One solution for safe heating of spaces like big sheds, garages, etc
is first to insulate the place properly. Which will be costly, but
you will get a pay back from money saved in power or fuel; regard it
as an investment. And what’s more, you can buy the odd batch of
insulation when you can afford it and so on. You’ll be surprised
about how much warmer the place seems.
The next investment - literally - is a heat pump. Now most folk
know that “heat won’t flow from a colder to a hotter, and if you
think it will you really didn’t oughter”. But a heat pump works
exactly like your refrigerator; put your hand at the back and you
will feel the heat being transferred from the fridge to the
atmosphere. So a heat pump does just that. It will take heat from
outside and pump it into your garage space, (even on a freezing cold
day) and as a bonus in the summer time it will remove heat - and
moisture - from inside to outside. Most have a fan which distributes
warmed or cooled air nicely around. Yes, they are costly to
install. We have had one in temperate Mapua for over 8 years and
wouldn’t be without it. Running cost? Well, for every 3.2 kilowatts
of power it uses we get 5.8 Kw of heat! Which warms the whole house.
And we can set the temperature to whatever we want. We can even dry
the place on a humid day. You should see the condensed moisture
trickling out of the drainage pipe! – Cheers for now,
John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua, Nelson NZ