Garage AC for cheap skates like me.

[GH85Carrera]

For all of the guys that have suffered through a HOT summer day working in your garage, I have been there done that. At the end of the day just the sweat alone can drain your energy. As I aged I get less tolerant of excessive heat. I still love to work in my garage but I had to get cool.
Three years ago I decided to come up with a way to air condition my three car garage. A central system was just way too expensive and overkill. I bought one sheet of 4x8 x ¾ inch outdoor grade plywood and 4- 2x4s and a box of deck screws and some glue. I also bought some primer & grey paint. I talked a buddy that has a table saw to drop by and we went to work. We cut the plywood down to 36 inches and in retrospect that was a mistake. I should have made it wider for my application. I then framed up the 2x4s to make a big box and a small box to hold a window AC unit.



I am not going to get into the exact measurements because every application will be different. Here it is in the back of my El Camino only rotated to be top up. The darker grey is foam insulation tape. That is a 2x4 that is attached to the 2 inch side so the frame is 4 inches deep. I know 2x4 are not really 2x4s but I am not getting into all those fractions. For this article it is a 2x4.
Here is the same door into place in the back door of my garage.



This picture shows the smaller acces door open. I will discuss that later.

This is it from the outside looking in. As you can see it just fits outside of the regular steel door and does not interfere at all with that secure steel door. I can close the steel door from the inside anytime.
Just three screws along the top hold the entire thing hold it in place with the help of gravity. I place a treated and painted piece of 2x4 along the bottom to keep the door off of the concrete. The next step is to slide the AC unit into place. I built a shelf right next to my back door that is at the height of my wrist when my elbow is against my stomach. That allows me to slide the AC unit off of the shelf and right into the opening and back out by myself. That AC unit is had to handle by myself and I nearly dropped it once. As self- professed geezer I now call my neighbor to help me move the AC unit into place. That is a lot safer and in fact it is a piece of cake to slide in or out with two people.



As you can see the shelf I built is typical of my over-engineering. It is also ¾ inch plywood and braced with angle brackets screwed into studs and two 2x4s screwed to the studs. It does not wiggle at all. Typical of any horizontal space in a garage it quickly filled up with stuff.

[GH85Carrera]

In the end the AC unit installed cools the garage workspace quite well. I the unit I bought was the biggest 110 volt unit I could find. I wish I had gone with a 220 unit. On the average summer day it will cool my garage nicely. On the 100 degree days if I start the unit in the morning it will keep up just fine. It does get overwhelmed on a 100 degree day when my wife and I both drive home from work with cars that have been outside all day. Two hot engines in an already hot garage the AC just never really make things cool, but I will tell you that inside 30 minutes it is way better than without AC. Just the de-humidified cool air blowing on my workspace makes things acceptable and I can work out there without sweating. I do have three ceiling fans over the work area.

[GH85Carrera]

In the end the AC unit installed cools the garage workspace quite well. I the unit I bought was the biggest 110 volt unit I could find. I wish I had gone with a 220 unit. On the average summer day it will cool my garage nicely. On the 100 degree days if I start the unit in the morning it will keep up just fine. It does get overwhelmed on a 100 degree day when my wife and I both drive home from work with cars that have been outside all day. Two hot engines in an already hot garage the AC just never really make things cool, but I will tell you that inside 30 minutes it is way better than without AC. Just the de-humidified cool air blowing on my workspace makes things acceptable and I can work out there without sweating. I do have three ceiling fans over the work area.

Here is a picture of from my work space looking at the unit. As you can see it blows right at me.



My garage is nothing like Jack’s award winning garage, but I love it more because it has three cars parked in it with enough room to open the giant door of my El Camino and not hit anything. The real bonus is the bathroom out there as well.
You will notice that there is a small door cut into the main door. That allows me access to the back yard when the AC unit is in place. Without that little door I either have to open the main garage door and let a lot of cool air out, or go through the house. If I am dirty from working on the 911 my wife will get a little upset with grease staining on the door knobs.

One mistake I made was making the bottom of the little door as high as it is. On a decent day I can just open the main garage door and then open the little door for cross ventilation. We have two dachshunds that can approach that door and peek in but they will not jump over and into the garage. I should have brought the small door as low as possible to make using it easier. With the raised bottom I have to step over and it is a little bit of a dance to get through. I added the little knob as a grab handle to help me balance as I step through. The other stick on a hinge is to hold the door open. He raised door bottom does help keep leaves and other debris from blowing in.

I have a “Kill-A-Watt” device to measure electrical usage. I calculated my electrical usage and at the summer rate it cost me about 80 cents per hour to run the unit. After 10 hours in the garage I spent 8 bucks to come inside and not be soaked in sweat. The cost of one six pack of beer to stay sweat free. I spent one long day in the garage and did a complete clay bar and wax job and interior detail on my Carrera. At the end of the day I came inside and did not even need a shower. It was a 100+ degree day outside. I had to throw that in to have some 911 content.

The total cost of the wood, glue, paint, screws and the AC unit was under 400 bucks. If you wait until fall you can pick up a window unit on sale for cheap.

[GH85Carrera]

The AC unit is still in place, this door is closed and the garage is secure.

You can see my first "cordless drill" and saw hanging above the door. They don't get much use now. Neither does the timing light and dwell meter.