January, 1917 
43 
HEATING THE PRIVATE GARAGE 
The Simple Methods For Maintaining 
the Necessary 60 ° in Winter Months 
H eating the private garage is gen¬ 
erally an afterthought, for the dou¬ 
ble reason that heat is required such a 
small portion of the year—not over three 
months in the latitude of New York City— 
and the first cost of the garage is so often 
kept down to the absolute minimum. 
When the garage is combined with other 
buildings, as with the swimming pool, green¬ 
house, stable, chauffeur’s living quarters, 
billiard room, estate office, etc., there is cer¬ 
tain to be adequate provision for heating 
the space for motor cars and their care. 
Although even in this case 
a word of warning should 
be sounded to those who. 
having built the garage first, 
wish to add the other struc¬ 
tures; if the heating plant 
is not set low enough in the 
first place, it may not be 
possible to tack on the oth¬ 
ers later. This may neces¬ 
sitate special additional heat¬ 
ing plants at considerable 
expense for installation. 
This thought was brought 
forward on hearing lately 
of a family having a fine 
little two-car garage, ap¬ 
proximately 18' by 24' in 
size, with a good heating 
plant of the hot water type 
and wall pipes for radia¬ 
tion. They desired to add 
a lean-to greenhouse about 
10' by 22' on the side of 
the garage, using the heat¬ 
ing plant for both. On 
laying out the plans, it was 
found that this was impos¬ 
sible because the garage 
heater was set so high that there would 
not be room to have the two floors on a 
level and get a return back to the boiler 
from the greenhouse pipes. 
As the garage floor had been built up 
on a slope, at considerable expense and 
trouble, the owner did not want to cut this 
down so as to be able to lower his present 
boiler to take care of the greenhouse situ¬ 
ation. Neither did he want to install a sec¬ 
ond heating plant to make double care 
throughout the cold months. So the idea of 
a lean-to greenhouse had to be abandoned 
in a location where it would have made an 
ideal combination, simply because the origi¬ 
nal heating plant was set up some 5' or 6' 
too high. And at that, it would have been 
both easier and cheaper to set it down that 
much lower, for at that level there would 
have been no filling to do, while a natural 
outlet for ashes and inlet for coal would 
have been provided for both. 
Two Methods of Heating 
Taking garages in general there are two 
ways of heating them: by means of their 
own plant, and from an adjoining building. 
Considering the former, the usual method 
is by a form of garage heater so-called, this 
being a type of gas or gasoline stove which 
MORRIS A. HALL 
has been designed to have a covered flame 
and thus be safe. It is now pretty gen¬ 
erally known that any form of open flame 
heater is decidedly dangerous in or near a 
garage where there are likely to be gasoline 
or combustible oil fumes. 
There are a number of such heaters on 
the market, as well as those forms for keep¬ 
ing the water system of the car heated, and 
nothing else. These both have the advan¬ 
tage of low first and operating cost, and 
possibly of simplicity as well. 
Next there is the heating plant actually 
constructed for heating the garage and built 
at the same time. This is generally a sepa¬ 
rate room, at the side, rear, one end, or built 
out from the main building, or in case of 
a garage on a hillside, the lower level makes 
an excellent location for the source of heat. 
Wherever the heater is located it is wise to 
have a separate entrance for it, a solid wall 
between it and the garage proper, and pref¬ 
erably no passage cut through this wall. 
This arrangement has the double advantage 
of keeping gasoline and oil fumes from the 
heater, and coal dirt away from the car. 
Hot air has the advantage of very low 
cost, since no radiators and practically no 
piping are needed. Steam and hot air have 
each need for piping and radiators, so that 
they cost much more but offer the additional 
advantage of hot water at all times, pro¬ 
vided by means of an auxiliary hot water 
tank constructed for the purpose. 
In the matter of radiators, too little 
thought is given to the beauty of the build¬ 
ing and too much to its utility, so the cheap¬ 
est radiators are obtained, or else wall radi¬ 
ators are built up of piping. While these 
are perfectly suitable and do the work, 
there is no reason why the garage should 
be made so hideous, when it is used such a 
large part of the time. When there is a 
greenhouse connection, there is no reason 
why the pipe system in the garage cannot 
be carried out on the same lines as the 
greenhouse, that is, pipes grouped under 
benches or seats around the building, and 
then covered with ornamental grilles. 
Heating from the House 
All this presupposes the garage has its 
own heating plant. Yet it is often the case 
that the structure is close enough to the 
house to permit of running out pipes from 
the house system to warm the garage as 
well. When this is done 
there is little to say, ex¬ 
cept that the arrangements 
for turning on and off 
the garage heat, and for 
draining the garage pipes, 
should be such that this 
can be done easily and 
quickly. There are often 
times when a little heat is 
desired in the house, and 
none is needed in the ga¬ 
rage. Again, if going away 
for several days in cold 
weather, it might be desir¬ 
able to keep the house 
warm, when there would be 
no car in the garage. For 
these and other reasons it is 
desirable to have a simple 
and quickly operated meth¬ 
od of turning the heat in 
the garage on and off, and 
of draining that part of the 
system when necessary. 
The same is true, of 
course, when the garage is 
combined with other build¬ 
ings or otherwise serves a 
dual purpose, particularly if the other build¬ 
ing needs heat also. In the case in which 
the garage and greenhouse are combined, 
the latter must have heat practically the 
whole year round, so the former is easily 
provided for by simple valves to turn it on 
and off. Similarly, when the garage includes 
the chauffeur’s living quarters, he is sure 
to want heat about five months in the year, 
and will see to it that the garage is kept 
good and warm during the same period. 
Heat and Ventilation 
With the garage as an adjunct to a swim¬ 
ming pool, sun-room, billiard room, dancing 
hall or other similar room used intermittent¬ 
ly for social purposes, heat is a necessity 
for a considerable part of the year. More¬ 
over, such a combination makes for a pre¬ 
tentious building, usually necessitating the 
services of an architect. 
To a certain extent heating and ventila¬ 
tion are closely interwoven, and should be 
considered together. Some forms of heat¬ 
ing, such as hot air, need an outlet which in 
itself provides a form of ventilation. If the 
ventilation is considered at the time the 
heating arrangement is planned, the garage 
will be much better off in both respects, and 
will be a more usable place. 
By combining garage and greenhouse, only one heating plant will he reqttired. 
The pipes can be arranged under the work bench in the same fashion as they 
are in the greenhouse 
