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Need AC in the Shop

3K views 40 replies 22 participants last post by  therealSteveN 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I don't believe in global warming, but right now it is some bloody hot! I was turning some ash on the lathe and I realized I was soaking wet. AC units are cheap but I would have to cut thru cement block walls to install it. If I put any more fans in the doorways, I'll get sucked right outside.
 
#4 ·
This is my "comfort cart" I move to where ever I need it. I have a large fan (exaust) in a window at the rear of the shop and leave the door open to move the hot air away. New AC units do not need a drain line and milk jug to collect the condensation. For turning it is about 6' behind me and the air stream through the shop (window & door) is behind that. Yeah when I need to tough up the grind I have to go to the hot side but it not for very long.

The heater works fine in the winter if I run the terpodo kerosene heater for about 15 minutes first to bring the shop up.
Vertebrate Light Product Wood Pet supply
 

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#5 ·
Lee you don't have a location listed in your profile but if you use that cart and are at all happy with it I guarantee you are in a new year with a very dry climate. I suspect the majority of us are in a more humid environment and that would be a terrible idea. It is acting as a dehumidifier and you are getting a side effect of a small breeze of cool air. I am in south Georgia and can promise you my air-conditioner drips all the time as it is removing moisture from the air. And the way you have your cart set up it wouldn't surprise me if your shop temperature actually nets an increase but as you said it is a comfort car and I have no doubt it does provide comfort
 
#7 ·
Go with a mini split extremely efficient, 28 seer for mine, not terrible $ up front. Mine is a heat pump that is good to at least 10 below zero, and it has internet control for when I am heading home to the shop. There are many online suppliers if you can do it yourself. I bought my LG from supply house .com. Be sure to get a high efficiency rating, it will pay for itself. And do not oversize the unit, you will be cool, but damp.
 
#8 ·
This is my "comfort cart" I move to where ever I need it. I have a large fan (exaust) in a window at the rear of the shop and leave the door open to move the hot air away. New AC units do not need a drain line and milk jug to collect the condensation. For turning it is about 6 behind me and the air stream through the shop (window & door) is behind that. Yeah when I need to tough up the grind I have to go to the hot side but it not for very long.

The heater works fine in the winter if I run the terpodo kerosene heater for about 15 minutes first to bring the shop up.
Vertebrate Light Product Wood Pet supply


- LeeMills
please explain to me just how this AC cools with the exhaust in the shop :<))))
 

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#10 ·
Lee you don't have a location listed in your profile but if you use that cart and are at all happy with it I guarantee you are in a new year with a very dry climate. I suspect the majority of us are in a more humid environment and that would be a terrible idea. It is acting as a dehumidifier and you are getting a side effect of a small breeze of cool air. I am in south Georgia and can promise you my air-conditioner drips all the time as it is removing moisture from the air. And the way you have your cart set up it wouldn't surprise me if your shop temperature actually nets an increase but as you said it is a comfort car and I have no doubt it does provide comfort

- GrantA
I am in Charlotte NC now but my first 27 years were spent in Valdosta; don't get much more south GA than that without having one foot in FL. Here are the average humidity levels for morning & afternoon; GA 91M 54A, NC 87M 57A. https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/US/humidity-by-state-in-summer.php Glad to have it work as a dehumidifier when I am finishing.
My old one also dripped all the time and I had to run a drain tub from it to a milk jug on the bottom shelf. The new ac is drippless.
The other areas of the shop stay about the same as outside because the additional heat is pulled out with the large exaust fan.
 
#12 ·
Looks to me like an interior heat pump, just moves the heat to the other side of the shop while blowing cool air. In winter, turn it around and move the cold to the other side while blowing warm air. If he is happy, that is great for him.

- ibewjon
Not used in the winter. In the winter I use the heater on the the bottom shelf. In summer the cool air from the AC falls and in the winter the heat (from heater) rises.
Works for me with my shop layout and what I do. May not work for anyone else.
Easy to relocate and used it last weekend with my Gson to make a display rack for his karate belts. Other than just a few minutes at the table and radial arm saw 95% of the time was at the workbench with the cool air blowing on us.
 
#13 · (Edited by Moderator)
Small world Lee! I'm in Thomasville
I m confident you d be happier with performance and energy usage if it were mounted as intended though. They may just not be feasible in your situation. Carry on

- GrantA
Y'all still have the rose festival? Mom wanted to go most every year (60' -70's).

Mounted as intended (window) it would do no good at all cooling a 16×30 uninsulated area. Does fine for the little 6X6 area I need for turning.

The portable units as Earl described may work better. This unit is dripless and was rated for a higher area (Sq F) than the portable for the same $$.
 
