a/c in the garage man cave? (1 Viewer)

shleepytime

shleepytime

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I love hosting, but without a basement, I am limited to hosting poker nights in the garage. Because it feels like a sauna when the garage door is closed, I can't host in the summer. So I've been thinking about purchasing a portable a/c unit, the kind that would require me to cut a hole in the side of the garage to vent out the exhaust.

Has anyone done this to cool their garage space? Good idea? Bad idea? Too costly? Doesn't get the garage cool enough? Any tips or suggestions for a particular a/c unit?
(And if you're curious, my garage is attached to the house... 18x18... and I'd have my guests walk in/out through the front door instead of opening/closing the garage door every time someone entered or exited.

Thanks!
 
I use the attached garage and have a portable AC but there is a window for me for the 2 tubes (intake and exaust) All in all it works well but takes a while. The garage is probabaly close to 500 sq ft and has 11 ft ceilings. I need to turn it on in the day to be comfortable at 8pm. On the hottest NJ day it takes my garage from humid 80+ to low/mid 70s with no humidity hence comfortable. On a regular summer day I can get to 70 if needed.

It is not perfect but suits my needs for the 200 dollar unit I got on craigs list about 3 yrs ago.

Oh I should also add there is a side door so easy to get in and out without bay doors plus the bathroom is right when you walk into the house so it all seems to work.

20190625_215236.jpg


Setup.jpg
 
I guess a portable AC unit could be vented out by just lifting the garage door by 3-4 inches? No hole drilling in that case.

I 've never played in anything else than a dining / main living room in my country (at any rate, within houses), but again this might be a cultural issue.
 
Coyote said:
I 've never played in anything else than a dining / main living room in my country (at any rate, within houses), but again this might be a cultural issue.
Click to expand...

In our country we have to play in whatever space the wives give us :).

That said, last time I played in a garage was at a friend's house in January, so kind of the opposite deal. He has a fully insulated two car garage and with nice heating units. We were comfy from noon until the game broke about 9.
 
David O said:
I would look into the ductless AC units. Mitsubishi makes a good one that I had in one of our terminals. There are other manufacturers but I cannot speak on them. I do know that they are pretty easy to install and blow really cold! Good luck
Click to expand...

I looked into it and it is definitely the way to go if cost is not a factor. They do Heat and AC however you are looking at 2500-3000 installed and that is conservative when I checked a few years ago. Maybe if I win a few tournies i will invest :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:
 
Thanks for the responses so far! Super helpful!!!

I don't have a window, so a window unit is not an option.
I'm not ready to spend the $$$ for a ductless system yet.
Also, the only time I would run the portable A/C unit would be for when I'm hosting poker games.

So unless someone can talk me out of it, I think I'm going to pull the trigger on a unit like this.
And instead of cutting a hole in one of my garage doors (I have a two-door garage) or one of the exterior walls, I'm going to get a 4x4x8 wood fence post and cut some holes in it to use as the vents for the a/c unit's exhaust hoses. And then I'll unhook the garage door opener and let the garage door just sit on the post. Am I missing something? Go for it? Or the dumbest idea in the world?
 
I believe this is the same unit I have. My vote is go for it. Worst case you have a portable AC unit.

Whatever unit you get make sure it has 2 hoses not 1. Only 1 hose means it consumes the already cooled air to make more ... much less efficient then when it pulls air from outside the room.

Sounds like your space is a litte smaller than mine so hopefully will be better but make no mistake ... you will not just decide to play and turn it on and be cool. You need to plan and turn it on way in advance for it to work well on hot days.
 
some other notes;

Make sure your circuit can handle the power load, mine is good but if I crank the hot dog roller all the way up I can blow it.

I also looked at an exhaust fan like this to suck the hot air out and carry the cold air from my house in the garage since attached. I never actually bought and tried it.
https://www.amazon.com/Air-King-916...air+king+9166&qid=1561522066&s=gateway&sr=8-1

finally for those mild nights I have been looking at this lately to keep bugs out. I have not tried this yet but i think i will pull the trigger at some point.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Fresh-A...PIPHorizontal2_rr-_-202898587-_-202898566-_-N
 
shleepytime said:
Thanks for the responses so far! Super helpful!!!

