updating garage

[Karl K.]

Hello everyone,
We are in the process of insulating and drywalling our garage, I am looking for recommendations on what to do as far a climate control. we live in southeastern Pennsylvania. Summers can be hot and humid, I dont need air conditioning but some heat would be nice. The main reason I am asking is not for me, but to help preserve an old Corvette. If is insulated well would a dehumidifier do the job or should we go further and put a regular heating and air conditioning system. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
Karl.

[Tom H.]

Re: updating garage

Hi Karl !

The dehumidifier will be great for most of the year, but when it gets cold in the winter, you will need some sort of heat.

Most dehumidifiers will not work in cold unheated garages during the winter. There are a million opinions on heat, but I've always had a ventless gas heater and a dehumidifier and have had good results controlling temperature and humidity. I have mine well insulated and maintain 65 degrees through the coldest parts of the Ohio winter.

[Rich G.]

Re: updating garage

A dehumidifier does take the moisture out of the garage but also makes it hot as hell. If you plan on working in there also I'd put in an AC unit in also. At least you will have the option to turn it on when you want.

[Steven B.]

Re: updating garage

Karl, last year there were some great responses on garage climate control. A search will bring you alot of valuable info.

While living in Northern Indiana, Northern Georgia, Northern Texas and East Texas I have always had two dehumidifiers in my garage. (four car garages). In Indiana and Georgia I had heat and AC and they worked great. If you use the dehumidifiers you have to either continually empty the water containers or route them to a drain. There are some very good combination heat/AC combination units that work well for a two car garage, but they burn up the electricity. I have a friend who picked one up at Lowe's last year and it heats/cools well.

Check the garage posts last year. There is good advice, especially for heat safety as I recall.

Steve

[Peter J.]

Re: updating garage

Steven,
Try this web site it will have more info on garages than you would need:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

Pete

[Valeria H.]

Re: updating garage

I recently purchased a car capsule from Ecklers but have not yet used it. It works by infusing filtered, condensation free air into the capsule. It runs for a month for $2 as stated by Ecklers. I have several ceramic heaters that do not cost much to run in the winter but I do not have an air conditioner in the garage. I need to look at the garage web site to find out how important that is. As I have not used this yet I do not have any recommendations on this option. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Sky mall also sells a similar product that additionally has a battery tender but the cost is far more than the one from Ecklers.
Valeria

[James L.]

Re: updating garage

Karl
I live in central NJ so my climate is not significantly different from yours. I have a ventless thermostatically controlled heater and a dehumideifier. I keep the temperature at 55 during the winter and only use the dehumidifier when its really wet (like now in August). Both work really well. While we hate to admit it Corvettes don't need quite as much climate control as wives and children.

Jim

[Mike M.]

Re: updating garage

Hi Karl
Check the archives, there was an excellent lengthy thread with a lot of pics some time ago.
Perhaps someone (John) could post a link.
HaND

[Harmon C.]

Re: updating garage

I have a friend who installs new furances and A/C units. I installed a small furance/A/C unit with no ductwork to use to cool my shop. When he was taking it out I went to job site and picked it up for free.He would need to pay to scrap it and this way he saved money. Lots of people replace units that have years of life left in them to go green. Been useing it for years with no problems and it cools real fast.

[Joe R.]

Re: updating garage

Here's a thread I started last year on this topic that I got a lot of good info from:

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthread.php?p=434817&uid=2437#post434817

There was also one started by Stewart Allison that I enjoyed:

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthread.php?t=69566&highlight=shed&uid=3497

Joe