Replies

1. 
   RalphBarker | Jun 11, 2010 01:29am | #1

   split AC

   I have no direct experience with such units, but I recall a recent Ask This Old House segment where they installed one in a garage in Florida. It might have even been a Fuji. The manufacturer or dealer should be able to give you specs and requirements for your installation, though.

   Is your door such that it can be insulated (e.g. with rigid foam insulation panels)?

1. 
   northhouguy | Jun 11, 2010 03:10pm | #2

   Thanks for Your Reply

   Yes, I plan to glue some kind of insulation board to the overhead door.  I haven't gotten that far yet, but I'll be at the big box this weekend so I'll look around.  Any particular adhesive I should look for?  I remember something called "Liquid Nails" years ago.  I'm sure things have imporived since then.

   The shop will have insulation on the front door, in the celing and along the back wall.  The left and right walls are "outside" walls and as far as I know are un-insulated.

   It's early to bed and early to rise for me tonight so I can get a few hours in the shop tomorrow morning between 0700 and 1000, the "cool" of the day.  This time of year it's, "Eighty by Eight"....

1. 
   RalphBarker | Jun 11, 2010 07:50pm | #3

   It now takes both hands to count the different types of "Liquid Nails". You'll need to read the application notes to determine the appropriate product for the type of insulation board being used.

   I've been looking at Dow Thermax panels (2" = R13) for my (New Mexico) steel garage door, but haven't finished researching the issue. It appears to be intended for walls, but might work on the garage door, as well.

2. 
   JohnWW | Jun 17, 2010 03:47pm | #4

   Fred,

   The better the insulation, the smaller the AC unit you will need and the smaller the electric bill every month thereafter.  A good AC installer should be able to tell you what the cost trade offs are, I would start there.  

   As a minimum all surfaces in the shop should be insulated to whatever the current building code standards are, but these are minimum standards and there is often a better long term saving by exceeding the minimum insulation levels.

3. 
   larryciesla | Jun 21, 2010 12:46pm | #5

   Split AC unit for shop

   I just installed a "mini-split" air conditioner in my shop.  There are many choices on the market and several web sites are devoted to selling these types of air conditioners.  I chose a Mitsubishi 24000 BTU unit for my 1200 sq ft work shop.  My shop is a pole building commonly found on farms.  The building is very well insulated more for the cold winters in Ilinois.  The 24000 BTU unit is slightly on the small side but so far has done an excellent job cooling the shop, but summers in Chicago are nothing like what you get in Texas.  My research seemed to indicate that 24000 BTU was about the largest split available and the common advice if you needed more BTUs was to install two units.  Not a cheap thing to do.

   My son and I installed the unit which was very simple to do.  The only tricky part was connecting the lines between the inside unit and the outside unit.  I paid a professional to do this connection, vacuum the lines, and check out the final installation.  It was worth it because the equipment needed is specialized and this was something I felt it was worth paying for someone's experience.

   As for cost, the unit was about $1600 and the final hookup was $200.  I saved some money by doing most of the work myself which was very easy.

   Hope this helps and good luck.

   Regards,

   Larry Ciesla

   http://www.larryciesla.com