I'm tired of being so hot I can't think! I always liked hot weather and still do but it's getting tougher and tougher and the humidity is making it worse. 1200 square foot building with 13 f. ceilings it is framed construction that is insulated with a ceiling and attic and blown in insulation up there.
Anyone put AC in their shop or know what would work? Think a mini split type system would work? Already have goo gas heat so I just want cooling but I'd like to keep is simple and economical. Wonder if a used heat pump system would work?

I have a 6,000 square foot shop with 16 foot walls. I have bought 10 of the small high efficiency Mini Split A/C units and with only 3 hooked up so far they keep the shop cool even in this Texas heat. The ones I bought are the Blueridge 38 SEER 9,000 BTU units because they are the most efficient made for the money. There is a 43 SEER air Conditioner but it is about 4 times more expensive. So far it looks like they are costing about $30 a month to air condition the 6,000 Sq Ft shop. When I get the others it will freeze you out. I do think much of it is because of the closed cell foam insulation which makes building pretty air tight.

quote:

Originally posted by Curly1:
I have a 6,000 square foot shop with 16 foot walls. I have bought 10 of the small high efficiency Mini Split A/C units and with only 3 hooked up so far they keep the shop cool even in this Texas heat. The ones I bought are the Blueridge 38 SEER 9,000 BTU units because they are the most efficient made for the money. There is a 43 SEER air Conditioner but it is about 4 times more expensive. So far it looks like they are costing about $30 a month to air condition the 6,000 Sq Ft shop. When I get the others it will freeze you out. I do think much of it is because of the closed cell foam insulation which makes building pretty air tight.

I wonder, and bet one of them would do my 1600 sq ft 15' walls ok then. Well insulated. I see the lower seer is about half the price in that brand. I bet I would only need it 6 weeks out of the year. Getting the humidity out is half the battle here. After that it's pretty easy. Could use it for heat for part of the winter anyhow. Until it gets really chilly.

First off. 6000 sq ft shop. CURLY SUCKSI bought a 12000 btu split system for shop and it does great job, especially considering lack of air tightness at the door. Then my shop is whopping 22 by 22 and packed full. Best thing I like is I have to walk over to it to see if running because you can not hear it at all.

I have one of them draining into a 5 gallon bucket outside temporary. It fills up every day. That is just one A/C unit so they seriously remove the moisture from the air.

I was told by several Air Conditioning companies that what I was doing would not work that I needed a 20 ton central unit to air condition my shop and that would cost $1500 a month or so to cool shop. Not going to happen.

Each of these air conditioning units only draws 6.9 amps wide open and less than that on low. Technically they say 9,000 BTU is only good to air condition about 400 square feet and I am way over that and with 16 foot walls and steel building would think it needs much more. I bought 10 of them 7 for in the shop and 3 for inside the living quarters. With only 3 hooked up so far they are cooling the whole shop.

I did spend a lot of money on insulation and good insulated doors etc. I think the R Value of the closed cell is actually better than it seems because it makes the building air tight. As I get more lights in here which creates some heat the A/c load will increase some. But from my experience Thinking outside the Box sometimes works great!

I would add one and if you need another add it later. They are not that expensive or hard to do. You can buy the ones like I have for about $1500 each and probably get them installed for about $400 each. I would recommend getting them professionally installed simply to pull down a good vacuum and get all air and moisture out of the system. Technically they are a closed system you could just install them and open the valve to let the Freon circulate through the system but it does not work that well. They are very hard to seal perfectly and the vacuum pump will find the leaks. If you do not some time down the road you will have problems.

When I get my new trailer I am going to put similar A/C unit in it.

quote:

Originally posted by wideopen231:
First off. 6000 sq ft shop. CURLY SUCKSI bought a 12000 btu split system for shop and it does great job, especially considering lack of air tightness at the door. Then my shop is whopping 22 by 22 and packed full. Best thing I like is I have to walk over to it to see if running because you can not hear it at all.

