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I run one in a we'll sealed 2car garage - on diesel fuel - and work out there for hours at a time. I have a CO detector and it has never been triggered.
Would I need to be concerned about running one with poor dust collection?
No. Unless the dust is so thick you can't see you're fine.
Just sweep the floor in front of it.
I’d throw a carbon monoxide detector in there just to be safe.
Don't skip this part. For extra resolve Google death by indoor generator. Happens every winter, power goes out during the deep freeze, person brings a gas gennie into the kitchen to keep the fridge running, family goes to bed and never wakes up. CO poisoning is no joke. Your garage may have enough ventilation but it's not something you want to leave to chance.
Edit: thought I was replying to a thread that said get a CO detector. Oops
My cousin died many years ago because the heater didnt have a gas shutoff in case of a flame failure, old piece of shit equipment. Buy a detector and keep it close to the heater
Jesus Christ what is up with the stupid and dangerous recommendations going on in this thread?
This is r/BEGINNERWoodWorking.
You do NOT carry out sustained open-flame combustion of any kind in a closed, non-ventilated environment. Period.
Carbon monoxide poisoning kills >430 Americans per year, and sends 50 000 to the ER.
YOU DO NOT CARRY OUT SYSTAINED COMBUSTION IN A CLOSED, NON-VENTILATED ENVIRONMENT.
Shame on anyone suggesting otherwise. A CO detector is NOT an acceptable way around this, holy fuck.
While safety should always be the top priority, there are a number of ways to ensure safe operation of a propane heater in a garage workshop.
The first is to ensure proper ventilation. Many garages needing a supplemental propane heater have significant ventilation already, but you can calculate the required airflow and open a door or window the appropriate amount to accommodate your ventilation needs.
The second is with CO monitoring. A well maintained and tested CO monitor will alert long before dangerous levels of CO accumulate in your space.
The third is by recognizing the method in which home CO poisoning occurs. In the home or workshop you will not encounter CO levels near to anything that causes immediate incapacitation. In home CO poisoning is a long process, and nearly all victims are found in bed.
The initial stages of CO poisoning cause feelings of illness and fatigue, which generally lead people to go lay down in bed and sleep. This both moves you closer to the floor, increasing your exposure rate, and renders you unable to recognize the increasingly severe symptoms of CO poisoning.
In the workshop, the mechanism of CO poisoning thankfully works in your favor. The drive to go lay down in bed means by doing so you are both eliminating the supply of CO by turning off the heater, and removing yourself from the environment containing the elevated CO levels. While I would never rely on that as the sole safety net, in doing research into the safety of using a propane heater I couldn’t find a single documented death as the result of exposure in a home workshop.
An alternative is a Big Buddy. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/mr-heater-big-buddy-portable-heater
That's what I use in my garage which has no insulation if I'm not mistaken and no door insulation. It's big too, three car garage with 12 feet ceilings. Keeps my workshop bay nice and toasty, and it runs forever with the 20 gallon propane tank adapter. Something to consider.