OT: Best way to cool off Texas garage

[Red Tornado]

A split is probably beyond my budget. Not a lot of $$ available with 3 kids in college.

No basement. This part of TX you're looking at a slab the majority of the time for a standard 3br/2ba.

There is a room between house & garage. Used to be a patio but closed it off, put in tile floor, French doors, etc. It is air conditioned. If you open the door you will be looking straight down along the front edge of my workbench. 2 car garage.

I like the idea of blowing cooled air from house into the garage. However, I usually have the o.h. door open when I'm working. Seems like a good chance for insects to fly into the house (not good for the wife) & she might not want to hear me working out there. Some of my woodworking stuff can be loud. Still, the idea has merit.....

[MattTuck]

On phone, so did not read entire thread. Did some one mention or have you considered a big ass fan?

[Louis]

How about a neck cooler? A lot cheaper than an A/C unit.

https://www.heatreliefdepot.com/neckcoolers.aspx

[cmg]

garage have an exterior wall? add vent fan at the top of the exterior wall to move air out. https://www.industrialfansdirect.com...ucts/16nfsf43n if not ceiling fans. the ceiling fan will just move the already heated air may not cool off the room.

[C40_guy]

If you're going to be in the house for a while, the minisplit is the way to go (or a hole in the wall for a regular window AC unit.)

You will not be able to run AC from the house system. Without a return, you're pushing air into a sealed room and you won't get much airflow. Code will not allow you to put a return from a garage, due to fire and CO hazards. No reputable AC installer would do this...

In the short term, get a couple of floor standing fans and point them at you. I use one of these in my basement for trainer and treadmill work... Much less expensive than installing ceiling fans.

Also, give some thought to personal cooling -- wet bandana, wicking tshirt, etc...

Until you fully insulate the garage (walls, door, etc.) anything will be a partial solution.

Or move your shop into the living room. No issues there, right? Good opportunity to teach the wife/kids/dog/etc about wrenching!

[MattTuck]

this is what I was referring to in the above comment.

[cadence90]

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[unterhausen]

I went to IMTS machine tool show, and Big ass fans was there. You could see their display way off, they had one of their fans running. It was awesome. Not sure I would put it in a garage though. I talked to one of the people working the booth for a while.

I don't know how big a minisplit you need, but you can get them and install them yourself. You probably need a tech to get the coolant installed. A garage is a fairly easy install though, electrical is the hard part. They are made to be installed by unskilled techs.