Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike3461
Hello. I have a 2-car garage Villages home.
Has anyone installed air conditioning in the garage? What would you recommend? Would a mini-split do the job? Or, would a portable unit such as they sell at Best Buy work?
Thanks in advance.
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We have a 2 1\2 car extended garage with radiant barrier insulation above, and I insulated the garage doors with foam from Lowe's.
I decided to install an air conditioner in our garage so I could work on my car when needed. I was set on a mini-split since this is what most people seem to use. I received three estimates from various AC contractors that ranged from about $ 6,500 to $ 8,500, which included a veterans' discount of $ 1,500.
We have a 2 1\2 car extended garage with radiant barrier insulation in the ceiling of our 4-bedroom concrete block house, including over the garage. I insulated the garage doors with foam from Lowe's. Since we really don't use the garage often for actual work but wanted to keep it reasonably comfortable for the limited time, I did some work on the car or in my small workshop, and also kept the temperature about 80°F most of the time. I checked on a portable MEDIA AC unit with an advertised 12000/14000 BTU, 550 sq ft, (my garage is a little larger than 550) from Sam's for about $550. It had a variable speed inverter motor (more efficient) with heat and a remote control, both intake and exhaust hoses combined into 1 large oval hose (made it look a bit neater) connected into my garage window, and an air director that could be set to swivel up and down to move air. WOW, I THOUGHT, about a minimum of $6000 less and no yearly maintenance contract required on a mini split AC unit, why not give it a try, what do I have to lose? I was concerned about a few things before I bought the unit. 1. Can I move it into the garage and install it myself (not exactly a spring chicken) > The AC unit has wheels, and my wife and I were able to easily remove it from the box and move it to the window area, and install it within a day. 2. Of course, will it cool our garage to 80 most of the time > yes, often down to 79, and most time below 81. When we move our hot car into the garage after driving it the temp will clearly go up, and it takes the unit several hours to cool it back down to 80 +-2 even when the outside temp is well up there. So if you want to bring the temp down rapidly, this unit will not do that. 3 I was concerned about the 110 V outlet I had to use being able to handle charging my golf cart, and also the portable AC - turned out to be no issue. 4. What about water from the AC unit? This unit has a water evaporative system, and after several months of use, I haven't had any water issues, but there is an option to connect a narrow hose to it to drain it outside if needed. 5. Window install wasn't that hard, and it really doesn't take up much space in the garage, and doesn't look bad either. Would I buy it again > yes.
BTW, insulating the garage door with foam boards was a lot more work than I imagined and took me about a week at the rate I work, since the garage doors have hurricane bracing and require you to cut the foam into several pieces to fit behind the bracing. Oh, we did already have radiant barrier insulation, but the sun beating on the garage doors in the morning was a bit much, and I wanted to improve it some - additional foam did by about 4 degrees surface temp in the mornings.