AC/Heater solution for 100 sf "shoffice"?

[Hristo Botev]

I've got a 14'x20' backyard shed that already has electrical running to it, roughly a 1/3 of which I'm going to insulate and put up some drywall to make into a home office for me that will also likely double as a tv/video game space for my kids. If you've read my journal you know I know jack squat about anything construction, etc. related; so, I'm learning as I go with some help from an architect friend that does a lot of home flips.

For now, my question is what are the various pros/cons and also people's experiences with the different options out there for cooling and heating a space like this?

It'll likely be about 100 square feet of insulated space that will need to be heated and cooled, and I will be in there for roughly 30-60 hours/week. I think I'm good with respect to electrical to handle your typical window A/C unit with heat (I still need to confirm that is the case), but for our purposes lets assume electricity isn't an issue.

The space will have a window and I could run a window unit, though that would be quite the eyesore so I'd rather do a through the wall unit that I'd put on the back of the shed where we couldn't see it from the house, or a portable option with a small hole in the side for the ductwork, and I guess a mini split is also an option that I see being used for these sorts of "she shed" "shed/office" etc. type deals.

Thoughts? Experiences?

I'm going to keep the rest of the shed uninsulated and continue to use it as a workshop and for storage.

[ffj]

https://tosotdirect.com/collections/spl ... -heat-pump

This is what I put in my shop and it runs well. It only requires a 120 volt circuit and is on the cheaper in price side. Heats and cools nicely.

Installing it is not hard other than having to perform a vacuum on the lines before you charge the system. Which isn't hard either but you have to have a vacuum pump and a specialty fitting which is around $100 at Harbor Freight. I hired a guy with the right tools for $30 to do that for me.

[Sclass]

I’ve used a lot of window units. Yes they’re ugly. But for a small ADU it’s effective and cheap. You don’t need a window. You can cut a hole in wall and permanently mount it with some framing. Mount it high and use a remote equipped model to set it. Easy project. I love them because they’re cheap and easy to deploy. Unlike the mini split there is no charging. They work well for small rooms. I buy the biggest one I can get that runs on 110v.

@ffj you live in a nice state. Out in CA the AC man won’t come out for less than $100. I got a charge recently at my rental and it was $500. He charged me $100 for a $10 can of leak seal. I build my own AC for my cars so I am quite capable of plumbing, evacuating and charging. But out here in CA we cannot purchase R22 or any other refrigerant besides R134a for cars. The vacuum pump and manifold can be rented free from Autozone btw. Adapter fittings for residential ac can be bought at Amazon. I just cannot get gas without a special license. If it was my house I’d have pumped it up with air duster from staples.

[IlliniDave]

I don't have much first hand experience but several of my cabin neighbors have put in small though-the-wall heat pump units in cabins ranging from about 600 sq ft to about 1600 sq ft. All of them are very happy, but the units might be a little pricey. Some use them 90% for A/C, rarely for heat, and others are the opposite. Been thinking about one for myself but there are other items ahead of it on the big list.

I can reach out to one to get more of the specifics if you'd like.

[ffj]

@Sclass

The guy that came out wouldn't even take the money at first, he said no charge, haha. He was a friend of a friend and was being nice. I made him take the money.

The unit I linked is already charged, but not in the line-sets you have to hook up. You simply put the special fitting on the port, hook and turn your vacuum pump on until it holds a vacuum -30bars? for 5 minutes, if no leaks disconnect it and take an Allen wrench and release the refrigerant into your lines. Done.

[Hristo Botev]

Thanks all!

I'm leaning towards the through-the-wall type window unit, which I can stick on the back of the shed where no one will see it; and I'm not too worried about cutting any holes in the side of this shed. If I were installing a new shed that wasn't such an eyesore I'd probably go with the mini split option, which seems like a great option, and our HVAC guy is a high school friend and neighbor who I suspect would be willing to help me out with the installation without charging an arm and a leg.

I'll try and post my progress here as I go; though how much of a priority this project is on the honey-do list is dependent on how much DW wants me out of the house during working hours (neither she nor the kids like being shushed when I'm on zoom calls).

FWIW, although I posted this question on a public board, the people I was really hoping to get answers from were @ffj, @sclass, and @illinidave--you all are always very patient with my questions of these sort.

[zbigi]

In such a tiny space, especially if you intend to work there for many hours, you need to consider ventilation as well. Without any dedicated solution for ventilating the room, you'll basically need to have a window open at all times (or the CO2 will very quicky go into unhealthy levels), which will increase the amount of work AC needs to do. You could improve that with a combined ventilation and AC system, perhaps one that includes a recuperator. However, I don't know what solutions are popular on US market and how much they cost, so I don't know if it makes sense in practice.

[shaz]

@Hristo if you use a small Bluetooth ear piece with a built in microphone (the kind people use for cell phone calls in public places) for your Zoom calls there is a good chance no one on the call will be able to hear your family members in the background. My husband uses one when he has to make court appearances by Zoom and no one hears if I am on another call in the same room. Also the ear piece is so small and discreet that generally no one even notices he is wearing it. If it works it is easier than wiring up a shed.

[Sclass]

The unit I linked is already charged, but not in the line-sets you have to hook up.

