# Air conditioner to cool only me in the shop?



## JonW (Nov 13, 2009)

All the posts I've seen deal with cooling down the entire shop. I would like to just cool the area I work in. I have a 3-car garage plus an extra six feet (on the house side). The "shop" is the area closest to the house, extending slightly into the one-car space. There's a six foot workbench on the house wall with a radial arm saw at one end, and across a four foot "aisle" is a table saw. So I typically work in that space between the bench and the table saw: about four feet by ten feet.

Since it's not practical to cool the entire garage, I would like to get a portable AC which will blow cool air into that area where I am: and I'll duct the exhaust hose out through an outside wall. Have any of you done this? How well did it work, and what size did you use? The range for these units seems to be about 7,000 - 14,000 btu.

I have a standing fan at one end of the bench now, which helps some, but it's no match for Texas summers.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

I tried a small window unit blowing across the workbench towards me. Didn't make an appreciable difference. Now I use a BIG fan. It has made a big difference and it blows all the dust my DC misses out the door. I bought one of those circular fans on a tall adjustable stand at Atwood's when they went on sale in the fall. Love it!


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## CarlosJD (May 17, 2012)

I have a two car garage for a workshop that has a door two steps up into the kichen. I put a fan on the kitchen floor point out the door and crack the garage door slightly. This blows cool air from the house and keeps me cool enough during the long hot Las Vegas summers. This also helps blow dust up to my air scrubber.


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## Remedyman (May 20, 2012)

Carlos, It sounds like you are describing my shop. Sadly it is far from dedicated to wood. And the summers aren't too bad in Denver. But the summers do get kinda rough for a northerner like me. I might look into a portable AC unit.


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## PutnamEco (May 27, 2009)

I deal with the heat here in Florida with a fan as well. Sometimes even two fans, a large fan to set up for a cross wind and a smaller fan directed at my back. works out surprisingly well for me. I would be concerned with how much dust an AC would collect.


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

I bought a little window unit and it cooled my tiny shop really well….for one season. I fired it up the other day and it was dead in the window. I think I bought it at Lowes for $300-400 but I don't recall what kind of warranty it might have. Regardless, I'd have to wrestle the stupid thing out and return it. 
.
Anyone know anything about recharging these little devils?


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## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

I know I couldn't get anyone to recharge the window unit I had, it wasn't worth their time. I bought one at the big box store and it worked well for a long time.


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

Any possibility of pulling A/C from the house side into your space?


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## Smile_n_Nod (Jan 20, 2011)

A fan works well enough for me during my Texas summer as well.


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## longgone (May 5, 2009)

My shop is not attached to my house but I do use a window A/C unit and it does a great job of keeping my shop comfortable during those extremely hot days. My best investment was the spray foam insulation because it keeps the times needed for running the A/C to a very minimum.
When you do use an a/c you definitely need to have very effective dust filtration in your shop since all the dust remains in the shop with the cool air…


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

A/C is too expensive for me to operate in my 1200SF shop. I ran out of money and have not completed the insulation. The A/C I have installed was originally installed in the house and when I upgraded the house A/C, my shop inherited the old one, so I also have air and heat. Until I get the insulation finished, I depend on cross ventilation using a big fan. My shop gets into the 80's, but the fan makes it bareable down here in South Ms.


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## Doss (Mar 14, 2012)

We have a portable AC unit (over 12000 BTU) in a 2 car garage at my partner's homeshop. It does very little to keep us cool in the wet Mississippi air. The problem is the garage isn't insulated. That and it'd get way too dusty if we just closed the garage at all times (no dedicated dust collection).

My advice is get a big fan and have it blow over your work area and out the door. It'll keep dust out and keep the air moving over your skin (pulling heat away). Plus, it will probably last a lot longer than most AC units.

If you plan on keeping the doors closed, I'd put as large of a portable AC unit in there as possible. Even with that, I'd get a large enough fan in there to circulate that cool air around.

Also, make sure you insulate as much as possible. Garage doors, walls, and ceilings aren't usually very well insulated.

You could get a Mitsubishi ductless unit to permanently solve your problem (if that's in your budget). Some go higher than 30,000 BTU and carry 14+ SEER ratings.

Some more tips:
1. Work in the morning or later in the day.
2. If you do work in the morning, crank the portable AC down at night to cool the garage as much as possible. That way, in the morning, the surfaces have "soaked in" some of the coolness and will cool the garage for a while until it reaches ambient temperature again.


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## Smile_n_Nod (Jan 20, 2011)

A large fan can work wonders.

I had a summer job once working at a factory that made oil oil pipes and fittings out of fiberglass and epoxy resin. The factory had a metal roof and was located near Wichita Falls, TX, where daily summertime temperatures are frequently over 100 degrees. We wore longs pants and long-sleeve shirts, and worked with several large ovens that hardened the pipes and fittings. The only "air conditioning" were several large strategically placed fans. Surprisingly, tough, the fans made things quite bearable. We weren't exactly "cool", but we were comfortable enough to work.

(By the way, I made about $5.45 per hour in 1983 and thought I was rich.)


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## MoPower (Feb 6, 2009)

I installed two ductless, mini split heat pumps in my shop, (total of 3 tons). I've had them for almost a year now, shop stays at 76 degrees and my highest power bill has been $115.


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

I agree that a portable ducted unit isn't going to help much unless you stand right next to it. I think your best options are to either find a way to cool the entire space (split unit idea is probably the best), or make do with fans large enough to circulate air through the whole garage.


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

If possible, mount the A/C as high as possible in the room. Never mind putting it on the window sill. With a double-hung window, mount it as high as you can in the upper opening, by installing brackets outside directly into the window studs. It makes an incredible difference, especially when using an AC unit that you think is not powerful enough. It will do a lot more work when drawing from the hottest, most humid air in the room.


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## Finn (May 26, 2010)

I have part of my garage walled off to form my workshop here in West Texas. I installed a window unit and it cools the shop a bit but then I have one of those $50 squirrel cage type fans form home depot blowing on me as I work. The combination worked well today and it was 101 Degrees outside.


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