Air Conditioned Garage... Why Did I Wait So Long?

[parallel]

I air conditioned my garage tonight by installing a 5" ID x 2" thick latching garage door exhaust port in my insulated garage door and then running the exhaust vent for our old portable air conditioner out the port. The whole house including the garage is insulated with sprayed in foam so even that little 8000 BTU air conditioner is keeping my 24' x 26' garage nice and cool. What remains to be seen is if I'm going to need to upgrade to a larger BTU unit come July and August here in the land of sweat, swat and swear... LOL.

 

[Dave328]

Welcome to the club. When we built our house, I had the garage insulated. I then toyed with the idea of putting in air registers and pulling the a/c from the first floor living area. Then realized that with my perceived vs actual garage usage, running house HVAC's cost/benefit wasn't very realistic. So I had them put a hole in the far wall and installed a 25,000 BTU 220V wall unit. My garage is about 45'x30' with 12' ceiling, and it gets pretty chilly in there after the unit has been running for about 30 minutes or so. I like your idea of the exhaust vent hole and the portable a/c. If you find one isn't enough, those units are pretty inexpensive, you could add another and just put a "Y" pipe in.

 

[noob]

I have a similar floor standing unit. 12k btu, and for the most part it keeps the garage cool.

 

[Gus McCrae]

I'm jelly. My big shop is well made, but not insulated.

 

[DBMJR1]

Right now I have a little 110v window unit in my 16x16 ballistic laboratory. My neighbor is disposing of a like new central unit, with gas heat. I'm toying with the idea of installing it in my laboratory. It's a small central unit, but still would be way oversize for my shop. I'd have to convert the heater to propane, as I have no gas service to my house.

 

[AustinBR]

Right now I have a little 110v window unit in my 16x16 ballistic laboratory. My neighbor is disposing of a like new central unit, with gas heat. I'm toying with the idea of installing it in my laboratory. It's a small central unit, but still would be way oversize for my shop. I'd have to convert the heater to propane, as I have no gas service to my house.

You could use your shop as a freezer it sounds like...that could be beneficial!

 

[FORman]

I don't do it often, but I can open the kitchen door to my attahed garage and put a fan in it. It will cool down nicely.