In this episode of The Handyguys Podcast we take a question on garage heaters and have some follow-up thoughts on the CarMD product we discussed in episode 91.

Garage Heaters

We received a great question from Captain Kent about heating his garage so he can work on his honey do list. Its excerpted here:

Hi guys! I have a question for you. Last year I purchased a home built in the 80′s and I’m slowly morphing into this Handy-Guy-Do-It-Yourselfer-Inspector-Gadget kind of guy.

I figure my garage being 800 square feet that I can utilize this space in the cold months to do projects out there. In any case, I ripped all the sheet rock off the walls and am about 60% deep in the project of fully insulating the garage. I’m installing Champion windows, a new back door from Lowes, and even insulating the inside of the 20 foot main garage door with a neat Owens Corning garage door insulation kit. I’m doing everything myself accept the walk out door and windows…so far anyway.

I’m a pilot by day and a Handy Guy Podcast Warrior by night. We battle our garages on our days off and then compare notes at 41,000 feet. We decided we are probably both going to go with a hanging natural gas type heater but here comes our question. We thought about just breaking through the wall and piping one of our main house heater ducts into the garage for heat. When the garages are all insulated and sealed up it shouldn’t take a lot of heat to keep them warm, or warm enough to work out there. We were not familiar with any homes that have done this before and figured there must be a good reason for us NOT to do this. We decided to ask you guys if you know of any reason why we would NOT want to simply tap off and route one of our main house ducts into our garages for heat?

Thanks Brian and Paul, keep the podcast coming! I’d be in the poor house if I had to hire somebody to do all the jobs this house needs!

Captain Kent

Utilizing house heat

You need to maintain separation between the house and the garage to prevent easy penetration of flames and fumes. The building codes in your area likely prohibit any garage connection to a forced air central system. Of course, the story would be different if the garage were converted into living space.  In this case, a critical factor is the size of the current hvac system. If your house heat is hot water it might be possible to add a zone from your boiler for in-floor radiant heat.

Permanent installed heat

If you want a permanently installed heat source the best method is using a ceiling mounted heater. These beasts provide the most heat without interfering with handyguy duties or parking a car. The ceiling mounts provide a choice of  gas or electric. Lennox has one that looks nice.

Portable temporary heat

Portable heat will be much less expensive to purchase. You have several options such as portable electric, kerosene or propane. Paul has a portable propane and Brian has a kerosene heater. In Brian’s uninsulated garage the kerosene heater barely does the trick when its cold out and is useless when its fridged out.  Each kind of heater has its pros and cons.  We discuss these in the podcast.

CarMD Revisit

We talked about the CarMD scanner for your car back in Episode 91. The scanner is used to read errors in your vehicles computer to help you diagnose problems. When The Handygusy checked out the units they were impressed but they didn’t have any error codes on their vehicles at the time.  Things of changed and now both Brian and Paul both coincidently have their dreaded “check engine” brightly lit. The CarMD scanner read the error code *and* provided likely solutions with cost estimates for repairs! Well done CarMD, very cool.

Related shows:

1. Magnogrip, Carmd And Permaflow Review
2. Can You Save 50% In Your Energy Bill With A Space Heater?
3. Repair a leaking water heater T&P and planning for a new deck

The Handyguys are sick of snow.  Is it time to purchase a new power tool?

If you live anywhere north of the Mason Dixon Line, you are probably fed up with the snow and ice that covers our sidewalks and driveways. For the handyguy budgeting for his or her next power tool, a snow blower may be on your mind. But is a snow blower really the next power tool you want to add to your tool arsenal?  Evidently many folks around the country think so as the sales of snow blowers are on the rise according to Wendy Bounds of the Wall Street Journal.  Paul enjoyed reading a pair of articles she wrote recently in his favorite newspaper.  Wendy provides a review of several models and outlines the basic varieties of blowers.

Neither Brian nor Paul own a snow blower, and they are as overwhelmed as anyone by all the choices. Should a handyguy purchase a smaller electric shovel which may remove a few inches of snow, or would a two stage godzilla model be the head turner that is desired? In order to sort this out, the Handyguys interview Wendy Bounds who has tested a small fleet of snow blowers for her WSJ review. As you will find out in this podcast, Bounds has plenty of driveway to give these machines a workout.

The Handyguys and Wendy discuss how the snow blower in every garage effects the very social fabric of our society. Do these machines put the squeeze on local neighborhood youth with an entrepreneurial spirit?

For more information listen to the podcast!

To check out Wendy’s articles in the Wall Street Journal, please visit her blog.

Wendy also did a great video showing her testing the snowblowers.

Thanks Wendy for the interview!

Related shows:

1. Using Leaf Blowers Vs Rakes And Repairing Leaky Showers
2. Looking Back And Looking Forward – 100 Episodes
3. How To Choose A Drill, Drill Type Comparisons

The Handyguys answer questions about Hot water heaters (or is it “cold water” heater?) and discuss basic water heater maintenance.

Please note: The Handyguys apologize for some technical difficulties which led to a broadcast with some snap, crackle and pops. We expect next week’s podcast to have this problem corrected.

Brian and Paul discuss the maintenance of your hot water heater. Everyone owns one but you don’t always get instructions on how to maintain the heater in your home. We just expect it to work and it usually does. However, every hot water heater will fail at some point and you will typically discover this one day when you have to settle for a cold shower. Even worse, you end up with water leaking all over your basement floor from the hot water tank.

The Handyguys own gas water heaters but much of what they discuss in this episode applies to both electric and gas water heaters.

What are the key components of a hot water heater? How do you maintain the heater? Are there maintenance tips to prolong the life of our heater and avoid the expensive plumber bill? The Handyguys discuss these basic questions in the first half of the podcast. In addition to basic water heater maintenance, a sad story about an electrocution caused by a faulty water heater is discussed.

The Handyguys also answer a couple listener questions about finicky gas hot water heaters with pilot lights that keep going out. Check out this weeks podcast on hot water heaters.

As always – you can click on a thumbnail image for a full size view. If you like our podcasts please consider shopping in our Amazon store for your next online purchase or support our advertisers. Thanks – The Handyguys

Related shows:

1. Replacing Water Heater Expansion Tanks and Ipe Decking
2. Repair a leaking water heater T&P and planning for a new deck
3. Exploding Water Heaters And Home Networking