EDITOR NOTE: This is a reprint of a series entitled Just the Tip authored by Thomas Brobst. His ‘make-do-with-what-you-got’ and ingenuity makes for interesting reading and maybe help a poor soul out of a perplexing repair. See if you agree with me this is fun reading.
Just the Tip
Tip #3
‘allo again, MG people. Time for another installment of the Gazette’s version of Hints from Heloise (anybody else remember that column?)
So, since my RFT inbox (Readers’ Favorite Tips) is full of cobwebs and dust bunnies you’re going to be subjected to another one of my own. Not a problem, I have plenty! This tip should be helpful in the coming winter months when we want to work on our darling little cars in our bitter cold garages. If you’re like most of us you probably are or have used some type of kerosene heater...either the torpedo or the upright style. Too bad. It’s not that they don’t work, it’s that the kerosene is smelly, messy and getting harder to find. Plus, at least with the torpedo style, you have to open the garage door a bit to get some fresh air ventilation so your loved ones don’t find your asphyxiated corpse on the garage floor.
So, my tip for garage temperature control is to “Craigslist” the kerosene heater and buy a propane torpedo heater. These heaters run off your typical 20lb barbeque tank, which you most likely already have, and get plugged into an AC outlet to operate the blower. I think my heater is the smallest one they sell at Home Depot but it still heats my 24x24 garage from bitter cold to toasty warm in about 10 mins. And I can keep the door closed (disclaimer: you probably should crack the door a bit) because propane isn’t nearly as stinky as kerosene so the garage stays warm longer, too. And, because I can’t leave well enough alone I ‘Binfordized” mine by plugging it into an extension cord into which I installed a duplex electrical box with a bathroom fan style, mechanical timer so that it will shut itself off after 10 minutes or so. I was a concerned, with my limited attention span, that I might leave the garage, get distracted, and let the heater burn a whole tank of propane before I remembered I left it on.
So, now my “drill” is to go into the garage in the morning and set the timer for 10-15 min, depending on how cold it is. Then get a cup of coffee, eat breakfast, feed the cats, read my email...whatever. When I’m finally ready to get to work the garage is warm and ready to go. While I’m working, when I start to feel a chill I just turn the timer on for another 10 minutes. I know you’re thinking why not install a thermostat. It’s because you actually need to be there to start it, like you do with your barbeque grill. A fully thermostatic version would just cost a whole lot more. And I don’t really care how warm the garage is when I’m not working in it so this works just fine...and it’s cheap.
So, there ya go. If you have anything you’d like to share please send it to me thomas.brobst@gmail.com or our editor, Greg
~~ Tom Brobst
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March 2022
