Garage Heating/Plumbing advice needed

[MTBSully]

Well I finally had it with the Boston area traffic and made the move to the great state of NH. Bought a house with a detached 4 car garage. Great right? Problem is there is an apartment above the garage, so the water heater and plumbing setup is in the garage. Right now the water heater is just kind of placed near the water as it comes into the house. In the way and unsightly. Previous owner just kind of lazily put electric heater cords on the pipes and if it was really cold apparently put a small spacer heater in there. So i would like to do something about this. I feel my two options are:

1. Move the water heater under the stairs, enclose it, and somehow also enclose the pipes that go over to the water heater, and put a small space heater on a thermostat in there.

2. Move the water heater, leave exposed pipes and just heat the whole garage above freezing all winter. The whole garage is insulated, drywalled etc with exception of I think the garage doors. If this is the case, what kind of heater should i get? Electric? Heat pump of some sort? Any suggestions?

Heres a bad picture just after I moved in of what i am talking about to hopefully give you an idea. I have the plumber coming tomorrow to discuss but if maybe just heating the garage all winter is a better idea, maybe I will do that. Open to other suggestions as well. Thanks bros.

 

[coposrv]

Shoot me a PM. I own a small electrical contracting firm and I’ve been getting into heat pumps. Let’s talk.


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[ashleyroachclip]

What is that manifold on the wall where the water lines come down , radiant heat ?

 

[wellby]

The Right System for You

I’m a HVAC tech in NY and there are quite popular. Price is a little steep but there are other lower cost company’s making these. The Heat pump in these units are good to like 10 degrees outside and who doesn’t want a air conditioned garage.

 

[MTBSully]

Shoot me a PM. I own a small electrical contracting firm and I’ve been getting into heat pumps. Let’s talk.


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

You service the souther NH area? Im in portsmouth. Shoot me a PM

What is that manifold on the wall where the water lines come down , radiant heat ?

Sprinkler system. Currently unhooked. Havent had time to look into it yet. Thats another story haha

The Right System for You

I’m a HVAC tech in NY and there are quite popular. Price is a little steep but there are other lower cost company’s making these. The Heat pump in these units are good to like 10 degrees outside and who doesn’t want a air conditioned garage.

Are they expensive to run?

 

[wellby]

Not expensive to run at all, plus very little maintenance just clean a filter once and a while

 

[HudsonFalcon]

I would frame in a small room around the water heater and pipes and make it a utility room. Then hardwire a celing mounted space heater with an internal thermostat.

Easier to heat a small space then try to keep a four bay garage heated.

 

[Four Door SVT]

It’s against the law to put the water heater under the stairs, I also think a closet would be fine but would still warm the garage and get the big door sealed. You could extend the electric from the junction box up high and move the heater toward the incoming water supply pretty easily.

 

[Equalbracket]

It’s against the law to put the water heater under the stairs, I also think a closet would be fine but would still warm the garage and get the big door sealed. You could extend the electric from the junction box up high and move the heater toward the incoming water supply pretty easily.

It may be out of code in your city but under the UPC/IPC it's within code to have a water heater under a stairway, it's electric. That's really poor plumbing to have a 8 foot run of pex exposed in an uninsulated garage, i'd move it to where the water lines go up the wall, get it up off the ground and on a platform. It's hard to tell how the red and blue pex lines tie in to the heater, doesn't look like copper/stainless flex lines, looks like someone went to home depot bought some uponor pipe and sharkbite fittings and became a plumber.

Whatever you do be aware that repair plumbing is basically um like a scam, the prices they charge are 3x what they should be and you're paying for "X y Z are a possiblity"

I have friends all the time call me, tell me hey i had blahblah come out and they quoted me $2500..what should I do? Tell em to fk off i'll be over tomorrow, and it's literally a 1 hour job or less.

 

[M91196]

No city gas I assume?

Lots of propane and gas options, we have some of the highest electricity rates in the Northeast, not usually the best heating solution for a garage space or your hot water.

I have a direct vent counterflow furnace in my garage, that may be an option if you have access to fuel.

 

[Four Door SVT]

Equalbracket, post: It may be out of code in your city but under the UPC/IPC it's within code to have a water heater under a stairway, it's electric.

If the water heater fails and explodes it will take the stairs with it leaving tenants trapped, it’s illegal throughout the US. Electric water heaters included. There isn’t a relief valve discharge pipe that also is a code violation.


Whatever you do be aware that repair plumbing is basically um like a scam,

Uh wow, not true

Been a plumbing contractor for 20 years. Our overhead, workman’s comp, insurance rates are the highest. I just received a painting company quote for 90,000.00. For a house!

 

[RDJ]

I would look into solar panels and see if there are rebates available. Even if there’s not putting a smaller set up to offset the electric it takes to put in a heat pump or split unit may be worth doing

 

[ashleyroachclip]

Ductless heat seams to be a good option for your space .

 

[sleek98]

Do you have natural gas, propane or just electric? A heat pump will usually be the cheapest to run, but cheap units dont run great when its sub 20* out. Which will be an issue in the NE.

If you have natural gas your cheapest overall cost of operation might be a $500 hanging heater vs 3,500-5,000 heat pump. Takes a while to make the difference up if you dont want AC.

 

[Equalbracket]

Equalbracket, post: It may be out of code in your city but under the UPC/IPC it's within code to have a water heater under a stairway, it's electric.

If the water heater fails and explodes it will take the stairs with it leaving tenants trapped, it’s illegal throughout the US. Electric water heaters included. There isn’t a relief valve discharge pipe that also is a code violation.


Whatever you do be aware that repair plumbing is basically um like a scam,

Uh wow, not true

Been a plumbing contractor for 20 years. Our overhead, workman’s comp, insurance rates are the highest. I just received a painting company quote for 90,000.00. For a house!

No, no and no. None of that is true, 2 mill liability is standard and that's 600 a year, nothing. there's absolutely no other trade or job period that two people can do so much. We had 50-60 customs going on at the same time last summer, 30+ all 2018, There's wages and taxes for one employee. And when busy getting a check everyday for 4,xxx was a regular thing, rough in, top out etc. For an avg home, 3.5 baths it was $12,500. Truck load of pipe every other month, and fittings aren't cheap but aren't ridiculous, and we always run fosta under the slab, and copper stub outs, not much overhead at all. Plumbing contractor vs repair is two different worlds.

 

[DMassey]

If you have natural gas in your area, I would look into that. I use a natural gas wall mounted heater in my garage, and it heats my 30x30 great. Very low cost as well.

 

[MTBSully]

Theres an option. The apartment uses propane heating, and the previous owner used to have a propane heater in the garage but it was removed. So maybe the best option is to just buy another natural gas heater and install that?

 

[M91196]

No city gas I assume?

Lots of propane and gas options, we have some of the highest electricity rates in the Northeast, not usually the best heating solution for a garage space or your hot water.

I have a direct vent counterflow furnace in my garage, that may be an option if you have access to fuel.

This is mine, you can get them in NG and propane. Sealed combustion so they are safe. Mounts between the studs, one hole in the wall