Garage Mini Split

In reply to thealbatross :

I bought new insulated garage doors. They are thicker and have the foam insulation inside. I can tell you that even with the insulated doors, you could see high 90s in there during the summer. I guess the real test will be around August or so, but I can already tell this will make a huge difference. 

I made a small sketch, most of the insulation is due to the second story above and the walls shared with house. Hopefully this helps:

I'm curious to hear what your electric goes up to. I've been toying with the idea of a couple of these to replace the aging central unit in our house. Not cooling the master and kitchen during the day as heavily as the living room and office and setting timers to cool them in the evening more when we're not working seems like a win win.

jimbob_racing said:

In reply to malibuguy :

Sounds like you're talking about a ptac unit. They're fairly inexpensive and usually have a heater function. I've been leaning towards one of them to make a sunroom more comfortable year round here in Western Pennsylvania.  

I've wondered alot about the difference between a name brand mini split at $5k versus a do it myself system for $1k to $1.5k. 

Is that what they are called?  Yeah the heat would be nice.  Some years Maryland does get into some decent single digit cold spells

In reply to Slippery :

Awesome! Thanks so much for the info! I'm toying with the idea, especially because being able to use half the garage as an office/hobby workspace would be useful as we're really space limited in our house right now. More of my garage is adjacent to the house than yours, so that's probably a benefit, although I don't have anything overhead to provide insulation, so putting some in the attic would probably be worthwhile.

The AC has been working really well. It has been quite hot down here and it keeps the garage nice and cool. I have it set to turn on at 81 deg F and off at 78 deg F and it was not noticeable on the last power bill. During weekends when I am doing garage work I lower it into the low 70s and the garage stays cooler than the house. 

The only drawback so far is the remote. Its junk. Unless you are pointing it at the unit from straight ahead, it will not work. Not really a huge issue but annoying. 

Timely. Our little house is little, just over a thousand square feet, and the only cooling is by a single window rattler. We do have forced air heat, so could add cooling with the existing ductwork, but that's likely to cost better than $5000. Might be time to look into a mini split for the house.