Wire type/size for garage heater
kudzu9
3 years ago
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What kind of heater for a garage
Comments (11)I installed a 45,000 Btu Modine "Hot Dawg" garage heater in my new garage/shop. The heater has an electronic ignitor, is propane (or natural gas) fired and vents with standard B-vent (five inch in my case). Its thermostatically controlled and I hung it from the ceiling with four pieces of 3/8 inch all-thread. Its kinda noisy, but heck, its a garage. Search the internet for a supplier or you can probably get one or similar from a good plumbing/electrical supplier. I don't recall who I ordered it from, but make sure you get the electronic ignitor. I think they come either way but you don't want a standing pilot light these days. They're "illegal" here in California anyway. You might also check with your local building department about any special rules or restrictions about such units....See Moregarage wiring problem
Comments (4)You're risking serious lawsuit by doing illegal electical work. Electrical space heaters draw a lot of current, pretty much pushing the limits of a 15 amp circuit. A lot of "surge protector" strips are pretty cheesy making me wonder about their proper listing. It's quite possible the load of the heater set it on fire. Why on earth did you think that the surge protector burning up was somehow affected by the rest of the electrical wiring? There are countless problems here. The burned could be several problems. It could have been poorly connected to the terminal it was connected to, or the panel could have been seriously miswired, or there's some grounding fault that because of the other incorrect installation travelled on the neutral wire. You say 10/3 without indicating what type of wire. I suspect however given the general level of professionalism, that it isn't rated for outside or underground use. The breakers probably didn't pop because no single breaker got it's rating exceeded. The 40A breaker is oversized for #10 wire, it should have been no more than 30. I suspect some of those 20A breakers are protecting #14 wiring given the general state of things. I bet there's no ground rod at the structure. At six circuits, you technically may not need a separate disconnect in the garage, but you're really flaunting the issue (especially if there's room in that panel for one more breaker...) I suggest you and our neighbor find someone with a clue before the structure burns down or someone gets electrocuted....See MoreGarage Heater Wiring
Comments (5)The heater is just 120 @ 3 amps - It is natural gas fired and has 2 fans on it, one for combustion air and one for the combustion air. I did put it on a dedicated 20 amp circuit. When it comes to the electrical connections the manufacturer specifications say that it is recommended to be on a separate, grounded circuit with a disconnect means as close to the unit as possible. There was no maximum breaker size listed, unless it is lighting I prefer to use 12 gauge wiring so I put it on a 20 amp breaker. This will be inspected but I just wanted to make sure I didn't make a big mistake with the cord, but as long as that counts as a disconnect means I think I should be OK based upon teh responses here....See MoreWiring a Garage Heater; 10/3 or 10/2 wire?
Comments (4)Since you have to go through all the trouble of running the wiring, have you considering using 6/3 and connecting a sub-panel in the garage, and then running the 240 volts for the heater off the sub-panel. You could even run the 6/3 to the future location of the sub-panel, install a junction box there, and then run wire from there on up to the heater location for now. In the future you could replace the junction box with a sub-panel if you want more circuits. What is the brand of your panel? If you get the brand and model (for example, Square D has both Homeline panels and QO panels) you can look at the types of breakers that are available for that panel. For example, my Square D QO panel with 30 slots is listed as a 30/40 panel, since you can take the last 5 breakers on each side and replace them with a slimline double breaker. Bruce...See Morekudzu9
3 years agokudzu9
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agokudzu9
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoRon Natalie
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3 years agokudzu9
3 years ago
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