I have a 25*50 building with a 25*25 shop area that I need to cool. I'm looking to do an evaporative setup that will help to make these Las Vegas summers more bearable. The shop area has a man door and two 12*12 rollup doors. If there are better keywords to search let me know, otherwise and advice or links to good info are much appreciated.
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Cooling My Steel Building/Workshop
- Thread starter sprech
- Start date
Interesting that there are a bunch of posts on how to heat your garage this late in the year. I'm not really finding a whole lot, probably doing it wrong. Are the direct/indirect coolers more for commercial use? I'm not really finding any for sale.
Shop Specialties
Well-known member
If you do not want something permanent check out http://www.quietaire.com
36" portable evaporative coolers work great and they are quiet.
36" portable evaporative coolers work great and they are quiet.
Falcon67
Well-known member
I'm looking for permanent, just not commercial grade for commercial $$$.
None of the big portable evap coolers are cheap. I looked, AC was way cheaper. The Port-A-Cool products work well and are $$$$. So if you want cheap, then I'd go shop for used evap boxes from older houses and mount a couple on roller platforms. As long as the motor works, new pads and maybe new drip hoses and a pump turns an old evap into a new one. Go by a used appliance place and look for a refurbed ice machine. Dump ice and water in the bottom of the cooler and you'll have some fine AC.
I don't get the "heat my shop thing" in June either - but then I'm in Texas and we hit 100F 40 days ago.
pseudorealityx
Well-known member
Insulation is still a good idea, especially on the roof/ceiling. Otherwise, you basically have a big radiant heater over your head.
My sandbox is in hot humid areas, so I'm not much use for evap cooling, other than to say it doesn't work anywhere within 1000 miles of me.
My sandbox is in hot humid areas, so I'm not much use for evap cooling, other than to say it doesn't work anywhere within 1000 miles of me.
Insulation is still a good idea, especially on the roof/ceiling. Otherwise, you basically have a big radiant heater over your head.
My sandbox is in hot humid areas, so I'm not much use for evap cooling, other than to say it doesn't work anywhere within 1000 miles of me.
The roof panels have a reflective coating on them, there is some radiant heat, but the eave is 14' and the peak is about 17', so it's really not an issue. Plus it's not like I make my living in the shop and am in it 40-60 hours a week. More like a hobby situation and really it would probably take forever for me to recoup the cost of the insulation. If money were no object, I'd insulate it and make it like Antarctica during the summer months.
None of the big portable evap coolers are cheap. I looked, AC was way cheaper. The Port-A-Cool products work well and are $$$$. So if you want cheap, then I'd go shop for used evap boxes from older houses and mount a couple on roller platforms. As long as the motor works, new pads and maybe new drip hoses and a pump turns an old evap into a new one. Go by a used appliance place and look for a refurbed ice machine. Dump ice and water in the bottom of the cooler and you'll have some fine AC. Plus there are only 3 or so "hot" months and one or two really cold months, which leaves about seven months with moderate temperatures.
I don't get the "heat my shop thing" in June either - but then I'm in Texas and we hit 100F 40 days ago.
I had thought about doing something like that. Maybe some coils through a cooler/ice machine before it gets to the evap.
James-W
Well-known member
I am not so sure that not putting in insulation is a good idea. To cool the shop without insulation would require a much larger cooling system than you would need if you had really good insulation. The larger the cooling system the more will be the initial cost and also a larger system will take more energy to operate. Depending on how much time you spend working in the shop, you may find your cooling bills are pretty high priced.
TheEquineFencer
Well-known member
I'm not sure how expensive water is out where you are or if you can do your own well. But a local company near by did this. They installed misting sprinklers on the roof of their building to cool the roof. It felt like they had air conditioned the inside. This was a large old school warehouse type building. The town was not real happy with the set up. It increased their storm water run off with chlorinated water. the company tried it and found it was cheaper than trying to install A/C in the entire building. The city shut them down for the chlorinated water run off.
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I had a guy that does all my HVAC stuff come take a look at it today. He's going to get me hooked up with what I need. That misting roof thing sounds interesting. The problem is the water here is so hard that it gets deposits all over the place.