Mr. Cool heating strategy for garage.

[Eplebnista]

I installed a Mr. Cool unit in my garage over the summer and have been very happy with it. My plan for the winter months was to keep the garage at about 50 degrees and bump up the heat several hours before I planned to do any real work inside. I have since found that the Mr. Cool minimum temperature setting for heat is 62 degrees, which doesn't quite fit my plans. My garage is pretty tight and holds heat well and, to my amazement, the smartphone app that came with the unit works well. I could theoretically schedule the unit to heat 12 hours on and 12 off using the app but have no idea if that would use more energy and stress on the system rather than just leaving it at 62. As a bonus, She Who Must Be Obeyed thinks heating an empty garage is dumb (Maybe I should put a 1/2 ratchet in the freezer and ask her to hold it while watching yet another Hallmark Christmas movie.)

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Terry D]

I would just set it on 62. These units are pretty efficient . Since your garage is insulated well, I wouldn't worry about it. I also installed a mr cool over the summer in my garage and found out the same thing. I just leave it in 62. It hasnt been real cold yet, but 62 is comfortable to work in.

 

[Raisedonadeere]

I tried to make sense out of various claims that some units made for what they called freeze protect etc but when it came down to actual use the lowest setting most of the brands would actually run at was 60 or 62. Knowing my garage was well insulated and sealed, 24x36 x 10', I installed a Senville 18K Casset hyper heat model, they call it SENA, it is identical to the 18K Mr Cool unit in my house.

Long story short I now know 62 degrees is perfect, feels warm when walking in and I am quickly down to shirt sleeves if doing any work, The car and utv love it too. I said all that to say, once the electric bills came in, I quit worrying about the cost to run the thing and just left it on 24/7. During the coldest month when outside temps were hovering between 10-25F, with a few 0 degree F, it added about $20 to the bill, and when the warmer days rolled around it trailed off to so little it was absolutely not worth fiddling with turning it on and off. One nice benefit was this past spring I did not have the damp floors (condensation) we usually experience here in central KY. I did use 2" foam board perimeter insulation around the outside of the foundation when building the garage and that seems to be making some difference.


I persisted in trying to find out if these units would suffer any life shortening stress if you force them to run at lower temps which would be easy to do by placing a source of heat under the thermostat such as a lamp, and I could not get any answers that were definitive enough for me. Several pretty knowledgeable people said it would do no harm, but none of the manufacturers would touch the question. I proceeded to do my install with the plan that I would just fake out the thermostat (I installed a wired wall thermostat) but as things progressed whatever savings one could imagine just would not be worth sacrificing the enjoyment of a perpetually temp controlled and comfortable garage.


All bets are off on cost to run if you are undersealed or under insulated.

 

[Slednut]

I also installed a Mr Cool (24000 BTU) unit last summer. Found out when I went to heat that 62 was the lowest temp. Our 26x56' garage is attached so it's pretty easy to heat. The lowest temp I've ever seen was 47 degrees at sub zero temps outside. I'm leaving it run 24/7 at 62 and it's usually 61 on a low 20 degree morning. I'm going to watch the energy bill and see what the difference is. Before the Mr Cool I heated with a 5000 watt electric heater so I'm thinking it's going to be a lot cheaper even with the temperature at 62 degrees 24/7.

I've been building a new welding table and have been wearing short sleeve shirts.

 

[fastsvo]

I also installed a Mr Cool (24000 BTU) unit last summer. Found out when I went to heat that 62 was the lowest temp. Our 26x56' garage is attached so it's pretty easy to heat. The lowest temp I've ever seen was 47 degrees at sub zero temps outside. I'm leaving it run 24/7 at 62 and it's usually 61 on a low 20 degree morning. I'm going to watch the energy bill and see what the difference is. Before the Mr Cool I heated with a 5000 watt electric heater so I'm thinking it's going to be a lot cheaper even with the temperature at 62 degrees 24/7.

I've been building a new welding table and have been wearing short sleeve shirts.

Can I ask how many inches is the unit mounted below the ceiling? I am going through some mounting ideas and its going to be a tight fit between my gladiator cabinets and the ceiling. Anyone know if it almost sits directly on top of the metal cabinet, will it hurt the flow by "bouncing" off the cabinet?

 

[theoldwizard1]

I also installed a Mr Cool (24000 BTU) unit last summer. Found out when I went to heat that 62 was the lowest temp. Our 26x56' garage is attached so it's pretty easy to heat.

Do you have just ONE air handler ? How well does it distribute the heat ? For a building that large I would have gone with TWO air handlers, unless part of the space is blocked off and not conditioned.

 

[mogandave]

Can I ask how many inches is the unit mounted below the ceiling? I am going through some mounting ideas and its going to be a tight fit between my gladiator cabinets and the ceiling. Anyone know if it almost sits directly on top of the metal cabinet, will it hurt the flow by "bouncing" off the cabinet?

I can's speak to the Mr. Cool, but I have a Carrier 36,000 BTU unit 2" from the ceiling an it's been fine.

You should be able to adjust the vanes to blow pretty much straight out.

 

[Slednut]

Can I ask how many inches is the unit mounted below the ceiling? I am going through some mounting ideas and its going to be a tight fit between my gladiator cabinets and the ceiling. Anyone know if it almost sits directly on top of the metal cabinet, will it hurt the flow by "bouncing" off the cabinet?

It's 6 and 1/2 inches from the ceiling. I also have Mitsubishi, it and the Mr Cool when the vanes are on auto are aimed down in heat mode and when on cool they're aimed straight out so the heat mode may not be as efficient that close to your cabinets.

 

[Slednut]

Do you have just ONE air handler ? How well does it distribute the heat ? For a building that large I would have gone with TWO air handlers, unless part of the space is blocked off and not conditioned.

Our attached garage does have to sides, one is the original garage which is 26x26' and has 8 foot ceilings. The new addition is 30x26x9' and has living space above it. I do have a curtain/tarp that I pull between the two but the only time I've done it is when we had a couple weeks of 3 digit temps. 40 feet of one wall and the entire addition has living space on the other side so like a said earlier it's pretty easy to heat and cool.