Cheap Mr. Heater Big Maxx 45,000 BTU Natural Gas Garage Unit Heater

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List Price: $774.86
Sale Price: $519.46
Today's Bonus: 33% Off

I have had the 45,ooo btu Big Maxx heater now for about 4 years. Every winter is a new set of repairs and continued repairs to keep it working. I leave my step ladder set up next to it because I am constantly working on it to keep it heating. I have ordered my 4th circut board to be put in this time. There is a bad connection in it now so I have touch the circut board everytime I want it to start heating. The others were shorted out because there is no fuse on the circut board. I would recommend spending a little more money and getting a better, lower maintenance heater.

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We used an unvented natural gas heater in our garage for several years. With many more cold days this past winter, we began having concerns with the excess amount of moisture and condensation produced by non-venting. Having already roughed-in the electrical and thermostat wiring for a unit heater when the garage was built, we decided it was time to switch to a vented heater.

We looked at the Modine and Big Maxx heaters and selected the Big Maxx 45 when it went on sale for $399 at Northern Tool. We ordered the heater and had it shipped to a store in our area to avoid shipping charges. The heater arrived much quicker that we anticipated. Our original plan was to install the heater sometime during the summer and be ready for next winter. The next weekend was nice weather so we decided to go ahead and install the Big Maxx.

Since the heater needed to mount at a 45 degree angle to the room, we mounted unistrut channel to the ceiling joists and mounted the heater thereto. We used category I gas vent from Lowe's. Installation was simple and straight forward. Then we turned the heater on.

The induced draft motor made a LOT of noise and vibration. Then the blower fan came on and you needed hearing protection to stay in the room. In the bedroom above the garage, it actually sounded like someone was running a couple of hammer drills. Being an engineer, I inspected both blowers to see why they vibrated so badly. The induced draft blower had a nice looking squirrel cage blower but the shaft hole was drilled off center. The next day we took the heater down, boxed it up and returned it to Northern as defective.

Next we ordered a Modine heater. Installation was a little more complicated because we already had the hole in the wall for the vent. We mounted this heater slightly differently to take advantage of the existing hole. This heater required Category III venting for our installation so we ordered Z-Vent online. The Modine heater is quiet as a mouse. As they say, "you get what you pay for".

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I bought this unit in Nov 2007. I have had trouble with it from day one. The company has been good to work with ( they sent replacement parts) but it just stopped working again. Parts come but takes 2 weeks or so. They don't rush it. 3 times now in 4 months. It is garbage and should be recalled and taken off the market. Spend more or get a different brand but stay away from this. I put one star only because that was as low as it would go.

Honest reviews on Mr. Heater Big Maxx 45,000 BTU Natural Gas Garage Unit Heater

I got this heater for my garage office. It works as described and no problems thus far. Installation was easy and remember to bleed the lines first before attemting gas hookup.

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I've had the Big Maxx 45,000 btu heater for about one full year now and am overall quite satisfied with the unit. It's installed in a converted to theater room, detached 24x24 foot garage with a 10 foot ceiling that is well insulated. I keep the thermostat set at 50 degrees and warm it to 72 degrees when we watch movies and that takes about 20 to 30 minutes when outside temps are around 20 degrees. The heater has worked flawlessly except for a cracked circulation fan which customer service was extremely helpful in replacing. My only complaint is that this unit is too loud (65 to 70db) for a theater room type application. We get around this issue by first warming up the room then running a very quiet electric heater that keeps the temp constant. For a garage or workshop application, this heater is perfect and fairly easy to install if you're handy with tools. Recommended!

Update; I finally determined that my inducer (exhaust) fan has been the noise maker. I called customer service and they sent me a new fan and associated gaskets. Installed the item and now this heater is much, much quieter. Kudos to a great customer service dept.