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Make your whole shop a swamp cooler: put a sprinkler on the roof. Keep it to a light mist so it evaporates on contact with the roof. That helps mostly if you have a metal roof but should lower under roof temps by a few degrees, which is gold when it get hot.

A big window unit in a panel under the door would work fine. You could also cut a hole in the wall and mount it that way. There are "through wall" units, which are basically repackaged window units, that cost 2x as much for some reason...

That said, window units can have efficiencies of SEER 7 or 8. I had planned to use window units during my remodel of a house that had never had AC, but after seeing the typical efficiencies - and I was wiring for 220v - I saved my shekels and went for a 3-head mini split instead. My wallet still twitches at the price, though.

Some single-head mini-splits can be had with "pre charged" refrigerant lines, which can save you a chunk over having an AC company come out and charge the system.

The unit I bought had some fairly stiff requirements on the refrigerant lines - they have to be a specific type of copper, soldered with a specific solder, routed in a specific way. And they have to be insulated in a certain manner, and supported another way... nothing really difficult, just a lot different than old-school air conditioning stuff. Oh, and the head unit fans and control wiring are all 220v.

Damn that's a good idea. I've never thought to do that, but I'm going to try it now. My garage isn't insulated or anything, and has a shingle roof. That might actually help cool it because water will have more time to evaporate before running off than a steel roof. I bet a soaker hose at the peak would do the job nicely, and I could install a needle valve to control flow. I know I live in the frozen tundra of Canada, but it actually gets hot where I am. 38C (100F) in the shade is pretty standard for most of July and August, but it's also a pretty dry heat. When (if) I get to build my big dream shop, it will be dug into the ground behind my garage and I'll back fill against the concrete on three sides to help keep it cool.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
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I added the sprinkler/soaker hose to my last, less insulated, house and it helped keep temps down.

On the new house I made sure I had PLENTY of insulation so I haven't done it on the new house.

It can lead to some interesting stains on a shingle roof.

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

Well for me, after a little bit of ebay and Craigslist shopping I scored a 13000 BTU LG portable AC unit. It's got an EER of 9.7 and I got it for $200.

I'd have to run it 5 days a week, 8 hours a day for about 10 years to justify the added expense of a mini split.

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Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216