Portable AC

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Drcal

Drcal

Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2009
Messages
175
Location
Tampa, Florida
Does anyone cool his/her workshop with a portable AC? I live in Florida and I turn in my garage. The heat and humidity are killing me. My garage is huge---over 800 sq feet. What I want to do is close off a potion of it just for turning. For many reasons, I cannot use a window unit so I have been looking online at portable AC's. What I need is about $400. and requires minor installation. Does anyone have any experience with these?
Thanks.
Carmen
Tampa
 
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You can pick up a window unit at wal-mart for under $200 If you going to close in a portion of the garage, mount it in one of the walls so it vents back into the garage.
I'm in calif. No humidity, just heat. I use a cealing fan and a floor fan
 
I have a friend who uses one but her shop is 1/4th your size. Of course she just has it blow directly on her so it really doesnt matter. Have you considered or is it possible to insulate the shop? Spray foam insulation or 2 inch thick sheet foam?
 
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I'm in Ohio and I cool my shop with a window air conditioner. The shop is well insulated and I turn the AC on about a half hour before I start working, and the shop is nice and cool.
 
I really envy you guys that can heat and cool your shop--mine is in my RV barn and it is 30x50x16 and would be almost impossible to do--guess I could close off part of it--but.
 
Drcal said:
Does anyone cool his/her workshop with a portable AC? I live in Florida and I turn in my garage. The heat and humidity are killing me. My garage is huge---over 800 sq feet. What I want to do is close off a potion of it just for turning. For many reasons, I cannot use a window unit so I have been looking online at portable AC's. What I need is about $400. and requires minor installation. Does anyone have any experience with these?
Thanks.
Carmen
Tampa
Click to expand...

I also turn in my garage and have a window air con. Home Depot has the floor models ,my dad use one for his Florida room,& it works fine.
 
I have a portible R2 style unit. I haven't used it since renovating, but it worked great for a 100-150 sqr feet. The down side for us in Florida is you really must run out a hose for it to drain the condensate. I was having to dump the units reservoir every half hr.
 
I was wondering about the water aspect. You are going to have that happen almost anywhere I would suspect..although some places are more humid, it's still pretty humid everywhere. Yea...but it's a dry heat they say...:rolleyes:

I was thinking about one of those portable units too, the ones at the box store for about $400 or so. My shop is insulated and I have heat and windows and doors, but I don't really want to rig up a window for a/c and then have to un-rig it and all that for the winter when we have our it's damn cold, but hey it's a dry cold! :biggrin: I think one of those will work, and it's not a big deal to run a little hose out the corner of a rollup door. They are a little under-rated for my 1000 sq shop, but not by much, which just means it will take a little longer to cool down and thus cost a few dollars more to run. I don't worry about that...I only live once and life is too short to not be comfortable.
 
I use this one in my garage shop in the Tropical Forest section of Texas...I just set it up to blow directly on me, but I'm considering closing in a section, which would make it much more efficient!

http://http://www.homedepot.com/h_d...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

No need to run a water drain hose, it has a reservoir that works fine for that, but you will need to vent the heat using the included hose. FYI, Lee
 
I have a portable one in my office. It is on the third floor of the house. In august it gets about 120. The A/C does a real good job. I have a Delonghi and is 12,000 btu. It is on the small size.
 
I've got one I've used in RV to suplement old AC and inside for a couple of weeks to cool bedroom when home AC went out. Works great with two issues that have been mentioned, drain and venting hot air. Tube for drain is easy in shop. 4" duct for hot air is harder. If you have hole close to where you can put the AC, then you are good to go, if it is over 3' away, your out of luck. If i were to purchase one dedicated to shop, I'd pick small window AC even if I'd have to cut hole for it.
 
I started looking at the portable units in the last couple days. Are there any that you don't have to vent outside. I'm guessing no but thought I'd ask anyways. We have swing out casement windows so it isn't the same as the sliders and harder to control the cool air loss.
 
jaywood1207 said:
I started looking at the portable units in the last couple days. Are there any that you don't have to vent outside. I'm guessing no but thought I'd ask anyways. We have swing out casement windows so it isn't the same as the sliders and harder to control the cool air loss.
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You could put a dryer vent in the wall and attach the hose to it.


I have a portable AC in my living room and it works OK. I'm thinking about framing in a dedicated wall unit but I'm also weighing the option of having central air installed.
 
jaywood1207 said:
I started looking at the portable units in the last couple days. Are there any that you don't have to vent outside. I'm guessing no but thought I'd ask anyways. We have swing out casement windows so it isn't the same as the sliders and harder to control the cool air loss.
Click to expand...

The bottom line is that any cooling system is pumping heat from point A to point B. For Air Conditioners, if point B is not outside all you have is a noisy space heater. Refrigerators pump the heat to the room they are in from their insides, thus warming the room they are in.

I am starting to look at portable units. I am about to install new windows, and would prefer not to mess up the vinyl frames with heavy window air conditioners.
 
Then maybe you should look at a multi/mini split unit. Several companies make them. I know I will look into one since my new ducting doesn't supply enough air to the shop to get it really cool in the summer. I just HAD to make the southern end of the house my workshop! If I re-finish the second story as rental property I will put one in up there.

http://www.minisplitsystems.com/
http://www.in.lge.com/Product/Products-List.aspx?id=59&cat=Room AC&subcat=Multi Split
http://www.ac-world.com/?gclid=COvwnp7a86ECFRpbiAodCDbUCw
http://www.daikin.com/global_ac/products/residential/multi_nx/outline.html
 
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