deckerh

I agree on the LED lights. Try a 4' direct replacement bulb for the 4' fluorescent fixtures. 4700/5000 kelvin light range gives a nice bright white light. They are expensive but last about 10X longer than anything else and use about 7X less energy, and do not flicker on start up or when cold. Might try LED dynamics. Talk to Jon, owner of the place, nice guy.
HLD

DrZ1

Need advice on cooling. After installing the insulation, I would like to install a window unit to help w/ our summer heat. It might not be ideal, but should help.

I can find some 36000 BTU units that I would think would work opposed to a cental unit. My shop is approx 20x25 in the main part I work in. There is a smaller room that is mainly used for storage.

Thoughts?

Thanks
Steve

AScholtes

What's the budget?


For that type of space, I would suggest a unit by Mitsubishi Electric...

DrZ1

Thanks,

We are talking about the building in the thread and not the one in the avitar, which is a space I share.

For budget not really sure, would like to have something that will cool the space by 15-20 deg efficently. So if ambient temp was 95 outside, it would be 75-80 inside.

I was looking at a conventional unit, but a large 3 ton window unit, would fit nicely and be alot less to maintain as it tends to be quite dusty.

Just not sure how a 3 ton window unit would compare to a 3 ton system. Or to a 3 ton MINI split as well.

Steve

fortysixandtwo

3 tons is 3 tons as long as the manufacturer is being truthful in reporting the unit's capacity. The difference will be in how efficiently the unit produces those 3 tons of cooling. You will want to look at the SEER number (higher the better) I believe SEER 13 is the mandatory minimum for central type systems. The non-permanent systems will typically have a lower rating.

Tedro951

It isn't top quality gear, but I installed a 95% 70K BTU gas furnace in my shop with obama money. The furnace was $650 or so up front, then feds gave me $200 back, gas company gave $200 credit, and state IRS gave me another break. All in all I've had a toasty shop for under $200 in furnace.

Adding the 16SEER AC would be a little more costly, but its all DIY. We'll see what the tax advantages are this year, but it might be cheaper than you think.

DrZ1

Well , not really DIY for me.

I talked w/ the guy that does my AC and he thought for the time I would be using and cost a window unit would probably work fine. So I will try to find the largest locally. Sears has a 25000 btu for 589$ I saw this write up which made me think worth a shot. If I have a larger one shipped the freigh charge will probably eat me up.


I live in Phoenix AZ. My company is based in my garage. I've struggled with 18,000 BTU A/C units for over 20 years of Arizona heat. They just cannot keep up. When it' was over 110 degrees outside, the coolest they ever got the garage was 78 degrees...with a struggle.

This 25,000 btu unit keeps up with the 120+ degree days without a wimper! It's 108 outside right now and it's 70 degrees in the garage...my wife has a jacket on...and it's cycling nicely with the fan on auto. I have 10 more degrees of cooling I can crank it up to, plus high speed on the fan!

The remote is pretty darn trick, and it has a built in thermometer that is dead-on accurate!

This is by far the BEST investment in my sanity I've EVER made! Two Thumbs-Up!!