I recently moved into my garage which is dry walled and insulated except fro the metal garage door. I would like to heat the place up or at least have heat near me when I am working during the winter. I am wondering what type of heater would you folks suggest? I tired a four fin radiator type but found that it did very little so I am thinking of going to 7 fins. My primary concern is that I would like to option of spray painting enamels/lacquers and do not want to blow myself up by having the fumes igniting in the heater. I typically use acrylics 99% of the time so if I had to I could open the garage door a bit and fan the fumes way from the heater. But I wait your suggestions.

If you have propane or natural gas you can use a "blue flame" or "radiant panel heater" ... it is highly unlikely you will blow yourself up due to the small quantities of flumes. I paint around them all the time and all it does is burn off the flumes which live a kerosene smell which can be annoying. Another option depending on where you leave is a pot belly stove. I use one of these in the garage and a propane radiant in the shop. The gas heater doesn't have to be vented but one should get some fresh air every once in while as it can cause a mild headache with long exposure (i.e. carbon monoxide).

Anyway I use gas heat around fumes and have for years (about 25) and so far I'm still here. It's the highly flammables like gasoline you don't want around it. Spirits, paints, etc are really not that flammable. They will burn but they just aren't the explosive.

Now you could get a baseboard heater to go under your work bench, they are 120V and 220V and do put out some heat. 220V is the better choice energy wise. But they are not that cheap to operate. You can get them at most home improvement stores for less than US$100.00

Here is a site with some ...
http://www.baseboardheaterstore.com/index.html

PS those fin heaters you have are pretty much junk (no offense).

Hope this helps.

thanks for the suggestions

If your garage is detached from your house electric heat or a propane furnace/heater is simplest. Some electric heaters come with built in fans to distribute the heat more evenly. I have installed heaters in garages that customers have used to occasionally do autobody work and spray painting. Most gas units shloud have a method the bring in exterior air to support the furnace operation and protect against any cumbutible paint fumes. Comercial paint shops must add fresh air to the heated air stream for health reasons. you can bring in outside air only when you paint. and close it off when not painting.
If your garage is attached to your home it may not be difficult to tap into you homes heating system and add a zone. There are several alternatives depending on the type of heating system you have.

Michael