Ugh...it's too hot to work...

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soopirV

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Just mindless whining here, but does anyone else ever feel their excitement and enthusiasm for this (or any) hobby sap away from them when the workshop gets impossibly hot? We bought our house because it has a three-car garage set-up- one double door, and a single door at 90 degrees to the first. That single bay is my "shop", with three uninsulated external walls, with the fourth being the roll-up. I have things I want to do, but can't bring myself to stand out there when it's 130 degrees inside.
I'm wondering if anyone has successfully moderated the temperature in a hot garage? Does blown-in insulation help, and if I glue styrofoam panels to the door? I don't have active cooling, so I think it will not help...trying to come up with a way of cooling the space economically and aesthetically pleasing- the shop is right in front of the driveway. Maybe I'm just being a baby :sigh:
 
I also have three, well a three and a half, car garage. When building the house, yes, I had insulation in all walls, blown into the ceiling and the single car door to my workshop is also insulated. But, big difference are two registers built into two ends of the wall closest to the house. It did not take any special routing of vents, just a short spur off the main distribution area. I think one is even just a T off an existing guest bed vent. In any case the good insulation, fire grade drywall and those two little vents keep it only a few degrees differential compared to the main house. Now the two car garage on the far end, that's another story.
 
Insulated and paneled walls + I have 1" Styrofoam on outside of garage door its 73* in there atm + helps a huge maple tree is above


but a car hasn't been in a couple of years lol
 

ACWholesalers is where I bought mine. I got the line set, wire, siding port, base for the outdoor unit...basically everything needed to complete the install from them too. It all came on a pallet with lift gate service. Really was a good company yo deal with.

You need the indoor and outdoor units: https://www.acwholesalers.com/Mitsubishi-Air-Conditioners/MY-GL12NA-MY-GL12NA-12000-BTU-SEER-Ductless-Air-Conditioner-System/61449.ac?catId=cat1028&mainCat=cat22185&subCat=cat1033&trail=1004:Mitsubishi
 
I have felt that way for the last two weeks.
I can work physically when it is hot, but cannot stay focused mentally to the degree I require to work on rocket stuff.
Today, it was brutal under the sun, but I did lots of stuff outside to my vehicle, like mounting mud flaps, oil change, inspection of components and whatnot. I did not even finish til' like 9:30, but the things I did were good.
I can't do rocket stuff to save my life when it is this hot, as I simply cannot manipulate delicate objects, nor can I stay focused on a single task.
I simply bounce from one rocket to another, and very little is achieved at all.
I need 65 Degrees or lower to be productive with rocketry tasks, so this is my slow season. I also have to wear a respirator for most rocketry stuff, and that is hell when it is hot, and also hard on the respirator as I have to clean it thoroughly after draining it of the moisture. Not good for my already inflamed allergies either, so it's metal work for me right now, like getting my lathe running and putzing about with my want of a new workshop.
Any actual rocket work has to be done between 5 and 7 in the morning while it is tolerable temperature wise.
 
It's the sweaty blue gloves that shut me down. My hands are already clumsy enough, but the second I pop those sweatbags on I can feel my precision falling apart.
 
I've used two pretty good sized evap coolers to cool a two car garage. That made things tolerable, but you have to leave the garage door open for it to work. Insulation without cooling will only delay how long it takes to heat up and cool down.
 
It's the sweaty blue gloves that shut me down. My hands are already clumsy enough, but the second I pop those sweatbags on I can feel my precision falling apart.

Don't even get me started on those! I had to wear them today underneath my Mechanix Wear M-Pact Gloves, as I am a real stickler about chemical hazards, and don't want a bunch of hot motor oil absorbing into my hands when I do an oil change.
In the Army, and especially in Iraq, I was bathed daily in plenty of petroleum distillates and transmission fluid, so I think I've used up all my luck by not having some forms of cancer already, and I have to go get things I can not pronounce cut out of me and biopsied from time to time, so I have every right to be as cautious as I am with anything chemical.
What's left of me needs to last a very long time, so I had better take care of me as best I can.
The issue I have in the summer with the sweaty nitrile gloves is that my skin cracks and dries out after being ultra saturated. I use "O'Keefe's Working Hands" hand cream at the rate of about one 3.4oz. puck per 2.5 Weeks.
For me, it lives up to it's claims of how well it heals, but you have to make sure to carry it with you everywhere and use it often. I never get infections, so my skin on my fingers has on a couple of occasions cracked to the point of exposing the details of the joint sinew and bone.
If I ever met a Genie in a Lamp, one of my wishes would be perfectly working Hands. I'de likely trade my current models in for a Bionic version if I could, and since I have never gotten any kind of cutaneous infection, it would probably take well.
I'de definitely have the old ones bronzed or something like that, as the scars and improperly fitted parts tell a beautiful story that for me is worth remembering. The only bone I've ever broken was in my right hand, and it took something not worth talking about here to do that, and even then, it was just a fracture that fused, but the nerve tissue and some of the capillaries were toasted, so I have constant pain and often numbness. I did all the PT stuffs, but it never fully restrengthened.
Anyhow, yeah, the only good thing about the sweaty Nitrile is how easy they are to take off.
My climate controlled workshop is at a standstill right now, but it can't come soon enough!!!
 
