TriumphAutos.com
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TriumphAutos.com |
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Triumph Photo Albums (BOTB 2006)
Heating and Ventilating the Garage |
Heating the Garage in the Winter, Ventilating it for Summer With winter fast approaching the first order of business is to get some sort of heat in the building. Already had the gas pipe laid from the house to garage, so is was a matter of hooking up the details. A infrared heater seemed the most practical, 100% efficient, minimum odor, ducting not necessary. The heater is compact, mounts on wall, and puts out decent heat 25,000 BTU. Purchased a new unit on Ebay (where else), delivered to my door for $244.00 ( so what, it didn't have the original carton, saved $100.00), it included the wall bracket, hardware, thermostat and wire. How does it work: once it gets glowing it's like having the sun over your shoulders. being the garage is good sized yet have to standoff the heater from the wall another 8 inches to get the heat more to the center.
The next item on the menu was to have some sort of setup for covering the roof vent holes, we have three installed, and the way I looked at it was like having three chimneys installed, not only would they vent (heat) but would vent even faster as the air warmed up.
Although closing the vents in the winter is a good idea to conserve heat, having then open in the summer IS THE WAY TO GO. Going one step further, how about a blower to exhaust hot air in the summer. Purchased at a home improvement center an 8 inch duct booster fan, also purchased a 8 inch ceiling vent damper. The ceiling vent dampers where modified, a) the flappers where switched to work on the opposite side of the flange b) an eyebolt (instead of a knob) was also switched, to work on the same side as the flappers. Remote opening an closing from the floor is now possible using a long stick with an open end eyebolt, which is hooked into the damper eyebolt: twist and it's open, twist in the other direction it's closed ( no motors, relay, or solenoids, nothing to break).. c) electrical wiring is via heavy duty grounded workshop cord and a switched plug. Fan End;
Damper end, below, flappers open:
Side View, damper closed, below;
The assembly was insulated on the sides (had some extra car stuff), so they wouldn't act like heat sinks up above. The install was THE Challenge; 15 feet to the ceiling, one hand holding the awkward vent thing up in position, the other hand driving home the screws, balanced 15 feet up on a ladder. .....Rented a scaffold. Drywall scaffold assembly:
Success, the installed gizmo: two more to go.
And lastly, while flying in the garage on the ladder, noticed that the 15 foot high ceiling was notably warmer that the floor; could see that a ceiling fan was not just an option. Purchased a 52 inch span ceiling fan on sale for under $30.00 (including light kit). Actually wanted a larger swing so made up some 5 inch extensions for the blades, making for a very nice 62 inch swing. Also had some auto related bumper sticker collected during a trade show; used em on the blades, it is so cool. (Still have to install the light kit)
And an addendum to this folly. Couldn't use the spit (being painted) to haul the Scaffolding so the YUGO was commissioned. Loading her up: Trunk full:
So off into the sunset; until the next time. |
