Who Installed AC in Their Garage?

[KEG2021]

I'm considering it.
Detached garage.
Walls are insulated. Ceiling is not. New Pella fiberglass casement windows two years ago.

This time of year, my routine is to open two windows downstairs and two upstairs. A fan pumping cooler, but humid air in through the downstairs window and one upstairs blowing out.

I can usually get it down to with 3-4 degrees of the outside ambient temperature by early morning.
Then I close everything back up and pull the shades. NO hot cars allowed in. They have to be parked outside until they've cooled.

It'll hold pretty well until about noon, then it's going up. By dusk it's back up close to outside ambient temperature, which sucks on 90 plus days.

I don't have any 250 volt outlets out there, but I guess one could be installed.
I don't need it to be 72, but holding 80 on a hot day would be nice, and the reduced humidity certainly would be as well.

500 square feet footprint with 10 foot ceilings downstairs. I can close off the upstairs.

A mini-split would probably be ideal, bit cost several times what a portable unit would.

If you have AC, what do you have and how many square feet are you conditioning with how many BTUs?

This side is facing South, so that huge metal roof gets a ton of sun.
Yes, solar panels would be awesome there, but I'm not sold on ROI.

Mini split system: Della has a few options either 110/230 look on amazon

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[Rusty PW]

Made in USA, aren't they?

What company makes MRCOOL Air Conditioners?
All MRCOOL products, including Mini Splits, Air Conditioners, Heat Pumps and Furnaces, are designed, created and manufactured by MRCOOL. Proudly an American company, MRCOOL plans, designs and ships from Kentucky, USA - where both the Headquarters and Warehouse are located.

MRCOOL Mini Split and Universal Series are manufactured and made in Asia using the highest quality materials and technology to offer a safe, efficient and affordable (!) cooling and heating system.

If you are looking for a system that is manufactured locally, MRCOOLs Signature Series are made in both the US and Me

 

[Flhryder]

I'm considering it.
Detached garage.
Walls are insulated. Ceiling is not. New Pella fiberglass casement windows two years ago.

This time of year, my routine is to open two windows downstairs and two upstairs. A fan pumping cooler, but humid air in through the downstairs window and one upstairs blowing out.

I can usually get it down to with 3-4 degrees of the outside ambient temperature by early morning.
Then I close everything back up and pull the shades. NO hot cars allowed in. They have to be parked outside until they've cooled.

It'll hold pretty well until about noon, then it's going up. By dusk it's back up close to outside ambient temperature, which sucks on 90 plus days.

I don't have any 250 volt outlets out there, but I guess one could be installed.
I don't need it to be 72, but holding 80 on a hot day would be nice, and the reduced humidity certainly would be as well.

500 square feet footprint with 10 foot ceilings downstairs. I can close off the upstairs.

A mini-split would probably be ideal, bit cost several times what a portable unit would.

If you have AC, what do you have and how many square feet are you conditioning with how many BTUs?

This side is facing South, so that huge metal roof gets a ton of sun.
Yes, solar panels would be awesome there, but I'm not sold on ROI.

 

[redriderjf87]

I added one of the hotel style Amana 220V heater/AC units in my attached 3 car.

I am pretty satisfied with it in both winter and summer. It's probably on the larger side of square footage for my size unit.

 

[Lunentucker]

Installed a 1 ton unit ( no idea on how many BTUs) in my 475 square foot attached garage a couple of months ago.

A ton is 12,000 BTUs

 

[Lunentucker]

Something.. something.. joke about Fox News pumping hot air into your garage..

I tried MSNBC, but the damned flies!

??

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I added one of the hotel style Amana 220V heater/AC units in my attached 3 car.

I am pretty satisfied with it in both winter and summer. It's probably on the larger side of square footage for my size unit.

If you want another, I'll give you our Amana PTAC piece of crap once I find a way to get it out of the wall and the wall patched/filled.
Noisy as heck, it's either on or not, and it can't heat very far below 30 degrees.

