Best way to heat and cool Garage?

35terra, that sounds like a great way to heat and cool. I grew up in the Duluth area, I know how cold you can get. Warm floors on the feet make a HUGE difference also, the ceiling fans are also good unless you're like my wife, she says they are drafty when on.. Good ideas, they should be in the Wiki.


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"When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not." - Mark Twain

She wouldn't mind these fans they are 60" three bladed fans made for big shops or plants, they go so slow you can see each blade.

Later 35terraplane

For the dollar, wood is hard to beat for heat in the winter and
in both either hot or cold weather the more insulation the better obviously; since it can pay for itself over time too if you consider how much it helps reduce the electric bill in the summer and whatever you decide to use for heating in the winter. Hopefully we get three monthes out of the year where neither is needed and the garage door can stay wide open!!

In my stepvan painting the roof with white solar reflective paint (made for tin roofs)has worked wonders this last summer. I didn't realize how much it would really help before I did it but it has turned out to be an amazing night and day difference. The roof of my van has some insulation luckily already but it was still unbearable without that paint. It must have made a 20+ degree difference when parked in full sun.

my .02$

I saw some old two bladed airplane propellers turning slowly in a shop rigged up belt drive with big long mower deck belts or something powered by a little electric motor. Pretty cool looking I thought, dunno how great it worked but definetly industrial looking and I like that style.

In montana when I was living there I learned how due to the dry climate the "swamp cooler" is very popular, the evaporative cooling method works incredible in the drier climates and will actually lower the temp substantially for very little electric. 100 degrees outdoors but in the shop you feel almost like you have a chill... They even used them in some big department stores I heard, Just a little trivia there

those big two bladed fans would work good, all they have to do is move the air, not make it so you have to wear lead boots , besides that would blow everything around in the shop.

Later 35terraplane

I live near Yellowstone , up here we get 6 months winter then 6 months of poor snow ski weather, the growing season this year was from mid june til labor day. the house garage, 30 x 50 , is cinder block with insulation filled core and 4 ft of insulation in the attic, a gas furnace for winter heat, It is nice in the winter and doesn't even get warm in the summer when we get a rare 90 degree day. The farm shop a few miles away is 40 x 120 , 16 ft walls, metal clearspan, insulation only in the attic, a big wood stove for heat, on cold days i try to find a project somewhere else. My Nephew built a house in N Calif foothils, a lot of 100 plus days in the summer. He used 3 100 ft runs of 8 in plastic pipe buried 8 ft down to get earth temp cooling, with exhaust fans when needed , a lot of time the temp difference moved the air . like in a fireplace chimney, hot air goes up. With a lot of humidity you would have to slope the pipe and have a condensation drain system. Air intakes under shade trees helps too.

You are a lucky guy, you live in one of the nicest spots in th USA, in my opinion, which to some might not be worth much. we had cruise nite last nite and one couple had just got back from there and another were going.
both my house and my shop are on slabs, both are built with 2 X 6 " S, The house 16" on center, and the shop 24" on center, my shop has 15' walls, with one end having the high ceiling for my lift. The other end has a 10' ceiling and a upstairs , where I have a space 18 X 30 foot, the reason I only have it 18' wide is you don't have to lower your head when standing next to the wall.
Both places have in floor heat which is fueled by gas. I thought about Geo-thermo in a closed system, but it is spendy and I didn't know if I would save anything, with me at the short end of the tape measure. Saying that I'm too old to cut wood, I have plenty, as I have a little slice cut out of 20 acres, and I mean small, I just built this house 3 years ago so when I made the yard, in front I measured 188" from the edge of the slab in front of the house, and we took out the junk trees , oak, elm, maple and red and white pine stayed the rest gone, I did that , knowing my wife would be making a flower bed around 3 sides of the house, in back I made it about 8 passes with the mower wide then between the house and my shop, I made it quite big for my drain field. Between the house and the shop I have a Pad that is &5' X75' or so the sun hits right between them.
Back to the shop I have two 3 blade 60" fans that turn super slow just to move the air, they can go fast, but I never run them up high speed. I have 2 110v a/c units mounted high up on opposite walls, each will cover 1600 SQ. FT. so with 2 I have the shop covered and it gets cool upstairs.
The whole shop is sheet rocked, up and down. Then I have a bath room in it, that I had made big enough, so I could store heavier long stuff on. Most of the time I but the parts and things for what ever I'm working on, that way I can keep all the parts in one spot and not get them mix up with some other car.
So as far as the heat and cool go, Heat goes up but it starts at your feet, and cool drops I have my A/C units high So it starts at your head and goes to your feet. Up here I use the heat a lot more than the cool. so far this month I think we hit 70 once most of the time we are lucky to hit 60. It's funny in the spring when it gets about 55 we open the shop doors but in the fall when it gets below 65 I use my standby heater that I have on the wall.
Thats my shop in a small book, And as you we have winter 6months also.


35 terraplane

http://www.thegaragegazette.com/index.php

Much better site than the garage journal. They are way too uptight at GJ

I have been on here just a short time and everyone seems to get along, very nice bunch of guys , and you can learn a few things , and maybe even teach a few.


Later Bob AKA 35terraplane