A woodwork newbie. Issues setting up workshop in non-airconditioned South Florida garage?

[Giganews]

I too have been researching cooling my 1 car garage workshop.

For my purposes (hobbyist plus car in garage when tools not in use) I am almost decided on the portable AC units.

My understanding is that swamp coolers (evaporative cooling) won't work in Florida.

Has anyone used the portable AC units? They have small intake and exhaust hoses about 5 feet long. I plan on opening the garage door a few inches and putting the hoses there when the AC is in use. I'll put some scrap wood along the rest of the door to seal it a bit.

The portable units are very expensive compared to a window unit about 5-600 $ for 10,000 BTUs. I'd like to get the temperature down to about 80 within 45 minutes.

[gfretwell]

You quickly discover how leaky a garage is when you start dumping BTUs of cooling in there, waiting for a change. I put a fairly big window shaker in mine (~6-7kbtu) and it didn't do squat. If you stood right in front of it you were OK but on the other end of the garage it was still hot. Swamp coolers don't work in a swamp. They should be called desert coolers.

[Roy]

I tried a portable A/C unit for a few days (3 car garashop) and it didn't do squat even with insulation. Way undersized, but might help in a smaller area. I ran the vent hose into the attic to get rid of the exhaust. Remember that these things suck in 20-25 percent outside air as the exchange air for dumping the heat outside. So if the thing blows 250 cubic feet per minute, it will suck in 50-60 cfm for the exhaust stream. They're not very efficient for that reason. We use it in the dog days of summer to sleep cool the bedroom. If you know someone who has one, see if you can borrow it for a couple of days and see how it works out.

It wouldn't cool my shop, but for detail work, you can adjust the vents to blow on you while working quietly at the bench. My face would sweat, but my back was comfy. Check the window a/c web sites for sizing assistance. I found that helpful when I was looking at window units. Westinghouse and GE are a couple sites I remember.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Roy

[mac davis]

I've tried both window and portable A/C in a garage and neither did much except spin the electric meter...

My best cooling is with a LARGE round-cage fan blowing in a window and another big box fan blowing out the garage door... with A/C I tried working with the door closed and it just got hotter...

In my office I use a window unit with a small oscillating fan in front of it to spread the air... a ceiling fan would help, too.. but both would be disruptive in a shop...

My new shop will be enclosed and have built in heat and A/C but that presents another set of problems... keeping dust out of the unit... *sigh*

Mac

[Tim Taylor]

Well, not that it's really useful info, but I seperated my unit in it's own little space in a corner of the garage. I've got the intakes in the "closet" if you will, pretty good. I can go about 4 months before changing the filter on the unit itself, and once a month or so on the filters on the intakes. I buy the el cheapo blue fiberglass filters by the case for a little of nothing. It's a 2 ton unit that serves double duty heating/cooling the garage and shop.