Hey, that’s clever. I thought you had to charge those. Then all you need is the loaner vacuum pump from Autozone and some residential AC adapters from Amazon. Or a friend with hvac tools.

When I was in grad school I rented a 700sqft apartment that had no heating. It was survivable in Silicon Valley but still it was too cold in winter. My landlord basically converted his basement into a rental. He refused to heat it. I used a bathroom heater controlled by an external thermostat with the temperature sensor fed through the bathroom wall to my bedroom. I’d turn on the heat in the bathroom and the temperature in there would go up to 80F but the temperature by my bed was a perfect 65F.

Stingy landlord paid the electricity for both of us. this is the modern version of the controller. I got it at morebeer in 1996. Very useful device. It’ll turn off/on any AC appliance till it hits a target temperature for fermenting or refrigeration.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/inkbi ... tllch7WUUI

[ffj]

@Scalss

I've got the same controller but for humidity for my mushroom grow. Small world.

Many years ago I was renting basically a converted attic space, a story and a half type house, with an old lady that rented below me. It was late summer, early fall when I moved in and the temperature in the house was comfortable for about a month until it got cold. That is when I searched for a thermostat to turn the heat on. And guess what? There was no thermostat because it was explained to me by the landlord that the woman downstairs controlled the heat and all of this magical warmth would just naturally rise into my apartment. Except it didn't. Looking back, I don't even remember any vents for the heat to come through.

I was young and dumb back then and I should have done what you did but instead I toughed it out and left as soon as I could. That asshole landlord still has my $50 deposit that he kept on some bullshit excuse. Today, $50 is nothing to me, but back then that was a lot of money and I have never forgiven him for stealing that money, on top of freezing my ass. It's interesting that such a small amount would be a reason for me to keep a grudge for decades! but at that time in my life every dollar was extremely important and losing $50 was a huge blow. Memories.

[Sclass]

Aww man that sucks.

Yeah my landlord was frugal. I got mad at some stuff. Like when he saw my sewing machine he started dropping off golf pants for free hemming. He’d go on vacation and come home and yell at me for wasting electricity. Why? Because he said he was gone and the consumption should be 1/2 and it was the same as when he was home. The physicist in me pointed out he had an indoor waterfall that he ran 24/7 when he was away. He didn’t get it and cussed me out. I was just a kid.

But I learned a lot from that old bird. He was a multimillionaire. He was really careful with money.

He didn’t hire a gardener and he made me sweep my half of the driveway. He gave me a broom. I waited till he went out to play golf and I’d whip out my $35 corded blower and sweep leaves into the storm drain on the street. With his electricity. One day he came home early and I saw him just drive by slowly as I was blowing the leaves into the street. He never said anything. We never talked about it. One day I came home unexpectedly and he was blowing the driveway with his own corded blower…he’d just bought an updated model. And like him I just drove away. We both kind of pretended we didn’t know about our trick. When he was on vacation I checked his garden shed and there it was - a higher CFM version of my blower.

When I left he almost got the last laugh. I had a diy bike rack that I leaned on the wall. When the new tenant toured he said he liked it and that he had bikes. I said I’d sell it but the old man said, if you take it out, it will leave two marks on the wall that he’d have to charge me for. If I left it he’d forget about the scuffs. I was so pissed. But I got the last laugh. When I moved his poor wife left a basin of basic cleaning supplies at my door with a note to clean up to get my deposit back. I’d been there ten years and it was really messed up. I’d used the place as a workshop and lab and burned up the carpet with my soldering iron. I’d welded in the shower stall. There was a $250 deposit. I just left with the bucket sitting in the middle of the room. The old couple literally chased my moving truck down the street. I laughed and kept going.

I mention it because I learned a lot from the old guy. He was rich. Frugal to a point of error. I’d hear him yelling at his son for not depositing a $1,000,000 check on Friday and waiting till Monday because he lost three days of interest. A little of that old bastard rubbed off on me. He was a regular investor. A saver. An alcoholic likely from being locked up in Siberia as a young guy. I’m grateful to have lived in his basement ten years. Of course he made me promise to never file for a renter credit on my tax return.

[ffj]

Well my landlord was a cunt. He had a reputation around town as being an awful person unbeknownst to me. I remember one time I was getting a hair cut and like a lot of women who cut hair they like to talk, and I guess I let it slip about my situation and she stopped cutting my hair to proclaim LOUDLY that she would sleep on a gravel parking lot before she ever rented from that SOB. She had had dealings with him before.

Another time I was eating at a restaurant and there was a couple sitting next to me fairly close and I could hear everything they were saying and the lady was talking about taking her car to be repaired at this guys auto shop. I turned to her and told her what an awful person he was and her date piped up and backed me up! He said not only was he an asshole but a dumbass as well and told me the story on how the landlord acquired a large facial scar from using a cutting torch on a sealed barrel which blew up in his face. She said she would find another mechanic! It was petty but it made me feel good.

What really made me hate him was when he accused me of being a liar. Twice. The second time which he used as justification to steal my money. It was just a bully tactic to get some money off of me and his reward has been literally 30 years of me bad-mouthing him if given a chance.

I'm glad the old couple taught you a few things. But that behavior would have pissed me off too, haha. One of the major disappointments in life is realizing how many old people are neither kind nor wise, they are just old. And petty like my restaurant story. I'm happy you got the last laugh!