Window ac unit in roll up garage door?

[OctoMan]

I have a one car (British car) attatched garage and need to cool it during the Virginia summers. The attic space above the garage is insulated but the walls are not. It's a duplex so one side boraders neighbors garage is cinderblock as such there's no windows.

A friend gave me a window ac unit. I thought about opening the garage door 1/4 of the way cutting a piece of plywood with an opening for the ac and prop it up with a 2x4 and runing it that way. garage and need to cool it during the Virginia summers. The attic space above the garage is insulated but the walls are not. It's a duplex so one side boarders neighbors garage is cinderblock as such there's no windows.

A friend gave me a window ac unit. I thought about opening the garage door 1/4 of the way cutting a piece of plywood with an opening for the ac and prop it up with a 2x4 and running it that way.

What do you think?

 

[Big-Foot]

When you open the door at the bottom, you now have a gap at the top where the top panel starts rolling back on the track.. Gonna have a pretty big air leak there.. Maybe better to do something in the service door or perhaps build a mini service door and frame where the AC unit will be in the top of the hole. No service door? then youre looking at doing something with ducts/hoses and that's gonna be a mess...
Maybe look into a portable AC unit or a swamp cooler / evaporative unit..

 

[pseudorealityx]

When you open the door at the bottom, you now have a gap at the top where the top panel starts rolling back on the track.. Gonna have a pretty big air leak there.. Maybe better to do something in the service door or perhaps build a mini service door and frame where the AC unit will be in the top of the hole. No service door? then youre looking at doing something with ducts/hoses and that's gonna be a mess...
Maybe look into a portable AC unit or a swamp cooler / evaporative unit..

Do NOT put an evaporative unit in Virginia.

 

[Ohmthis]

I'm thlinking two things, 1) a portable a.c., and two) a mini split system. An inexpensive portable a.c. can be bought for around $300 and it only needs a very small opening for discharge. A mini split system can heat and cool if you get a heat pump type. There are tons of threads on this subjects so do a search.

 

[Big-Foot]

Do NOT put an evaporative unit in Virginia.

Why not? They work here in MN...

 

[Grumpy365]

Why not? They work here in MN...

The humidity added to air that is already humid just results in a clammy feeling and adding it to a garage, with typical residential garage ventilation, could result in mold or mildew.

You could also look at the psychometric chart, ASHRAE lays out a "comfort zone" and I bet it would result in conditions outside the zone.

 

[pseudorealityx]

Why not? They work here in MN...

It's too humid to get effective cooling because they work off wet bulb temperature approach. What cooling you do get will come with a ton of moisture, which effectively reduces how cool you 'feel', pretty substantially.

 

[Gary S]

The window unit will help you, but an install like that will be a PITA to use.

You would gain more by simply insulating the walls. If the heat doesn't get in, you don't need A/C to cancel it out.

 

[brownbagg]

A friend gave me a window ac unit. I thought about opening the garage door 1/4 of the way cutting a piece of plywood with an opening for the ac and prop it up with a 2x4 and running it that way.

that what I did, works great, a wooden frame that door closes on top, made out of scrap wood.

 

[Dan Babb]

I knew a guy who insulated his garage door (made a big difference) and then left the door to the house open and put a floor fan near the door to pull in cool air. Worked great and cooled off nicely (that was in South Florida).

Made working on his car more comfortable and the room cooled off quickly.

Would be easier than trying to effectively use that window unit.

 

[Big-Foot]

It's too humid to get effective cooling because they work off wet bulb temperature approach. What cooling you do get will come with a ton of moisture, which effectively reduces how cool you 'feel', pretty substantially.

MN, land of ten thousand lakes is no joke - I don't think there are more than three spots in the whole state where you can go five miles in a straight line without getting wet!

In other words - we know humidity... So, yes it is odd, but there are a bunch of old country stores out here that use mud pumps on those really bad Afrika-hot days when the temps are over 100 and the humidity is 40% to 50% or more..

So the physics of it would tell you that they won't work and maybe not well but they do actually work..

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

I think if I were to do a temporary / summer configuration, I'd make a set of vertical panels, about 3 feet wide by the total height of the opening with 2x4 framework and T111 siding applied to the outside. Make as many as you need for the width of the total garage door opening. You can bolt them side by side together, and lag bolt them to the header above the garage and to each side of the opening. The garage door itself would be rolled up to the max position which should clear the door frame.

Now that you essentially have 'walled' in the garage, you can mount your AC unit in one of the panels like you would any normal wall.

If you want to remove one of the panels and add a prehung door, that could provide easier access.

At least this would look okay if painted and would be secure. Then when the heat goes away later in the season, you can unbolt the whole thing and store it until next time.

If you need more ventilation or access, removing panels is quick with your socket wrench.

 

[pseudorealityx]

MN, land of ten thousand lakes is no joke - I don't think there are more than three spots in the whole state where you can go five miles in a straight line without getting wet!

In other words - we know humidity... So, yes it is odd, but there are a bunch of old country stores out here that use mud pumps on those really bad Afrika-hot days when the temps are over 100 and the humidity is 40% to 50% or more..

So the physics of it would tell you that they won't work and maybe not well but they do actually work..

I'm sure it helps when it's 100 out. But I wouldn't recommend it.