Any cheap / free ideas to cool a garage?

[Chris142]

My garage is 20ftx24ft. We put insulation on the roof when we reroofed it. No insulation in the walls.

It gets unbearably hot in there during the summer. A few years ago I put an evaporative cooler in a window which only pushed the cool air out the whirly bird on the roof without effecting the inside temp.

Anyone have any ideas I may not be aware of? Adding insulation to the walls would be a serious job and not something I'd want to do in the summer.

 

[dishdude]

I managed a business that had a warehouse about that size, two rooftop evaporative coolers kept it pretty tolerable.

 

[walterjay]

Have a heat gain calculation done and get a mini split sized accordingly

 

[Chris142]

Have a heat gain calculation done and get a mini split sized accordingly

That's definitely not cheap or free lol

 

[walterjay]

That's definitely not cheap or free lol

I wish I could think of a cheap way. Maybe look on Craigslist for some old big window units and try them.

 

[nickaluch]

Attic fan exhausting out the side of garage at the peak?

 

[Chris142]

It's down to 101 in there lol

 

[Vercingetorix]

Any stream nearby to rig up a pump and radiator?

 

[Chris142]

Any stream nearby to rig up a pump and radiator?

I don't see one lol

 

[HemiBenny]

A boxed-in garage with a single opening is an oven.

In my previous home, the garage had a powered garage door in the front as usual, but also a manual garage door in the back that opened up to the back yard. It allowed optimal airflow, and a fan could create a nice breeze while working on something. I know that you're in a very hot, dry environment, but I'm in a very hot, humid environment, and it seemed to work very well.
Unfortunately, my current home is not set up for me to do that, and I feel it in the summer.
Is your garage a standalone or attached to your home? If standalone, could you install a manual garage door in the back to open up the airflow?

 

[AZjeff]

Any stream nearby to rig up a pump and radiator?

No within 20 miles or so.

 

[Chris142]

A boxed-in garage with a single opening is an oven.

In my previous home, the garage had a powered garage door in the front as usual, but also a manual garage door in the back that opened up to the back yard. It allowed optimal airflow, and a fan could create a nice breeze while working on something. I know that you're in a very hot, dry environment, but I'm in a very hot, humid environment, and it seemed to work very well.
Unfortunately, my current home is not set up for me to do that, and I feel it in the summer.
Is your garage a standalone or attached to your home? If standalone, could you install a manual garage door in the back to open up the airflow?

There is a window on the south and east sides. The big door is on the north. Adding another big door would be very expensive imo and useless since the garage was built on a slope. The south side would be 3 ft above the ground. Pic in a minute

 

[RhondaHonda]

I just ordered this from Costco, $289. Tried it yesterday, lowered my insulated garage from 79 to 75 in 2 hours and also dropped the humidity from 63% to 43%. It was 93 outside and the garage is below a living space that is cooled to 85 when nobody is there. It really doesn’t get very hot being somewhat below grade and well insulated.

The portion I was cooling is 930SF and has 10.5’ ceilings which is asking a lot of a 12k btu unit. I don’t doubt it could get it to be 70 or less when 93 outside so I’m thrilled.

It’s hotter where you live and no insulation will make it tough though.
No idea why the image is turned 90 degrees.

 

[Chris142]

Oh it's a detached garage. This is the North side we use and the south side where the built up the foundation instead of of grading a pad.

BTW no idea why pics are coming out sideways. They are ok in my album.

 

[SC Maintenance]

If there was some free cooling solution there wouldn't be billions spent a year on mechanical cooling.

The cheapest solution would be a big shop fan blowing on you for evaporative affect directly.

You could build your own swamp cooler. Cost depends on what you can scrounge and what you have to buy. In your climate it would likely blow air in the 85F range - directly at the exit.

 

[ripcord]

A big ole fan?

 

[HemiBenny]

I just don’t think anything other than opening up the backside to allow airflow will work. Those windows won’t allow enough of the hot air to escape.
Trying to cool that with any “powered” cooling devices will be costly in the long run. You’d have to insulate the entire garage and then pay for the maintenance and electricity used to run the equipment. That’s a never ending expense.
A simple roll up garage door that you could possibly install yourself would have a one time cost. It doesn’t have to be as big as the front doors, but it would allow airflow. A couple of fans blowing from the northern doors towards the southern doors would really make a difference.

 

[Nukeman7]

You're going to need a lot of airflow movement if you don't have air conditioning. Perhaps installing a whole house type fan in the back wall will suffice.

Or get a big drum fan to blow air into the garage.

 

[JMJNet]

What is the humidity?

 

[HemiBenny]

A big ole fan?

With a sign at the door that says, “Not liable for accidents,…….or death.”