Hot Dawg 60,000 BTU Natural Gas Garage Ceiling Heater

A:  There is no universal consistent relationship between square footage of floor space or volume and how much heating capacity you need to install. As I am sure you can envision the same structure if located in Alaska is going to need a lot more capacity than it would if located in Florida. The proper way to size heating is to do a heat loss calculation. There are many free programs on line that will do this for you. I use the Slant Fin heat loss calculator, which I have on my phone. It is free download available at the apple or droid ap store. Basically you enter room sizes, window sizes, construction type, geographic location, etc. and the program will calculate how much heat the structure will lose on the coldest hour of the coldest day of the typical year. Selecting the capacity that is matched to the actual load you will get the longest and most efficient run times. Garages are the one place I frequently deviate from the heat loss. Because people often keep their garages cool but then want to heat them up fast to either do a project or melt snow off a car I will often install extra capacity. This allows them raise the temp on a cold winter day in a reasonable period of time. For example I live in Massachusetts and my heat loss called for 30,000 BTU’s of capacity. However I installed the 75,000 BTU unit. I keep my garage at 45 F and with this unit I am able to get it up to comfortable temperature in a reasonable period of time. If I consistently maintained a higher temperature in my garage I probably would not have installed so much extra capacity.

A:  The exhaust from these units need to be vented to the outdoors in accordance to the installation instructions as well as code. It you scroll down the Home Depot product listing page you will come to as section labeled “Additional Resources”. There you will find PDF’s of product documents. If you open the one entitled Use and Care Manual you will find that venting requirements begin on page 6. This unit has an input of 60,000 BTU’s and has a heat exchanger designed to extract 80% of the heat from the flue gas. So the output would is 48000 BTU’s per hour. (60000 X .80= 48000)

A:  You could use any 24 volt thermostat you want; a Nest low voltage thermostat included. This unit has a very simple 24 volt control strategy. Think of it this way. You will have two wires that come form the unit. When the switch/thermostat closes it is as if those to wires are connected completing the circuit. This will cause the unit to come on. When the thermostat opens, it is as if the two wires have been decoupled. This will open the circuit and the unit will shut off. Smart thermostats such, as those produced by Nest, have all sorts of intelligent features built in to them. Some work independently of the appliance they control and some work only if the appliance has been manufactured to work in conjunction with these functions. I mention this because I have interacted with a number of customers that assume that by utilizing a smart thermostat the appliance becomes imputed with these features. That is not the case. So for example if you are utilizing this thermostat because you want it to be WIFI enabled it will be. But if you are considering it because it is capable of controlling multiple stage operation, you will not. Using a multiple stage thermostat does not make the appliance have a feature not built into it.

A:  I do this for a living and I was confused the first time I installed one of these. The manual is worded poorly, in my opinion. First you need to understand that B-vent is a manufacturing standard but every manufacture that produces Type B venting has their own unique system. Meaning you can’t use manufacture A’s B-Vent with manufacture C’s B vent products. You need to stay with the same company for all you B vent pipe and fittings. All furnace manufactures make their exhaust outlet a unique size. They do not choose one manufacturers size to match because then they are showing a preference and would take on the liability of the venting material. I kid you not as I asked a Modine person when I was going through what you are now. So what you will find is each B-Vent manufacturer will make a transition fitting unique to them. One side will be adjustable so you can attach it to the exhaust outlet of the unit heater, and the other side will have that manufactures B Vent connection, I hope this helps. No furnace goes directly to B-Vent. You will always begin with this adapter. I would suggest you go back to the place where you got you B-vent and ask for one. Chris 978 651-3301. That is my office line. I am working late on a Saturday night but am I am going home. I will be back in the office on Monday.