Shop Cooling

[Dennis Pereira]

Wow Its Hot I'm up in the barn trying to move some engines around to make room. I have a steel roof over plywood no insulation And a concrete floor I'm thinking of installing a swap cooler nice dry climate. What are you guys using my shop does not cool off in the evenings its like a giant solar panel.

 

[Maclab58]

swamp coolers may tend to help rust bare metal parts. we bought a commercial 5 ton package unit air conditioner at an auction for 500.00 and put it up on the roof. it keeps the shop at about 80 degrees. it was 102 degrees yesterday and i worked in the shop on my sport coupe from noon till 7pm. it was nice!

 

[Pete]

Close off the upstairs and insulate everything first.
A conventional air conditioner or a heat pump will cool the lower area
easily then. I use a heat pump.
Swamp coolers are no good when it is that hot and you have that much
area.

 

[Bruce in southern OH]

Insulation, Insulate, Insulate, the more the better, I use a de-humidifier only, keep doors closed and run a couple of fans all the time, winter/summer, works for me.

 

[MCHinson]

My garage is well insulated and the window heat/AC unit keeps my garage at 76 degrees in hot weather and about 72 degrees in the little cold weather that we get. I hate paying the electric bill but I love working in the garage.

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

Insulation, Insulate, Insulate, the more the better, I use a de-humidifier only, keep doors closed and run a couple of fans all the time, winter/summer, works for me.

A dehumidifier is simply a small air conditioner that keeps all the heat in the room. In hot weather you'd be better off running a small air conditioner, so you pump the condensor heat outside.

 

[Walt Dupont--Me.]

I keep my doors closed,in my shop it's well insulated, it stays about 72-75 all day with outside temp 85-90. I was playing with my infor red heat gun the other day, pointed it to the cement floor, 68*, pointed to a thermontor on the wall that said 72* and gun was 72*--- I pulled down the stairs to the attic, pointed a foot down from the peak, 130* it's some hot in that attic. Walt

 

['29wagon]

Hey !
blow foam, I found that the best process yet.
i was a home inspector a while back and found the most difficult homes to inspect were those with blown in foam along the roof line and some on the lid line .
most with this procedure never run an air conditioner , just a fan.
that was down there in florida .
look into it.

 

[glenn in camino]

When I lived in Southern California my garage was hot in the summer but I had a pool. I jumped in every hour or so and then worked cool in my wet bathing suit.

 

[mrtexas]

I have a 25 x 75 foot garage that is two cars wide. I have a 2 ton central air conditioner for my insulated shop that is 12 x 50 on the left side

 

[Preacher]

make sure there is ventilation with an exit for the hot air up there, roof vent, cupola, etc. then for a quick cheap bandage, put up some poly as a temporary ceiling. worked very well for me.

 

[skip]

I know it sounds dumb, but take a clue from England's Land Rovers used in Africa.

They have the regular roof, and 1/2" above that a second regular roof to put the lower roof in shade. It works. Might be a solution for a stand-a-lone workshop. Not your house with an attached garage.

To move air in the shop better than those noisy bladed fans from a discount house find a home furnace fan with a 1/2 hp or so motor. Tons of these in junk piles from replaced home furnaces.

What your looking for is a belt driven capacitor start, 110 volt motor driving a double inlet, single outlet, backwardly inclined, non-over loading fan wheel with no ductwork attached to it.

These things quietly move a great deal of air. Blow those pesky mosquitoes clean out of the shop. Mine is mounted about in a 90 deg corner about 10" higher than my head. Works good for summer heat or with the Kerosene heater in the winter.

Same set-up as mrtexas. skip.