Hot Rods How to keep the shop cool? V

Clearly, if you wish to cool the whole shop,insulation is a must. You showed some bubble wrap insulation, but I'm not sure where it was placed. Also, are your inside walls drywall. Seems like you mentioned something about putting up insulation board. Looks like a really nice building. Any picture of the inside so we can see what you are actually dealing with?
Personally I don't care for sectioning off a portion of the shop unless you are going to use it for a specific purpose. If you want a special area for something like building your engines and maybe storing new or expensive parts, maybe a computer.........then I can see doing that. Then that area reduces the size of your shop and you have less to heat/cool while using the bulk of the shop. If you try to do all your work in the cordoned off area, you will have to get things inside it that are large........and you will find you always need something from the main shop. Had a "pit" in my garage originally. Had to keep climbing out of it to get yet another tool. Learned that having easy access to tools was a paramount consideration. Filled the pit and got a lift.

 

I had a couple roof vent fans that got eliminated the last time the house w as reroofed so installed them today on the inside of the gable vents with a switch.

 

Be careful with too much insulation, especially spray foam - you can seal the building up too much and have major humidity problems (when the temperature swings up/down) as a result. make sure you have a ridge vent AND vents under the eaves to create an updraft. A separate dehumidifier, running around the clock, is a good plan.
Thumbs up on a Hot Dawg heater for winter - gets a shop warm really fast if you get the proper BTU. You can leave the thermostat at 58 when you're not using it, then turn it up to 70 when you go out there - 45000 BTU heats a large 3-car garage in 10 minutes.

 

When I built my addition I had them insulate the floor. I also run dehumidifier at around 50% so rusting is nill. Remembering to empty it helps. Gonna check it right now!

 

Most have an attachment point to attach a length of garden hose...hole saw a 3/4"hole through the wall by the floor, run the hose out there and caulk around it. Never have to worry about emptying again & keep the humidity low 24/7

 

That is exactly what I did!

I just got my monthly electric bill today & running the dehumidifier has not adversely affected it at all!

As long as you understand the humidity issue, you can NEVER have enough insulation for the folks who don't handle the heat well or folks that can't handle the cold well. I hate the cold & the hotter the better, but the humidity actually weighs on me sometimes!

God Bless
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/

 

I will get you some pictures of the in side tomorrow. Thanks.

 

I definitely need more insulation with the house and shop electric bill it was over $300. My old shop only ran about $35. And the house was about $125. The were on separate power poles. Bruce.

 

Shoot, my house alone is over $300 this month

Ben

 

So how would a dehumidifier work in a small shop (18 x30) being cooled via an evap cooler? We don’t have a lot of humidity in the summer, but triple digit temps (or close) limit my time in this area. But an evap cooler puts out a lot of moisture, and I have a block I’d like to complete during this summer with at or near triple digit heat.

 

That's a tough situation - if you're starting out at low humidity, you just need to stay below 40%

 

WHOA!

 

My shop is 50 x 52 and I built an insulated wall dividing it into 1/3 and 2/3's rooms. I have tube heat in the bigger area and a house furnace in the smaller area, with a big sliding door between the two sides so I can move stuff from side to side. My spray booth is in the back of the small room. Both heaters run on propane.

 

Go solar! I have it and run the 18x40 inground pool pump 24/7 as well as 3 AC systems and it cost me nothing.

 

When I had my metal garage put up I put a sheet of plastic on the dirt ground before the concrete floor was poured. really helps with the condensation. now I just need to put in a flat ceiling and insulate the **** out of it. after that insulate the walls and put in insulation in the overhead door. (long term project…After all… it’s been 19 years since I put the metal garage up.) my priorities are… vapor barrier. shade. insulate. proper ventilation. then cool and heat (as needed.) and I’m definitely considering the solar option. I admit it’s takin’ me a long time because the last ten years I have other priorities instead of comfort in my garage. at least my cad can have shade.

and bruce… that bit of insulated bubble stuff of the previous owner certainly can remain. but I am convinced having a insulated interior room under the roof is a big benefit.

