Non Climate Controlled Garage

[Michael D.]

Re: Non Climate Controlled Garage

Hey Guys
If you have a mouse problem, running a fan or two under/around the car will help keep the mice away. I replaced two headliners in the same 67 Olds Cutlass this year because of mice. The costomer now uses a fan that runs 24hrs and has not had a mouse problem. Use a "constant use" fan such as the fans used by builders of greenhouses. These fans can last years and don't use much electricity. Any supplier of greenhouses probably will sell you one.
Mike D #1787

[Joe C.]

Re: Louis, Patrick, Richard

Patrick:

Yes, it makes sense to heat the garage. The "cold beer can" theory (postulate?)is absulutely right. Now, conversely, what if I need to open the door of the heated garage in the winter? Aside from losing lotsa BTU's, there would be no condensation problem there, right?
I'm looking at some wall mount, self venting natural gas heaters. There is a DESA unit @ 30,000 BTU for $197.99. My garage is roughly 20x20x8. The two cars are not driven, at all, between about Nov and Mar, and the garage door opens maybe ten times during this period. So, if I rig the heater to a Honeywell wall thermostat, would a constant temp of 55 degrees be okay? I do have a workbench in the garage, which I use frequently. I would rather use a setback thermostat and keep it at 60 degrees day and 50 degrees night.
Additionally, I will probably bag the '65, and continue to keep the cover on the '85. I like the Car Jacket which is made exclusively by Pine Ridge Enterprises, and employs a re-usable dessicant pack to swallow the humidity inside the sealed bag. Slick! www.carbag.com You MUST cover your car inside the bag because it is made of mesh reinforced polyethylene.
The alternative, CarCapsule is made by PDK Inc. and uses a fan to inflate a clear plastic bag to create a buffer zone around the car. This system requires more room for obvious reasons. It also uses AMBIENT AIR to keep the bag inflated. www.carcapsule.com
Thanks again for the words of wisdom.

Joe

[Patrick H.]

Re: Louis, Patrick, Richard

Joe,

No problem with condensation if the garage is heated. It also acts as a (relative) dehumidifier.

Be careful with heaters, for obvious reasons, but some self-venting ones put out a lot of moisture as a by-product and can raise garage humidity a little.

I use a wall-mounted one from Lowes. I picked it up in mid/late January when on clearance for half price and also bought the fan unit for it. I ran pipe out there so it gets direct NG supply, and installed a cutoff so I can both stop gas flow as well as remove it at any time. Using this as well as a small fan, my garage does fine. Realize, though, that my Corvettes are in a different heated building tucked away in their Car Jackets. There is a thermostat on the unit marked 1-10, not by degrees. I leave it on 1 most of the time when I'm not in there. If you don't insulate, though, you'll probably have it on 5.

With the Car Jacket, buy the large canister of dessicant. You can then reuse it each year and that is far easier than dealing with the 10 bags of dessicant you get otherwise.

The Cocoon seems like a fine idea if you have space, but you need a lot of that for it. No way I could fit 7 cars and a boat in the storage barn if we used the bubbles.

Patrick




Lowes Heater

[Rick S.]

Re: Louis, Patrick, Richard

Joe,
We store 17 cars in a 5 door heated garage during the winter here in Michigan and keep the thermostat btw 52-56 degrees. We have an insulated building and insulated garage doors and never had a condesation problem. I think an issue you might think about is insulating your garage doors otherwise you will have an issue like Patrick talked about with the beer cans.

Regards,
Rick

[Joe C.]

Re: Louis, Patrick, Richard

Rick:

New garage door last year . Raynor, insulated to R19. Thanks all who responded, and, as I said earlier, my garage is always dry, year in and year out. The concrete floor is painted, and the ONLY time I get the sweating is when I open the door to let moist, warm air into a cool garage.
I will bag the midyear, which should solve the main problem. If I want to protect the '85, then I'll either bag it, too, or else heat the garage.

Joe

[Brad Barrett]

Re: Non Climate Controlled Garage

Hi Joe - I live in New England and was faced with the same problems storing my '61 in an unheated garage that also tended to have moisture problems. I got the "bubble" 3 years ago and it has worked great - here is a link:

http://www.carcapsule.com

Good luck - Brad B.