Air Conditioning my Shop?

Col Defender

Col Defender

Joined
Nov 11, 2011
Messages
1,398
My shop is a 12' x 25' room I built years ago inside the barn - long before I started making knives. It gets pretty hot in there and all I have is a couple of fans and the shop is insulated. Thinking about installing a good sized window air conditioner.

Can I though? Or will all the dust ruin the a/c quickly? And I do not have a dust collection system but use a respirator and allow the fans to blow stuff out the door. Of course if I use an ac I will shut the door to keep the heat out. Practical idea to go with ac or not?

Thanks!
 
I would not make knives in the summer without AC. Have two window units in our shop with a vac system.

If ya going to close up the shop and turn on the AC, ya really should exhaust the dust.
 
Don Hanson III said:
I would not make knives in the summer without AC. Have two window units in our shop with a vac system.

If ya going to close up the shop and turn on the AC, ya really should exhaust the dust.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, My shop is 16 X 16 and insulated so we have about the same square footage. I have one large window unit and a dust collection system that vents outside.
My cost to air condition it is about 15-20 a month here in SE Texas. I will get a couple of pictures of my redneck dust collection system and post them a little later.
 
I say do it. How can you expect to build precision knives when workshop temperature fluxuates ??
Btw, If your a/c machine allows it, perhaps open it up a couple times a year to clean out any build up.
 
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I have heard of people putting disposable air filters in front of the intake for the window units to keep the dust from getting to the unit and then swapping them out as needed. Have any of you tried that? Got any pictures?
 
The AC also keeps the humidity down and nothing rusts, handle material stay nice and dry, etc...

Just a whole lot more pleasant work environment.

Shop here is 36' X 48', cost very little to keep it dry & cool.
 
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It's been like 108 degrees here lately. I used to cool with a swamp cooler and a fan. Two years ago I got AC. What a blessing.
 
I install washable filter media in front of my AC's regular filter.
It looks like blue fiberglass insulation on a roll. Very efficient, and you just hose it off. Just cut it to fit over your regular filter.
Years ago, I kept hydrochloric acid in my shop. The fumes literally ate the aluminum coil fins off mu through the wall unit! Leave that stuff outside.
 
If your shop makes a lot of dust, do it like an industrial unit.

Set up a dust extraction system to take the dust out of the shop. Put the AC unit in the return/replacement air port. That way the unit only handles clean air. The exhaust port for the dust collector in man shops is out through a window, and the return air port in most shops is in through another window.

Use a window type AC unit and some clever duct making to allow the clean outside air to enter the AC unit front (get rid of the front panel). A light duty filter will be all that is needed on the duct intake from outside.

As the dust extraction sends dust out through the exhaust port, it sucks in clean outside air through the return/replacement air port. Just run the ADC unit on High fan/High cool. Even when the dust extractor isn't running, the unit will still bring in clean air. This type setup is a bit like adding a simple turbocharger to a car.

The duct you will make is just a sort of "J" or "U" shape that fits against the AC inside coils (where the current filter is). The other end of the duct goes to a hole through the wall. A foam gasket made from window/door sealer foam will work fine for the duct/AC front joint.
 
My shop is about the same size as yours and I do have an AC window unit in there that actually is built into a cutout in the wall as opposed to a window and is mounted high on the wall. Fortunately its remote controlled. The unit was in there when I bought this place and thank goodness because it get pretty doggone warm in Florida. Anyhow, being a newbie knife maker I hadn't really considered the affect dust would have on the AC unit, although I do keep the shop pretty clean. A few weeks back it just seemed it wasn't getting very cool in the shop and I thought perhaps it was the hot sun beating through the windows so I covered them up with some large pieces of cardboard that I had laying around. Helped a little, but still had a problem. I began to suspect the AC unit was on its last leg and got up on a ladder to give it a close examination. Thats when I discovered the pull-out filter. It was filthy, LOL. Took it out, cleaned it up, reinstalled it and things are cool once again. I haven't used a window style AC unit in decades and it just wasn't something I'd thought about. Lesson learned. During my once a week cleaning binges, the filter now gets inspected. I like the idea though of adding a second layer of filtering that Bill S suggested.
 
Don Hanson III said:
I would not make knives in the summer without AC. Have two window units in our shop with a vac system.

If ya going to close up the shop and turn on the AC, ya really should exhaust the dust.
Click to expand...

Hey Don,

Are you letting your AC run 24/7? I know you do a lot of forging are you doing that in the AC as well or do you have your smithy sectioned off or just turn the AC off and open the doors when you forge?