#15 ·
I use a portable unit in my garage. I cut 2 holes in the garage door for intake and exhaust and installed exhaust ports like mechanics use to route a hose from the tailpipe through the door. Works great. The ports are a little smaller than the A/C hose so I had to adapt them using semi rigid dryer vent hose but it doesn't seem to affect the A/C performance. I lay the drain hose in the slight gap between the door and the lip of the garage and it seeps under the door just fine. If you need to heat your shop too, I would look for one with a heating mode. It makes the shop usable year round but on particularly cold days I use a space heater. Also look for a unit that has 2 hoses. Mine does but I initially just vented the exhaust through the door and let the intake just pull air from the inside space and it pulls in so much air around the door that it definitely did not heat and cool as well. After adding the second port I also installed extra weather striping around the door to get an almost airtight seal. When I open the door into the house, the suction actually causes the garage door to move a bit.

Another option might be one of these Climate Right portable units that put the unit outside. You would still need 2 ports to pull and push air through but at least the noise is outside and you don't have to sacrifice the space in the shop.

BTW, if you run any AC without venting the exhaust, you may be able to create a small zone of coolness where you point it but you will get a net increase of heat in the shop.
 
#18 ·
Read up before you buy a portable a/c unit. Most everything you read will say the really suck.
After years of suffering through the Vegas summer heat, and trying everything I could think of. Swamp cooler, multi fans, etc. I needed hearing protection from the fans I was trying to run at one time. lol.
I went with mini split a/c right at a year ago now. I chose the Mr Cool DIY mini split. And after a year it is working great. I only needed to drill a 3.5" hole for the line set, and add a 220v circuit to the power panel.
System came pre charged, and was very simple to install.
 
#19 ·
After suffering in the summer heat (yes, it does get hot in Wisconsin in the summer!) and humidity for too many years, I had a Mitsubishi mini-split installed 4 years ago.

My only regret is that I did not do it sooner! It not only cools and dehumidifies in the warmer months, it heats the shop in all but the coldest months (my shop has a Hot Dawg gas heater for the coldest winter months).
 
#20 ·
I had two portable air units. My shop is 28×38. They worked terrible, on hot days I could get the shop down only 10 degrees. I tried everything, nothing worked well. Someone said the exhaust had to be as short as possible, So I moved my equipment around to accommodate that, but it did not help. My shop is well insulated, and I couldn't understand, between the two they were 20,000 btu. Some one on here told me that they just don't work very well, so I sold them and I did have two small windows so I got a 5,000 btu and a 8,000 btu unit and put one in each window and they work awesome! In Iowa we rarely get to a 100 degrees but it did get to 102 last year and my shop was 76 degrees. But I have to start them early in the day to get that. And I do have to clean out the filter two or three times a year, but totally happy. Cut a hole and get a bigger unit and be done, you will not regret it.
 
#21 ·
I second OSU55's idea of a mini split system. I have a 2 until system 1 down stairs in my workshop 1 up stairs for my trains . It cools and dehumidifies in summer and heats nicely in winter. Operating cost is reasonable. I've had the unit since 3/18 and appreciate what it does for my comfort and protection from humidity for my toys.
 
#22 ·
I'm glad some folks with experience using the "portable" ac units chimed in with how poor their performance is. While perhaps better than nothing, Compared to a window unit or mini split they suck. I suspect those that are pleased with them dont know what they dont know, ie actual comparison to other systems. If its all that will work in a given situation, yeah I get it, but a mini split doesn't require any larger hole through a wall etc. Havent compared prices maybe the portables are 1/2 the cost of a mini split, but they give about 1/2 the actual performance. A window unit is the cheapest if you have a window/opening.
 
#23 ·
In Iowa we rarely get to a 100 degrees …
True … but when it is 90 degrees and the humidity is 90 percent it can be pretty miserable. Those are the days when you can actually sit in a corn field and listen to the corn grow! Been there, done that.
 
#24 ·
We have a Mini Split in our 400 Sq.Ft. addition,its 220.It works very well and keeps us cool in the Tucson heat.Mind you the room is well insulated.We don't use it much in the winter but the heat works just as well.No need for a large opening just big enough for the lines to sneak through and the unit hangs on the wall.Recommendations from the installer was to keep the filter clean…You could elect to go with the evaporative cooler effect-get sweaty and put a fan on you :)
 
#25 ·
If you do decide to cut a hole in the wall, consider making the hole a little extra large, cutting on the joint lines, and then framing the opening down to fit your window unit. You don't need a window, just an opening built to fit the window AC unit. The mini split unit is probably a better AC unit, and if someone makes a unit for do it yourselfers, would be tempting to me. I put my old house unit in the shop, when I bought a new furnace and AC unit. It is a central air unit, biggest mistake I made was not building a box to set the furnace on, as that would raise the thing up above the dust on the floor for the return air.
 
#26 ·
I suspect that the people with sucky performance from portable A/Cs have single hose units. Most of the units available today only have a single hose for some reason. As I mentioned above when I just let it suck the intake air from inside the shop mine performed poorly too. It doesn't do much good to use cooled air to send out through the exhaust only to have hot air sucked in to replace it. As soon I added the second port for the Intake through a second hose, the shop immediately became 10° cooler and the humidity dropped significantly.
 
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