wildwestsydney

Hey all I plan on doing some work to my car this weekend and the heat in my garage is silly, I bought a window AC unit and have running now to bring down the heat. I don't have my garage insulated but at this point I just need some temperatue reduction.

Sam

EspritS4s

Good luck. It's too hot for me. I'm going to wait until Sunday to finish replacing the brakes on my wife's Cayenne.

Hilton

I had AC installed to the garage as a separate zone a couple of years ago.

Its very worth insulating the garage doors and the wall which gets the main afternoon sun - I used some foil-backed bubble insulation and aluminum tape to put a layer on the doors and it made a huge difference to how much heat they radiated into the garage.

wildwestsydney

Once I get the garage insulated I think I am going to look into one of those MR slim AC units. I think that would be very COOL!

Sam

risaac928

So hot in San Antonio I waited 11pm to start work on mine. The humidity should have killed me...

chrly924s

I put in a window unit last week. Shoulda done that years ago. I like the door up but dont like being sick ffor 3 days after.

jeff spahn

I have a free standing floor unit in our three car garage. Takes about 3 hours to get the heat really out of there but makes it bearable to work on 90 degree days. My garage would regularly get over 100 in the summer. Now I can keep it 80 but even better no humidity!

dr bob

Jeff--

How big (in advertised BTU/hr) is the unit you are using? The mini-portable units must use mini-BTU's, if I read the capacity vs space recommendations in their ads. I was thinking a 14k might be enough for our 90-100º dry days. I also have the option of curtaining off the workspace bay and just cooling that. Just haven't pulled the trigger yet.

My west face is the garage doors so they get the afternoon heat load. They are wood, and probably need shade more than they need insulation. I've dabbled with the foil-faced PE bubble stuff on the insiddes of the doors but the benefit is negligible; it would be much greater with a metal door I'm sure. So a roll-down sunshade might be a worthwhile summer-afternoon option for my house.

Mitsubishi offers some two-piece systems that look interesting. Simple evap unit and thin-line fan make the air handler inside, compressor and condenser unit go outside. A couple hoses pass through I guess.. Anybody have any experience with these?

jacal128

Those mini split systems are the absolute best idea, not cheap but they are heat pumps as well as A/C well worth the money. I have used them alot with no problems at all. Jack

JHowell37

We've got 6" of fiberglass in the walls of the barn and 12" in the ceiling. The doors are insulated with blue foam board. No A/C out there, but if we keep the place closed up tight, it never gets as hot inside as it does, outside. I think the floor temps out there now are still in the high 70s. I really wish we had used Tyvek to help with the humidity in there.

Marine Blue

I've been thinking about getting an A/C for the garage for a while now. Our home has two zones but the previous owners didn't put a duct into the garage.

Has anyone tried the portable units that gets ducted into the windows?

Andre Hedrick

Goto Home Depot and get a roll or two of "Model # BP48025" to line the garage doors to keep them from taking heat in. I did this and my wooden doors, 2-car and 1-car units on a west face dropped the temp from 90+ to a max of 85 on 100+ days.

The rolling driods are fantastic! I actually keep my 2600 sqrft house cool w/ one of these on 90+ days with a stable temp of 82. When I use it in the garage, it will cool the entire 3-car garage. This is a 12000 BTU unit, I got during my startup to extra cool a lab server room.

Chuck Z

I have a portable A/C unit in my single car (with 16' ceiling) which is insulated and I can bring the temp down to ~72 degrees on a 95 degree very humid Carolina day. Don't remember the BTU output but bought it at Home depot. Garage is 550 square feet. Vent the hot air through a window and the condensate line under the garage door. Really comfortable to work in.....

Mitsubishi makes a really nice unit that I've heard lots of good things about and doesn't need to be vented and offers a very clean installation.

http://www.mitsubishielectric.com/bu.../room_air.html

77tony

You might be able to tap into your existing central A/C unit of your house. That's what we did. We insulated and built out 2 of 4 garage spaces. One of the spaces is used for a workout room, and when I back out the 928, my wife uses it as a dance studio. We went from cooling 1500 sq ft to 2250 sq ft. I have a silver reflective metal roof, silver reflective blinds, blown in insulation in the walls, and heavy batting in the ceiling joists and flooring. My house is all electric and we live in Texas where it stays pretty hot. Our electric bill varies between $ 90-110 per month. Insulation is the key. T

jeff spahn

Dr. Bob

I think my roll around AC that vents through the window is 14,000 BTU. Takes a few hours to cool the garage down but makes it livable when you have to work in there. I keep it about 78 or so when it is 90-100 out. Nice thing is it kills the humidity too! If I really need to take out humidity fast, I'll put a spare dehumidifier I have laving around in there. I have also been known to leave the door to the house open to dump cool air into the garage.

All in all, I like the roll around one. I am looking at a split system just to reclaim my window. They are relatively cheap, $1200 or so and install cleanly on the wall.