You do not like me now you going to Hate me when it is finished. Lol. I have 80 feet of shelving to go on one wall to the ceiling. That is why I went with 16 foot walls. Each shelf section will have bottom shelf about 7.5 feet tall and work stations under each. One for fine table work, one for grinder, band saw, drill press etc, one for my Reloading bench. Then I have a bunch of 5 shelf carts on wheels to put stuff on and roll under work areas. I have 2 40 foot storage containers that I am putting shelving in and my 5,000 PSI shop compressor. That will fill 4 of the 5,000 PSI storage tanks and regulated down to fill several 200 PSI tanks with safety valves. So I will always have perfectly clean and dry air and will not ever hear the compressor at all. I am building something like pallets to but table saws etc on so I put them away and when I need them can move them with pallet jack to work with or even put them up on shelf with forklift. I have about 10 big heavy duty work benches to work on and 8 big Fire cabinets to store stuff in. I have a 14 x 14? insulated electric door so I can bring my RV, truck, trailer and everything inside if I have to and have plenty of room.

As soon as they get done with the lights I will bring in all of my cars and the four post car lift to store the cars. Trying to maximize what floor space I do have.

After this project is completed in a few months will do a large Solar Patio to shade the South wall and produce all the electricity I need which from looks of it will not be much.

Didn't sat I did't like just that you suck. Hell I would be happy as hell with 30 x 40 or Could walk thru shop and around car not over it 100 time per night.

Good morning.
I have a 3000 sq ft shop, 16 ft ceiling.
2 3600 LG Mini Splits, keeps it very cool around 74 Degrees. Cost around $80 to $100 a month running both units. 1 unit will actually keep it pretty nice in there.
Just my 2 cents worth
Calvin

I have a 22,000 btu window unit and keeps my 20 by 40 with 10 foot walls 75 degrees.

If you get the Mini Splits go with the highest SEER rating you can find. HUGE difference in cost to run.

40'x104' shop with 16' ceilings. I installed 3 x 3ton Mitsubishi mini-splits. Keep it 72° during the summer months and 54° during the winter (sweatshirt) Even with welding, 80 gallon compressor and fluorescent lighting I pay only about $100 a month for electric.

Mini-splits are the only way to fly.

Mine is 52X40 and is insulated pretty good and like falcon I have 2 big window units in there and when it 100 it is real cool and when its 75 you could hang meat in there. I don't have any idea what it costs because if I want to be cool I have to pay. I have propane heat for the winter. I remember when I was young and poor working on the ground winter and summer keeping my junk repaired. Most of us have it pretty good these days don't we.

quote:

Originally posted by ferndaleflyer:
I don't have any idea what it costs because if I want to be cool I have to pay. I have propane heat for the winter. I remember when I was young and poor working on the ground winter and summer keeping my junk repaired. Most of us have it pretty good these days don't we.

Yes we do!! Just the fact that I'm considering AC makes me laugh and think about all of those years of freezing and sweating.

We just put a two ton Mini Split in mine. Could not be happier so far. Keeps it nice and cool in there.

quote:

Originally posted by Al Alguire:
We just put a two ton Mini Split in mine. Could not be happier so far. Keeps it nice and cool in there.

Shop size?

Anybody installing them yourself? I don't mind pulling a vacuum on it and am used to that process. Wait. Sounds weird. Whatever.

40x60 14' ceiling, 16 inch blown insulation in ceiling one wall insulated (lol) working on the other walls.
5 ton Bryant with lp heat. I haven't ran it long enough to keep shop cool 24/7. I run it when I'm in the shop. So far electric has run less than 70.00 month.

Bought the unit used on Craigslist.

Dave

Bucky,
I installed mine myself then had a buddy come out and pull a vacuum and fill it.

Dave

Here in south Florida if your shop is not airconditioned, your going to sweat your arse off and not work in it very much in the summer. First thing I did when I bought this house 3 years ago was a/c the garage. Used a Coleman unit out of a salvaged mobile home. Since my garage is only 1000 square foot it did not take much. But man was it worth it.

quote:

Originally posted by David Covey:
Bucky,
I installed mine myself then had a buddy come out and pull a vacuum and fill it.

Dave

Nice! They are supposed to be under vacuum shipped. But pulling it down seems like it might be a good idea anyhow. Of course, if it leaks under vacuum, that doesn't bode well for once it has refrigerant in it.