Rental property temporary climate control

[Ddewbre]

So my fiancé and I are renting a home right now and need to come up with a way to temporarily climate control the attached garage to house birds for our aviary business. The garage is 20X12 with a roughly 10 foot ceiling. I say roughly because it is open rafters with a pitched roof. There are no windows or outside doors other than the actual garage door. The wall attached to the house is sheetrocked and insulated. The other two walls are open beam 2X4s. Where the front and back walls meet the roof it is blocked off to deter animals obviously but no insulation or anything and you can see light filtering in. We need to be able to maintain roughly 70-80 degree temperatures in the garage year round and need to find a cost effective and energy efficient way to heat and cool it that is temporary/reversible. I plan on talking to the landlord to see if we can insulate and Sheetrock the other two wall and have it written off on rent but until then assume no structural modifications can be made. Oh and as far as climate we live in mid eastern Missouri.

That being said I was considering a mini split ductless system for heating and cooling but I didnt know if that needed to be vented with fresh air being circulated though or not. Keep in mind we will be housing animals in here and the temperature needs to be maintained 24/7. As far as insulating the area I was considering maybe just plastic for the two outside walls and then for the garage door I still need to be able to open it so I'm not sure how to insulate that better or if I should even worry about it.

Any thoughts and suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Stuart in MN]

The first thing will be to find out for sure if you can insulate the building, before pursuing the idea any further. Without that, it will be very difficult and expensive to keep a constant temperature inside - I would imagine in your area you can get subzero temps in the winter and 100+ in the summer.

A minisplit doesn't require any fresh air venting in itself (I believe they use electric heat coils for heating so there's no combustion), but you probably need some sort of fresh air supply for the bird's sake and that will need to be taken into account when sizing whatever you use for heating and air conditioning.

 

[pseudorealityx]

1) What kind of fuel is available?

2) Assuming electric since it's the easiest to remove, you're looking at a ~10KW heater if you actually ventilate the space like you should and you're going to go through another winter. At 240V/1 phase, that's a 60 amp breaker, and it's going to run a LOT when it's cold. You could do an HRV to reduce that significantly, but it'll add significant first cost.

 

[Ddewbre]

Ok I'm definitely checking with the landlord but I'm wondering if even if I can't Sheetrock I could tack some insulation between the beams and plastic over it or something like that

 

[Ddewbre]

It's going to be an electric power source and I don't really have a feasible way to ventilate or run ducting without structural changes. I may be able to run something up out of the space where the front and back walls meet the roof

 

[Professur]

it might be worth putting a 'tent' inside to limit both the size of the area under control, and prevent drafts. What power do you have available? a couple of 110V outlets are going to seriously limit your possibilities.

 

[pseudorealityx]

Ok....

What is your version of "cost effective"? First cost and operating cost.

 

[pseudorealityx]

it might be worth putting a 'tent' inside to limit both the size of the area under control, and prevent drafts. What power do you have available? a couple of 110V outlets are going to seriously limit your possibilities.

Since he can't actively ventilate, he actually wants the drafts... if the goal is to keep it as 'nice' as having a bunch of live animals in your garage can be.

 

[Ddewbre]

Actually come to think of it i haven't even checked if there's outlets in there which I'm going to say there probably aren't. But I think I can put one in on the inside wall without and issue so yes I'll probably just have one or two 110Vs. As far as cost I'm thinking 800-1500 startup and hoping it would run us an additional $60-80 a month on the energy bill.

I was thinking of the tent idea but didn't know if it would be a good option with live animal

 

[Rockhead261]

Non-PETA member parrot owner here... just have to ask why you're in the "aviary business" and keeping birds in a garage with no windows/natural light. Wouldn't a screened enclosure in a large conditioned space work better?

To address your question, and to re-ask what pseudorealityx asked, WHAT KIND OF FUEL IS AVAILABLE?

Natural gas > Oil > propane > heatpump > electric > pellet > wood.

As far as cooling goes, can't really beat a minisplit unless cost is huge. If so, just rent a spot cooler. Keep in mind that a the constant fan from these units in a smallish area will make it drafty. Might need to hang some barriers to protect the smaller birds.

 

[Ddewbre]

Well first off we are going off on a tangent with the birds but it is a small amount of birds to service regional aviaries with and this is a transitional period for us prior to buying a new home. We use full spectrum bulbs to Meet their light needs and all our birds are happy and healthy.

It is going to be electric fuel as mentioned earlier .

