Radiant vs Forced Air Heating

[meierjn]

Good day everyone... My wife and I are looking at moving. Once of the places that has caught our eye has a radiant heater in the garage. It is one of the natural gas tube units that hangs from the roof. I have always had a roof mounted forced air unit that heated the garage fast and evenly. I was just ondering what some of the pros and cons are to radiant vs the forced airs systems. Thanks in advance!

 

[mxz sledhead]

On high ceiling they are great rumors has it they are hard on paint jobs but that could be wrong

 

[Barton]

I have a 15' radiant tube heater in a 26 x 32 garage with 10' walls. I keep it set at 10 degrees in the winter and crank it up when I need it. Takes a minute to start throwing heat when its cold but works fantastic. The radiant heats the mass not the air. Tools are not ice cold like my old forced air. Recovery time after opening the big door is real quick. I would never go back to forced air. I don't think I've really noticed a big difference in the gas bill since installing it.

You do need a certain distance from the heater to the vehicles.

 

[meierjn]

I have a 15' radiant tube heater in a 26 x 32 garage with 10' walls. I keep it set at 10 degrees in the winter and crank it up when I need it. Takes a minute to start throwing heat when its cold but works fantastic. The radiant heats the mass not the air. Tools are not ice cold like my old forced air. Recovery time after opening the big door is real quick. I would never go back to forced air. I don't think I've really noticed a big difference in the gas bill since installing it.

You do need a certain distance from the heater to the vehicles.

Good to hear. Thanks.

 

[mach123]

I install tubes all the time and think they are the way to go, forced air just keeps blowing dust around and around. I just finished to 20ft units in a 28x40 shop and a 26x 32 and works great, he is on this forum ask him how he likes them. If kept 30inches away from cars they will never damage paint.

 

[boydo]

radiants are the best imo. we have plastic tarps on our gravel trucks and we put the boxes up with the heater on and have never had a problem (we put them about 12-16 inches away just in case)

 

[Barton]

Actually mine is a 20' unit.

I have a 15' radiant tube heater in a 26 x 32 garage with 10' walls. I keep it set at 10 degrees in the winter and crank it up when I need it. Takes a minute to start throwing heat when its cold but works fantastic. The radiant heats the mass not the air. Tools are not ice cold like my old forced air. Recovery time after opening the big door is real quick. I would never go back to forced air. I don't think I've really noticed a big difference in the gas bill since installing it.

You do need a certain distance from the heater to the vehicles.

 

[meierjn]

All good information. What is purchase cost like in comparison?

 

[mach123]

I have not checked into the 75,000btu forced air because nobody that I know went that route for the larger units. You save about 30 to 40 % on gas consumption on the tubes plus there are many different ways to run the tube like u-shape, l-shape or straight 10',15' and 20 for the residential units but on the 45,000btu units there is only about a 500.00 dollar diff. Pm me if you like more info on brands good and bad and what one I would go with. Good Luck.
mach123

 

[goodngrubby]

I have a 75,000 btu forced air in my shop,...30x36x12ft wall. It works awesome. With the exhaust pipe and thermostat, it cost $1000 tax in. Radiant tubes don't make a lot of noise, where as my furnace slighty resembles a 747 taking off. With forced air, you don't need ceiling fans, with radiant you should have. I also find that there are less cold spots with forced air. I prefer radiant tube, but when I built my shop, I knew I was putting up a small mezanine, which would cause greif with the forklift if I had tubes hanging, so I went with forced air.

 

[team dirt]

In my shop we run three tube heaters and they work great. fast recovery after doors have been opened. 100X60 shop with 14 foot doors and at least a 20 foot ceileing.

 

[treemongrol]

In a big shop tubes are the way to go, forced air is a waste in a shop especially if the door is opening and closing all the time. In an attached garage they are ok the main downfall is that they get mounted to low most of the time and tend to damage the paint on vehicles if you keep them closer to the 9 to 10 foot mark generally there ok Ive had to take quite a few out of lower ceiling garages due to paint issues. The other complaint I've heard is that the shields rattle, that is usually due to poor installation thou. They are more efficient then forced air and quieter. Cost wise depending on the size they are generally a few dollars cheaper

 

[meierjn]

Thanks for all of the advice everyone. We ended up purchasing the house yesterday!

 

[Sofa king]

I have not checked into the 75,000btu forced air because nobody that I know went that route for the larger units. You save about 30 to 40 % on gas consumption on the tubes plus there are many different ways to run the tube like u-shape, l-shape or straight 10',15' and 20 for the residential units but on the 45,000btu units there is only about a 500.00 dollar diff. Pm me if you like more info on brands good and bad and what one I would go with. Good Luck.
mach123

I agree that radiant heaters are nicer but I don't know how you figured they save 30-40% gas consumption. 80% eff vs 80% eff = 30-40% savings???? Even if you bought a high efficient unit (which would be more then 500 bucks increased cost) it would be more like 10% more efficient. Just sayin.

 

[mach123]

I agree that radiant heaters are nicer but I don't know how you figured they save 30-40% gas consumption. 80% eff vs 80% eff = 30-40% savings???? Even if you bought a high efficient unit (which would be more then 500 bucks increased cost) it would be more like 10% more efficient. Just sayin.

Sorry guys to bring this back, but the 30-40% has nothing to do with 80% eff. It says that it would cost about 30-40% less to run. So if the forces air would be 100bucks to run 75,000btu then the radiant would be 60-70bucks to run if installed right.just my 2 cents ?????. Good luck