I was just thinking of what's worst about the gloves in the heat, and can remember many an occasion where I don't realize my hands are sweating so profusely, and when I raise my work-piece for some reason, the sweat leaks out and runs down my wrist and forearm, where I can feel it, and I have flinched/startled, thinking it is an insect of some sort, and gotten whatever it is I'm working on screwed up.:mad:
 
I have felt that way for the last two weeks.
I can work physically when it is hot, but cannot stay focused mentally to the degree I require to work on rocket stuff.
Today, it was brutal under the sun, but I did lots of stuff outside to my vehicle, like mounting mud flaps, oil change, inspection of components and whatnot. I did not even finish til' like 9:30, but the things I did were good.
I can't do rocket stuff to save my life when it is this hot, as I simply cannot manipulate delicate objects, nor can I stay focused on a single task.
I simply bounce from one rocket to another, and very little is achieved at all.
I need 65 Degrees or lower to be productive with rocketry tasks, so this is my slow season. I also have to wear a respirator for most rocketry stuff, and that is hell when it is hot, and also hard on the respirator as I have to clean it thoroughly after draining it of the moisture. Not good for my already inflamed allergies either, so it's metal work for me right now, like getting my lathe running and putzing about with my want of a new workshop.
Any actual rocket work has to be done between 5 and 7 in the morning while it is tolerable temperature wise.

Dude! You live in Vermont! My low temp in the shop was 76 and the high was almost 90...and that's unseasonably cool!

Last year I bought one of of 10,000 BTU roll around A/C units that is supposed to be effective for 400 sq ft. Pretty much works only if you're in front of the unit.

I should have bought one of those ductless heat pumps. Temps supposed to be back over 100 next week again.
 
Here in Arizona, where the OP is from, it won't be a reasonable temp outside until Halloween.

M
 
Here in Arizona, where the OP is from, it won't be a reasonable temp outside until Halloween.

M
...but it's a dry heat...

Have family in Phoenix but ~never~ visit in the summer unless necessary.

Last June it was 114 in Needles on the way home. :y:
 
Dude! You live in Vermont! My low temp in the shop was 76 and the high was almost 90...and that's unseasonably cool!

Last year I bought one of of 10,000 BTU roll around A/C units that is supposed to be effective for 400 sq ft. Pretty much works only if you're in front of the unit.

I should have bought one of those ductless heat pumps. Temps supposed to be back over 100 next week again.

I know right! I used to not mind the heat, the the past 4-5 years it just really gets to me. I just can't stand anything over 70 degrees anymore. Yesterday it was 90 most of the day. I can't wait for Autumn!
I can do stuff in the heat, but not rocket stuff.
 
Last month, I was at Ft Irwin for an NTC rotation. This Georgia boy had to live through record high June temps out there and try to sleep during the day for the last week of it. Sleep was only really possible from 6AM to 10AM but the day shift guys were bumping around by then.

Having to live in the field during extreme temperatures is miserable. I have been in Iraq and had little trouble with daytime temps routinely reaching 120 and I was fine, but I had A/C to duck into for sleeping. I must admit though, I don't tolerate the heat these days like I used to.
 
I work on my rockets in the basement. It stays about 70F down there. Very nice!
 
If it 130 in the garage open the doors.

M
In PHX area.

Yup, of course- but, I need to put an operable window or something opposite the door to get some cross ventilation. I have a shop fan, and that helps. The NICE thing about this is we don't need ovens to cure epoxy layups!

shop floorplan snippet.jpg
 
ACWholesalers is where I bought mine. I got the line set, wire, siding port, base for the outdoor unit...basically everything needed to complete the install from them too. It all came on a pallet with lift gate service. Really was a good company yo deal with.

