Cooling off a hot garage

Yes.

Open the windows and doors to hope for extra breeze, get the fans going as close as you can, drink plenty of water, pour water over yourself while riding and work through it.:+1:

Sadly, yes.

To avoid getting over heated in mid-summer time trials during warm ups, a few guys used the cool shirt systems designed for car racing. Basically a shirt with many loops of tygon tubing through which you circulate ice water. It is easy to DIY a ghetto chilling system of this type. Just a shirt, small pump and some tubing.

Cool Shirt and F.A.S.T. are two commercial brands.

Instead of block ice or ice cubes, use plastic containers and freeze them. My sister is darn good with a sewing machine and made couple cooling loop jerseys for me. An entire system can be assembled together for a couple hundred bucks. Even less if you are using it in a garage and don’t need it to look good and be portable.

A bit outside the box, but thought I’d share it with y’all.

Happy heat. We got into the 90s this week so summer is here.

Mark

On edit - the shirts look like this:

Screen Shot 2020-06-25 at 7.35.42 AM

4 Likes

I’ve seen those and considered them. In another thread, we discussed simply taking a mesh base layer and adding light pockets for ice packs. Could instant and swap as needed for a low buck version of a cook vest. I need to find a sewing machine and give it a shot.

2 Likes

Ive thought about that but I think youll find ice directly or nearly directly on the skin isnt good. I tried running at IMCH with ice in my cap, and it just causes headaches. Ice on the skin might also cause damage.

2 Likes

Yes a portable AC in the garage is worthwhile. I used it at my house to keep two elderly dogs cool after they were no longer house trained. I could keep it in the 70’s with a ~$700 unit. I vented it through the wall so no need to leave windows or doors open.

The key is what to do with cars. A) a car that has been driven is a furnace. If you park the car in the garage, nothing will compensate for the heat a car will give off for hours after it’s been driven. B) car’s are big heat sinks, so any heat that builds up in there will be absorbed by them and will be difficult to affect even if they haven’t been driven.

If you aren’t already, I’d park the cars outside if you plan to spend time there.

1 Like

The ones I planned on are the ones with a thin fabric cover. They are marketed for use on joint and muscle injury, and meant for direct skin contact.

image

Alternatively, a “regular” ice pack may work fine with a “normal” jersey material that is thicker and forms a similar insulation against the potentially harmful cold surface of the packs. More than one way to approach it for sure.

1 Like

I would add that is imperative to use insulation on at least the garage door…
In Florida there is also the problem that the exterior wall of the garage is cinder brlock and not insulated.

I have talk to my wife about converting half the garage into a training room so i could get a treadmill and maybe a bench for some light weight lifting.
She is mixed about the whole thing. So will see.

1 Like

I wear a baselayer under the ice vest as direct ice on skin doesn’t feel too great. Its also really nice in the summer after I get home from a long ride to quickly bring down core temperature. I wear a thin t-shirt under it at those times.

2 Likes

I have foam insulation on the back of my garage door, which I’m sure helps, but sadly realized during the install of the portable AC that there was no insulation in the walls. It was already a finished garage, so no chance I was going to install it. I’m sure would be 1000% tighter with insulation in the walls, but still doable without. Particularly if you have the AC close to you and perhaps blowing on you.

1 Like

It also depends on the time of the day you workout. Earlier in the day, then you would probably have a less hot garage that cooled down during the night. But later in the day, after a full sun heating the metal garage door it will be very hard to cool, but like you said, if you are close to it, it might be enough for the ride

Agreed, I ride before 5:00AM in my house with AC to make sure I’m not overwhelming the thermostat in the home so it’s even more important in the garage.

1 Like

worth a quick scan:

and links to related articles at the bottom.

1 Like

Same. My trainer is inside the house, for now.
During the Florida “winter”, I open the house and the cooler air is enough to drop the room temperature.
But now i just crank the ac to 70 while i workout and thats enough for me with the 2 fans on me.

slightly off topic, but I did Juneau -1 today and I also did it in early May, where it averaged 55 degrees in my basement. My basement conditions this morning were 76 degrees and 55% humidity. My HR was the same for both workouts, so I guess I’m either heat adapted and my FTP is the same or maybe my FTP is increasing and my HR is just higher than it should be because of the temps.

From previous post of mine, don’t know how to reference on this site so copied and pasted here:
I cannot emphasize enough the issue people are dancing around here: HUMIDITY CONTROL. That’s what they mean when they suggest an A/C unit. The three keys to productive TR sessions (only one of which is adequately addressed on TR podcasts) are TEMPERATURE (63-65 Fahrenheit), AIR MOVEMENT (two Laskos and big Tornado in my face), and HUMIDITY (LOW). Humidity, for the uninformed, is not described using “relative humidity” which is a sorry, not-helpful metric. Humidity is best described by DEW POINT. But an A/C unit lowers dew point in a room if you prep the room for the workout–NOT by just turning it on at the start. I have a temperature/dew point sensor in my pain cave, and use a Mitsubishi mini-split (high-volume a/c unit) with remote control. Three fans. Get the room down below 65 degrees to start, giving the mini-split a chance to lower the dew point. Then I go. I don’t ever drip sweat–ever. I sweat a bit, but I cannot recall a drop of sweat coming off me during a session (I’m not a heavy sweater anyway) as I wear a sweat band and I do sweat a bit into my shorts and shirt and socks. But no dripping or puddling or anything like that. My nose runs more than I sweat. Standard warning applies: N = 1.

PS: I have a fourth requirement for anyone who cares: AIR FILTRATION. I get pollen issues in the spring–tree pollen. Thus, I run (always) a high-volume HEPA air filter to remove all the particulates from the air prior to a session. I like my pain cave air clean, cool, dry, and fast .

1 Like

Absolutely. In most cases humidity is worse than heat.
I rather ride at 75F and 50% humidity than 65 and 95% humidity.

I guess most people suggest the portable solution because is cheaper and for the most part more usable on a working garage.
If your garage is a WO area, then you can make a case where an actual split unit plus insulation will save you money on the long run. There are some split unit inverters that are cheaper to run than some fans.

Great article, a bit long but top notch content:

1 Like

How about a bucket of cold water (near the expensive smart trainer, tablet, phone etc!), dip a cap in every so often, fan should cool better…?

Might try it later today, its 31°C…reminds me of IM Switzerland last year :hot_face:. At least I only have 90mins of vo2max intervals and endurance to do :sob: .

1 Like

31C / 87F and heat acclimated = sweet spot intervals just 1-2bpm over 16C / 61F.

1 Like