Garage Heaters: Radiant

Auto Express Car Reviews

November 2006

Keeping warm while working on the car is a must, which means a garage heater is not necessarily the luxury it may first seem. There is an ever-increasing choice of types and fuels on the market, so choos-ing the right model can be tricky.

You should start off by deciding whether you require a ‘radiant’ unit or an ‘air-warmer’. The latter are great for heating up an entire workshop, but they do have their limitations. If your garage is draughty, most of the hot air will escape outside. And of course, working with solvents or cleaning compounds often means having windows open for ventilation – which again leads to heat loss.

Radiant heaters emit invisible infrared rays which heat objects in their path – such as you. These are excel-lent in poorly sealed, or heavily ventilated, garages. More powerful units can even be used to provide localised heat when working outside. So which should you go for? We put eight top-sellers to the test...

Verdict

Among the air-warmers, Sealey’s EH2000 gave decent performance, an integral thermostat and was quiet. Prem-I-Air’s HFD2000 is just as feature-laden, but slower.
In the radiants, Blackspur’s BB-HH200 is cheap, yet gave instant warmth and used little energy. Screwfix’s 38138 was the hottest and warmed up immediately.