garage salvation

[roval]

i haven't been shooting much since i haven't been reloading for the past few months as the garage is stifling hot even at night. i
i finally found a decent portable swamp cooler from amazon. hessaire 1300. you put water in , it flows down some media that looks paperbased and a fan pulls air through it.

super downside, it smells like cat pee fiirst several hours of running it. supposedky due to the glue in the media. I just ran it to get rid of the smell without me in the garage. plastic is flimsy too.

it cools it enough to be tolerable and I'm not sweating. you do have to leave the grage door partially open to let the humid air out.

i loaded 1000 rds of 9 mm over 2 days and then shot 300 rds of it yesterday.

so muc easier to heat a garge with a space heater than to cool it.

 

[LiveLife]

I used to reload on "heavy duty" 2'x6'/2'x8' benches (built out of 2x4s/2x6s) and heavy duty casters with capacity to hold engine blocks in the garage.

When I got tired of reloading in the 100F+ heat and freezing cold, I built portable 2'x3' reloading bench with casters off Harbor Freight moving dolly to reload in the comforts of AC/heating. With 11 layer plywood top and presses mounted at the ends, I can resize thicker military .308 on C-H single stage with an empty bench on hardwood floor and bench won't move, shake or top flex.

Another benefit of castered portable bench is moving the bench out of the way when I am not reloading/working at the bench. At the previous house, 2'x3' bench even rolled right into the walk-in closet as 2' width will go through any doorway/hallway (and why bench was shortened to 3' from 4' original length).

Detailed pictures and building plans on this thread (along with other portable benches) - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...stand-suggestions.839458/page-2#post-10887626

 

[dh1633pm]

Love my under the house (basement) work and reloading benches. AC in the summer and Heat in the Winter. Don't know how you do it in an unheated and no AC garage.

 

[Walkalong]

Swamp coolers are nice for outside shops. Just remember, you are putting moisture in the air.

 

[roval]

Swamp coolers are nice for outside shops. Just remember, you are putting moisture in the air.

don't i know it. i was putting cut up index cards in my ammo boxes and they were not crisp as they usually are. the air here is usually dry so just opening the garage door fully after reloading should help a lot.

 

[rskent]

Just remember, you are putting moisture in the air.

I would be afraid to use a swamp cooler for reloading. For working on my truck or a welding job, sure. For reloading, I’m just the opposite. I have an AC (wallbanger) and a dehumidifier in my little workshop.

Cool and dry man, cool and dry.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

I closed in my carport to make my 15x25 shop. I ran central air with three vents in it. It's nice having AC in the area I play with my toys.

 

[ericuda]

Orschelns has portable acs on clearance now for 299. Not big but roll around and easy to vent.

 

[ponchh]

Mini split
When you want to heat and cool one room, they are a good way to go.
One 3in hole, run one wire, and with minor mechanical skills you can install it yourself

 

[Jim Watson]

I have a good size shop built instead of one side of a double garage in new house after The Incident.
It has a through the wall heat pump unit like you see in motels.
I got nearly 7 years out of it but this Spring it would not shift from heat to cool. A new control panel fixed that and it ran for most of the month of June. After that, it has been successive mechanical failures. Fifth repair today. I thought I could get the odds and ends fixed as long as the compressor and coils held up. But we shall see what the bill says. I asked the office clerk if I could get a volume discount. She thought I was kidding. I expect to be hitting the manager up for some consideration when the bill arrives.

 

[roval]

Love my under the house (basement) work and reloading benches. AC in the summer and Heat in the Winter. Don't know how you do it in an unheated and no AC garage.

i live in the Southwest where the winters are mild but the summers are not. the 50 dollar space heater from Costco 5 to 6 feet away makes me nice and toasty in the winter. as mentioned i end up taking a break in the summer months from reloading.

 

[SamT1]

My dad has a swamp cooler in his shop. He freezes jugs of water every night when he’s done and then when he gets home from work he puts the back in the swamp cooler with the water and helps a ton.

But yea I don’t run one in mine because I do new metal work and don’t like rust. Probably a good reason to empty the powder measure nightly and when in use throw a desiccant pack in the hopper. I buy desiccant off eBay cheap and throw them in ammo cans, hoppers I leave loaded, etc

 

[TheDomFather]

I feel your pain my friend, as a result of this we are in the process of building a new house and I bit the bullet and I am having a Mitsubish split system put in to heat and cool the garage!

 

[Kingcreek]

I have a dedicated room in the basement with heat and air for year round comfort and humidity control.
I have workshop space in a heated garage and I run a window air unit when needed but my mistake was doing it attached to the house. It's hard to avoid tracking my mess into the wife's house. Any woodworking or welding or grinding etc. I trying to convince her I need another separate heated and cooled shop space. She doesn't see it with the same priority I do.

 

[TheDomFather]

I have a dedicated room in the basement with heat and air for year round comfort and humidity control.
I have workshop space in a heated garage and I run a window air unit when needed but my mistake was doing it attached to the house. It's hard to avoid tracking my mess into the wife's house. Any woodworking or welding or grinding etc. I trying to convince her I need another separate heated and cooled shop space. She doesn't see it with the same priority I do.

Whats wrong with that woman She needs to understand how important this is!