Wondering about best methods to cool a new home office

[szlamany]

Hi - hope this is the right place to ask this question!

I've moved my office into my garage - from a commercial location (1000 sq ft) with a big-old cooling system that I never messed with.

Now I've got 200 sq ft - but still have 3 workstations, copier, laptops and a computer server producing all this heat.

I put nice windows in the office - got them on discount at lowes - but they face west and the heat in the afternoon is already getting out of control.

When we framed the outside wall where we would consider an A/C unit we only really had one place that was window and door free and made sure to put a header in that spot. My thought at that time was to put a narrow unit in the wall - but seems all those kinds of units need to have a casement window and cannot be wall mounted. That idea seemed to go away.

Now I'm looking at portable units which I only hear bad things about and also what seems like a nice option - a mini split where you hang something on the wall inside and it's got an external unit and pipes and hoses between.

How do I find someone to install something like this? I got a local repair person to come look at my situation and they didn't seem all that interested in installing something like this.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[BaldLoonie]

It would take a pro to install a mini.

Portables are fine IF they are the 2 pipe units with an intake directly to the unit. Otherwise all they do is suck the cold air out of the room and cause hot air to infiltrate.

[REP]

A mini split is perfect for your application,if sized correctly.
They are quiet,effecient and easy to install .There are some Japanese and Korean units that are excellent and some Chiniese units that are worthless.
They are freon bearing units and thus require a professional tech to install them.
Unless your handiman is certified no one should sell to him.If someone should sell to him without the certification I wouldn't trust the brand.

[szlamany]

A mini split is perfect for your application,if sized correctly.
They are quiet,effecient and easy to install .There are some Japanese and Korean units that are excellent and some Chiniese units that are worthless.
They are freon bearing units and thus require a professional tech to install them.
Unless your handiman is certified no one should sell to him.If someone should sell to him without the certification I wouldn't trust the brand.Sorry I was vague - the local repair person was an HVAC person - I thought that doing a mini split install was a good job for a person like that to do.

The model I found online was a 12000 btu unit

http://store.alencorp.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MSG%2D12CRN1%2DINDO OR&Show=TechSpecs

seems to fit the bill on what I've got to do here.

If that's a bad model then please point me in the direction of what would be better - thanks!

[beenthere]

He probably wasn't interested in installing a unit you provide.

[BaldLoonie]

Especially a no-name that may be junk. If you are going to do it, do it right. Sanyo, Mitsubishi, Fujitsu, LG. Skip the cheapos as REP said. If you can't pronounce it, you don't want it :D

[szlamany]

ok - that makes sense. I'm self employed myself - I know how it goes...

I wasn't trying to take business away from the guy - but he started talking about $ dollars. I guess I need to start getting some local recommendations from people I know.

Is LG really a good product - that company scares me as a front for too-many manufacturers?

[skippedover]

I'm with you. I'd pass on the LG too. Mitsubishi Mr. Slim has the largest market share. Their support is excellent as is their education. They have Diamond dealers as well as non-diamond. The Diamond dealers have been to more schools and maintained a higher level of involvement with the Mr. Slim and City Multi lines. However, Fujitsu and Sanyon also make excellent products IMO if they're more easily obtained in your area. Expect to pay for a proper installation. The manufacturers do not give those units away. They all understand that they have a superior product (inverter technology allows them to operate over a wide variety of outputs, thus matching the heating and/or cooling needs more exactly every minute of every day) and normally installed where central systems don't make sense for some reason or reasons. So they charge accordingly. Personally, our profit margins are actually smaller on a mini but we can do more in a day, thus we make more in the end.

[mchild]

Mitsu, Sanyo, Daikin, Fujitsu all have contractor search functions on their web sites. Go with any of these and you will have a top quality unit. Make sure your contractor has installed several of the model you are interested in. They each have things that are a little different that the contractor needs to understand.

[ga-hvac-tech]

The cheapest way would be a window unit... however it would be UGLY, probably noisy, and they usually do not have a long service life.

A mini-split is the better choice IMO... however you will need to hire a pro to install it for you.

I agree, I would not install an LG... I do Fujitsu, they have a good warranty.

Be sure the person who sizes the unit evaluates your load conditions... installing a unit too small or too large is NOT a good idea.

[szlamany]

@mchild - thanks for the tip - I got on the Fujitsu site - popped in my zipcode and found a wholesaler 1 mile from my house. Called them and they gave me the names of two installers.

@ga - yup - if I can afford the mini split I'll go that option - it's been pretty expensive just making this office so far.

I'm wondering if I should just go the cheap window option for this season and after I tank up some cash from moving the office see if I could afford a whole house solution.

[ga-hvac-tech]

@mchild - thanks for the tip - I got on the Fujitsu site - popped in my zipcode and found a wholesaler 1 mile from my house. Called them and they gave me the names of two installers.

@ga - yup - if I can afford the mini split I'll go that option - it's been pretty expensive just making this office so far.

I'm wondering if I should just go the cheap window option for this season and after I tank up some cash from moving the office see if I could afford a whole house solution.

Even with a whole house solution (new system?), you will have the heat issue in the office... and think about this: The extra airflow in the summer will translate into too much heat in the winter...

The mini-split is the better long term solution.

[szlamany]

...The mini-split is the better long term solution.It does seem to come back to this fact over and over again - and to think I didn't even know they existed before a week ago.

[ga-hvac-tech]

It does seem to come back to this fact over and over again - and to think I didn't even know they existed before a week ago.

Amazing what one learns on forums...

When I have a need, I usually google a forum and do some reading... does not matter what the need is, answers are out there for anyone that is willing to invest a few hours to learn.

[jovusun]

I personally would probably go with a wall mounted unit as opposed to a mini-split for the application if you have the room on the exterior wall. They require a cut in for the supply and return, but they are the work horses of the office/portable building industry. Mini-splits usually use a rotary compressor. My opinion of rotary has not been good since I worked for Sears in 81-82 and saw so many many failures then, and thru the years in window units. Most wall mounts such as Bard, Marv-Air, Intertherm and others usually have the Copeland Compliant Scroll compressor,(but ya gotta check by model) the best compressor ever built to date. It contains 3 moving parts vervsus 15 moving parts of a traditional reciprocating (piston type) compressor. This compressor is so amazing that Trane has obviously given up using the Clima-Tuff / Duration compressor in their residential units, because what I see these days in their units is a Copeland Scroll that has been painted orange and assigned a different model number for their own purpose.

It mainly depends on how long you intend for it to be an office or how long you want to A/C the garage. There are no linesets to run, meaning less margin for human error for leaks and charging. They do cost a little more than the cheap stuff, but remember, you get what you pay for if you're lucky.