Garage Fan
 

Has anyone had Triline Service put in a garage fan? Do they work?

I don’t know what fan you’re talking about, but I have fan in my garage that blows the hot air around. It seems colder if you in directly in front of it, otherwise it’s hot.

The Solar Guys
 

We could help you put with Garage or Attic fans. Licensed and insured with a local showroom location. Energy-Saving Solar Garage Fan Install | The Villages & Central FL

Attic fan? Ceiling fan? A fan only moves air around. Its cooling effect comes from moving air across your skin to wick away body heat faster/evaporate sweat not by lowering temperature.

I put a ceiling fan into my garage. It helps when I'm under it, and moving the heat created by car engines out of my garage. It also helps to move air around my garage refrigerator's compressor so it sheds its heat faster.

But if the temp outside is 95, the temp in your garage will never be lower than 95 in your garage with just a fan.

Solar Guys put in an electric garage ceiling fan with vents in the garage doors. It pulls air through the vents and exhausts it out of the ceiling. I've had it 12 years now and still runs like a champ. Garage always feels a lot cooler than outside due to the shade and airflow. Highly recommended but do what's best for you.

Do not recommend the garage attic fan with the vents cut in the garage doors. If it is 90 degrees out the air being pulled into the garage is hot humid air probably hotter than 90 degrees with the sun beating down on the concrete driveway. I had this set up and it is a total waste of money.

My solution was to insulate the garage attic and garage doors then add a mini split. On hot days the outside temp can be 90 degrees plus and my garage is 80 degrees inside with low humidity just running the mini split on dehumidify. You can always set it to A/C if you want it even cooler.

My setup works great, cost a bit over a $100. Different strokes, eh?

Solar Guys installed a system in your garage for $100? I don't believe either of your statements about cost or how well it works. I had a Solar Guys system that I ripped out for the mini split. So, I know which works and which doesn't.

Well, that's great that you don't believe me, Tom. I know what works for me, and yes, it was something just over $100.

The Solar Guys have put attic fans in our last 2 homes; it does help to pull some of the hot air out of the garage and push it out the attic/eave vents.

That is true during the heat and sun of mid-day, as the sun moves away from the garage door later in the day the attic fan pulls in the cooler air through the bottom of the door via installed vents and continues doing so well into the night. I've had one for the last 7 years along with fiberglass door insulation, it is set so that it kicks on after it get's to a certain temperature which usually is around 4:00 PM and then it starts feeling much better in the garage without opening the door and letting in mosquitoes, etc. I definitely got my money's worth out of it. During the day if I have to work out there I do have a fan that I can move around to circulate the air.

I had the solar guys put a fan in the garage and yes it works great. The garage will never be cooler than ambient temp.

Before I sold my business in Atlanta my company sold and installed what the Solar Guys offer and I highly recommend them. I don’t have a dog in this fight, just an honest assessment.

Wife and I were home shopping in TV last week and stumbled across one of your fans. It was immediately noticeable the garage was cooler than others we encountered. Also noticed the owner had insulated the garage door.
I will likely be installing this product when our house is finished around November.

Install a mini-split instead. Fans will NOT cool.

How hot your garage gets depends on several things.
Which direction your garage door faces. (Most important)
The COLOR of your garage door. (Darker colors absorb more heat than lighter colors).
Also whether your door is insulated or not.

OP - answer is "it all depends"
1) IF you need a space cooled enough to spend a lot time the garage for hobbies, wor,kshop, etc, get the mini-split
2) IF you want something just to remove stifling heat (and ventilate your attic too), get the garage fan. It will be a tad cooler than the outside air because it's in the shade plus there's a breeze. I run mine 24/7 in hot weather and I'm in the garage quite a bit.

Fans just push hot air around.

If the garage door has windows, putting a heat reflective film on thrm can help also.

I had TriLine install their garage fan on Friday so it's too soon to give a good evaluation. One issue I have is the garage door faces south. This means the afternoon sun will radiate heat through the door and which the fan has to remove. Therefore, I will need to insulate the garage door to help keep the temperature down during the day. It does appear the fan does help remove garage heat to the outside temperature faster when the sun goes down.

Does anyone have any suggestions who can insulate the garage door for me? At 81, I'm not anxious to do it myself. It would be like Joe Biden trying to do it. I have a 16' door and a cart door. About five years ago I had Munns do it for me on another home with an 18' door plus cart door for around $500. PM me with who you used what you paid.

Door Insulation
 

After insulating the doors did you need to readjust the springs to accommodate the additional weight?

I did not adjust them and no problems. The fiberglass also deadens the noise from outside.

If the garage is 90, and a fans is on, isn’t it still going to be 90 !

But, moving air cooler (to skin) than no movement when not. Now when it cold it’s still colder on skin.

An enclosed space (garage) will hold heat when there is no way to expel it. The ventilation and shade help a lot.
Imagine being out in the sun, or under a palm tree shade with a breeze. The shade and breeze helps a lot.

Does the Solar Guys unit have a fire damper?

If you have a window in the garage which most CYVs do just put a fan there pulling hot air out of the garage to the atmosphere.

Thus the reason I found a guy selling an outdoor ceiling fan for $25.

It move the air around, and when I stand under it I'm cooler. Helps when I'm messing with my car in the garage.