Who Installed AC in Their Garage?

[Skull]

I had my Mitsubishi 18k mini split installed 3 years ago, best decision I ever made for the garage. It was an oven in the summer. 26 x 26 with 14 ft. ceilings and it cools within 20 minutes.

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[AstroZombie]

I ran a Penguin in my Garage during covid when we were forced to work form home. 95+ day summer temps it did pretty good. Kept it in the 70's

 

[Lost1wing]

I have a 110v 1.5ton mini split unit on my wife's workshop. It's no where as big as a garage but I believe it would do what you need it to do. It is super quiet and is great on power consumption. She keeps the temp and humidity low. The building is insulated and that helps. Installation is a breeze and power is needed only at the disconnect for the outside unit. The inside unit just hangs on the wall. All plumbing and electrical goes through the wall to the outside unit.

For my shop I installed a 5 ton Bard unit. I went that route for recovery time after opening a 12 x 10 foot door. My unit can also be set for humidity control, but not all do. Not as easy of an install and large holes need to be made in the wall. It doesn't take up any space on the inside. The unit is not exactly quiet. The power consumption is pretty good for being in South Georgia. I aim for 76f in the summer during the day and 60% humidity during the evening.

I would go with a mini split unit if you plan on keeping the temperature and humidity pretty stable. If you want it on only when you are working, the Bard unit will do a better job of getting it comfortable quickly. Especially if you get one with a fresh air exchanger.

 

[jcarbs]

What's your square footage and how many BTUs?

checked the system it's 12/13 BTU's and it takes care of our tandem area really well and after awhile cools the additional 2 car garage.

 

[ShawnL]

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.

You can get a 1 ton split 22 seer for about $1,000 . There are also splits that heat and cool.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You can get a 1 ton split 22 seer for about $1,000 . There are also splits that heat and cool.

When talking "mini split" we're pretty much always talking an inverter that heats and cools.

The Daikin in our sunroom will cool with temps up to 115 and heat with temps down to -13

But saying "split" you are likely talking something very different.

 

[BourbonRunner]

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.

This is why we went with a Bosch inverter matched our Unico system. Our house faces south-south east and gets beat on by the sun. High velocity HVAC does an even better job of dehumidifying the air than traditional air handlers, but this and the Bosch keep our home not only comfortable but also keeps our utility bills from going stratospheric.

 

[kgc]

Phoenix area resident here:

I self-installed a 24000 BTU mini-split in my 650sqft attached garage a few years ago. Insulated all exterior walls and portion of garage with exposed roof (garages are usually not insulated here ?!?), as well as added the DIY foam panels to the garage doors. the mini-split is more than recommended, but I wanted to be able to quickly cool the garage for an evening if we didn't leave it running.

Since then, "my" garage space has been encroached with family stuff including short term food storage (costco runs) so we keep it cooled to about 80-85 all the time. Our electrical panel is on the garage wall, so running 240V power was cheap. Between having an electrician friend and doing the AC install and insulation myself, I was all in for under $3000. It was the best thing we've done to our home, both for me and my family. On hot days (like this week.... 117*.... we'll clear out space and I can work on the 'shop' side while my kids ride scooters in circles, r/c cars, sidewalk chalk, etc on the other side. The cost difference to keep the garage cooled on the hottest days is less than $1/day, and with bedrooms on top of the garage, I think it helps ease the load on our main unit as well.

I can't imagine not having an air-conditioned garage.

 

[Aeverson]

Garage A/C: probably one of the best improvements made to the house. Its 115 degrees here today so you can understand why....

 

[smlobx]

Late to the party but as a custom home builder with 37+ years of building highly efficient homes (and garages) in Virginia let me add a few things.

1. If you are thinking of conditioning the garage the very first thing you should do is to insulate the ceiling. My recommendation is R-38. Insulation is cheap and will reduce your running costs for the life of the structure. If your ceiling is flat you can have it blown for a few hundred bucks.

2. What kind of garage door do you have? Is it insulated? If not, then you’ll need to insulate that as well. There are a bunch of YouTube videos on how to do it and it will only cost a couple of hundred. We did this for my younger sons new house where the builder just put in cheap non insulated doors and he was blown away with the result.

3. As many have suggested a mini split is the best long term answer to your hvac needs. Mitsubishi and Daikin are the two best in the business. Daikon is the largest hvac manufacturer in the world and their US plant is located in Texas.

Let me know if you have any specific questions and I’ll be glad to help.

 

[Falcor]

We had one installed a month ago along with a new system for the house (20yrs old). Here is what we have:


22 SEER 15,000 BTU system
Heat Pump: MUZ-FS15NAH
Wall Head: MSZ-FS15NA

Our garage is 23' x 24' x 9' (Fully insulated with an insulated door)
We did have to get power ran from the box on one side of the house over to the garage on the other side. I attached the spec sheet we were given for reference.

I have always wanted a mini split and it was awesome a couple weeks ago when I changed brakes on a friend's car.

 

[Mister Lamb]

Inverters (which the mini splits are - inverter based) do a better job at keeping humidity down than wall or window AC units

I know OP can't get window ACs in his garage, but for others reading they do have inverter window ACs. They are energy efficient and if sized properly work great. A fraction of the cost/headache of a split-install

 

[ShadowsPapa]

A fraction of the cost/headache of a split-install

I see no headache of a split install. Small hole, no seals to worry about around a unit in a window or in a wall.
They can be installed in a very short time in a simple space like a garage.
The inside unit hangs on a bracket screwed to the wall. The outside unit can be mounted on a stand on the ground or on brackets bolted to the wall outside.
You keep the noise out of the building.

I've been the window route and don't want that weight on a wall or needing to deal with the huge hassle of sealing around the unit in a window (and giving up a window)
Pain in the butt to seal around.

Cheap, maybe, but I don't see them as being faster or easier to install.

 

[Mister Lamb]

Cheap, maybe, but I don't see them as being faster or easier to install.

Most ppl don't have the 220v outlet readily available to just throw the condenser anywhere, so between running the 220v, hooking it up to a disconnect switch (code where I live), and installing both the condenser and evap, theres zero chance a window AC takes as long or is as difficult...

Unless this is the window you're looking to install it in, in which case I'd suggest a split

 

[Lunentucker]

I know OP can't get window ACs in his garage, but for others reading they do have inverter window ACs. They are energy efficient and if sized properly work great. A fraction of the cost/headache of a split-install

Actually I was looking at some through the wall units last night, and some others have cut and framed a hole to install a window unit through the wall.
That's a bit risky, because if the original goes bad the hole will likely need to be redone for the replacement.
Walmart has a Black and Decker 14,000 BTU portable on sale for $340, but the reviews aren't great on them.
Still thinking and considering different options.
We got down to 72 overnight, and my fans worked great, but that's more of the exception than the rule around here.

@smlobx - The downstairs ceiling is manufactured I beams.
No insulation there. The upstairs ceiling is insulated. The steel roof is not insulated and is soffit and eve vented.

The garage electrical panel is a small breaker box wired off the main house.
I need to get in there and see what gauge wire it has and what my capabilities are out there.

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