With the increasing levels of heat working across our country, those with uninsulated shop spaces, and no A/C are probably finding it difficult to spend time in the shop/studio significant enough to complete many projects as of late. I know temps in my little shed/shop are reaching over 120 degrees during the day lately. I don’t know about you, but that kind of heat drains a person quickly, and can lead to heat exhaustion/heat stroke, so I am letting my health concerns dictate my activity level as of late. I begin welding classes on 8/10 at the technical college, which will go thru the end of the year.
When I built my shop, I thought of saving time and money by not insulting the workshop. It is 24 x 36'. But a friend talked me in to insulating it. That includes putting in 1" thick poly insulation on the steel garage doors. I'm glad that he did. We've been having daily temps in the mid 90's for several weeks. But it cools at night. So my shop stays around 80. I have some ceiling fans that I use when it is hot and I'm not sanding. I also have a couple of tiny window A/C units that I turn on if I need to work out there when the daily highs go over 100. All they seem to do is to maintain the temperature when I turn them on in the morning. But that helps enough. In the past I've observed outdoor temps around 111 and when that happens my shop gets up to around 90 F (w/o A/C). But today I had to work outside in the sun mid-day with temps in the mid 90's. But we typically have low humidity but if there is a breeze it is still somewhat tolerable.
Temps today here are supposed to get to 98-99 degrees. It will be at least 125 degrees in the shop/shed this afternoon. Yesterday, our central air/heat went on the fritz for the second time in a month. Seems thereis a leak somewhere, and the system is 29+ years old. Looks like a new system needs to be installed. I’ve got appontments for next week for estimates. Not looking forward to the high dollars this will require.
That has got to be really uncomfortable with your AC on the fritz. I hope that they can repair it quickly. I've got two AC units - - one at each end of the house. After 25 years they're still running but I've had to do some minor repairs. I've had to replace 3 AC capacitors (~$15 each), plus a cartridge fuse or two ($3 each) and clean a contactor ($0). It runs on R22 which is becoming difficult to get. So, I picked up a 10# cylinder of R22 to help extend its useable life should the refrigerant level run low. But ultimately if I live here long enough I am likely to have to replace the units. But the new units will probably be more efficient.
Thats the issue. R22 is not being made any longer, [EPA regulations] and what is available is getting increasingly sparse, and more expensive. It’s probably going to cost at least $10k to replace. My youngest son just replaced his system…over $13k, and his is a heat pump/AC combo. We have propane gas for heat, and then A/C cooler on top of that furnace, with the outside unit.
