Big Buddy Heater

[CurlyDave]

A Big Buddy (two burners) will keep my toy hauler, about 8' x 20', very comfortable overnight even in elk season, when the temps get down into the teens. I keep a window and an overhead vent cracked about 6 square inches each.

It is not particularly well insulated.

 

[roman]

I have a Big Buddy in the out house at snowmobile camp. Yup, the outhouse. It is a roomy outhouse (8x5) with small cracks around the door edges and not insulated. We use the heater to take the chill off. I leave it running until all have made thier morning visit.
If I was to heat a garage I would get a small torpedo type propane heater. They put out some serious heat and also circulate it. Serious heat for sure.
If I remember correctly Mr Heater makes one. Just make sure you get the in-line fuel filter. I had to rebuild the burner on ours because the oil in the gas gummed it up over a few seasons.
Fire ONE! Torpedo away...

 

[GPintheMitten]

I don't think you would be happy with the Big Buddy heater for your garage. It would be something to walk over to and warm up with, but I agree you'll want more btu's like the torpedo's. You can get them in propane or kerosene.

 

[IndyIan]

Maybe you are doing this already, but keeping your body warm will keep your hands and feet warm. They even make heater vests for guys working in the cold where gloves aren't practical.
I just have an old winter coat and put it on for a couple minutes before I go out to work in the cold. Also I have some winter boots too that have insulation under your foot which helps if you are standing on cold concrete.

 

[Gizmo2]

Bought a Mr Heater Hero, 35,000btu cordless propane heater for my basement when we were painting the basement. Worked great! Tried it in the garage, 20' X 32' and 9' ceilings (no insulation), I don't think I would live long enough for this unit to even warm the garage.

 

[oldballs]

Maybe you are doing this already, but keeping your body warm will keep your hands and feet warm. They even make heater vests for guys working in the cold where gloves aren't practical.
I just have an old winter coat and put it on for a couple minutes before I go out to work in the cold. Also I have some winter boots too that have insulation under your foot which helps if you are standing on cold concrete.

Your are right, Indy! That's the way I've been doing it for years. Guess I'm getting kinda wussy in my old days. Laying on the concrete floor or outside in the gravel ...or sitting in the engine bay, used to work pretty good.

 

[IndyIan]

Your are right, Indy! That's the way I've been doing it for years. Guess I'm getting kinda wussy in my old days. Laying on the concrete floor or outside in the gravel ...or sitting in the engine bay, used to work pretty good.

Well, there's nothing wrong with wanting to be comfortable!
When we were building our house we thought that when the wood stove was put in, that we'd be toasty warm even working in the winter. Even running it hard outputting maybe 60,000-70,000btu, it didn't raise the air temps very much from -5C over a whole day before we had the insulation done.
A few shops I've been in use an old forced air oil furnace to keep the temps above 40F most of the time and then the run it for an hour or 2 before working in there. But it never really raised the concrete floor temp much at all so as soon as the furnace is off, the whole place feels like 40F within a few minutes.

 

[LBrown59]

I've had 3 of these heaters .
1 big buddy and 2 regular ones .
All 3 blew up into flash fires.

 

[oldballs]

I've had 3 of these heaters .
1 big buddy and 2 regular ones .
All 3 blew up into flash fires.

How come the blew up?

 

[bucktaker]

I have used the regular buddy's in several camping trailers during Ohio's deer seasons and had great sucess with keeping them warm and FYI it will last for 5 days on low one one 20 lb tank.

Garage will be a big challenge and I think you will be disappointed. I have a a wall mounted propane heater from Farm n Fleet that I use to heat my insulated 26x26 insulated garage I added a blower to it and it will keep my garage at 65 degrees even when it <20 outside. Takes a few days for the concrete to warm but once it does you can work on the floor in a sweatshirt.
just my opinion.