Staying cool & keeping bugs out

[Dukester]

Ok, we've been through the "best ways to heat your shop" many times here. Now that h&h has arrived here in Mississippi, I'm wanting to know how do you stay cool? I bought an inexpensive industrial type high velocity fan for my

20x24 shop, but it's really only effective if you're standing in front of it. Even if you're in line with it on the other side of the shop, the tablesaur extension and other tools block much of the airflow.

I am reluctant to put in an a/c because it's one more thing to clean and buy filters for. Plus I hate having the doors closed breathing dust. I almost wish now that I left the ceiling joists open the attic space was wide open....can't win.

On another note, I assume these clusters of pin sized black dots all over everything are bug droppings? Do you cover your tools and projects when not in use to keep them off? Do you have any good way of keeping the warsps and other nasties out?

[Thomas H. Bunetta]

The AC is the best idea, really... filter the air, keep tools rust free and the bod sweat free. I'd do it in a minute, but a metal building with an uninsulated roof in Florida is a good way to hemorrhage dollars . I use 4 fans, 1 30" pedestal, 1 24" louvered fan mounted atop a 48" industrial 2 speed and finally a 20" pedestal from my dad's shop (R.I.P., dad). Since there is a 16' garage door at each end of the building, I change direction to coincide with the prevailing wind. Tom

[Phil Crow]

I acquired a "squirrel-cage" type fan with a 1/2 hp, 1725 rpm motor and I can set it on the floor at the opposite end of my shop and feel a steady breeze. This thing is freakin' amazing. Also, I guess they're fairly commonplace. If you know anyone in the HVAC business, they should be able to hook you up.

Good luck,

-Phil Crow

[Charlie Self]

Dukester wants to know:

I'm putting in AC units this year. Get the kind with washable filters. That's a PITA, butnot as big a PITA as paying for new filters every week.

I wish. I have mroe trouble with bird droppings than with bugs...probably why there are so few bugs, eh? I've got what seems a whole damned tribe of flickers living in the attic of my shop. When I get back, one of my first chores is to evict the little monsters. They are woodpeckers of course, so can eat their way into almost any building...damned near drilled through one edge of the house when the corner boards rotted. So I have to plug a mess of holes and then go back and put galvanized sheet over the edges, I guess. I'm going to try aluminum first, as that type of coil stock is easier to handle, but I figure with my luck, it'll take galvanized and I may then find the birds can drill that, too.

A tin roof on nailers is the culprit. Leaves far too many gaps for them to widen and enter so they can nest. I never even thought about it, or I'd have close the blinking thing up when I first built the shop.

Charlie Self "In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office." Ambrose Bierce

[Jay]

In college in New Orleans, we did a decent job of cooling the back deck during parties by doing the following.

Lots of medium sized fans are better than one big one. Get air flow from different directions.

Make some mesh bags out of mosquito screen. Tape, tie, strap, or glue these to the front of the fan. Fill with dry ice. Depending upon your location and how often you are in the shop this may/may not be practical.

We used those garden hose misters (which had the added advantage of wetting tee-shirts). I suspect this wouldn't be too good for the cast iron.

Get those synthetic plastic ice cubes. Put them in your hat. You'd be AMAZED how cool this keeps you.

About the bugs:

You need a multi-pronged attack plan featuring citronella, bug zappers, and Off. If you want to spend the money, the propane powered mosquito magnets work pretty well. Good airflow helps as well.

Covering is a good idea when not in use.

[Jerry McCaffrey]

I knew my kids should have gone to Tulane to learn practical skills.

Jerry

[sawdust]

Same here in Tenn with the H/H..In my 18x30 shop i have a door on both ends, and keep them open with fans in both. This (as you might know), does not work in the evening hours here on the TN river, as the "skeeters" will take you away. A/C is in my near future.

Do you have any good way of keeping the warsps and

As for those wasp, i had a really bad red wasp prob several years back. I went to CO-OP and purchased a couple wasp 'bombs'. cleared the wasp for the entire summer.... daviswoodshop

[Pat]

Mine shop is only 18x18 and fully insulated walls and ceiling, in a separate building in the back. I have one of those jet filtration systems on the ceiling for the dust. And a AC unit in the wall. Cools the room. It is only a hobby shop. So if I don't use it for a while, before I do I set off a bug bomb . the day before. Somehow i get lizards in there.

Pat.

[Jay]

Next week's lesson:

Camelbacks, boxed wine with the box removed, and other useful Mardi Gras tips. ;)