How to keep garage gym warm

This is a quick overview on how to heat your garage gym. If you want to dive deeper into building a home gym refer to the related articles.

Electric space heaters

Avoid small electric space heaters. They are usually the cheapest option and have a big risk to turn into a fire hazard without even bringing you the benefits that you want. They will give you a little extra in the house when the heating does not work or the insulation is no great. They are not the right tool to heat your garage gym.

You don't want to spend money, waste a lot of electricity and then just have to return the piece of equipment because it does not give you the desired effect.

Infrared Radiant heaters

Infrared radiant heaters work differently compared to other heaters. Rather than heating the surrounding area, they heat the objects themselves. This makes them tricks to use indoors as this can becomes a fire hazard a lot easier. Especially if you install them in a way that they point at something flammable without you even realizing it. The indoor approved versions of infrared heaters are usually less strong than the gas and propane versions.

Infrared heaters are closed systems that are easy to maintain as long as they have access to electricity, fuel, and ventilation. The installation should probably not be done as a DIY job unless you are an HVAC technician yourself.

Talk to an HVAC professional if you think that your garage is not insulated well enough and infrared would be the right solution for you.

Gas heating

Another option for heating your gym is natural gas and liquid propane heating units. The liquid propane units will work without being attached to the gas of the house, while the natural gas units will usually need some connection to the main gas supply of the house. Both of these heaters will need electricity. The propane units are usually a little more dangerous than the gas units, but more portable The gas units are stationary and less dangerous in daily use but need a specialist to install them.

Natural Gas

A natural gas unit will usually put you back $500 or more without the installation depending on the size and BTU (British Thermal Units). hile they are more hassle to get installed they will be smooth sailing once they are up and running.

Liquid propane

Liquid propane units will put you back about $200 and will not need to be installed. They do not regular refills of liquid propane. If you do not mind sourcing and handling propane in your own home this might be the right solution for you. However, generally, these units are intended for use in remote areas where you can not get access to a gas pipe.

Propane convection heaters

Propane convection heaters use an open flame to create something between 50.000-80.000 BTU. With this, you can heat an average garage in about 15 minutes to start your workout. Tred your convection heater with respect. It is very hot and used in a closed room. Propane is not to be trifled with. If you have children around the house, this might not be the right solution for you as you will have an open flame and the propane stored somewhere.

Garage doors

The garage doors themselves are part of the solution to keep your garage gym warm. Cold air usually likes to sink to the floor. So even if it seems counterintuitive it actually makes sense to open the garage doors first when it is very cold to let the colder air out, while you are heating up the garage. Once you can feel the air getting warmer, close the garage gym doors so that you are actually heating the garage, rather than the neighborhood. This initial opening of the doors shouldn't take longer than ten minutes if you have the appropriate heater in your home gym.

Woodstove

A wood stove can be an alternative but they are usually expensive to install, run and take a bit of time to produce heat. While they are great to look at in your living room or as heaters for the entire house in the basement, they are not great for a garage gym based on the nature of how you want the heat to unfold.