Portable gas heaters are commonly used to stay warm in a multitude of places where local heating is not available or not strong enough. The primary benefit of anything portable is that it can go anywhere, not limiting you to keeping it one place. As a result, some portable devices are more expensive since they give you flexibility, which other immobile devices lack.

Portable gas heaters have some distinct advantages over their electric counterparts – they are available with much larger heat outputs and emit only about one quarter to a third of the greenhouse gases of an electric heater with the same heating ability.

They are generally more expensive to buy than portable electric heaters, but for the same heat output they cost less to run and have less environmental impact. Portable gas heaters come with a star rating – the more stars (six is best) the less gas used and the lower the operating costs. This also means reduced greenhouse gas emissions. However most have very similar energy ratings.

Portable gas heaters come in two types: forced air and the infrared ray. Forced air models use blue flame to warm the garage. It is similar to blowing air like a conventional furnace. The downside of this is they stir up sawdust. It usually takes longer to reheat these models. It requires 45,000 BTU to heat a two- to 2-1/2 car garage, and 60,000 for a three-car garage.

On the other hand, infrared ray models warm the floor and objects first before heating air. The objects heat the air. These are low intensity infrared heaters. Infrared heaters should be installed a minimum of 7 ft. above the floor. It should also hang down a minimum of 4 in. from the ceiling. Infrared models are more expensive than forced air types.