DR. INFRARED HEATERDR-966 240-Volt Hardwired Shop Garage Commercial Heater, 3000 Watt / 6000 Watt

I bought and installed this heater just before the Snow was predicted to hit Southern Alabama in 2025. It arrived well packaged from the manufacturer. Installed it in a 20x40 metal shop building, 10' walls. 3 inches closed cell spray foam in the ceiling and 2 inches in the walls. 3 double paned windows, 2 insulated man doors and a 16' x 8' insulated garage door. Admittedly, a little undersized, but I was hopping to avoid a big wiring expense, and it worked.I picked this heater for several reason, even though it was one of the more expensive models for its ratings. 1- 6000 watts vs 5000 for most of the under 30 amp draw heaters. 2- it came with a sturdy wall mounting bracket, I didn't have to make a ceiling mount. 3-I can add an external thermostat without having to add relays etc. That does require rewiring the supply line however. 4-No complaints of it being loud. It is noticeable when it comes on, but I can still hear the shop radio, and the heater is between my workbench and the speakers. 5- Good previous reviews.Bottom line- It works very well. It would heat the shop to 70 plus if I wanted it too. I turned it off in the evenings after I was done. The coldest overnight was 19 degrees outside, the shop was 49 inside. The day never got above 24 degrees. Turned on the heater, within an hour it was in the 60s inside and steadily warming up. I wired the heater to a flexible cable and ran it to a plug and outlet, In the picture of the heater, behind it is a little black box, that is the garage door opener, it has a thermometer built into it, and its temporarily mounted 8' up. The close up shows it at 76 degrees. The heater is mounted about 7' up. The round thermometer is in the coldest part of the shop, furthest from the heater, and it is 69 degrees or so and that is about 5' above the floor. At those settings, the heater ran about 35-40 minutes of every hour. I also ran a little battery powered Makita fan on low pointed up into the ceiling space to circulate the heated air up there back down, it made a noticeable difference. All in all, I'm pleased with the product and would recommend it.

I have a summer house with a basement that is damp. I wanted a heater that could prevent the water heater and pipes in the basement from freezing and also help with the damp floor. This unit is perfect for this application. The instructions say it is not for indoor use. I assume this is due to it not meeting all the tip over kill switch requirements. I wanted a simple unit that would work without needing to be programed after a power outage. We have a security camera in the basement along with a large outdoor thermometer. The heater has worked great and kept the basement at 57-65 F even when it is below zero outside. It used 287$ of electricity last month but is worth it. It is mounted to underside of floor beam. We can see the light on the front to show when it is on and camera can hear it. It has an 8 ga romex cable directly to dedicated 220v 30A breaker. It has been running three months now. I got these photo from 1100 miles away using the security camera.

This was a great heater for my garage and here are few details about the unit that I had a tough time nailing down elsewhere. (I paid about $168)1) Each louver can be moved independently.2) The louvers get hot in use, but are not too hot to be moved by hand while the unit is set to 6000 watts.3) It does NOT get hot behind the unit though I believe the instructions require 4 inches behind the unit. (also the instructions stated it should be a minimum of 8 feet off ground level! - I have not figured that one out. Mine is a little less than that).4) The knockout on the back electrical panel is 3/4".5) I easily found a 35 AMP breaker (Square D) and used 8 gauge wire (both per installation recommendations). The recommendation for 35 AMP breaker and 8 gauge wire satisfies national guidelines for heating devices that might run continuously (so wire for 25% more AMPS than the math would indicate). If I were to deviate, I think I would always use 8 gauge wire, but a 30 AMP breaker. I would NEVER use a 40 AMP breaker (as some people said they did) and especially never use a 40 AMP breaker with 10 gauge wire. You always want your breaker to trip before you wire is overheated so never use lower gauge wire.6) It did come with two anchors (and no wire nuts), but mine were "sleeve" anchors, not lag screws. I was not familiar with using sleeve anchors and had a poor install by trying to use them. (I drilled a 1/2 hole as the sleeves were 1/2 inch, but I feel like 15/32 would have been better, but I did not have a 15/32 bit). As I tightened the anchors it seemed like they were pulling out too much so I stopped tightening them. I was suspicious that sleeve anchors are used only for concrete, so I researched the issue and now feel that is correct. I will have to replace them with lag screws. Why they provided sleeve anchors instead of lag screws is not clear to me. But if you have a concrete beam in your garage, you'll be set!7) The rheostat/temperature setting knob is very useful but has a lot of play. As an example, when the unit is running and one wants to turn if off, one must turn down the knob quite a lot before the unit shuts off (the edge of the knob swings through about 3/4 of an inch of arc before the unit shuts off). The same is true for forcing it back on. Once it is set though, it generally seems to maintain the temperature I was looking for.8) Finally, my garage build is typical. I insulated the walls, but left the ceiling uninsulated and it is vented at the eaves and crest. Obviously, the crest vent will let out a lot of heat and draw in cold are at the eaves. While this unit heats my 360 Sq ft garage well, I would not want anything smaller on a very cold day. I am glad I went with 6000 watts instead of 4000 or 5000. On a 45 degree day, an being physically active, I used an initial 6000 watt warm up and then 3000 watts on a low intermittent setting. I have not used it yet on a 10 degree day but am glad I have the 6000 watts when that time comes.