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Temporary 'Cold Room' for the hot garage

DeltaRomeo

doug reeves: unfluencer
Staff member
So anywho, it’s 125°F in my garage as I type this. I have a window unit out there, but it can run nonstop for a month and not cool down the whole garage (and the first time somebody opens the garage door all the cold air is lost. If the wifey pulls the car in from an errand out, the battle is over and it’s an oven).

I’ve been toying with ways to temporarily partition off a portion of my garage (basically, just around the workbench) as a way to create a sort of ‘cold room’ in the garage. The window unit works just fine with some testing I’ve done with sheets/clips/staples & some wire.

I stumbled across the ‘Zipwall’ product at http://www.blakeproducts.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=33 as an off-the-shelf option, but was wondering if anyone had a homebuilt version of this and could share some images.

Zipwall.jpg

I’m toying with shower curtain type rings that slide on a wire – stows against the wall when not in use - a ‘cold box’ that can be rigged up in 30 seconds or so.

Anybody have something like this in place already?
 
So anywho, it?s 125?F in my garage as I type this. I have a window unit out there, but it can run nonstop for a month and not cool down the whole garage (and the first time somebody opens the garage door all the cold air is lost. If the wifey pulls the car in from an errand out, the battle is over and it?s an oven).

I?ve been toying with ways to temporarily partition off a portion of my garage (basically, just around the workbench) as a way to create a sort of ?cold room? in the garage.

Anybody have something like this in place already?

Doug, I haven't done it yet, but have thought about using sheets of foam insulation and tape. They are very light, stiff and insulate well (well, duh.)

I've considered using packing or duct tape on the seams, alternating sides so i can "fan-fold" them for storage against the existing walls.

Just a thought..
 
You know, that's not a bad idea. Sheets of foam insulation hinged on one end to create a wedge of sorts (and can be collapsed). If I turn my car a little after getting it in the garage I have a right triangle shaped area that easily covers my bench with a chair.

Maybe a sheet or something as a 'roof'. This would also keep it out of the garage door tracks.

Promising.
 
some of us builders are diehard enough that our cars sit in the driveway :D

that being said, my whole garage is a coldroom, I just open the door and turn the AC down, it works after about 45mins

the power bills will only be high for a few summers, cost of doing business i say
 
We're running a well powered sub-panel to the detached garage. Then, as we have 4 windows units in the house while the central A/C is being replaced, they will all go to the garage.....all 4 on for chill, and 1 for holding temp. A/C overkill may be another option if the cold room doesn't work out... ;)

Not sure why I'm in Houston... I'm a heat weanie, and keep the house 68-70.

And why you would ever put a car in a perfectly good garage? :p (Thankfully my better half would rather get a place for a drum kit than a parking spot. :D)
 
Wowie that's hot!

So anywho, it?s 125?F in my garage as I type this.

And to think everyone here in upstate NY is panicking because it got up to 99. :eek: I don't know how you Texas guys do it. I'll take the 6 foot of snow a year here anytime over that oven you call home :D.
 
So anywho, it?s 125?F in my garage as I type this.
I stumbled across the ?Zipwall? product at http://www.blakeproducts.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=33 as an off-the-shelf option, but was wondering if anyone had a homebuilt version of this and could share some images.

Zipwall.jpg

My mother told me a long time ago, never to put my head inside a plastic bag:D

Seriously, I have done something similar in the past for a quicky paint booth in my shop. I taped 6-mil polyethylene sheet plastic to 1" PVC water pipes on two opposite edges, long enough to drop from ceiling to floor. Make 3 of these if one side is a wall, or 4 if you want it in the middle of the room. I hung one pipe from the ceiling in wire loops, and the other pipe rests on the floor. Then, use spring clamps to close the side edges where the panels meet. When not being used, I rolled the whole thing up and suspended the bundles in the wire loops to keep the whole thing out of the way. One of my panels had a square cut-out for a ventilating fan, which slightly pressurized the booth. You could replace that with your window-mount a/c.
 
I liked the Zipwall poles, but was too cheap to buy them. Made my own from 2 different diameter pvc pipes and some HD springs. About $20 total and less than an hours work.

Jim Berry
RV-10
 
I like the insulation board idea also. I'm not sure what your humidity is down there in August, but you might have a lot of condensation to deal with. You could tape in a couple plastic windows for light and to see through if needed.
 
(Thankfully my better half would rather get a place for a drum kit than a parking spot.

Wow!

Doug, There's gotta be restaurants going under near you. How bout a really big refrigerator? Don't forget to add an inside handle.
 
We live in the desert and use evaporative cooling. 6000CFM cooler for a 3200 cubic foot garage. I understand that may not work in Texas but here in the high desert it works well.
 
Just checked

Shop temp is holding steady at 69?F, no AC, no heat (tuned that off in mid July). It has been unseasonably cool this summer in the upper left corner while the rest of the country bakes
 
Window AC on Rollers

Doug -

Out here in central California the summertime temps in my company's shops can be above 110* - I have used for many years a window type AC unit mounted on its own rolling stand with a "deflector" shield to direct the cold air toward wherever I am. It has made the difference between working there in the afternoons or not.
 
Shop temp is holding steady at 69?F, no AC, no heat (tuned that off in mid July). It has been unseasonably cool this summer in the upper left corner while the rest of the country bakes

I don't think my shop temp has gone over 72F this summer. Nice living in the cool mountains of Colorado.

I don't think I could survive in the heat and humidity of eastern Texas.
 
I don't think my shop temp has gone over 72F this summer. Nice living in the cool mountains of Colorado.

I don't think I could survive in the heat and humidity of eastern Texas.

I'll take the heat (and A/C) as long as it comes with oxygen to breath!
 
First stab at a 'cold room' in the garage (pics)

Yesterday I strung some wire around the workbench using some wood screws, sheets and a canvas tarp.

Progress.

Both cars still in garage (important when it's 107°F outside).

125°F on the outside of the tarp (warm car just brought into garage). 72°F on the workbench.

Still some more tweeking to do, but I think I'm on to something. Thinking I can get the workbench down to 68°F with some more strategically placed old towels.

I'm working on the RV-3 project today! On a related note, here is a graphic comparing the brutal North Texas summer of 1980 with this year. In 1980 there were nearly 70 days of 100+ temps.

from the inside (car on other side of tarp)
16kq1qg.jpg

from the outside looking at the 'door'. Garage door still works and I can get the car out.
16acjn4.jpg

inside looking at the 'door' - a/c unit on far right.
148dusk.jpg
 
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125?F on the outside of the tarp (warm car just brought into garage). 72?F on the workbench.

Still some more tweeking to do, but I think I'm on to something.

THINK???

53* drop and you only think you are on to something???

Sounds like a rousing success to me.
 
Keeping Cool

It was 64 degrees at Aurora OR this Morning, and will likely go all the way up
to the mid 70's by mid afternoon...
Sorry, just had to rub it in!
Blessings
Jim

[ed. Banning Jim's account now...... (kidding). dr]
 
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