Iron Kitten Forge Posted July 30, 2022 Share Posted July 30, 2022 Do any of yall have air conditioning in your shop? I'm working on building a new shop and trying to see if it's reasonable to air condition my space. I have a 12000btu portable ac unit that should be more than capable of keeping the shop cool, but with the heat from the forge. The shop is about 200 sqft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 30, 2022 Share Posted July 30, 2022 If you are not using an induction forge, AC may kill you. Coal, charcoal and gas forges need large amounts of ventilation to get rid of CO. Folks out here may use a swamp cooler with all the doors and windows open and just stand in the blast while working. Currently I use a squirrel cage fan the same way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 30, 2022 Share Posted July 30, 2022 That's IT!. I knew there was something waving red flags at me but was blanking on why. What Thomas said in spades! In my defense the only AC I have experience with in the last 50 years is in the car when it's more than 60f out. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted July 30, 2022 Share Posted July 30, 2022 Portable AC units usually recirculate the air in a room while a window or central air system usually pulls air in from the outside. So, as Thomas and Frosty say it is possible that with a tightly buttoned up shop (don't want that hot outside air sneaking in) and a portable AC unit you could reduce the ambient oxygen level with a burning forge (propane, coal, coke, etc.) that it would start to produce carbon monoxide from incomplete combustion. If you want AC in your shop (I would in LA) I'd think of a window/wall unit instead of a portable AND one or more CO detectors in the shop. If a CO detector ever goes off STOP whatever you are doing immediately and get out, leaving the door open behind you. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted July 30, 2022 Share Posted July 30, 2022 A swamp cooler will work if your not in a humid environment, a compressor cooler not so much. TP has the right of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Kitten Forge Posted July 31, 2022 Author Share Posted July 31, 2022 Thanks for your replies. As for the ventilation issue, I have and exhaust fan that will be positioned in the wall over my Forge and a intake fan that will be located in the opposite corner. I also have two carbon monoxide detectors in case one fails. I'm eventually planning on going induction but I'm sure I'll still need propane for some things. Swamp coolers don't work well here. Humidity is at 88% right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 I have a swamp cooler in the forge and like you said it doesn't work well in the Ozarks either. I just run it on high fan without the water hooked up and it does help to cool by air movement. However the wasps just love to build nests in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Sounds like Fort Benning! Screw that. 50% is bad enugh. I might have to move back to Phoenix if Oklahoma doesn’t cool down! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Swamp Coolers don't do a great job when relative humidity is over 33% in my opinion; but they do move a lot of air and that helps all the time. When we are in single digit humidity the swamp cooler will give you a brain freeze standing under it, (and increase the humidity a bit.) I've visited Louisiana in the summer before and felt drier when completely under water down there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Just to have a wee gloat: High temperatures in Laramie have been running in the upper 70s and low 80s. Humidity today was about 30%. Occasional afternoon or evening thunderstorm. About normal and seasonal. My thoughts and prayers are with those of you in hot and humid climes. I don't think I could ever live in a place like that again. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 My shop is about 200 sq ft also, and I cant see your AC having any real effect while the forge is working, if you have enough intake air flow to allow enough O2 and general ventilation for proper flue operation unless you are only standing in the direct output of the AC unit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 My smithy is open air but I have considered rigging up a diesel powered reefer unit off a semi trailer to the side of my repair shop with a 500 gallon fuel tank tower! ive heard those things can keep a freezer trailer down to -30, that sounds like it’d be nice on these 106 degree days with 90 percent humidity! Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Here's a safe way to stay cool. Buy a suit like worn inside space suits that circulates water around your body. Space suit system uses a sublimation system where the circulated water flows over a grid that is cooled by moisture sublimating to vacuum. A suit like this that could exchange warm water for cold water or circulate through an ice pack would keep you cool. Hmmm? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 A fancy suit like that wouldn’t last 10 minutes in my shop! Lol i wonder how much one would cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 There is a cheaper version that just looks like a fishing vest with pockets all over to hold freezer gel packs. Had a friend with a conditioned worsened by heat; I told him about the cheap version and he was able to go to Pennsic again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 I still vote for the diesel powered reefer unit! set that dude at a low idle an it’ll run forever on a gallon, of course as humid as it is here I’d have to hook up a drain line for the condensation run off, guess I could always hook a hose to it an water the flowers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Shop Shower! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Hey now that’s not a bad idea! i dunno about a shower but it’d definitely be handy for a deep sink to wash off oil an grease! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 I'm collecting the overflow from my wife's 600 gallon rain water tank to do a preliminary hand washing before I go to the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Thanks Thomas! Now imma have to cruise CL to see if I can find a reefer unit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 My local scrapyard has several semi cabs, I suggested to my wife that she buy one and make it into a guest "house" for our place... Good luck on your "Reefer Madness"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 You do know they call semi sleepers Dog Houses don't you? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 Nope...why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 Ive known a lot of people who drove truck but I Never heard anyone call their sleepers dog houses, you got me curious too Jerry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 Must be an old tyme thing I guess. A lot of the drivers I knew in the 70s called their dinky little sleepers dog houses. And BOY were they happy to have somewhere to sleep other than stretched between the seats, even if the bunk was barely sleeping bag wide and not enough room to sit up. Come to think of it I haven't heard a sleeper called a dog house in a long time. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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