Hvac a room inside shop?

[Hobby_Man22]

I've been thinking of making a small living area inside my shop, however I dont want to put a hole in the side of the shop for a window unit and would rather have the window unit exhaust its heat inside the shop. The shop is 3000 square feet and id like to make something like a 15x20 small loft type room. Is it going to cause problems doing this? I can run a condensate drain line outside the shop, thats not a problem. I dont see the a small window unit changing the temperature of the shop much being itw 3000 square feet

 

[PugetDude]

Mini split...

 

[whateg01]

Split System Outdoor Unit Installed Inside????

What do forum members think about this approach? In my shed build I'm proposing to mount two split system outdoor units inside. When I've searched the web for recommendations on this, the general advice is not to do it but there must be circumstances (???) where really it's no different to...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[loganb]

Put the mini split compressor outside where it belongs. It's a 3" hole thru the wall and your in Texas, you probably didn't want another heat source inside the shop.

 

[cvairwerks]

We run both mini splits and chilled water systems in our hangar control rooms and break rooms. The minis have the compressor packages out in the hangars or electrical rooms. They don't really add much heat in the summer, but operate much more efficiently.

 

[American Locomotive]

..isn't this shop already air conditioned? To answer your question, yes you can do that. A mini split would be more efficient.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

At work we put a minisplit in to cool a computer room and the "outdoor" unit is inside the warehouse adjacent to the computer room's rear wall.

It's worked fine for almost 30 years that way.

Mitsubishi MisterSlim

No idea if they still make that model....but it's been a good one.

 

[fitter30]

Most window ac don't drip condensate that much if any. They have a slinger on the fan blade that throw the condensate on the condenser coil to help get rid of heat.

 

[PoorUB]

I would toss a cheap window unit in a hole in the wall made for it. A small 6,000 or 8,000 BTU should be fine.

As for heating up the rest of the shop I doubt you will notice it as you are just moving BTUs from one area to the other that is already in that area, but you will gain a bit of heat from motor losses.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

I would toss a cheap window unit in a hole in the wall made for it. A small 6,000 or 8,000 BTU should be fine.

As for heating up the rest of the shop I doubt you will notice it as you are just moving BTUs from one area to the other that is already in that area, but you will gain a bit of heat from motor losses.

Not much different than a refrigerator right?

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Most window ac don't drip condensate that much if any. They have a slinger on the fan blade that throw the condensate on the condenser coil to help get rid of heat.

I wonder if they all have that slinger

 

[firebirdparts]

I've never seen one with it, but then again I haven't had any reason to look at a window air conditioner in a long time. 40 years ago none of them had it.

 

[ipgenie]

I have a small loft office space in the 36x42, very well insulated half of my shop. My office is 12x14 with a low ceiling. I work remotely as an IT manager out of this space 4-5 days each week. There are no exterior windows, but two windows look out over the main shop space.

I live in Idaho. It's very dry here with summer highs around 90 degrees. My shop stays quite cool during the day due to the R48 foam insulation and becase it cools down into the 60s outside overnight.

I love this quiet, well laid out, comfortable work space. It's still under construction, with mostly finish work left. One thing I'm nearly done installing is the small minisplit unit. To keep office temps at 75 degrees in the heat of the summer, I've been using a 5k window AC installed like you are considering. It cycles off more than on, but it's so noisy that I can't wait for the minisplit to come online.

I have a large garbage can sitting on the floor below the window AC. It currently has about 12 inches of water in it due to the AC condesate, even with our very low humidity. The larger shop space obsorbes the transfered heat just fine, but is (barely) noticeably warmer and more humid with the AC running. It's only a few degrees but noticeable.

The compressor for my minisplit is mounted outside and I ran the line set through a 2.5 inch hole yesterday. I'm looking forward to having a cool and once again quiet work space both in the office and in the main shop space.

What you are wanting to do will work fine, but I'd spring for the split system. It will be more efficient, quiet and if you are in a humid part of TX, drier. My small unit was $700 and is the same unit I installed in my home office before that larger (and noisier due to the kids) space in the house became a nursery. I loved how well it cools and heats and how quiet it is.

 

[dscheidt]

At work we put a minisplit in to cool a computer room and the "outdoor" unit is inside the warehouse adjacent to the computer room's rear wall.

I used to work in a facility where, for reasons never adequately explained, the cooling plant for the computer room was installed on the wrong floor. Instead of extending or moving the chilled water pipes, they installed an AC (a conventional ducted setup) in the actual computer room, and put the compressor in the cooled space.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Wouldn’t a window unit create a decent amount of humidity into the shop?

 

[Hobby_Man22]

Wouldn’t a window unit create a decent amount of humidity into the shop?

Well, I wasn't aware that they sent the condensation through a fan to get slung all around. I'd have to look into that. I'd have to find one that you could just hook up a drain line to. As far as adding humidity to the rest of the shop i dont think it would matter much

 

[dscheidt]

Well, I wasn't aware that they sent the condensation through a fan to get slung all around. I'd have to look into that. I'd have to find one that you could just hook up a drain line to. As far as adding humidity to the rest of the shop i dont think it would matter much

It's not slung all around, it's slung onto the outside coil. That cools the coil down, cools the air moving across the coil, and increases efficiency, as well as limiting drips from the unit. The efficiency gain from them can be substantial, 25% or so in ideal conditions (which don't exist most of the time, so actual change is more like 10%, I've been told.) Most units have a drain still, with a plug in it. You can remove it and hook a hose up to the drain. If there isn't a drain, there's no reason you can't add one.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

It's not slung all around, it's slung onto the outside coil. That cools the coil down, cools the air moving across the coil, and increases efficiency, as well as limiting drips from the unit. The efficiency gain from them can be substantial, 25% or so in ideal conditions (which don't exist most of the time, so actual change is more like 10%, I've been told.) Most units have a drain still, with a plug in it. You can remove it and hook a hose up to the drain. If there isn't a drain, there's no reason you can't add one.

I have a window unit that shoots water out the side. Always thought it was just rain water though.