-Clint
 
I installed a window unit this year... Shop is 18 x 38. And I installed a washable primary dust filter in front of the unit intake I hope to duct fresh air to it as suggested already , as a long term solution

The improvement on work conditions and moral is quite significant.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G800A using Tapatalk
 
Augus7us said:
Hey Don,

Are you letting your AC run 24/7? I know you do a lot of forging are you doing that in the AC as well or do you have your smithy sectioned off or just turn the AC off and open the doors when you forge?

-Clint
Click to expand...
Clint, When it's real hot (90+) and humid I let the small one run 24 hours a day. When not so bad out I just run it during the day. The forge area gets opened up when forging, no AC. But I rarely forge in the summer. I try and get enough forging done in the winter to get me through the summer. Usually works out well.
 
'Pleasant work environment ' ? Even 50 years ago there were industrial engineering studies that showed that above about 70 F - work quality ,productivity , go DOWN and accident rate goes UP !! .
 
Bill DeShivs said:
I install washable filter media in front of my AC's regular filter.
It looks like blue fiberglass insulation on a roll. Very efficient, and you just hose it off. Just cut it to fit over your regular filter.
Years ago, I kept hydrochloric acid in my shop. The fumes literally ate the aluminum coil fins off mu through the wall unit! Leave that stuff outside.
Click to expand...

Interesting Bill! Where Would one get this filter media?

I use a mini split unit and it stays 70 in 95-100F... Love it. I just clean the filters out every now and then and I have some spray that is "self cleaning" for the coils to clean any gunk off. My friend is in the hvac business and gave me a can
 
It is hotter than Hades in my "shop". Unfortunately last year I was forced to move as the house I was renting with the intentions of purchasing the owner decided to foreclose on the house by not making his payments and after I had invested about $10K in repair breaking our contract. Long story short without pursuing a costly legal battle I cut my losses moving to a home that has no garage or shop building like I had, a 24 x 24 barn style building. Needing a place to store my tools and equipment and having just lost my savings my budget was VERY tight so my current "shop is no more than 20' of 4x4's on top of 3-4x4's as posts 16' from the house. I attached 2X4 rafters to the brick box on the house as rafters and the entire enclosure is covered with tarps as the roof and wall material. It keeps the rain out very well and has stood up to some very intense storms however being that it is so water tight, it is very air tight as well and acts almost like an oven. I do have an opening at each end that I can open up like a set of drapes I can close up using some strong spring clamps. I currently use 3 box fans to push air through from one side to the other creating a draft as best I can. My hopes for the winter are to build a platform to set a window unit on and cut a hole that the unit can pass through so next summer I don't cook like I am this year. It has typically been well over 100 degrees. It definitely makes getting anything done an unpleasant chore as far as dealing with the heat.

On another note, the house we lost is going up for auction on Aug, 1st so wish me luck in possibly being able to get it back.

Sorry for getting off track, but I definitely feel for ya with working in the heat.
 
Your friend in the HVAC business should be able to help you get a piece of fiberglas roll filter media.
 
Friedrich window units for the WIN. With as simple of controls as possible(knobs).

Although we have a small haier window unit in the loft that runs round the clock for very cheap.
 
sounds like an excellent set up for keeping the dust blown out
pleasanthill said:
It is hotter than Hades in my "shop". Unfortunately last year I was forced to move as the house I was renting with the intentions of purchasing the owner decided to foreclose on the house by not making his payments and after I had invested about $10K in repair breaking our contract. Long story short without pursuing a costly legal battle I cut my losses moving to a home that has no garage or shop building like I had, a 24 x 24 barn style building. Needing a place to store my tools and equipment and having just lost my savings my budget was VERY tight so my current "shop is no more than 20' of 4x4's on top of 3-4x4's as posts 16' from the house. I attached 2X4 rafters to the brick box on the house as rafters and the entire enclosure is covered with tarps as the roof and wall material. It keeps the rain out very well and has stood up to some very intense storms however being that it is so water tight, it is very air tight as well and acts almost like an oven. I do have an opening at each end that I can open up like a set of drapes I can close up using some strong spring clamps. I currently use 3 box fans to push air through from one side to the other creating a draft as best I can. My hopes for the winter are to build a platform to set a window unit on and cut a hole that the unit can pass through so next summer I don't cook like I am this year. It has typically been well over 100 degrees. It definitely makes getting anything done an unpleasant chore as far as dealing with the heat.

On another note, the house we lost is going up for auction on Aug, 1st so wish me luck in possibly being able to get it back.

Sorry for getting off track, but I definitely feel for ya with working in the heat.
Click to expand...
 
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