F260550 Big Maxx MHU50NG Natural Gas Unit Heater,Black

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: 28F Garage Inside temp when heater was turned on: 40F 30 minutes after heater on inside temp: 53F 1 hour after heater on inside temp: 59F 2 hours after heater on inside temp: 65F The 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.

Just what you would expect from Mr Heater. Was easy to install and has been heating my Minnesota three car garage for about three years now without any issues. I keep it at 50 degrees most of the time and the gas bill only went up like $7 a month. Highly recommend it.

A great heater! Good install instructions. Make sure you read them and follow them! Lots of good guidelines. Heater itself is heavy but seems to be built well. I added a nest thermostat. Easy to wire a power cord on and easy to get exhaust and gas line hooked up. This is going to be a game changer for when I get back from plowing in the winter! I have natural gas and it came set for that. They do include the kit to switch to LP. I’ve tested this a few times when it’s been cooler recently and the garage heated up extremely fast! FYI I did a lot of research before install, but as I said the instructions are laid out well.

Unit came with dent in top front (not service affecting). Went in pretty easy hard piped gas line directly to valve box. No flex hose no copper. Us made black pipe and fittings no Home Depot leakers. Ran separate circuit with receptacle and switch from gFci breaker directly to unit. B vent up 7 ft through roof. No leaks no fires. 28x28’ shop 10’ ceiling. Good insulation everywhere. 50,000BTU. Have analog thermostat set at 55 could easily keep shop 72 with little effort. Even in sub zero temps. Unit is made in Mexico, not too loud when blowing. Has odd but normal sound when it calls for heat and ignitor turns on. Hope to get 3 winters with no issues. Then I expect ignitor issues, flame sensor trouble etc. Pretty fair price. Venting can be expensive! I plan on trying to keep unit clean this should help longevity.

This has to been the best investment I've made in awhile. Air flow is perfect for my garage, easy to install, fits perfectly in my garage and works well. This has been the second winter it's been through so it's been durable so far. The heat is very comfortable.

So worth the price, and very easy to install. Yeah the exhaust duct work costs almost as much as the unit itself. But We'll Worth It!!! Heats up the Garage almost instantly, my Garage is a 1 1/2 car garage. It's 12°outside currently in Buffalo NY. 01/20/2020. Turned the heater on and it was warm in 7 minutes, about 60°. The fan is quiet, don't listen to the other reviews. Not saying that their unit was loud but maybe they had something wrong with their fan?? My garage is a Gym and to work out in the winter it's great to have the Garage Heated. This unit goes ABOVE and BEYOND my EXPECTATIONS. Im VERY PLEASED with the performance, the ONLY advice i can give is that THE DIRECTIONS SAY TO pitch the duct work UP a quarter inch per foot. DO NOT pitch it UPWARD!! the CONDENSATION will run right into the heater. Their is a Fan their inside the unit that will get wet and ruined. I had to fix this because for 1 i could not find a 4" piece that's shown in the instructions that had that DRIP HOLE where you have to attach a drip hose to. I don't know why you would want a hose hanging down from your exhaust anyway with nowhere to drain it to... "PRO TIP" So angle the duct work downward and this way the sweat/ Condensation will run outside - out of the exhaust. If not you're going to have sweat and condensation running towards the heater ruining and rusting the inside of the heater. That's the only thing that I seen in the instructions that were horribly wrong. Everything else was a breeze. The gas line, the electrical, the thermostat simple work. I am installing a smart thermostat so I can control it from my phone, So when I wanna go out there and work out I will turn to thermos son 5 minutes before I go out their. Thank you, hope this review helps someone.

Update Feb 9. 2024 Still going strong. Absolutely NO issues.. Update: October 17, 2023 I flipped the heater on today after leaving it off since sometime in April.. Its been in the low 50's so I just wanted to take the chill out of the garage and sort out my tools for a fall project. The unit fired right up, warmed up the garage, no issues, just did its job. This unit has been very reliable for me, and I continue to recommend this heater for a garage. ------------------------------------------- I bought this heater in September of 2019 when I retired. I live in western NY where the winters are long, dark and cold. Since the wife doesn't want to snowbird in the south, I figured I better heat the garage, so I had a place work on projects. If you can run some natural gas lines and stick a vent through the roof, you will love this heater. I stuck a cheap thermostat on it from one of the big box stores, a separate house switch on it to flip it off for the summer months. I have had NO problems with it. It runs for 6 months during the cold months, then I flip it off at the end of April, when October comes, I flip it back on and it fires right up. It doesn't make any vibrating noise like some have said, vents out the garage roof using the double wall vent duct with a hat to keep the snow out. I insulated my garage walls and ceiling with standard R19 from HD, and drywalled it as well. My garage is 24' x 24' x 10' with concrete floor. This unit heats it with no problem. I should have installed one years ago. Also, I did not use an isolation relay to isolate the unit that protects the house wiring from "a pulse" from the unit when the solenoid kicks on and I have experienced no issues with the unit interfering with the house electric. I have broadband internet, smart switches, smart lights, Alexa, etc.. and have experienced no issues. If you're like me, live in the north and have some DIY skills and are sitting on the fence, just pull the trigger and buy it. You'll get a whole new play area for the winter months. :-)

I was able to raise this heater to the ceiling and to install it all by myself. I also install the new gas line across my garden and in my shop. The heater works as expected and it i quiet. I love it. Jan 17 2021. 3 days ago my heater died. The heater is warranted for 3 years (36 months) and I have it for just 28 months. So it still is under warranty. My shop was freezing. I contacted the manufacturer by e-mails and phone numerous times. I was never able to talk to anyone and no on answered my emails. No knowing what to do I contacted Amazon customer service ( no an easy thing to do) who told em there is nothing we can do, you are on your own. I have ben a maintenance mechanic all my life. I took the heater apart and I determined that the control board was fried. I called a local gas heater specialist to see if he could do something to help me. He charged me $79.00 to tell met that there was nothing he could do to help me. I find on the Internet a reference number for the faulty C.B and I found one to buy locally. I replaced the C.B and my heater is working again. I also determined that I am able to repair the original C.B to keep it as spare. My total cost for the repair is about $160.00 in addition of my time. I do not expect to ever hear from Mr Heater so before buying on of these heater beware of the total lack of customer service and support.