 

[Professur]

Just one more thing you'll need to speak to the landlord about ... make sure HE checks with the municipality concerning zoning. You're operating a business and dealing with animals on a commercial basis. There may be permits and inspections needed to keep both you and him from a knock on the door thanks to a phone call by a nosy neighbour.

 

[Ddewbre]

Well I appreciate the concern and advice on both the birds and the business end by I feel those subjects are off topic.

 

[Ddewbre]

Oh and to update I just looked and I have a single 110V outlet in there

 

[pseudorealityx]

You can't do what you want to for $1k and a single 110v outlet. Sorry.

 

[Rockhead261]

Well I appreciate the concern and advice on both the birds and the business end by I feel those subjects are off topic.

Good luck with your venture and your experience on the GJ. I'm out.

Sent from my outdated phone using a free app that spies on me.

 

[pseudorealityx]

Real quick...

The MOST cost effective combination you can go with is a window unit for the summer, and you MIGHT be able to maintain 70 with a 5 KW heater. That still is going to need a 240V circuit. And ZERO promises that it will maintain 70. And that's not doing any active ventilation, which is against code. FWIW, a 5 KW heater costs ~$0.50/hr to run if it's running constantly.

IE, you can't do what you want to do for your budget. Bring the birds inside until you can find some money or a different location.

 

[Ddewbre]

I do not have a window in the garage so the window unit AC is not a viable option. Also I don't have to use the one 110V outlet as the only power option. I was just saying what is currently available. I still like the idea of getting a mini split ductless heating an cooling system installed and rigging up some cheap temporary insulation. Is that not a decent option?

 

[kd3pc]

I do not have a window in the garage so the window unit AC is not a viable option. Also I don't have to use the one 110V outlet as the only power option. I was just saying what is currently available. I still like the idea of getting a mini split ductless heating an cooling system installed and rigging up some cheap temporary insulation. Is that not a decent option?

not for your budget, either installation or running...

you are basically trying to heat and cool a chunk of the great outdoors, and while many do it year in and year out....your budget is getting in the way.

You need to work with your landlord/owner to make sure you can do what ever it is, you want to do, else your split will become his.

there is no cheap temporary solution

 

[Ddewbre]

The more I look into this I think the tenting option is the way to go. Basically tent off a section inside the garage and run something like this: http://www.climaterightair.com/camping-heating-and-air-conditioning.

How does that sound?

 

[Ddewbre]

Or even just a portable AC unit of any kind and a space heater for winter. With the tent setup in the garage and the garage being mostly uninsulated and drafty would I even need to vent the portable AC outdoors?

 

[kd3pc]

Or even just a portable AC unit of any kind and a space heater for winter. With the tent setup in the garage and the garage being mostly uninsulated and drafty would I even need to vent the portable AC outdoors?

I think you seriously underestimate the cost of keeping something at 80 degrees, using electric heat, when ambient is freezing or below. ie - my 1200 sq ft home, built last year, super insulation and windows...electric heat bill this winter doubled...and we keep it 65-66 and wear flannel shirts

similarly AC in the summer, just for reducing humidity, is going to kill your budget.

A portable AC unit, needs some place to exhaust hot air, humidity...so running it in the garage is not going to work.

Best of luck, the group has given you the best wisdom and experience and now you just need to decide what you will spend your $$ on.

 

[Ddewbre]

I understand what you're saying as I've seen my costs increase a ton before as well. We would probably keep it closer to 70 in the winter and 80 in the summer. That was just the ballpark range. Same for energy costs. I honestly have no clue how much it would cost to electrically heat and cool a 10X10X10 tented area I just was throwing out number comparable to my house bill which is a much bigger space. As far as the venting of the portable AC; the garage is drafty and uninsulated so it's basically like being outdoors or is that not true?

 

[pseudorealityx]

A ductless minisplit you can get for $1k isn't going to maintain 70 degrees in a drafty uninsulated garage when it's 5 degrees outside.

 

[Ddewbre]

Yeah that's the conclusion I came to as well hence the tent option. I think I'm just going to abandon the project and sacrifice a room in the house for it

 

[c.snyder]

For what it's worth considering price, i have a workshop that's 12x23, with insulated R13 walls and 15 inches of cellulose in the attic. Ceiling and walls are finished with drywall and the floor is porcelain tile over concrete slab. I keep it 63F winter round and this last month here in northern indiana my electric bill was $80 using a 5kW heater. During the deep freeze in january it was $110. I can only imagine what it would be for your garage. Indoors would be best.