So, after suffering through the hottest July on record for the city of phoenix (article here) I've decided that I have to get to the point that the garage is air conditioned. My northern friends thught I was being a whiny baby, but when the average day temperature is 110+ and the night temperature doesn't drop below 90, then it's just freaking hot!
So, I was poking around on the Home Depot web site and found this in-window air conditioner listed online at Home Depot. Now I've tried portable AC units in the past, but they just didn't have enough oomph to keep the garage cool. As I was looking at window units I found much of the same. The BTUs were just too low to do the job, unit I found this LG unit. This thing puts out a whopping 24,500 BTUs, double what the average window unit produces. In fact, people use it to cool 1,400 square foot houses in Florida. I figure if it can do that, it'll easily keep the garage cool! The only complaint I saw listed was that it's noisy... well, when I've got the compressor, sandblast unit, and other tools going, who cares if the AC is a little noisy?
Also, to make the unit run better I'm going to need to better insulate my garage door. I've had this design in the back of my head for a while that I've really wanted to do. It allows you to insulate your garage door (good for those in the north as well as us in the south) and create a giant diagramming whiteboard. Whiteboards have become critical to my work at my real job, and I know that I would use the heck out of one in the garage (not to mention, they're also great for keeping small children occupied when they're with you in the garage). You can have child/grandchild wall art to decorate your work space.
Cheers!
Jody
