow. I'm running kerosene in it and it still has some stinky fumes. At my prior house I ran a bigger one with diesel and it was worse, but I was apparently less sensitive in my younger years.
I also put this in the shop. If we're really spending time out there with that thing running, I'll try to make a point to move it near where we are primarily working. Never had it chirp, but the thermometer feature is nice to see what temps are. 
Here's 0ne that's a bit "outside the box". Many years ago a friend also needed to heat his 2-1/2 car garage and let's just say he's a bit frugal. He asked what I thought would be an inexpensive way to get some heat in there so he could work thru the cold PA winters. I suggested he find a forced hot air furnace from an old mobile home. He questioned my idea, but was curious enough to at least go searching Craigslist and PaperShop(local printed classified weekly). He found one from a parted-out trailer and bought it for something like $50-75. They are self contained, propane fired and work incredibly well. He originally rented a 100 gallon tank for a season, then bought a 200 gallon tank and that old unit is still heating his garage. He eventually added a trunk line and a few drops across the ceiling to distribute the heat evenly.
It sounds crazy but works well! Just something to consider.
I just did a quick FB Marketplace search for "mobile home furnace" within 100 miles of Chicago and there's several listed.
In reply to ShawnG :
I just ordered one, 8kw horizontal, and it's supposed to be here Thursday. Any tips or tricks?
Plus a 115V electric heater that I always have pointed at me wherever I work
I have one of these propane heaters is use in a portable carport. I use the same batteries as my impact and drill to run it, and a 20 lb tank (I have 3 to rotate if needed).
I unzip one side of the door, put a short stepladder in the opening and then close the zipper as much as possible. I place the heater under the ladder so it draws fresh air in and blows into the carport. I usually run it about 10-15 minutes to get to sweatshirt temps, then shut it down. When it cools off and start to get uncomfortable fire it up until I'm comfortable E36 M3 it down, and repeat as needed.
I've had good luck with it and have been out there working when it was single digit temps outside and been able to be get work done without freezing
I know you said no additional electric, but even if you don't have 220 already - trust me, this is the droid you seek: Comfort Zone Heater
I've had this one for a few years and it's a game changer for being able to work in the garage in the misery of winter. 2-car attached garage with questionable insulation and non-insulated doors. Takes my garage from about 35-degrees to 70-degrees in about an hour. Yes, it uses more electricity - about $30 extra dollars per month if I'm using it mostly on the weekends but it is so worth it.
There's an old bush mechanic trick to staying warm, working on broken stuff at negative temperatures.
Get yourself a surplus parachute and a forced air heater.
Toss the parachute over the thing you're working on and weight the sides down.
Insert the salamander heater under one side so it inflates the parachute with warm air.
Party under a parachute.
In reply to Scotty Con Queso :
I have a very similar 5000 watt heater in my insulated shop.
It absolutely hammers my electric bill in the winter, like adds $250 per month to the bill when the temperature dips to -20c or worse. It's also the only source of heat other than the diesel heater I use to boost the temperature when I'm working. The electric only keeps it above freezing.
I'm considering a propane furnace.
In reply to ShawnG :
Can you please post a picture of your diesel heater setup? I go to Amazon to look and there are a ton of them. Thanks 👍
In reply to Indy - Guy :
The popular one is the Vevor 8kw. You can get it in either vertical or horizontal. There are plenty of videos on YT. One of the popular mods is to run the exhaust through a heat exchanger and claim back some of that heat. Not a bad idea.
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