Cooling down a warehouse during summer

[Notarealsignguy]

Hide in the print room? I have a sub 1,000 sqft room for the printer and laminator with a 2 ton unit. That b*tch gets cooooold in the summer!
The fab shop is a friggin nightmare unless you have a pedestal fan going on your area, and even then your glistening all day long. Here in the next year or so I may insulate and add a unit to cool the shop, but I'm also hoping this whole global warming bs is gonna swing the other way!
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I insulated the building where we do sign work last year. Put in an A/C and split it down the middle with an R6 insulated retractable curtain. Steel building with 20' eves, the power bill jumped quite a bit. The non ac side has the shear, brake, punch and compressor in it. Did everything ourselves, it was A LOT of work. There was not 1 part of it that was fun except turning on the A/C for the first time. Insulation may have been the worst part. Insulation by itself doesn't help in the south, if anything it makes it worse.

 

[Vortex37]

Back in the early 00’s I worked graveyard shift at Kinko’s and our air conditioner went down right when the whole FedEx takeover was happening. They refused to pay for a replacement (in Sacramento, CA where summer days regularly get to 100+) for several months and the store manager tried to help by buying swamp coolers but the humidity made the situation even worse!!

 

[Voyage Print]

Big Ass Fans if in a dry climate we have the 500

 

[tulsagraphics]

Hey ladies and gents!

Any tips on how you keep your warehouse cool during the summer? We are part office, part warehouse for our design and print shop and I want to be better prepared for the summer this year.

Thanks!

If you can get your humidity down low enough, it will be a lot more comfortable. My commercial dehumidifier worked so well at the shop that I set up a similar system at home. I used to keep the thermostat at 72F (approx 55% humidity), but with the dehumidifier (set at 40%) it feels cool and comfortable with the thermostat set at 80F -- which means my A/C isn't working nearly as hard.
Combine that with a cooler fan or two, or maybe throw in a big window unit somewhere and you might be able to avoid the expense of a big A/C unit. At least worth looking into.

 

[ProSignTN]

Roll up doors should never be installed facing south. I was in a 3500 sf shop with one 12' roll up facing east, three 14' facing south and one man door facing west. It was a routine of east door down til sun cleared, then slowly opened, south doors up and lowered as the shadow came across the concrete floor. Even with coolers and fans, it was miserable.

 

[mfatty500]

Tex looks taller than I thought

Is this his gal pal?

 

[JamesLam]

Step 1: Have staff start early and leave early.

Step 2: Ventilate only at night and keep the doors and windows closed during the day. Nothing worse than someone complaining about the heat and they open the bay doors to cool the place off and just end up letting in all of the hot summer air. Do not let them open the place up during the day.

Step 3: If after this it's still too hot look at mechanical cooling.

 

[JamesLam]

Why?

 

[White Haus]

We have separate A/C units for front office and back shop. We went a couple of summers before adding a unit for the back and it was unbearable!

 

[Gino]

Well, I'm still trying to wrap my head around winnipeg getting unbearably hot. )))))

Here in our area, we keep everything closed up, except the back wall which faces south. But we have trees back there.... big trees and they shade us all morning long, til about 1 or 2 o'clock. We'll open the garage doors at both ends about 6 or 8 inches. Also, back there is a creek , so we turn on two huge exhaust fans bring that cool air in and through the shop and out the front wall and up through the roof. It's about 20º cooler back there cause of the trees and water. It's actually very comfortable except when it starts going over 100º continuously. Our computer rooms and offices have large window units.

 

[Stacey K]

6am start time. Large fans. Cooling neck things you get on Amazon. Dilly bars. Humidifier - humidity is the biggest issue for me personally.

 

[JamesLam]

I might also ad that if possible offer flex hours beyond early starts. Staff may skip breaks and lunch and hammer their way through, that's an extra hour they can leave early right there. Or work for four solid days and take Fridays off.

Of course each situation is different but I have always found that a summer filled with three day weekends was well received and had little affect on business or the clients.

 

[White Haus]

Well, I'm still trying to wrap my head around winnipeg getting unbearably hot. )))))

Yeah.........so am I at the moment. Still going below freezing and it's almost May for crying out loud.

It does get hot as hell here in the summer though. June-July can reach close to 100 degrees. Add in a bunch of equipment that produce heat and you've got yourself some swampy conditions. Not ideal for drying/curing ink.

 

[JamesLam]

Yeah.........so am I at the moment. Still going below freezing and it's almost May for crying out loud.

It does get hot as hell here in the summer though. June-July can reach close to 100 degrees. Add in a bunch of equipment that produce heat and you've got yourself some swampy conditions. Not ideal for drying/curing ink.

Don't forget the mosquitoes that attack and carry off your staff.

 

[JBurton]

Or work for four solid days and take Fridays off.

But then you're paying 56 hours of overtime every week. I like to let them at least go home and sleep every other day...

 

[JamesLam]

But then you're paying 56 hours of overtime every week. I like to let them at least go home and sleep every other day...

Tyranny doesn't come for free.