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Re: building a shop

To: "Elton Clark" <lotus.tony@airmail.net>,
Subject: Re: building a shop
From: "Phil Ethier" <pethier@isd.net>
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 07:40:35 -0500
-----Original Message-----
From: Elton Clark <lotus.tony@airmail.net>
To: Shop <shop-talk@autox.team.net>
Date: Thursday, October 18, 2001 12:18 AM
Subject: Re: building a shop


>
>A comment on shop heating and a/c:
>
>Give a think to the time you'll actually spend in the shop . .   If you are
>like me and want to be able to work in the shop at random times for random
>durations,  consider  an "overkill" on your heating and air conditioning.
>I can get my 1800 foot shop "comfy" in about 20 minutes regardless of
>whether the outside temp is 32 degrees or 100 degrees.  I have a 130,000
btu
>gas-fired Modine overhead heater and a 6 ton Rheem a/c unit, a "take-out"
>which I was given by a buddy in the business.  The surprise is the low
>operating cost.  Since I'm only there about 70 - 80 hours a month, the a/c
>cost is only about a fifth the cost of the 700 hours I operate the 3 ton
a/c
>in my 2200 foot home.

I find that holding the shop at 50 degrees all winter is quite inexpensive.
The place is well-insulated.  If I am not there, the windows and doors stay
closed.  There are air leaks around the old access door on the side.  I need
to seal those up some day soon.  I never open this door to the outside in
the winter, though (and darn seldom in the summer), preferring instead to
enter through the garage.  This way, the cold wind does not get into the
shop directly.  By holding one temperature, the floor and all objects inside
soak at one temp and little energy is required to keep them there.

A/C is not something I have bothered with.  In the summer, I move cars in
and out and there is no point in fighting it.  Saint Paul Minnesota is not
as hot as Sherman Texas.  Certainly not as hot as the day I was in Sherman!
For the relatively few days it is in the 90s here, I can sweat it out.  I
have two small screened windows with extra-large sills.  A box fan sits in
each, one to blow in, one to exhaust.  Big box fans inside the shop provide
circulation and wind-chill on hot days.

Phil Ethier    Saint Paul  Minnesota  USA
1970 Lotus Europa, 1992 Saturn SL2, 1986 Suburban, 1962 Triumph TR4 CT2846L
LOON, MAC   pethier@isd.net     http://www.mnautox.com/

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