Anyone Using Portacool for a Shop?

[Justin Spies]

The enclosed part of the shop I am building will be 30x30 and spray foamed with closed cell insulation. Will the smaller Portacools make a big difference during the summer months?

[Chitchyaoutdoor]

I have a Cyclone 3000 I use on the back porch at my house and its a game changer with 3000 cfm, in my opinion I would go bigger than what you think you need. Other option would be to install a mini split, I know Fujitsu makes a .5 ton 9,000 btu 115v that we put in our sales mans metal building with the same size and set up as yours.

[Gunnyart]

It might be too moist for a sealed and spray foamed room.

[az2tx]

It would cool it with the doors open but everything in your shop will rust like it was at the coast

[Smithwr]

Have to have a lot of ventilation for the evaportive effect, other wise when it reaches the humidity threshold you will just be blowing hot wet air

[mudkat]

It really depend how enclosed the space is if you have quite a bit of airflow through the shop they work ok,if it has only a walk in door or no airflow the humidity will be unbearable! w shut the doors on our shop once and went to lunch and when we got back it was a hell hole in there ,
Plus the up keep on them is a lot we were always fixing something on it,got to the point we didn't use it.

[Justin Spies]

Thanks for that info guys! Might just have to get some big fans. Are the mini splits worth looking into?

[AgHntr10]

I think Mini Split would be a much better option than porta-cool.

You could probably use a 18K-24K BTU window unit as a cheaper option.

[JTCowpoke]

I would go with a 220v window unit

[chopsknives]

I use a squirrel cage fan out of a residential A/C unit mounted on a carpet dolly - the highest volume of air I've ever had!

[ranchdog]

I would go with a 220v window unit

This, I have a 25K BTU window unit (220V) that during Hurricane IKE it cooled the whole down stairs of my Nephew's house and its a pretty big house. I got it at Lowe for like $225 at the time.

RD

[jwally]

My 25k btu cooled my insulted 25x30 shop fine till it quit last summer.
Lowe’s want $599 for a new one now.

[equyst]

subscribed, this seems like a very interesting thread

[muzzlebrake]

2 ton window or thru the wall unit 220v will cool 5 times better, keep things dried out and be a cheaper option. About half the cost and a lot less maintenance. And most important it's not sitting in the floor taking up space.

[Shu]

I have two 16” portacools in my 20’x40’ shop at work. One in the back door and one in the middle. They definitely help and I don’t get any more rust than normal.