I don't have a window, so a window unit is not an option.
I'm not ready to spend the $$$ for a ductless system yet.
Also, the only time I would run the portable A/C unit would be for when I'm hosting poker games.

So unless someone can talk me out of it, I think I'm going to pull the trigger on a unit like this.
And instead of cutting a hole in one of my garage doors (I have a two-door garage) or one of the exterior walls, I'm going to get a 4x4x8 wood fence post and cut some holes in it to use as the vents for the a/c unit's exhaust hoses. And then I'll unhook the garage door opener and let the garage door just sit on the post. Am I missing something? Go for it? Or the dumbest idea in the world?
Click to expand...

Regarding the 4x4x8 wood fence post and having the garage door sit on it... sounds like a good idea without putting holes in the wall but a downside is that the top of your garage door could possibly be partially open and not sealed and letting out cool air. Possibly use visqueen and gaffers tape so seal these areas if you decided to move forward with this plan?
 
shleepytime said:
Thanks for the responses so far! Super helpful!!!

I don't have a window, so a window unit is not an option.
I'm not ready to spend the $$$ for a ductless system yet.
Also, the only time I would run the portable A/C unit would be for when I'm hosting poker games.

So unless someone can talk me out of it, I think I'm going to pull the trigger on a unit like this.
And instead of cutting a hole in one of my garage doors (I have a two-door garage) or one of the exterior walls, I'm going to get a 4x4x8 wood fence post and cut some holes in it to use as the vents for the a/c unit's exhaust hoses. And then I'll unhook the garage door opener and let the garage door just sit on the post. Am I missing something? Go for it? Or the dumbest idea in the world?
Click to expand...
Don't do it. I tried and it doesn't cool the room at all. Your plan to vent out the bottom of the garage door with allow way too much air escaping from the top. I cut a hole in my wall to vent and it can't keep up with the heat at all. Works fine sitting right in front of it but the ambient temp *at best* might drop about 5 degrees after running all day.
 
A mini split AC is your best option. I have one installed in my two car garage in South Florida. In the middle of summer when the garage is over 90 degrees I flip on the AC and in less than 10minutes its down in the 70's and than easy to keep in low 70's. Wont be cheap to install and don't believe that its an easy install either. Was worth every penny.... I have a woodshop/cnc/man cave in the garage that I can use anytime, any season.
 
Ductless are the best but not cheap.

A decent window unit can work miracles for less money.

I would buy from local store with good return policies.

I had no luck with portable unit.
 
I would leave the garage open and just use fans. This way people can smoke too.

Small AC unit wont cool enough.
 
I can get to 65 degrees with my window unit in my detached garage bonus room and it is 525 sq ft and in Florida.
 
There are lots of YouTube videos of people installing their own mini split in their garage. They seem to be MrCool brand.

But looking at the prices, they’re obscene compared to what your pay in Asia. Looks like the American A/C suppliers are having a good time raping the populace.
 
Do you have attic space above your garage that could use insulation? Attic spaces can get very very hot, so if your not insulated or open to the attic anywhere you could end up just fighting that before any cooling happens.
 
I have not seen anyone mention noise levels.
In my experience, those portable A/C units are "LOUD" too.

Just something else to consider.

If you do it, and are buying from someplace like Lowes, keep your packing materials in case you need to return it. :tup:
 
My dad just did an AC installation in his garage. Life changer in Texas.

I didn’t read any of the previous comments but I’d like to add that if you are doing AC, it would behoove you to do some insulation work.

I did the garage as a man cave. Granted I’m a car guy so take my advice with a grain of salt
 
David O said:
I would look into the ductless AC units. Mitsubishi makes a good one that I had in one of our terminals. There are other manufacturers but I cannot speak on them. I do know that they are pretty easy to install and blow really cold! Good luck

View attachment 303706
Click to expand...
ChipTalker said:
I looked into it and it is definitely the way to go if cost is not a factor. They do Heat and AC however you are looking at 2500-3000 installed and that is conservative when I checked a few years ago. Maybe if I win a few tournies i will invest :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
We installed a Mr Slim in out garage that has been converted to my wife's fitness studio. Hands down the best option - in the Texas summers it maintains a cool 68 degrees even with an uninsulated garage door.

