I plan to do that, but I have a TON of tools, and various things and it's hard to get every nook & cranny of every tool. I've tried this the past 3 years I've lived here and still had problems, the worst of which occurred this past winter while I was deployed and couldn't check on them frequently. Inevitably, I'm going to get some rust but I'd like to further cure the problem and hopefully make the garage a little more comfortable to work in...

So you've decided to go with wood then?

Not entirely, but right now I'm that just seems like the best option to me...

There were several good suggestions, and while I think I "might" be able to do a few of them a bit cheaper than wood for the initial investment, the fuel cost will be the deal killer. I've weighed the pros & cons and it just seems to make sense that with me already burning wood, it will be much more beneficial financially to just go with wood for the garage heat as well...

I was just hoping to avoid having to put up another chimney (class A so it could be easily taken down when I move), but I think I'll just bite the bullet and do it. Then when I move I can just move the setup to my new shop and be done with it, or possibly sell it for near what I have in it...

I still think that you'd be happier with vented propane.  There are all sorts of types of heaters that would do what you want them to.  I bet you would only go through a couple of 100 lb tanks per winter (about $35 per filling in my area at the moment).  

If you do go with wood, be prepared to spend some big bucks on a chimney.  Wood is a great source of heat but MUST have a top end chimney if you want it to be safe.  I've seen houses heated with wood heat that also used a low end chimney....they tend to burn down at an alarming rate.

nvm

If you think I'll be happier with vented propane you don't know me very well... I squeak when I walk I'm so tight... but looking at some vented LP options I can probably get into a heat plus venting for less than $700, which leaves quite a bit that I can spend on fuel. The only down-side is that if I go with vented LP I'm leaving it here when I move, so in the end I have nothing. With wood, I make the big initial investment then take it with me.

So the way I see if I have 2 main options...

LP Initial investment is about $700 + operating cost of lets say $300/yr (very conservative estimate as I'm pretty sure my annual cost will be higher than that) and when I leave it stays with the house giving an estimated increase in home value of no more than $250
Heating cost for 2 years is $1050
Heating cost for 5 years is $1950
Heating cost for 10 years is $3450 (this would be worst case scenario of how long I plan to stay in this house)

Wood Initial investment is about $1500 + operating cost of lets say $50/yr in maintenance and wood cutting and when I leave the chimney & stove should still be worth at least $1k when I take them with me (worth more than that to me however because otherwise I would have to go out and buy new)
Heating cost for 2 years is $600
Heating cost for 5 years is $750
Heating cost for 10 years is $1000

So really with wood, I'm gambling that if I stay longer than I hope I have to stay then it will greatly pay off for the added inconvenience and work. With LP, my goal would be to get out of here asap, but I just don't know if that is going to be possible because that depends on my income in the next few years (highly dependent on my deployment schedule). If I knew for sure I was only going to be here a couple more years I would do vented LP for sure and just suck up the additional annual expense for the few years I had to but I'm not really certain of when I will be able to get out of here, I have this eery feeling that it may push closer to the 10 year mark... which is why I'm so uncertain of what to do.

I don't know you at all.  But, I know propane and wood heat.  

But, I really don't give a shit what you do because you live with it....not me.  You asked for recommendations.  Sounds like you had your mind made up before you even asked.  Don't bother asking for opinions if you don't like the opinions that you get.  

Good luck.

Uh, go back and read the last 3 lines of my OP... err, I'll just post them here for you



I was asking if I had missed anything else. Some people understood exactly what I was asking for and suggested the Toyo stove,  or window mount pellet stoves etc. That is exactly what I wanted, ideas on the things I hadn't considered. Other people, OTOH, didn't understand what I was looking for. Opinions isn't what I asked for, therefore I don't have to like the opinions that people provide in spite of that. I asked if there were any other options I wasn't considering.

If you know propane and wood heat, you know that wood is exponentially cheaper if you cut it yourself. So you obviously at least understand my dilemna don't you? I think my cost comparisons above outlined it very well. If I won't be staying in this house very long the lower initial investment of propane is easy to justify getting propane, but if something happens and my "plans" don't as well as I hope, then wood will be the better option...

I use one of these, they are made for safe indoor use.





http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-F232000-Indoor-Safe-Portable/dp/B002G51BZU/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1347113794&sr=1-1&keywords=buddy+heater





Works great in my garage, I just place it close enough so it heats the area I am working in and I am good to go.  Has never set off  the Carbon monoxide alarms either.




 

Why not buy a dehumidifier put it in the garage and give it a try.  It seems your problem is moisture but you want the solution to also provide heat.  If you fix the problem and save your tools for $150-$200 then you can address the heat issue separately or not at all.  To me saving expensive tools and machines is worth $150-$200.  

Maybe with a dehumidifier a small vent free buddy heater would give you the temperature increase you are wanting.  I realize the buddy heater would be adding to the problem but if you only used it in the area you were working the lack of install needed and cheap initial investment might make it worthwhile.  

If you are dead set on wood heat why not figure out the right way to duct the house heat to the garage.  I'm not that knowledgeable about HVAC but maybe with fire dampeners and a duct check valve of sorts you could add heat and air to the garage.  Probably not ideal but better than an open flame in the garage.  If it was thermostat or humidistat controlled and set much lower than the house it shouldn't be that much of a BTU draw on the house and the wood heat would pull lots of moisture from the air.

It seems crazy to me that your wood stove can't handle a little more space.  How many square feet is the house?  What make/model is your stove?  Was it incorrectly sized for the house?  You really don't need to look at the total square footage of the garage when making the calculation because you aren't trying to make it conditioned space just add a little heat and pull out a little moisture.  

The A/V closet in my house has a louver on the bottom of the door and a thermostat controlled fan in the ceiling and when it gets hot it pulls air from the house that is pulled from up and through the rack of equipment and finally its pushed into the attic.  The issue with this type of install in your garage is the lack of a return air and pushing that into the attic might be a waste.


Grove