 

I have 4 decent sized roof fans that I got at a PO'd wife yard sale, NIB for $5 each, that hubby had hoarded in the garage. I looked them up, and they turned out to be high-end sealed units rated for safe removal of combustible vapors, quite expensive pieces. They would seem perfect for shop use, even spray booth. Thinking about selling them, as the wineries around here are probably required to have a spec like that. My home shop is 2 stories, heavily insulated and sheetrock isolated from the attic, with 2 louvered vents at each end of the attic, north in the shade and south in the sun. Scheme in my head is a couple fans blowing out of the south end, which would draw in from the cooler end, that would run off small and cheap solar panels on the west side, so they would boogie in the afternoon. Wondering if some 12V fans and panels with a couple batteries with an on-off switch would be possible- with the batteries for storage, maybe those panels at Harbor Freight might handle it. Might even be better to put the fans at the cool end and pull, or at both ends, as it has a tile roof, and not exactly airtight.

 

Hello,

The example of a garage for working on cars is not the same as a 6 car garage. But, in reading your description of extra fans in the outer walls or roof vents allows the cooling air to escape. You might want to consult an A/C installation company for their ideas. It is efficiency with what you have, not how big the garage is or A/C is capable of pumping out. Good insulation everywhere improves efficiency of the garage and A/C unit.

As far as a “normal” two or three car garage is concerned, insulation is the key. There should be ventilation, but not open to the outside in any wall, ceiling or door. Even the garage door needs sealed gaskets for a fairly air tight area for cooling. But, the idea is that no air escapes outside. The roof circulating vents should be in the sealed attic areas, away from the working area down below.

If installing ceiling insulation and drywall panels, then you are not letting valuable cold air outside. or at least, slowing down the process. One other thing is insulating your garage door(s). If the sun’s directional path is hitting your doors, the standard metal and even wooden doors are absorbing the heat and blasting in inside. Let alone the opening edges on both sides of each door need sealing rubber edging.

Jnaki

We had a neighbor who had the same three car garage as our three car garage. But, his house had whole house A/C and the last vents were down a long hallway leading to the last rooms and to the garage units. So, he opened up a drywall area and ran A/C venting into the drywall of his garage, thus creating an A/C outlet into the garage. He just had to shut off some room’s vents and open the vent to the garage. One thing in his favor, the homes built had to p*** the So Cal inspection for heating and A/C.

So, he upgraded his A/C outlet to the garage, but forgot to insulate his two doors. We opted not to have A/C in the whole house. In So Cal beach areas, that is not necessary… but some people just need cold weather all of the time. After we moved to a smaller house, we insulated our two car garage door since the sun was blasting it most of the morning and past noon during the summer/winter.

Our garage stays relatively cool, only to be cooled with a small fan if needed. (Like a Vornado circulating unit.) Now the thin metal rolling up doors were great, but the original thin skin just felt like a hot frying pan and radiated heat inside. Since our insulated garage door installation, the garage remains quite nice all year around. cool to the touch and cannot hear our neighbors talking outside. plus, for a test, our garage rock music was played over the speakers and with the insulated garage doors closed, it was silent on the sidewalk. YES!!!

What we also did was to adjust our time in the garage, anyway. Why fight the hot daytime temperatures during the heat of any day, summer or winter. Work in there when it is cool. With the drywall insulation, the insulated door and sealed sides creating an “almost totally sealed” garage, it is pleasurable to work in there. If and when we were on the ground or inside of a car, the circulating fan was a direct angle to cool us/me while I was working in the early morning or late evening. (if needed)

The garage attic is another story. It has air vents standard to all housing and it is hot all of the time. The stored items are not temperature pansies and can stand it to be up there. It has seen its days for storage as my wife’s clean house theory works in that attic, too. So we have given away a lot of unnecessary stuff to our son and friends. Our storage is relatively spacious for good air circulation, when the wind comes in those roof vents and out of those wired secured vent holes. YRMV

 

I plan to insulate the day lights out of it after I get my work bench together.

 

Sorry Danny my I missed your message We got off the mountain and left the crowds and bumper to bumper traffic behind . We moved to Edenton N C A nice quite town with little to no traffic or crowds 1 block from the huge river that empties in to the sound. Now I can salt water fish and crab with out going to the beach. A lot of farms out her with farm fresh fruit and a fish market right down the road and all caught fresh off the outer banks I also have a 6 car garage I have do a make over on it so I will be buddy for a while. Take care and stay in touch. Bruce