Cost was $5k installed with electrical work. This was in 2015.
 
CraigT78 said:
Cost was $5k installed with electrical work. This was in 2015.
Click to expand...

This is what gives me heartburn. I just replaced the main house AC last year (so a large 5 ton unit) and it was $5k for the low efficiency version and $10k for the variable speed 20 SEER high efficiency one. I went with the $10k because our electricity bill can hit $600 a month in the Texas summer (it's now half that).

We have an apartment in Malaysia which has 4 mini-splits, one in each bedroom and one in the main living area - relatively small, each one covering 200sqft. Cost to replace all 4 units was around $2k. I appreciate that the labour cost there is significantly lower but that still doesn't explain the huge cost difference.

Edit: so maybe it is the installation cost.
https://www.amazon.com/MrCool-Advantage-Ductless-System-Generation/dp/B07Q5GKLFY
Mr Cool for $791, installation $1600!!!
 
Darson said:
This is what gives me heartburn. I just replaced the main house AC last year (so a large 5 ton unit) and it was $5k for the low efficiency version and $10k for the variable speed 20 SEER high efficiency one. I went with the $10k because our electricity bill can hit $600 a month in the Texas summer (it's now half that).

We have an apartment in Malaysia which has 4 mini-splits, one in each bedroom and one in the main living area - relatively small, each one covering 200sqft. Cost to replace all 4 units was around $2k. I appreciate that the labour cost there is significantly lower but that still doesn't explain the huge cost difference.

Edit: so maybe it is the installation cost.
https://www.amazon.com/MrCool-Advantage-Ductless-System-Generation/dp/B07Q5GKLFY
Mr Cool for $791, installation $1600!!!
Click to expand...
Yeah - we were fully aware we were being ass raped. The cost of our unit was just a touch over $2,500 if we bought direct. But I have no HVAC tools nor the desire to try and figure that shit out myself. But it works and it made the wife happy. Can’t put a price on that!!
 
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What I 'm reading is plain tragic.
A nice AC unit here (in Greece) costs a fraction of what is mentioned in this thread (although salaries here are a fraction too, to be precise; not sure proportionately the same fraction).
Only viable solution I can see is impose yourlselves on the Wives and have the game in the house.:LOL: :laugh:
I understand a single-table cash game is different than a 3-table tournament. The latter (ie 30 strangers, if attempted in the house) would, most probably, result in your genitalia being sold at the butcher's as minced meat, even here:ROFL: :ROFLMAO:

It's culturally very interesting that, although Greek women have reached incredible levels of hatred for their (or any) men, in their understandable yet pathetic quest for modernity, they will still generally allow poker in the house, probably 'cause they just don't care and have a chance of going out "unattended":D:ROFL: :ROFLMAO::ROFL: :ROFLMAO:
Cheers guys and may God (if any) bless you all!:)
 
I'm getting back into playing poker in over 8 years & new to hosting a game, however I've got 6+ years with a climate controlled garage/shop. I've been woodworking as a hobby for 10 years now and I have a Mitsubishi Mini Split A/C heat pump unit in the last 2 houses I've lived in - wouldn't have it any other way. I had a unit in Oklahoma for 5 years and I have one in my house in Texas for 2 years now. I've been using it when in the shop making furniture, but recently I've been hosting a poker game in the garage as well, and it would be impossible to have a game in the garage from April - Sept in Texas without it.

You can order a nice unit for $1000 & install it your self if you're able to to save a lot of money! This is what I've done in the last 2 homes I've had the units in.

My garage doors, walls and attic are insulated - this is crucial in a large open space like my current garage - my garage is 1200 sq ft. However I did insulate my garage doors & attic in my last house, the walls were not - to compensate this I bought an over sized mini split unit. My old shop was actually cooler then my current garage - however, it was half the size and the sun didn't hit the garage in the evening like my house does now - that west facing sun is brutal.

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Nice, any links to the unit for 1k? I would like to see what size it is .... what size do you use for 1200 sq ft.
 

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