A/C in a garage?

[frscott61]

Come up on a different issue. My job has me on acreage that does not allow a trailer. There is a 25x40 metal building, large enough garage door to back my trailer in. Not the most scenic camp spot, but it is allowable. Obviously when winter comes I will have to figure out venting, but for the summer, can I run my A/C in the garage? Is there enough air volume to exchange heat?

[RetiredRealtorR]

So, nobody's addressing the issue of whether he can actually live there or not? No trailers on the property sounds like a local ordinance, so does that mean it's OK to live in a trailer on that same property if it's in a barn?? I'd sure check that out to avoid a rude awakening in the near future. Just sayin'

[Dave_H_M]

we lived in the camper parked in a pole barn while we built the house. mid March till just before thanksgiving. As i recall afoot once a month I towed to the nearby camp ground and dumped the black.make sure you have a good plug in to keep the voltage up. I ran dedicted #10 circuit straight from the service box

[Lynnmor]

I store my TT in a pole barn larger than yours and run the AC. Opening the overhead door enough that there is a good amount to air flow over the door works well with the still blocking the sun in the middle portion, and the natural flow from hot air rising, I believe you will have no problem.

[patperry2766]

fan

Could you possibly put something like this under the big bay door and open the window or the other door? You're gonna need something that moves a large volume of air.

Check pawn shops cause it seems like every time I go to one, there is usually at least 1 available.

[JaxDad]

It seems like everybody forgot one huge issue.

A trailer in a building is in 100% shade every minute of everyday, NO solar heat loading on the trailer ever.

Even if the building has zero venting, hard to believe, just locking the door open a few inches will allow some pretty substantial convection powered air exchange.

We routinely camp inside aircraft hangers in the south for exactly this reason, non-stop shade, the A/C works just fine, certainly better than being outside in the sun.

[C_Schomer]

I'm in very low RH Co. and I use a 6500 Master cool in the barn. I'm also in windy Pueblo and I get a nice breeze when the door is open. The combo does nicely so I can run the rv AC, without killing it, when working inside the rv. If neither of those options work for you, I'd use a big exh. fan to get rid of the condenser heat and hopefully pull some cooler air up to the AC area.
Decades ago, the place I worked had some seriously overworked ac's in the puter room and production areas and I rigged up swamper pads on the condenser coils and sprayed them with lawn sprinklers during the day... The ac's and the people inside loved it. Later on, for a permanent fix, I built sub coolers with welded plate exchanger/Penn head pressure valves and used the oversized chiller plant water to subcool the liquid lines. Those were 60-90 ton rtu's.
Also in the 80s, some company built swamper panels to put around condenser coils with a pump system to pump water over the panels, just like a swamper. Like they say... when there's a will, there's a way... and I usually find it! Craig

[mchero]

Can you mount a big exhaust fan up high? Any shade? What color and is the roof underside insulated. Interior of that shed could get hotter than a Chernobyl reactor core on a hot Texas day!
What you doing about black and grey tanks?
Winter would be my last worry. We FT up here in N.H.
I'd love to find a garage to back into!

[ktmrfs]

frscott61 wrote:
Come up on a different issue. My job has me on acreage that does not allow a trailer. There is a 25x40 metal building, large enough garage door to back my trailer in. Not the most scenic camp spot, but it is allowable. Obviously when winter comes I will have to figure out venting, but for the summer, can I run my A/C in the garage? Is there enough air volume to exchange heat?

well you could but all it will do is HEAT up the garage. AC is a "heat pump" it moves heat from one place to another. It is NOT 100% efficient. even if it was it would do nothing for the temp. To cool the garage with the AC inside would defy the laws of physics.

To be usefull it must be like an in house AC unit with the hot side outside.

[theoldwizard1]

frscott61 wrote:
...can I run my A/C in the garage? Is there enough air volume to exchange heat?

In Texas ?

A/C tested/rated with the ambient air somewhere around 85F (?) How well do you think it is going to work with your garage is over 100F ?

[RetiredRealtorR]

If the acreage does not allow a travel trailer, will local ordinances prohibit living in it, even inside a garage? I'd sure check on those.

Also, where/how will you empty your black tank?

I see more issues here that I'd want iron-clad answers to before I pursue the AC question.

[mr_andyj]

yes. You will notice auto repair shops running the office AC and blowing it into the bay, even in really small bays like your barn. Best if there is a roof vent that can let the hottest air out, but the walls and ceiling of the barn will be as big of a heat sink as the AC blowing hot air, but I would keep a window wide open or the door cracked. you will have power to plug into I assume, so at worst the compressor will just run more. Somehow people in 120 degree deserts still run their ACs with some cooling effect.

[Lwiddis]

2x, Doug. "Having a small Box fan blowing air out of the garage will be useful too."

[dougrainer]

AS the other posted stated, if you have a closed Building that is not at least 2000 sq ft, you will have overheat in the garage. The roof top unit removes the HOT air from the outside Condensor and dissapates it into the open air. If in a garage, then their is no place for that hot air to go and after awhile the AC cannot remove the hot air from the Condensor. So, just leave a door and a window open in the building and you should be OK Having a small Box fan blowing air out of the garage will be useful too. Doug

[frscott61]

Thanks for the reply, yes I could leave the door open, and I do need to check the temp during the day. I'm in Texas and I would imagine it is pretty hot in the middle of the day inside. Having said that I have gone in mid day and it was not melting temp inside, though I did not take the temp. No vent on the roof of the building, and other than the garage door, one door and one window. I guess I could hang a fan to move air inside the building. Yes, in the winter all bets are off, I know better than to crank up my furnace in a 3 sides closed area.