Who Installed AC in Their Garage?

[Lunentucker]

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.

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[Minty JL]

I'm seriously considering it for my attached garage; 660sqft with 12' ceilings

I insulated the garage door last winter and with the door closed it holds at 50* or up to 65* if I throw the propane space heater on.

 

[Lunentucker]

I'm seriously considering it for my attached garage; 660sqft with 12' ceilings

I insulated the garage door last winter and with the door closed it holds at 50* or up to 65* if I throw the propane space heater on.

Mine holds heat in winter very well too. 50-55 is perfect for working out there.

 

[LouisvEarlleJT]

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

Is the roof vented? Some place for the hot air to escape from would make a difference, even without A/C.

There are several wall mounted units that seem to work well, but require punching a hole in the wall.

 

[jcarbs]

We installed a mini split in ours and it's scheduled to come on about an hour before my wife goes out there to workout. It cools the space really well. In fact the day we put the coverking headliner into the Gladiator, we had it running and it made the job go pretty smoothly while it was like 95 outside.

 

[Lunentucker]

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

Is the roof vented? Some place for the hot air to escape from would make a difference, even without A/C.

There are several wall mounted units that seem to work well, but require punching a hole in the wall.

yes, the upstairs ceiling is insulated and the roof is vented with both soffit vents and eve vents.
There's a pull down staircase to access the attic.

 

[AmosMoses]

Might want to do it before new AC regulations get passed into law.

 

[Lunentucker]

We installed a mini split in ours and it's scheduled to come on about an hour before my wife goes out there to workout. It cools the space really well. In fact the day we put the coverking headliner into the Gladiator, we had it running and it made the job go pretty smoothly while it was like 95 outside.

What's your square footage and how many BTUs?

 

[LouisvEarlleJT]

yes, the upstairs ceiling is insulated and the roof is vented with both soffit vents and eve vents.
There's a pull down staircase to access the attic.

Cool, I saw a house once that had some kind of INSANE spray foam-like insulation in the attic and it essentially allowed them to run a 1 story system in a two story house. Might be worth considering?

 

[Lunentucker]

Might want to do it before new AC regulations get passed into law.

What are they doing now? Maybe don't answer that, since there's a strict no politics rule here.
I should go ahead and install my gas stove out there too.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

30 x 36 15' ceilings, 2 story.
Lower level is cooled by a Fujitsu mini split.
A bit small to do the WHOLE building but does the lower level just fine.
Been in place in 6 years and all I've had to do is clear the cottonwood stuff out of the outside unit and clean the filter inside now and then.
It's my shop building, not the garage.
The outside unit is on brackets bolted to the buildings posts so it's off the ground away from critters and mowers.
I wired it myself - 220, no outlet needed as it's direct wire through a disconnect outside near the unit, and I believe it's only 20 amp breaker. They don't pull squat for power.
When it was first installed we didn't even noticed our electric bill going up.
I'd never use any in-the-wall or window AC after installing this.
In fact I had one installed for our sunroom/porch as well and love it. Quiet, efficient as hell.

For both, the sunroom and shop, the hole is only big enough for the lineset and a drain hose. Minimal intrusion. Hole in each sealed well.

I believe the one for the shop was $3200 and the one for the sunroom under $3000.
The nice part is the cheap operation and EXTREME quiet and small hole needed. Quiet as heck. You can hardly even hear the inside unit of our sunroom. Really quiet DC fan. I have to listen closely to hear if the one in the shop is running.

We had one of those in the wall things in the sunroom and hated it - noisy, expensive to run, big hole in the wall we now have to figure out how to close off when that unit is removed.
I'd give it away once it's removed - used less than 3 years.

 

[Lunentucker]

Cool, I saw a house once that had some kind of INSANE spray foam-like insulation in the attic and it essentially allowed them to run a 1 story system in a two story house. Might be worth considering?

We did that in the house 10 years ago, when we put the geothermal systems in, and we did reduce the upstairs unit size by a half ton if memory serves.
It's crazy how nice it is up there, even when it's 90+ outside.

 

[AmosMoses]

What are they doing now? Maybe don't answer that, since there's a strict no politics rule here.
I should go ahead and install my gas stove out there too.

Just efficiency standards from what I gleamed that will reduce stuff in the atmosphere. Iam guessing it could effect pricing but hopefully not availability.

 

[Lunentucker]

30 x 36 15' ceilings, 2 story.
Lower level is cooled by a Fujitsu mini split.
A bit small to do the WHOLE building but does the lower level just fine.
Been in place in 6 years and all I've had to do is clear the cottonwood stuff out of the outside unit and clean the filter inside now and then.
It's my shop building, not the garage.
The outside unit is on brackets bolted to the buildings posts so it's off the ground away from critters and mowers.
I wired it myself - 220, no outlet needed as it's direct wire through a disconnect outside near the unit, and I believe it's only 20 amp breaker. They don't pull squat for power.
When it was first installed we didn't even noticed our electric bill going up.
I'd never use any in-the-wall or window AC after installing this.
In fact I had one installed for our sunroom/porch as well and love it. Quiet, efficient as hell.

For both, the sunroom and shop, the hole is only big enough for the lineset and a drain hose. Minimal intrusion. Hole in each sealed well.

I believe the one for the shop was $3200 and the one for the sunroom under $3000.
The nice part is the cheap operation and EXTREME quiet and small hole needed. Quiet as heck. You can hardly even hear the inside unit of our sunroom. Really quiet DC fan. I have to listen closely to hear if the one in the shop is running.

We had one of those in the wall things in the sunroom and hated it - noisy, expensive to run, big hole in the wall we now have to figure out how to close off when that unit is removed.
I'd give it away once it's removed - used less than 3 years.

How many BTU/tons?
Smart getting the outside off the ground too!

 

[jcarbs]

What's your square footage and how many BTUs?

Will check when I get home and let you know tomorrow.

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