I found from the 3 HVAC companies I had out for bids that a lot of people complain about them and 2 of the companies are taking them out and installing mini splits so I'm not the only one - it's a trend.

 

[Lunentucker]

Great feedback and information!
I think it's going to a mini split, and the Mr Cool is looking great.
No offense to the cat in the hat, but after 20 years of dealing with Mitsubishi computers, that ain't happening! ?

 

[redriderjf87]

If you want another, I'll give you our Amana PTAC piece of crap once I find a way to get it out of the wall and the wall patched/filled.
Noisy as heck, it's either on or not, and it can't heat very far below 30 degrees.

I found from the 3 HVAC companies I had out for bids that a lot of people complain about them and 2 of the companies are taking them out and installing mini splits so I'm not the only one - it's a trend.

Interesting. I'm no expert but I've had a pretty good experience with mine, knock on wood.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Great feedback and information!
I think it's going to a mini split, and the Mr Cool is looking great.
No offense to the cat in the hat, but after 20 years of dealing with Mitsubishi computers, that ain't happening! ?

No experience with Mr Cool but sounds like people are happy with 'em.
I like our Fujitsu and Daikin.

 

[Lunentucker]

No experience with Mr Cool but sounds like people are happy with 'em.
I like our Fujitsu and Daikin.

Oh shoot. Me and my rye did absolutely mix up the Japanese brands. Sorry.
Fujitsu actually makes great stuff.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Oh shoot. Me and my rye did absolutely mix up the Japanese brands. Sorry.
Fujitsu actually makes great stuff.

Please share some of what you're your having!

 

[Pescatoral Pursuit]

Does moving the water heater location and installing a hybrid water heater count?
It takes the edge off but with the caveat that someone's got to be running hot water att.

 

[shyoung1]

I just did this in the last week. I have already had a heater for years, but started thinking about A/C after having much better garage doors installed last fall. Doors face west, and the new doors have tinted glass. 4 car garage over 1000 sq ft.
I wanted to stick with a window unit, 120 volts, and like OP said, just keep it around 80 on these 90 degree days. After a week of studying I decided on an LG 14,000btu’s, rated for 800 sq ft. Model LW1522IVSM Dual Inverter. Very quiet even on hi speed fan. The big difference is taking the humidity out of the air. I turn it on early in the morning, 6ish, and that tends to keep it 7-10 degrees cooler all day. Very pleased so far, at least until I get the electric bill!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I just did this in the last week. I have already had a heater for years, but started thinking about A/C after having much better garage doors installed last fall. Doors face west, and the new doors have tinted glass. 4 car garage over 1000 sq ft.
I wanted to stick with a window unit, 120 volts, and like OP said, just keep it around 80 on these 90 degree days. After a week of studying I decided on an LG 14,000btu’s, rated for 800 sq ft. Model LW1522IVSM Dual Inverter. Very quiet even on hi speed fan. The big difference is taking the humidity out of the air. I turn it on early in the morning, 6ish, and that tends to keep it 7-10 degrees cooler all day. Very pleased so far, at least until I get the electric bill!

Inverters (which the mini splits are - inverter based) do a better job at keeping humidity down than wall or window AC units because they can throttle things back and cool slowly, taking ore humidity out. It's one reason I got inverter technology for our whole house system.
It can literally throttle the compressor speed and capacity back so it maintains cool, instead of the up and down of normal AC systems. Normal systems shut off once they reach the goal temperature. An inverter can keep running and just maintain that level while still taking water out of the air.
It's really amazing to use my phone app and watch our home system drop back to 20% capacity once temperature is reached, hardly ever actually shutting down. No cold or warm spots anywhere.
Anyway, if your main purpose is humidity control - inverter technology, meaning mini split in a small building or single room, or an inverter based heat pump for whole house. Amazing stuff.

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