Swamp cooler or just big fan

[ed.schmidty]

I am new to this forum, am going to be moving into a new house with a 45 X 14 RV garage with a 2 car garage attached to it. I had the builder insulate it, so I am thinking of a large 84" fan and thinking of a Porta Cool Evap cooler. I live in Phoenix and do not do a lot of work on things in the garage, but for a few years I will have a trampoline in there for my daughter. Thinking this would be work, any one have any recommendations on a portable Evap cooler. I have see Portacool and Cool Space which is a better unit?

Thanks

 

[930dreamer]

An evaporative cooler will work great in AZ, have you thought about a permanent one mounted to the shop?

 

[TangoFoxTrot]

I definitely think it's a good idea to get a swamp cooler for an application like that in your climate.

I'd recommend one that mounts through a wall and is permanent. Home Depot can order a lot of these models and they're fairly inexpensive. WAAAAY cheaper than Portacool models, like $500 vs $3,000+ for the portacool.

The problem with the portable ones using indoors is the evaporated water that removes the heat gets trapped in the building if you roll one inside as its under the ceiling and also gets more humid than it needs to be. If its mounted on a wall or ceiling and is sealed, the heat the cooler removes doesn't recirculate back into the home. It also starts sucking in humid air and loses its effectiveness when you wheel one inside.

The other option is making sure a portable one is just outside the building, but you lose the cooling ability very quickly the further away it is.

The portacool models are meant more for outdoor use.

 

[PFSard]

Welcome to GJ.

Just for the record, you're entering the season where the lows of the day hover between 85-90+. Monsoon season bringing rains and humidity. And highs during the afternoon of 110-115+. I try to avoid frequenting my garage during this season.

Good luck on your research on best methods for cooling that space. There are a lot of members from this area. Hopefully one can provide a solution based on personal experience that is satisfying to you.

 

[ed.schmidty]

Thanks for the information. I have been here 5+ years, and know to stay inside or in the pool. The bad part is that I am building a new house and closing in the middle of July. I know right the hottest part of the year. We are going to work on the house (painting and all the girly things with wife wants) and finally move the boxes into the garage in the beginning of Aug. I want to have the RaceDeck down before we move the boxes in, and do not want to sweat all the water out of me. I have the RaceDeck and a few other things in the garage then it is wait till the main heat is over.

Thanks for the information..
Will show photos of before and after once it is all done. (If it really ever gets "Done")!

 

[James-W]

Welcome to the forum.

Any particular reason why you don't want regular air-conditioning instead of using a swamp cooler?

 

[ed.schmidty]

If I use a regular AC I would need a "Furnace" to push the cold air, and do not want to take up that much space, also I really only need it when I am working out there. So it would take a long time to cool the whole garage space with a normal AC unit. I only really need it a few months out of the year as the temp at night makes it cool enough to cool the space and keep it cool enough.

 

[Falcon67]

An evaporative cooler will work great in AZ, have you thought about a permanent one mounted to the shop?

X2 - the swampers I've been around in AZ and NM work as well as regular AC units here in Texas. We have used Porta-Cool units at the track and thew work decent here if the humidity is low. Which is typical for west Texas but not guaranteed. My wife's dad's house in Albuquerque never had anything but a swamper on the roof - it's freeze you right out of the house.

 

[e015475]

Until about 5-6 years ago I had evap cooling in the main house. It was pretty nice up until about the 4th of July when the humidity started to rise. The evap unit would give about a 20F temp drop from ambient, but that still left the temp at about 85-87F in the house with the humidity at 80-85%. The last week of June I'd shut the evaps down and start the AC. I'd turn it on again in the fall after the monsoons subsided. Maintaining an evap cooler is a pain in the *** and it doesn't save much in electricity anymore either.

I worked last summer in an uninsulated building with a Portacool as the source of cooling - about a 5' diameter fan in the cooler. In the afternoons you'd have to be directly in front of the fan to get any relief from the heat. We were doing metalwork, and surface rust on workpieces and tools was always an annoyance. Despite drinking a lot of water, come late afternoon you'd start to get dehydrated even working in front of the cooler. We knocked off work early maybe a dozen times last summer to get out of the heat.

My home shop is about the same size and I started out having it evap cooled, then moved to a window AC (the largest one I could buy at HD would keep it to about 85F but at least the humidity was tolerable) and finally installed a 3T ducted AC system, which is great.

I think one of the ductless mini-split AC systems might be ideal for your area. Check out the heating and cooling forum on this website - lots of writeups and DIY is a real possibility.



























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