how do you keep your shop cool?

Cutomer last week told me about his shop last winter.3 feet of snow in one night,roof colapsed,nice and cool inside!Still love Canada though,no black widows!

 

With this.....insulated the garage door and bought a portable 12000 BTU A/C unit....sucks the humidity outta the air too...fire up a couple fans in the corners to keep air moving and cooling and it makes working in the dead of summer in Florida bearable...

 

Did the same here in AZ..but 14,000 BTU portable.(from Costco) That west facing door would be 120* in mid summer here on a 110* day...and the garage would be about 100*

Now I have 80-82* as long as the door stays closed..

 

I have a west facing door as well...and get this temp at 1300 in the afteroon, went out and re looked at my unit.....I gotta 14000BTU as well...all this time I thought I hadda 12K unit
Now mind you I shut it down and let the garage heat up while I'm on my work cycle...I work 12 hour shifts so I dont have time to work in the garage on days that I work. I'll flip it on the night before I plan on working in the garage, that gives it the time it needs to pull everything down to temp.

 

i just show up.

 

Amen to that! How do I keep cool in northern California? I take one of my coats and/or sweatshirts off. I went to the drags yesterday and froze my ass off. Today was a sweltering 62 degrees, much better. Because it's too cold to go out in the garage (yes, I know it's the first day of summer) I spent the day painting my bathroom. It's so cold, that shit won't dry until august. By the way, if you're one of those guys that think of Bakersfield as "Northern California", drive another ten hours north.

 

My shop is a 40x50 pole barn. Last year I put in a lot of foam board insulation and it stays comfortable (not cold) with a 10K btu window unit. A well stocked refrigerator make it more comfortable...

 

IF I have a major project I put in on the night before and get it about that too..
Usually though..being a cheap bastard..I wait until morning..and when temps get to about 80* in the shop..then I put it on..and it mainstains that. But 80* with 5% humidity..feels pretty cool here for us desert rats..

I have never seen any water in the tray..even during monsoon. I lived in high humidity areas..and it really is more difficult. Yours is doing really well..
Just got to keep the wife or kids from hitting the garage remote..!

 

I rent a shop and thought about putting up insulation, since one metal wall gets sun most of the day. But I am hesitant about the cost.

Right now I use a fan, but its getting hotter, upper 90's soon 100's. I need to find a way to stay productive. Maybe a swamp cooler.

Thing is I cant modify the structure of my shop...

 

I have a little 2 bedroom house built in the 50's... My garage is the size of the entire house (love it), only one really nice garage door, and 1/2 of it is under the ground (my lot slopes from front to back. Great drainage!). It comes out to be 1,100 ft^2, but I only use about 60% for workshop area. The ductwork running up to the main floor has 3 vents in it for the basement, that's plenty to keep it really nice in there. I can usually keep it around 70-75 degrees, no matter what the outside temperature is. I have 200A service and LITTERALLY live a block away from the town's main substation. It's EXTREMELY nice..

With only the Model A in there, as well as all my tools, engines, and various parts/tires/wheels/junk, I have all sorts of space. I can fit the Galaxie in there, but it's gettin' pretty tight then. Now, if I leave the ass-end hanging out, then it's alot better, but lets in lots of cold air. The other 40% of the garage is a big sectional couch, a 7' pool table, a mini fridge full of PBR & Yuengling, a TV hooked that has it's own Dish network feed along with a Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and a Sega Genesis, plus a record, CD, MP3 stereo. And what I call my "orgy shower." The 40% area is always nice no matter what, it's completely under ground.

 

gave up trying to cool mine,tiny garage,but open screens in the loft and metal roof,going to build one of those coolers with the radiator attached to the box fan,circulating ice water from a cooler, if i can cool the inside of the car, i can finish my wiring harness and interior work

 

I have a huge fan and an old timey swamp cooler. works great. gotta come up with some heat before winter though.

 

Dry summers here in Cape Town, with a howling south-easter, so natural cross-ventilation and decent thermal mass go a long way. I've got a single garage door on the north side, and four opening windows and a stable door on the south side. Southern hemisphere, so the sun is to the north. The garage/shop is 26'x20', with a 10' soffit. The construction is 11½" brick cavity walls and a 10½" reinforced concrete slab roof with 2" of stone chippings to keep the UV off the waterproofing. There's a lot of tonnage there. It never goes to extremes of temperature.

 

In my shop i use fans and doors open..too much area to cool with A/C.
I have my 2 car garage air conditioned. If it gets too dam hot to work out in the shop I try to bring it into the garage.
Or i go out and work late after the sun goes down and it cools off

 

Pabst....and a big cooler

 

here in arizona,, it's never cool...

 

open both bay doors, back door and put a window fan in the window

 

Door and windows open along with a squirrel cage blower. When the squirrel get wore out I grab another and but them to work.

 

I have a 30x40, 10 foot ceilings with doors on the front and doors on the back. The walls are insulated and the ceiling is sheet rocked with about 6 inches of blown insulation in the attic. One big @#$ fan that swivels and a old Coke machine full of long neck beer. O yeah, there is a water fountain in case I run out of beer! Stay cool this summer, we don't need any HAMBR's flaking out!

 

no walls

 

I dont, I just have a few small fans that I point towards my face.

 

Turn on the fan?

 

open door. Door is a bifold door that folds in half and sticks out when it is up so that after the late morning it keeps the entire palace in the shade. I combine that with a fan and lots of cold water (fridge in there).
Rebecca

 

That ain't northern California, that's Oregon, maybe Washington.

 

I have a 4 ton ground source heat / cool system. Perfect year round plus get hot water for free.

 

Even though it HOT down here, we have a natural breeze MOST of the time. our shops just have roofs to keep the rain off. No sides for the most part. Paint always dries real fast. 85 in the winter 95 in the summer. And no love bugs. Ice man

 

My shop is 30X50 with 14' ceiling pole barn style and very well insulated.I keep it closed up during the day and run a 36" barrel fan. Noisey as hell but very comfortable till about 3:30 or 4:00, then the heat of the day starts sneakin' in.

 

watch too much beer, it will dehydrate you, it's a diuretic, in other words you piss a lot and lose fluids. same with caffeinated drinks. water and gatorade, when it's super hot make sure you make yourself drink water, you can be dehydrated and not know it. I ended up in the hospital not too long ago, lost all feelings in my hands, thought i was having a heart attack, turned out I was severely dehydrated. needed a lot of IV fluids to bring me back from that point.

 

We've just got a big fan that we put in the door at the shop in town, the home shop and garage have air though. The one in town should have air soon...hopefully

Lol...you should move to NE it's "The Great Life"....It was 101* at 10:30 last night....Humid as hell the windows were sweating and so were my balls.. Winter is real nice too...negative temps are great..

Rain cooled it down a bit this afternoon..

Lol...62...that's not even close to cold, I wish it was 62.. or 75..hell 80 would work..

 

I open everything up at night and shut it up in the morning and it traps all the cool air. Insulation rocks.