Portable air conditioner in garage?

[JaredSMark]

I guess an air conditioner is 'support' gear :laugh:

I know I should insulate my garage, but I just won't be in there filming enough to justify it. In the deep south we get temperatures at 90-100 degrees with humidity that makes you feel like you're literally in a sauna. Combine that with a couple lights hitting you and you're talking some incredibly brutal working conditions. Some of the models I'm using in some projects will wear makeup too, so when it gets hot I imagine it'll all run off their faces.

Have any of you guys worked out a solution for this? The best I can come up with is to get a portable air conditioner (possibly two) and have them near the subjects, blowing directly onto them in between breaks. Then turn it off when it's time to shoot a take to reduce noise.

 

[nolken]

you'd be better off with fans. air conditioners don't cool air per say, that just transfer heat from inside to the outside. while the air conditioners will be blowing cold air, the temperature of the room as a whole will actually increase because air conditioners are inefficient. on top of the heat transfer any excess energy will become heat.

Now what you could do is get about 5 window units, set them side-by-side with a little foam in between, set the garage door on top of them and you have some serious cooling power!

I guess i'm assuming you're speaking of window A/C units. they also have in home portable units, but they still need to exhaust and they are like $600 each last time I checked. You would likely need 2 of the larger ones considering your garage isn't insulated and all that heat form the electrical equipment.

 

[m4/3]

Are you talking about a two car home garage? Then a $600 portable unit used in conjunction with a $50 portable fan should bring the whole garage temp down to a more tolerable 80 - 85 degrees on a 95 degree day and lower the humidity by half. But like nolken said, you'd need to route the exhaust air hose from the portable unit to the outside somehow. Too bad you don't live in a low humidity climate because a swamp cooler would be ideal for a garage plus the very powerful ones cost only $500 and don't use hardly any electricity.

 

[visions-online]

I thought this was a weird question, but I though I would give some feedback. I have a 3 car garage and just last summer I put in a window unit. I bought the largest I could find that would run on 110v - I think it is 15,000 BTU. It does keep it cool when it is 115+ outside. My garage is also finished (drywalled and painted) so it may add to the cooling factor - only 1 wall is exterior, in addition to the garage door wall. The A/C will also pull out the humidity.

 

[steve4505]

The best option for this is unfortunately expensive in the $1,500+ range and that is the split systems like from Mitsubishi. The compressor is outside and the blower on the inside. They are super efficient, but there are not DIY. If you happen to have a side man door you could install a package window unit through a sheet of plywood (switch doors out in the winter) like in some hotels and have a pretty efficient system. The problem with going straight through an exterior wall however, can be numerous; including structural and quality weather-sealing. Generally yes they run 110v but a lot of garages are not wired for those units and anything else. You would be needing power somewhere for your lights. Fans also add heat because their motor has heat, but in some weather a fan can help feeling cooler by 5 degrees or so. So still probably not good enough for your Southern USA weather. If you have a whole house Air Conditioning system, it may be feasible to add a drop (vent) from that system for under $500. The problem with that is if your A/C system is already marginal, a garage is a very large un-insulated space to cool. In addition you need to be able to shut that duct down frequently and most residential systems are not designed for that. The added duct will unbalance your system in your home and now you may have hot rooms/spots. Generally on a commercial project they would use a motorized damper to shut the garage on and off and that system would again not be DIY and increase the price. I've seen some floor mounted A/C systems with hoses for exhaust. They may work OK in your climate, but I am not too familiar with them. I live in the South West USA and we can get away with evaporative coolers for most of the summer in a garage. The good ones are portable and work very well.