climate control in the garage

[sleonard]

I am setting up a workshop in my garage. Since I live in AZ I have to look at some way of cooling it in the 115 degree summers and probably even a little heat in the winter.

My options seem to be either a window type unit or one of the portable stand unitsbut both kinds have built-in stats and I can't see any way to control them with HS.

Does anyone know of a portable or window unit that could use a remote stat that talks to HS?

TIA

S

[Rupp]

Check out the Panasonic line of air/heat units they are nice add on units for situations such as this.

[cadillackid]

I would use a mini-split A/C unit in a garage.. if its a 2 car garage i would use at least a 1.5 ton unit.. mainly because you will need to cool it or heat it rather quick.. MiniSplits are heat pumps and perfect for arizona climates....

I control mine via a custom solution I built, however they have IR remotes with them and Can be controlled (although a bit tricky) with a Global Cache unit.. the IR capabilities of an Ocelot will NOT control a minisplit as the IR codes are lengthy...

Mitsubishi Units are very pricey but can be connected to a network... CHigo based units are cheap (amcoraire, Grunaire) and I built a micro controller that talks its special control protocol.. but I believe grunaire no longer ships their units with the wired comms hang-off cable attached (though it can be soldered to the board).. and I could send you the code i use for the micro controller...
-Christopher

[outbackrob]

Not too hard to do.....

My old 2-car garage had a window unit built into the wall. The only way I found to effectively automate it was to crank it up to it's coldest setting and leave it there. I then used an Oregon Scientific temp gauge to measure the temp, and set up an event with a motion detector that turned on the A/C when I was in there. It turned off when no one was there or when the temp reached the desired temp. The event would not run if either the front or rear garage doors were open. At one point I had an event that would run the window unit when the humidity got too high, but in Houston, TX the humidity is always too high..... In AZ I don't think that will be an issue.....

In the new garage 30 miles away, I use the fan out of the replaced furnace to blow garage air around the garage. The strong breeze seems to work better and faster, AND it tends to suck up dust and bugs into its pre-filter so the garage stays cleaner. I also have a bigger frig and keep it stocked with COLD beverages.... I can't say for sure, but the fan and the frig seem to cost less than the window unit to run.......

In both garages I used either a recently run car or a small space heater on the rare occasions I needed to heat it.

[Rupp]

30 miles is a long way away for a garage

[outbackrob]

30 miles is a long way away for a garage

It about took FOREVER to pave the driveway......

My 7th grade english teacher would not be proud of my sentence structure....