Subject: Garage heater project was successful Author: davidc (moderator) : member since December, 2003 : 10296 posts Posted on: 2006-11-16 18:45:56

One of the many things I miss about Atlanta is the mild winter weather. Here in Lexington, it's getting cold outside. Cold enough that I decided to install the Berko electric heater that I picked up at a salvage supply sidewalk sale last fall (for $100) but never got around to installing.

I finally got around to running 200' of 10-4 wire from a new 30A breaker in the basement up to the garage. I also installed a 240V appliance receptacle in the garage in case I ever decide to buy that giant table saw I've been dreaming about.

The heater is made by Berko, model # HUHAA524. It's a 5kW unit, fed by 240VAC single-phase power. It can also be used with 3-phase power by moving a few jumpers. It has a built-in fan and a two-stage heating circuit.



The heater has a wiring block for a separate controller, but I opted to install a Honeywell line-powered thermostat (~$40), which sits inline between the power and the heater. Whenever the temp drops below the thermostat setting, it engages a relay and sends power to the heater. Jumpers were placed at appropriate points in the heater's wiring block to supply power to the primary heating elements and the fan. I didn't wire in the third heating element as the primary elements seem to be able to do the job without excessively spinning the meter outside my house.





All in all, this was a fairly easy project. Copper has gone sky high lately. The 10-4 wire cost about $90 per 100 feet at Lowes, making the wire and the breaker cost more than the heater itself!

David Cecil

'97 740iL, 150k miles
'92 750iL, 88k miles
'86 735i, 101k miles

Visit e38.org for everything technical about your BMW

• Garage heater project was successful (pic) - davidc 2006-11-16 18:45:56 (1438 views)
  • A cheap ceiling fan will save you some dough. (nt) - 20TIL8 I 2007-01-16 23:31:25 (346 views)
  • Re: Garage heater project was successful - semar 2006-12-28 23:14:09 (296 views)
  • David, I'm planning to remodel my garage this winter - kend1606 2006-11-16 22:35:41 (425 views)
    • Sounds like a good topic! (nt) - davidc 2006-11-17 02:17:51 (285 views)
  • I want a picture of the electric meter spinning when on! (nt) - lurcher 2006-11-16 21:34:49 (392 views)
  • That is awesome. I love your garage man! (nt) - ED 2006-11-16 21:00:26 (328 views)
  • thats a very tight garage and heater iam out here in cali we just dont - tigerbaumone 2006-11-16 20:43:07 (388 views)
    • T I GGerrrrrr, RU talking about my bad @$$ floor model or his high setup? LOL (nt) - collison944 2006-11-16 21:07:06 (299 views)
  • Nice job David, now if only you could include pics of your - kingdom7 2006-11-16 20:35:05 (406 views)
  • Only one down side - I had two of these in my garage in CT... - txdarth 2006-11-16 20:14:32 (406 views)
    • looking at gas hanging heater - russell36 2006-12-26 20:51:05 (281 views)
    • Lord Vader, good to see you are still kicking. RU N Ur new house yet? (nt) - collison944 2006-11-16 20:18:45 (405 views)
      • Living in ...but not IN, yet! That will take another 6 months. (nt) - txdarth 2006-11-16 20:41:18 (308 views)
        • I understand. You gotat have new furniture and all that other fufu stuff. (nt) - collison944 2006-11-16 21:08:09 (370 views)
  • DavidC, you show off. LOL LOL ; ). You upstaged my elaborate HVAC setup w/o AC (pic) - collison944 2006-11-16 19:16:40 (735 views)
  • Some guys just got it all Nice job (nt) - BJames38 2006-11-16 19:09:54 (370 views)
  • Hey David, You got a sister? (nt) - Blue740i 2006-11-16 19:08:19 (372 views)
  • Great job - as usual - David! A quick copper story... - Ultymte 2006-11-16 18:56:58 (827 views)
    • Around here, people have been stealing wire from air conditioning units - davidc 2006-11-16 19:04:04 (366 views)
      • in the McKinnney TX they pulled the Cu wire from under the new Soccer fields - collison944 2006-11-16 19:19:45 (415 views)
        • At my job, I've been assigned the task of making several thousand lbs - thesteve 2006-11-16 19:34:24 (427 views)
          • Are you guys recycling and making money off the used Cu or trashing it? (nt) - collison944 2006-11-16 20:09:22 (326 views)
            • they recycle it - thesteve 2006-11-16 20:18:48 (328 views)
              • We have to keep the Cu supply going to China don't we?? (nt) - Roy In GA 2006-11-16 22:27:33 (336 views)
                • Speaking of China.... - layne 2006-11-29 18:18:29 (386 views)
  • Nice, just add bigscreen, fridge full of beers, a lift, project cars :-))))))))) (nt) - bmw635 2006-11-16 18:54:28 (340 views)