You need the indoor and outdoor units: https://www.acwholesalers.com/Mitsubishi-Air-Conditioners/MY-GL12NA-MY-GL12NA-12000-BTU-SEER-Ductless-Air-Conditioner-System/61449.ac?catId=cat1028&mainCat=cat22185&subCat=cat1033&trail=1004:Mitsubishi

That's a nice shop! I have been eyeballing this sort of thing, but my floorplan doesn't allow an inconspicuous spot to put the outside unit- I accidentally posted it under the wrong reply- it should be one-up from here. That said there are some odd rooflines in the courtyard, I may be able to stash the thing up out of sight there somewhere...
 
I work on my rockets in the basement. It stays about 70F down there. Very nice!

I miss our basement the most! For some reason, at least here in Tucson, they're a rarity. Back east (orig from Upstate NY), and as it seems in other states, it was the norm.
 
That's a nice shop! I have been eyeballing this sort of thing, but my floorplan doesn't allow an inconspicuous spot to put the outside unit- I accidentally posted it under the wrong reply- it should be one-up from here. That said there are some odd rooflines in the courtyard, I may be able to stash the thing up out of sight there somewhere...

Wall mounting is an option for the outside unit. Also, you can get a really long line set. You will just have to have extra coolant added over what is recharged when the system is commissioned. Hopefully you can work something out. I too miss basements. I'm from western MD where they are common, but the dirt in North Texas is bizarre, and makes them a rarity here.
 
The 110+ heat has totally ruined my plans for working on anything in the garage....garage faces east. I don't remember it being this hot for this long of a stretch.
 
I am comfortable at 79 or so, but my fatigue level escalates with 90+ temps. Now that the garage at this apartment complex is not conditioned, I will likely only work in the mornings or evenings.
 
So is a pizza oven and I do not want to live in one!
SoopirV,
You may already know these points, if not here goes.
Depending on the building construction and how much you wish to spend.
To get the "most bang for your buck", the first place to start is how much attic insulation,
second is the walls, third would be windows.
Depending which way the roll-up door faces and how much frame leakage there is it may or may not pay to insulate the door.
I use to do energy audits for the TEP "Guaranteed Home (Energy Smart Home)" program. .
If you wish to discuss in detail, let me know.
My house which is adobe block and built in the late fifties, with a flat sloped roof and had zero roof insulation.
I blew in 8 to 10 inches of cellulose (dog barf) settled down to about six inches average, and has reduce my cooling costs by an average of 20% to 30% over previous years even on the + 110° days.
You could get a rough heat transfer estimate using something like the this:
Duratraxx Flashpoint Infrared Temperaure gauge.jpg(Duratraxx Infrared Temperature Gauge)
Ken Weaver
...but it's a dry heat...

Have family in Phoenix but ~never~ visit in the summer unless necessary.

Last June it was 114 in Needles on the way home. :y:
 
Last edited:
So is a pizza oven and I do not want to live in one!
SoopirV,
You may already know these points, if not here goes.
Depending on the building construction and how much you wish to spend.
To get the "most bang for your buck", the first place to start is how much attic insulation,
second is the walls, third would be windows.
Depending which way the roll-up door faces and how much frame leakage there is it may or may not pay to insulate the door.
I use to do energy audits for the TEP "Guaranteed Home (Energy Smart Home)" program. .
If you wish to discuss in detail, let me know.
My house which is adobe block and built in the late fifties, with a flat sloped roof and had zero roof insulation.
I blew in 8 to 10 inches of cellulose (dog barf) settled down to about six inches average, and has reduce my cooling costs by an average of 20% to 30% over previous years even on the + 110° days.
You could get a rough heat transfer estimate using something like the this:
View attachment 296236(Duratraxx Infrared Temperature Gauge)
Ken Weaver

Thanks Ken- totally agree- the builder had an option to insulate the garages, yet he also said it wasn't worth it since there was no cooling or heating available, so it would slow heat transfer, but not enable us to maintain any given temperature. The slowing of transfer was also a concern because we park our cars in the other side, which has an open connection to my shop. After parking in the sun all day, we felt it would trap the heat making it even worse...
At this point, however, I'm thinking of going whole-hog- blown in insulation in my shop ceiling and walls, and install a door between the two garages. Then, maybe I can find the budget and cajones to talk my wife into letting me install a ductless AC unit...then I'd be really sittin' pretty.

Roll up faces north-northwest, and is a relatively dark color...worth insulating?
 
Huh. Out here in Seattle, the high isn't supposed to break 72 all week. [ducks thrown objects] This is pretty weird though. Usually, it gets nice and warm (say 75-85 and sunny) right after July 4. Rain on the fireworks is a local tradition. Unfortunately, we got our July in May and June so who knows what we'll get now.
 
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