AC Condenser Inside Garage?

[Wanderlust]

I'm helping a friend build a small 4k 10x10 sealed stadium within his two car garage (roughly 20x20x9). Its a rental and he wants to keep any modifications to the garage itself at a minimum. I have an extra 2ton mini split I'm going to give him, and I would like to ask any AC experts out there if I could keep the condenser INSIDE the garage so we don't have to drill any holes in the walls to place the condenser outside. There is also the fact that there is nowhere to really hide an AC condenser outside this garage. I'm not sure how much this will warm the air inside the garage, or how it will effect the AC performance inside the sealed room. Any opinions?

 

[monoss]

When you say sealed, do you mean inside a tent inside the garage?

It will definitely warm the air in the garage and will definitely affect the performance, likely by a big degree. An exhaust or intake fan (if you have windows) would be a great help.

This is under the assumption that you are scrubbing and dumping air from a tent into the interior of the garage.

 

[krunchbubble]

condenser puts out major heat....

dont drill any holes, go out the garage vents....

if your concerned about hiding the condenser from neighbors, build a small exhausted housing for it or a small shed to hide it....

 

[Wanderlust]

By sealed, I mean in an insulated room built inside the garage, similar, but made from wood. The air is scrubbed inside the room but not vented out of it. C02 in the room. The only space for exhaust housing outside the garage is already taken up by a a locked shed where the landowner keeps his junk. Even if I had access to that, would the condenser heat up that area just the same? There is an attic space above the garage with a pull down ladder using only a thin piece of cheap replaceable wood as ceiling material. I suppose I could potentially pull air from the garage into the attic-space. but the largest diameter I could cut through that is 10", of which I do have a MAX fan. Do you think a 1000 cfm fan will cool a 2ton condenser?

 

[Lammy]

If your sucking air out of someplace. It has got to be replaced by air coming in.
So leave a window open and use a whole house fan to exchange the air in the garage.

AC's don't get rid of heat they move it. I think you will have an up-hill battle trying to stay cool in that small room while heating up the interior of the garage.
I know my whole house fan isn't much good in the summer. Even with all the windows open and no real heat source (4kw and AC can make a lot of heat)

I recommend trying to find a way to install the AC correctly. Maybe disguise it in a dog house. But I don't know why one would need to hide an AC.

 

[Wanderlust]

With C02 in the room, I dont think replacing the air is as necessary. And I there is enough passive air coming into the garage to prevent a 10" max fan from slamming the doors too hard.
The condenser needs to remain hidden because this is a rental, and also because I feel an exposed condenser in this town is a dead giveaway to thieves. Grow rooms are common knowledge here. I think the larger concern is whether the area holding the condenser, whether in the garage, in an attic, or even in a doghouse (not really an option), can remain cool enough to run optimally. I think the condenser should run well up to 100-110 degrees, although I would rather avoid those temps in the garage too.

 

[dragunn]

i would build a box around the condenser,may be one foot spacing around the whole thing(so i isolate the heat,dont want to heat up the whole garage).use your ten inch max fan to draw air out of the box to the the garage vents.you will probly have to split the duct,since your vents arent 10 inches.you wont need to have the max fan running full blast.crack a window or door for fresh air.i add a cheap filter to my a/c box inlet every month,filter gets caked in dust.

 

[Lammy]

I was only talking about exchanging the air in the garage to keep the temps down in there. And mainly I only said that cause my whole house fans cost like $200 and moves a shit load of air you could set it in the opening to the attic. I think that could work really well as it also is cooling the attic.

But I don't know your climate or ambient temp of the garage. If its 90 degrees out it'll probably get to 100 pretty quick with the condenser in there. And cerntainly use lot more power to run in extreme heat. And when its hotter you'll want good insulation to slow down the heat transfer back to your garden.

I'm not saying you can't get it to work for you though.
Building a box around it seems like a good idea.

Good Luck

 

[budleydoright]

That condensor will heat that garage up to 100+ degrees in no time at all. Anything you do to ventalate it would require bigger holes than running the lines through the wall.

Running the condenser in 100-110 degree temps will reduce it's effeciency by a hugh %.

I agree with krunch, get it outside and disguise it.

I'm running an 18k with the condenser indoors, but it has more than 4000 sq ft of warehouse to absorb the heat.