Mr. Heater F260550 Big Maxx MHU50NG Natural Gas Unit Heater,Black

Purchased for our gas heater in the garage, has worked well for 1 yr. Keeps temp pretty well at level you set it.

Awesome shop hearter. I put it in my 3-car garage and it heats it up super quick. I live in Idaho and it gets cold here in the winter. Takes about 30 minutes to heat my garage from 20 to 65. I can get so much down in the garage in the iwnter now

didn't get it I stalled yet had problems with orifice tube not fitting right then had some health problems

I'd consider myself a fairly handy guy so I decided to take this installation on myself. This is a big job, but it can be done by just about anyone who's handy with tools and is willing to do their research.The install took me about 20 hours total over the course of about 2 weeks. I didn't have to run gas line or electricity though, I had a contractor do that a few years ago when we had a new furnace installed, so the extent of gas piping I had to do is what you see in the photos: a gas line connector and a drip leg attached to the heater.The job can be broken down into a few phases:1) Hang heater from the ceiling2) Run gas line and electric line to the heater3) Run exhaust ventEach one of these is a project on its own, especially if you have to run gas pipe through the walls, so it'd be good if you know what you're getting into before you get started.Hanging heater from the ceilingWhat I did was mark out where I wanted to install the heater (bearing in mind gas line and electric line locations, chimney location, location of roof truss, and code regulations for distance from the wall), then built a wood frame out of 2x4 ripped in half. I drilled mounting holes that matched the brackets on the heater and put carriage bolts in the frame facing threads down. Then I screwed the frame up to the ceiling and into the roof truss. Then, lit the fire inside of me, that one that thinks I can hoist a heater up above my head and hold it there while my wife put nuts on the carriage bolts to support the heater. It hurt. It hurt a lot, but we got it done. I recommend a drywall lift for this task instead. That or an ice pack.Run gas line and electric line to the heaterThis is pretty straightforward. Use lots of pipe dope. Since my gas was already run to the wall, all I had to do was build a drip leg (required), then run a gas line connector used for gas appliances from the wall to the heater. Keep in mind these need to be short due to code. Electric is pretty straightforward, I chose to put mine on a 15 amp outlet instead of hardwiring it for ease of disconnection.Run exhaust ventThis was the hardest part for me. It's not that it's hard, it's that I had never done it before so I had to read a lot, watch a lot of videos, and then make some mistakes. First, B-vent is fairly easy to work with, but DO NOT put any screws into it. I made that mistake and had to trash a few pieces. I fumbled around a bit to get my fire stop in the right spot, then fumbled around a bit getting things routed through the attic, then fumbled around a bit getting the hole in the roof in the right spot. At the end of the day it looks good, works good, and I maintained 1" clearance from combustibles as required by code, it just took a lot to get there.Tools I used for the install were:DrillSawzallTable saw (for ripping 2x4s)Circular saw (for building wood frame for fire stop)Screwdriver(s)Wire stripping toolPlumb bobTin snipsLadderJigsaw (for cutting hole in the roof)HammerRatchet/wrench (for tightening carriage bolts)Hex bit impact (I used hex head screws to attach wood frame to truss through drywall)Channel locks/pipe wrench (for assembling black pipe)Crescent wrenches (for assembling gas line connector)Here are some things you'll probably need, and end up running back and forth to the hardware store for:B-vent, fire stop, flashing, storm collar, cap, vent strap/support14/3 electrical wire (and plug if you decide to use an outlet)Electrical twist capsBlack pipe/tees/capsPipe dopeRoof flashing sealantWood (if mounting on an angle to the truss, otherwise you can mount it through the drywall directly to the truss if square)Wood (for fire stop support)Thermostat (not included)Thermostat wire (2 wire red/white)Lastly, a word on quality of the product. You get what you pay for. This is a very simply designed, very bare-bones, very low-BTU heating unit. Honestly, that's exactly what I wanted. It is a tad bit undersized for my extra deep 3 stall garage, but it heats the garage from 30 degrees to 60 degrees in about 90 minutes which is slower than my torpedo heater, but plenty fast enough for me and without the nasty smell and fumes from the torpedo. So its great, except, like some other reviewers on here, my unit came with a number of deformed panels. This didn't bother me much, I straightened out what I could and you don't see the rest up there on the ceiling, but nevertheless the thing was all bent up so if that bothers you I'd recommend a Hot Dawg. But, for what this thing costs compared to other units, I'm fairly happy with the end result.

Hopefully this review is useful for other, it was hard to find real examples of use like this to get an idea of how well this unit will heat my space. I am heating a 21'x33' garage with an 11' ceiling. Walls are insulated at about an R15 but ceiling with unfinished attic above it is not insulated. Overhead garage door is insulated.Here's the data:Outside temp: 28FGarage Inside temp when heater was turned on: 40F30 minutes after heater on inside temp: 53F1 hour after heater on inside temp: 59F2 hours after heater on inside temp: 65FThe heater was able to get the temp inside the garage up to 70F after about 2.5 hours after not being used all day with an outside temp of 20F the other day as well and it keeps things very nice and comfortable.I cannot speak to reliability as I just purchased, but installation was easy (check Menards for their category 3 horizontal venting kit as it is half the price of the manufacturers kit), and the price was insanely good compared to all of the other options. I was quoted $3500 installed for other brand units from several different local HVAC companies and I was out the door installed (had a local company do part of the install) for around $900 total. I put the unit up and ran electrical but had the installer do the gas line and vent kit install.Since the unit was so inexpensive, I did add the 4 year Amazon protection plan. Hopefully it lasts a long time but if it doesn't, at least it will be easy and free to replace.All in all a good value and it gets the job done.

This heater worked great in our tiny home shed to house conversation. Easy to install, and small footprint. A little loud when it initially fires up but the sound is very quiet after about a minute. I love that it’s vented and doesn’t increase humidity inside the house.

When I first installed this my contractor warned me that this was a terrible unit, but I had paid for it so I paid my electrician to install power, paid my plumber to get gas to the unit, and then paid my contractor to hang it in the garage and run ventilation for it. It worked for a week. Then one day it was trying to heat my garage to 90 degrees although the temp on the company provided thermostat was set to 45 degrees. I shut it off at the breaker to avoid burning my house down. I installed a replacement thermostat and turned the power back on and it won't start. I was told the fuse must be blown and had to disassemble the unit to find the fuse. Its fine. Customer service is useless but they have my money now so they don't need to be of any help. DO NOT BUY THIS POS. Its not worth the head ache.