I have a 25x 25 detached garage with 1 large garage door in the front, 36 inch door in the side. No windows, etc. Any ideas on cooling it enough to work in? It is hot, hot, hot in there. Cut windows and put in a window unit(s)?
There are 2 gable vents (12x18 inches) 1 front, 1 back. Would it be worth putting fans there and blow the hot air out?
I had to live in my 35' X 50' garage whilst building my house. Used one of those roll around water coolers like you get from one of the big box stores. It was a godsend! I still use it today when I'm working in the garage.
I haven't found a good choice of heaters tho.
around TX way,, a common cooler are those large portable mister units, and they work better than i thought they would.
seems they spray a fine water mist into the large fan and water starts to evaporate and it cools the air flow,so air becomes cool.
and 100+ is a common temp here. AKA hot as hell
I'd put 4" of spray foam on all the walls and ceiling and install an in wall air conditioner. You could cool it down to 50 degrees if you leave it running all the time. And for the winter, an electric heater is great as well.
Andrew
The misting units work much better with low relative humidity. In really humid weather, they don't help as much... FWIW.
It would help if we knew where you are located.
Baltimore, so it is usually pretty humid....
Paint the exterior of the roof and walls white.
Need more info... construction... ceiling height... sun exposure...
As mentioned, wall and ceiling insulation will make a huge difference in the effectiveness of any system you decide on. Door insulation as well.
With adequate insulation, a std window unit framed into the wall should keep that space reasonably comfortable. I know from experience, just taking an edge off the humidity helps a lot.
If you have enough ceiling height:
I just moved into my 2nd house, the first with a detached garage. I have the same cooling issues. My kerosene heaters should be good for the winter. But then I had an odd thought that only an HVAC guy could answer-what about a heat pump. The unit for my last house cost $5000 installed. It was 2 levels and @1500 sq. ft. Figuring the garage is so much smaller what would the cost be for a permanent unit? Even if its $2500 if you use it for 5 years before you move how much would you save in kerosene/electricity for an overmatched window unit.
Somebody tell me I'm crazy.
Gable end vent fans are cheap and they make a huge difference.
Datsun1500 wrote:Baltimore, so it is usually pretty humid....
In that case, misters or swamp coolers won't help a lot. The thing is, ventilation and fans will at best keep the temps inside the same as outside, so if you want it cooler than that you'll have to look at air conditioning.
solar powered attic exhaust fans....
A window in each side wall will do wonders. Add a pull fan to one to draw air thru if that isn't enough.
Also, a ridge vent or ther way to allow heat trapped in the roof to escape - the gable vents should work... same principal, put a fan blowing outward on one side.
Salvage an A/C unit from a mobile home. Only needs holes in the wall bu=ig enough for the freon lines twixt the inside and outside pieces. No inside walls = no need for ducting.
carguy123 wrote:I had to live in my 35' X 50' garage whilst building my house. Used one of those roll around water coolers like you get from one of the big box stores. It was a godsend! I still use it today when I'm working in the garage.
I haven't found a good choice of heaters tho.
Those units are great. I used one at my house. Much cheaper and easier than trying to blow a hole in the wall.
I have the same problem with my garage. My plan is in a couple phases: (1) gable end vents, one with an exhaust fan to draw out the trapped hot air up in the rafters - as hot as it is at ground level, it's seriously 15° hotter up there; (2) insulate/drywall (and in my case, run more electric around the perimeter of the garage); (3) window a/c (I have windows, at least); (4) heater - haven't decided on this one yet, but I've got some time to figure that out.
When questioning the effectiveness of an exhaust fan, consider this: my restaurant has all its walk-in coolers in an outbuilding, which used to be a brick garage. It would stay a constant 95°-100° in there, even before ambient temps had hit the 80s here, thanks to all the compressors and fans and motors and such constantly running. (Great for me, since I got to use it as a walk-in dough proof box, but that's neither here nor there.) The heat the cooling units generated were making the cooling units work harder to keep the coolers cool, a vicious cycle. We installed a standard attic fan in one wall on a thermostatic switch and put a gable vent in the man door, since that was easier than making a new hole in the brick wall. Within a day, that fan had brought the garage down to ambient outside temp. I was impressed.
slightly off-topic. http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/258-Loudon-Ave_Baltimore_MD_21229...
this $5k property in Baltimore has a detached 2 car garage that has me thinking long term hobby building project. 
You can get window mount heat pumps. Also look into the units like motels have. It is a heat pump that mounts to the wall and vents and drains to the out side. The motel unit is available as a residential unit maybe even used.
The stand alone portable A/C units are rather pricy.
On set of push fans on one side, another set of pull fans on the other. Bonus points for adding a frame around the fans that will allow you to drop in furnace filters to turn the garage in to an instant paint booth.
porksboy wrote:You can get window mount heat pumps. Also look into the units like motels have. It is a heat pump that mounts to the wall and vents and drains to the out side. The motel unit is available as a residential unit maybe even used.
I have one of those upstairs in my garage. It works pretty well. As I recall it cost around $600. Heats as well as cools. Can provide more info if you need it.
Roof vents. Either powered fans, or the whirly gig passive vents. I installed two whirly gigs on my garage roof in about two hours with basic tools. Garage temps have dropped dramatically. Inside temps are about equal to outside temps, where before it would be 90 outside, and 110 inside.
Makes it tolerable on warmer days,
I had a garage turned into a exercise room. the walls were finished, but there was not heat, AC or insulation. I added a cheapo natural gas heater and then cut a hole int he wall and framed it like a window and put a window AC unit in there. It worked great, didn't take any time to install and didn't cost much at all. It only took 10 mins to really hear or cool the room and since it was only used 1 hour a day it was a great solution.
Yea, it's been hot here this summer, hasn't it?
Walmart has those Haus 5000 btu window ac units for under $100. One will make the shop much more comfortable, two will solidly cool it. If it were me, I'd cut the walls and put them in.
