Results of the cool garage.

philcam · #1 08-20-2007, 12:15 AM

The search for a cool garage is over! Now back to the building.

My garage is 19x23. One wall is insulated and the double garage door faces west, into the afternoon sun. No insulation in the attic above.

When I first started I wanted something portable and not a window a/c unit.

I tried a total of three different A/C units and one swamp cooler. My first try was a Boston Products 10,000 BTU portable cooler from Wal-Mart. Cost, $200 even. It was a piece of junk and didn?t even cool well standing right in front of the thing, so I took it back. In all fairness, it may have been defective.

Next I went shopping at Home Depot and Lowe?s. Both stores had all their A/Cs on clearance. I told them what I wanted to do and both stores said if it didn?t cool as needed, they would accept returns on the items.

I bought another 10,000 BTU portable unit from Home Depot. This unit is made by Evenstar and was a much higher quality unit than the one from Wal-Mart. Closeout price was around $315. This unit worked much better than the Wal-Mart unit but still would not cool down my garage. I returned the unit to Home Depot and as promised I had no problems getting a full refund.

Next, I bought a MoblieMaster 12" evaporater cooler unit from Lowe's, almost the same price as the Home Depot A/C, $320, and again on close out. The swamp cooler had a huge fan, and blew cool air, but as I suspected it just raised the humidity too much. Doug had warned me about this. Lowe's gave me no hassles on the return.

BY this time I decided if I wanted cold air, I was going to need a window unit. This presented a new problem since most units at 15,000 BTU and above are 220 volt. I was worried about the added cost of having an electrician wire the new outlet, since I didn?t feel comfortable doing it myself. After help from the VAF community, thanks Captain John!, I decided to go ahead and hire the electrician. The electrician was great, the work was done in about an hour and a half but best of all the cost was cheap! So I bought a 18,000 BTU unit by LG on closeout from Home Depot for $277. The unit is rated for up to 1,000 suare feet, but being that my garage is uninsulated and has a washer, dryer and hot water heater, I decided to go with a the larger unit. The instructions for installing this A/C are worthless and the supplied hardware is junk. The unit itself, however,is GREAT! Very quiet, very cold. Yesterday the thermostat in my house was set at 75. My garage was cooler than the house!

I also bought foam panels to insulate the garage door, and I did double up on the insulation panels. Cost for 8 sheets was $64 and it took about 2 hours to cut and install. The girlfriend says it looks like something from NASA since the foam sheets are covered in a shinny, aluminum foil-like material. It was either the shiny foil looking stuff or pink foam from The Pink Panther.

The results, yeah 18,000 BTU is an overkill, but it gets my garage down right cold. The foam on the door is WELL worth the money. Not only is it quiet, but it helped the cooling considerably. More than likely, I?ll blow insulation into the attic this fall or winter also. Home Depot and Lowe's will ?rent? you the insulation blower for free with the purchase of 20 bags or more. I figure for around $200 I can do the attic. If you?re thinking about doing this project, do it now! All the stores are closing out their A/Cs so you?ll save some cash.

godspeed · #2 08-20-2007, 04:18 AM

You know that Rv is not going to be worth as much in blood sweat or tears if you leave out the sweat part in south texas.. sounds like your all set for some great building..

Danny..

TSwezey · #3 08-20-2007, 04:51 AM

I cut a hole through the wall in my old garage and installed a window unit while I was doing renovations on our house. It worked great and it was a small unit. I purchased a new insulated garage door since my wife decided to test the auto-reverse pressure sensor on the garage door opener. The sensor wasn't set correctly so it didn't reverse when it caught her bumper. Bent door and no damage to the car.
I moved two years ago and didn't want to cut a hole in the wall so I bought one of those portable ac units. It actually should be called a heater because it generates more heat than cool air. They claim it has a SEER 10 rating. What a ripoff! Well I put some Aggie engineering to it and it works great now. I wrapped the exhaust pipe in foil covered insulation and built an air intake using the same foam you used for the garage door insulation. It isn't that pretty but it works. If had to do it all over again I would have bought the window unit with the heat option.

Gadgetman · #4 08-20-2007, 08:22 AM

Subscribe.
Thanks. Great topic. I will buy my foam insulation today for my 2-car garage door.

philcam · #5 08-20-2007, 12:21 PM

Yes,, of course you're right. It will still have the blood and tears, so I figure 2/3 full value? However, you must remember I'm a mere mortal and you are Superman! ;-)

How is the 9 coming along?

Phil

TShort · #6 08-20-2007, 12:39 PM

I did the same to all 3 garage doors in the shop. Menards sells a kit for garage doors, it is 1"+ thick foam sheets that are precut to the height of the door panels. I had to trim the length a little. The nice thing is that they are "scored" with 1/3 depth cuts across the back so you can bend them easily and they fit right in the door panels without glue, etc.
I then bought some of that silver reflective insulation that has the bubble wrap type stuff in it and covered each panel with that. Really keeps the heat out in the summer - and in in the winter!.

Insulation really is key. When I was finishing the walls and ceiling of the shop I made sure to insulate as much as possible - 10"+ on the ceiling and 2x6 walls - heat and air is no problem if you have insulated well.

T.

philcam · #7 08-20-2007, 03:53 PM

Thomas,

Yes, I agree insulation is the key. Like others have said before, the garage door used to radiate heat. Now, with the foam insulation it is nice, cool and quiet.

I did worry that 18,000 BTU might be an over kill and the compressor would cut off too quickly raising the humidity. I've found this isn't the case and I think this size A/C fit the bill nicely for what I wanted to do.

I did a quick, unscientific test before leaving the house for work today. I have a little digital thermometer in the garage that also shows the humidity. I hung the thermometer on the garage door, 23 feet way from the A/C unit. Before turning on the A/C the temperature was 92 and the humidity 42%. Twenty minutes later, the temps had dropped to 82 with 36% humidity and after thirty minutes was 79 and 34%.

captainron · #8 08-20-2007, 06:04 PM

Phil, sure can't argue with that! You'll be much happier working in there. Just wondering, while you had the cheap electrician there did you have him install a couple more 220's for the big air compressor, mig welder, etc.......?

LifeofReiley · #9 08-20-2007, 06:29 PM

Hey Phil,

I'm in the hangar working hard to wrap thinks up for a June '08 flight. It's 118 on pretty much any given day in the hangar and there is no cooling things down. Enjoy the A/C while it last my good friend...

philcam · #10 08-20-2007, 07:32 PM

Darrell,

I feel for you! I'll build in the cool as long as possible! Just think, soon you'll be climbing to reach the cool air!

Phil