HEAT!! (for your feet...and hands...in the garage) Topic is solved

[abscate]

I worked outside most of today about 50 F, cloudy, and little wind. Southern Oklahoma is mild most of winter months. No Volvo work today, but used '83 245 to haul wheels and tires to store and back. New tires were for '01 Mercedes which also got new rear brake pads. I have two shops and a garage, but no heaters and I usually don't have space inside to work anyway. I am thinking more about a shop air conditioner for the 100 F summers here. Maybe a swamp cooler. Everyone know what that is?
volvolugnut

You might get some cooling in a dry heat but that’s not how I remember OK in summer.

Stick with the genuine Carnot cycle cooling in your climate.

[volvolugnut]

Swamp coolers, for those who may not know, are evaporator cooling devices. They create cool air by evaporation of water. They work best when the ambient air is dry. When ambient air is near dew point they mostly just make your sweat wetter. I don't like them.
volvolugnut

[RickHaleParker]

Maybe a swamp cooler. Everyone know what that is?

Swamp cooler is Evaporative cooling. Works on the same physics as sweating. Not very reliable out here on the central plains with our high humidity. Performance decreases as the air approaches saturation (100% humidity). This is why you get so hot and soaked with sweat when the humidity is high.

If you are outside of town, look for something you can use as a heat sink. A stream, creek, pond, lake or an old hand dug well will do. The flow of water can be used as a heat sink to carry heat away.

Another "free energy" cooling you might want to look into is Heat Pipes. Heat Pipes use low pressure to lower the boiling point of a fluid. The vapor rises to the top end of the tube, gives up heat and under goes another phase change back into a liquid which flows back to the bottom of the pipe and begins the heat cycle again. Think of heat pipes as a heat pump that is powered by the heat it is pumping.

[BlackBart]

It's 25 degrees outside and foggy, boys & girls....I don't want to hear about cooling.

Since my pal the Very Good Electrician is coming, he already took out a permit for the heater, perimeter wall outlets, and overhead lights. Which means I better get shopping for these 4' LED shop lights, which seem to be all over the map as far as quality and cost. I would prefer the standard T-8 lamp replacement in a sheet metal shop fixture.

If you already have shop lights and want to retrofit to LED, you can purchase a kit with two LED lamp tubes and replacement lamp holders for each end. You snip the ballast loose, and the new bulb holders power the lamp from one end only.

I like a warm 2700º up to 3500º color temperature - I don't need blueish or shocking white white lighting, even in a task space.

There are also a lot of fixtures now which have the LED strips built in, covered by a plastic lens. What pisses me off about these is that when the lamps fail, you have to toss the whole thing. Such a waste. And mostly all plastic.

[Rattnalle]

Permit for indoor fittings? What's up with all those strange detailed regulations over there in the land of the free?

Southern Sweden is easy to manage. A bit of heat in winter and never to warm.

As for insulation a two feet layer of fibreglass wool is enough for most applications.

[matthew1]

Permit for indoor fittings? What's up with all those strange detailed regulations over there in the land of the free?

50% of us are idiots, so we need electrical supervision so we don't burn neighborhoods down. Mother nature does that ok.

[BlackBart]

Exactly. And it's 220V electrical panel stuff that doesn't just turn off while you're working. A permit means a qualified electrical inspector comes to verify that Bubba the sparky didn't slap it together with undersized wire and overloaded circuits.

[Rattnalle]

Permit for indoor fittings? What's up with all those strange detailed regulations over there in the land of the free?

50% of us are idiots, so we need electrical supervision so we don't burn neighborhoods down. Mother nature does that ok.

Over here it's simply illegal for us idiots to make any fixed electrical installation but the certified electrician can go ahead and just do anything that's generally allowed.

For plumbing and other stuff you're allowed to do it but if you don't do it in a professional manner and it causes damage the insurance companies won't cover you.

[Rattnalle]

Exactly. And it's 220V electrical panel stuff that doesn't just turn off while you're working. A permit means a qualified electrical inspector comes to verify that Bubba the sparky didn't slap it together with undersized wire and overloaded circuits.

I thought you had 120 over there?

So it's basically for making sure someone certified comes by to check it's ok afterwards? Rather than our system where the certified person has to do it to begin with.

[matthew1]

110AC for almost everything, 220AC for large HD items like washers, dryers, furnaces, the BlackBart's garage heater, etc.