Airconditioning in the shop...

[Matt Ranum]

My shop is 24x24 with 8.5' ceilings. R-19 in the walls and the ceiling and if I leave it closed up, the temps have to be in the 90's for about a straight week before the temp inside will reach close to 80. Even then I turn a fan on and its nice and comfortable working. I'm more concerned keeping it warm in the winter than I am cool in the summer. Even in the winter its rare when I use more than about 125 gallons of LP in the heating season. I'd love to burn wood but the insurance says thats a no-no in any out buildings.

[James Hart]

No matter how small the space is, at least minimal insulation will be key. If the air conditioner isn't cooling the same air over and over it will be forced to run constantly.

I have metal doors that face the afternoon Phoenix sun. It can hit 130 in the garage. Foam panels on those doors lower the temp about 20 degrees all by themselves. Without them I don't think any AC unit could keep up.

I did kind of an overkill, a full 2 ton AC unit with airhandler and heat pump for my 3 car garage. Best climate control in the whole house.

[Sherzod Niazov]

There is one improvement I did for my portable unit. I didn’t like that it sucked garage’s cool air to cool its condenser which was then vented outside. That means it constantly pulls outside hot air into the room. I made up a plywood hood with some DC leftover hose to grab outside air. I didn’t get a chance to really feel the difference last summer, so I’m looking forward to this summer.
Sometimes I have a feeling that I spend more time messing with my shop than actually woodworking… but maybe it’s all part of the hobby

[Peter Scoma]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. With regard to insulation. One wall is concrete, the other is an insulated stick wall, and the other is plaster on wire mesh that people in these houses refer to as "two inch solid." In a 9x10 space framing out the walls, even just laying 2x flat with styrofoam insulation isnt possible as im already fighting for inches in there

I'm going to look into the Mr. Slim since portable AC's, the supposed good ones at least, are so expensive.

PS

[Kerry Wright]

Do an internet search for "Ductless" or "Split AC". One three inch hole in the wall and your set. No ducting, low noise. Most of them come with a 25' install kit, if you need to mount the inside unit and the compressor farther apart you can always get an extension kit. I just put an 18000 BTU (w/heat pump) AMCOR unit in my 24x24 shop. Took less than a day and works great. I've also got two friends that have had good experiences with these.

[john taliaferro]

i got the bigger heat pump from lows . i keep it hot 75 . 50 to 75 takes about 30 min, the same going down. just my 4 hp lathe will warm it up in a hour by two its hot . without air in the summer its bwith

[David Hostetler]

Okay this is going to sound hokey but here goes...

I have a Goldstar 10K BTU AC that we bought from Home Depot a couple of years ago. I built a "Mini Wall" and simply jam the AC between the mini wall, and the garage door jam, then close the door on top of it, plug the gap at the top with an old sleeping bag, then kick that sucker on.

It will take 110 degrees in the garage, in late August here down to under 80 in about an hour.

[Kerry Wright]

David,

That's not hokey, it's a kludge and by difinition:

Kludge - Noun - a software or hardware configuration that, while inelegant, inefficient, clumsy, or patched together, succeeds in solving a specific problem or performing a particular task.

Or put more simply, a working, work around

[David Hostetler]

I should be plenty familiar with Kludge's. I spend plenty of time with computers...

It is a very inelegant solution, but yes, it works, and it is a temp fix... My shop is slated to go in a dedicated building, but this recent economic twist put that on hold until things straighten out...