We make water heating in the garage with our own hands

The climatic conditions in most Russian regions are such that in winter the operation of a garage or other economic facility is impossible. However, for many men, the garage is not just a place to store a car, but a full-fledged workshop. Water heating in the garage is one of the best ways to protect yourself from frost, to create comfortable microclimatic conditions in the room, regardless of what temperature is currently fixed outside.

General requirements

For a garage, you need to consider several important points:

• High quality thermal insulation. In the event that the walls of the structure are too cold, then even the most efficient heating scheme will be useless, because the heated air simply cannot be kept inside the room.
• Tightness. It is important to achieve a complete absence of drafts. Too intense air circulation, air exchange with the external environment — all this will lead to the fact that the room will cool too quickly, fuel costs will increase, and overall efficiency will fall.
• The object must stand on a solid foundation or at least a floor screed. Impressive volumes of cold rise from the ground, while cement will reduce this negative effect.

These points, ideally, should be taken into account even when building a garage. If it comes to an already finished design, you need to make every effort to improve it.

The heating circuit must meet the following requirements:

• Safety. The absence of an open flame, the exclusion of the possibility of an explosion and saturation of the air with carbon monoxide — all this is among the mandatory requirements.
• Automation. The scheme should include automatic maintenance of operating parameters in the norm, this contributes to both safety and operational convenience.
• Independence from external factors. This applies to systems that use electricity. Mains voltage fluctuations must not lead to equipment failure.
• Profitability. Even the most reliable system can hardly be called successful and efficient if its operation is associated with huge fuel costs. Please note that in the garage it is not necessary to warm up the air to the levels relevant for residential premises. A sufficient value is about 12 degrees.

Main article: do-it-yourself air heating in the garage.

If there is a cottage nearby…

*

Owners of country houses often erect an outbuilding next to the main residential structure. In such a situation, an efficient liquid heating scheme in the garage may involve connecting to an existing main boiler.

However, it will be effective only if the boiler room is located close enough. If you have to make a large branch from the main line, the heat loss will be too large, and the desired efficiency will not be achieved.

If for some reason it is not possible to connect to the main boiler, you will have to mount a separate device. In a large garage, you can allocate space in the corner for this; it is better to make an extension to a small structure.

Choosing a boiler

Before you make an effective system, you must correctly select the appropriate unit. The ideal option is gas equipment, but its installation is far from always possible. The main problem is the need to obtain a lot of certificates and permits. According to the regulations, the garage belongs to the category of technical premises used for the storage of flammable substances. Thus, as an alternative, we can consider solid fuel equipment (firewood, specialized wood briquettes, coal):

• Profitability. This property is explained by the low cost of the equipment itself (this applies even to models of significant power), and the low price of fuel, which is especially true for rural areas, where firewood costs mere pennies.
• Installing the equipment is extremely simple, for this you do not need to call professionals.
• Decent efficiency.

Water efficient heating from a potbelly stove in the garage is relevant for rooms up to 30 square meters, since stoves are characterized by a power of just about 3 kW. For outbuildings of a large area of ​​​​several floors, full-fledged large-sized boilers are better suited. Of the minuses of solid fuel devices, only not very convenient operation can be distinguished, you have to constantly add new portions of fuel.

It will also be possible to deal with the heating of a small garage by installing an electric boiler. We immediately focus on the fact that the method is suitable for small objects with good thermal insulation, because the price of electricity is quite high, its too active consumption will provoke huge utility bills. In terms of compactness, reliability, safety and automation, this technique is ideal.

*

Choosing a connection method

In the garage with your own hands, you will be able to implement several schemes for connecting heating:

• One pipe;
• two pipes;
• Combination.

For a small room, a single-pipe scheme is also well suited, this will save time, effort and materials without compromising work efficiency. However, in large rooms it is better to use two pipes.

If we talk about the type of coolant, then ordinary water should not be used — the risk of freezing is too great, and the ice will simply break the pipes from the inside, restoring the system will require huge financial investments. The best option is a specialized antifreeze that does not pose a danger to pipes, which has an extremely low crystallization temperature.

Assembly order

So, let’s look at how to organize water efficient garage heating with your own hands:

• Making calculations, purchasing appropriate consumables and equipment.
• Determining the place for installing the boiler, installation (before that, it is worth pouring the foundation or laying a powerful metal sheet on the surface).
• Installing an expansion tank. Ideally, the tank should be at the lowest point of the system, at a height of about half a meter from the floor.
• Installation of radiators and batteries. For fixing devices on the walls, special reinforced dowels are suitable. In order to avoid problems with air circulation, it is recommended to leave gaps of several centimeters between the radiator and the wall, 10-20 centimeters between the radiator and the floor.
• Pipe pulling. You can quickly connect metal pipes with fittings or a welding machine. A special heating device is used to fix pipes based on polypropylene.
• Antifreeze fill. Test run, checking the efficiency, how quickly the air will heat up, whether there are any leaks and other signs of malfunction.

Thus, it is quite possible to equip an efficient heating system in the garage on your own. To do this, you do not have to spend a lot of time, effort and money, you just need to correctly solve all organizational issues and not make mistakes in the calculations!