Thinking about doing some mods to my garage for cigar enjoyment for the winter...

[Kerosene Lounge]

A buddy got me thinking, and that usually spells trouble, but I'm knocking around the idea of adding a heater...probably electrical in nature due to cost and possibly some ventilation to remove the smoke from the garage to make the wifey happy. I'd need to also insulate the garage door, but that's no big deal.

I have a 220 outlet already installed, and know a ton of electricians to assist with the install. I'm also thinking of putting like some sort of attic fan, or bathroom fan up in the attic of the garage, and venting it outside.

Anyone do this before and if so, what worked well and what would you do differently?

Ideally, I want to do this on the cheap, but not totally halfassed either.

Thanks
T

 

[Whtwtrman79]

I created a smoke room can search online but a bathroom fan won't pull enough cfm, they make a lot of fans that you can modify to suit and pull enough cfm just do the math on air exchanges per hour depending on how smoky you're willing to let it get downside on my experience is when it's really cold you're pulling air out faster than u can heat it

 

[mdwest]

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200442161_200442161

We went this route for heat in our cabin... keeps about 300 sq feet super toasty (our little place sits at about 9200ft in elevation.. and gets down into the low teens in the fall and early spring.. well below 0 in the winter.. but.. I havent braved a cabin weekend in the winter yet (and dont intend to anytime soon)).... you can get about 90 hours of heat out of a typical bbq grill propane tank running it wide open.. much more if running it on a lower setting... cheap unit.. easy to install.. and cheap to run..

Cant help you with the ventilation question.. other than to say that Rabbit Air seems to be the choice of those in the know..

http://www.rabbitair.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQjw4uSgBRDZveXz9M-E1aoBEiQA2RMP6sxZsyYKyXIyZViFTDcsRoc4GHcdWF79dm9d4VyUuXoaAm6B8P8HAQ

 

[Ducttapegonewild]

I created a smoke room can search online but a bathroom fan won't pull enough cfm, they make a lot of fans that you can modify to suit and pull enough cfm just do the math on air exchanges per hour depending on how smoky you're willing to let it get downside on my experience is when it's really cold you're pulling air out faster than u can heat it

Engineering brain kicking into gear here, but if you had a way to heat the air when it first came in, a vent on the low side of the garage to match the CFM pulling of the exhaust fan?

Using something like this:

[video=youtube_share;1RRLcIAgd-M]http://youtu.be/1RRLcIAgd-M[/video]

As the heat source.

 

[ZaneG]

I have debated this myself... But hoping to sell my current house this spring so I will hold off. I will watch and see what you come up with!

 

[Whtwtrman79]

I ended up using a 1200 cfm blower from a furnace it's not perfect but definately keeps a negative pressure on the house so nothing escapes

 

[Kerosene Lounge]

Thanks for the input fellas. Last winter was rather miserable with about 4' of snow and all sorts of below 0 days and I got sick of freezing my ass off in the garage. I do fear that any sort of fan would basically just blow all the warm air outside.

I had thought of installing a wood burning stove or something like that, but I know the wife would flip out royally with that, plus the whole potential of burning my home down and running a chimney etc out of the garage just seems rather hillbilly and potentially hazardous. I have a good source for more than enough 55 gal drums to build the double decker stove, but the whole wife factor kills that concept.

I do have a big window with 2 side vent type deals that can open, that is far from energy efficient that I had knocked around the idea of rigging up some sort of fan to blow out the smoke, but again not doing much to retain the heat.

Looks like I gotta keep knocking around ideas. Worst case, is that I find a better heat source than my kerosene heater, that is basically too small to heat the garage in sub 0 temps....and just deal with the smoke when it's too cold outside.

T

 

[eastcoast paul]

i was thinking of running a blower through some activated charcoal ( i think lump bbq will work) and not vent to save on heat.

 

[Bill]

I use a mr. heater unit pointed at me and smoke with the garage door open. I'm alright for an hour or so as long as the outside temperature is at least upper twenties.