it aint amazing, but its better...

[reinhardt]

I have a 14x20 attached garage. no insulation in outside walls and none in overhead. no windows, no exterior man door. drywalled walls and overhead. i am in virginia, so it gets hot out. but all is not lost, after some experimentation and dumb luck i have figured out how to cool it down to a reasonable temp.

open roll up door.
place fan in doorway pointing into garage.
and now the secret- open the attic door!

i have a square hole framed w/ a plywood lid in the ceiling in the back of the garage. i happened to be working out in the garage and had some junk to throw in the attic. i had the wife passing things up to me while i was in the attic. standing by the access hole i noticed a steady breeze blowing up at me. it was actually bearable in the attic too. when i came out of the attic it was noticeably cooler in the garage. since then i have been opening that attic access when working out in the garage.

it's not 60 degrees in the garage, but it is a little cooler than standing out in the driveway. before it was hotter than standing in the driveway.

 

[mdbeck1]

Have you ever heard of an attic fan? You install them into the ceiling and they pull air from the garage/house into the attic for circulation. It will make the garage even cooler.

 

[Gary S]

You would be really impressed with some insulation and a window air conditioner.

 

[reinhardt]

insulation and window a/c through the wall is on the list. but this was a free 'band-aid' for now. i am familiar w/ attic fans, but again free for now. just thought some other folks in my boat could benefit from this. insulation, window a/c, the circuit to power a/c, and attic fans all cost money i dont have right now.

 

[mdbeck1]

I picked up a attic fan from HD that was a display model about a year ago for $50.00. It made a huge difference in the wood shop.

 

[reinhardt]

I picked up a attic fan from HD that was a display model about a year ago for $50.00. It made a huge difference in the wood shop.

is it throwing sawdust into the attic? that would seem to be a fire hazard.

 

[mdbeck1]

is it throwing sawdust into the attic? that would seem to be a fire hazard.

Well it throws some up there but there is no sheetrock on the ceiling so it just falls back down. The electrical boxes for the lights point down so I don't think I have a serious problem.

I guess that I could be getting an accumulation on top of the lumber stack in the attic but I'm not worried about that.

 

[reinhardt]

Well it throws some up there but there is no sheetrock on the ceiling so it just falls back down. The electrical boxes for the lights point down so I don't think I have a serious problem.

I guess that I could be getting an accumulation on top of the lumber stack in the attic but I'm not worried about that.

gotcha. i can see sawdust being blown up, just to rain back down. lol! i have wanted to put an attic fan into the ceiling of my garage to **** out welding fumes and grinding dust, but i dont wanna blow that into my attic...

 

[bchee]

I believe there's a difference between an attic fan, and a whole-house fan.
(at least in the names)

I think the attic fan blows hot attic air to the outside.
I think the whole house fan will blow hot air into the attic (in this case, from your garage).

If you had both that would probably work really well

 

[reinhardt]

i stand corrected. i would like to put a whole house fan in my garage ceiling.

 

[reinhardt]

just an update on the poor man's garage cooling. another free improvement to an already perfect cooling system. the attic 'hatch' was already on hinges to swing into the attic. i added an eyebolt to the 'hatch'

then i bolted a hook to a piece of plastic pipe i had laying around.

now i can hook the eyebolt and push the 'hatch' open, then when done i can lower the 'hatch' w/o it slamming down. no need for a ladder.

not bad for twenty minutes and some junk i had laying around the garage, huh?

 

[reinhardt]

and yes that is graffiti on my wall..... the previous owner's son had a garage band....

 

[rustbucket49]

stupid question time. What happens if you put an "attic fan" in a garage that has no ceiling (just the joists showing)?? I guess it will still move the air around, but is it so inefficient that it becomes totally useless??

 

[reinhardt]

by attic fan we mean that the fan is mounted to the roof sucking the air out of the attic, or mounted to the siding up at the top by the point. either way, if the fan is mounted sucking air out of 'attic', you'll **** fresh air in from down lower. it would seem to me, beneficial to exhaust hot air from up high and **** cool air from a lower point. follow me? i would say it would be beneficial to u.