What are you doing to cool the shop??
Our Guys are running fans but its like circulating 50 MPH of 100' air thru the shop. Anyone using a water cooled system? Any adverse effects to wood or cabinets? Not looking to saturate the shop just cool it down a bit.. Thanks for the input.

I use a swamp cooler to help. Big thing is where you are located, more humid area, you need to remove the moisture, ie air conditioning.
Where I am, daily humidity outside is between 10 and 20 percent, you have to use moisture and evaporation to get rid of excess heat. I also use lots of fans but that just moves the air around, not cooling it any.

Evap coolers are no go in my area as we are too humid. Diy mini splits or a simple package unit are the cheapest option in my area but not as cheap as fans to run. When the shop is running wide open all the motors and the bander wipes out the AC but its bettee than without it and the AC pulls down the humidity.

I use the biggest window unit I could get my hands on. It doesn't shut off. It does keep the temp tolerable and the humidity down.

I would like to add proper air conditioning some day though

For 9 years I suffered with summer temps that brought the shop up to 88ºF or higher each and every day. Dripping sweat and sanding are a tough mix. And so are sweaty hands moving freshly sanded product around.

I put a real AC system in my shop. 1300 sf with 26 foot ceilings and a metal roof that really helped the shop suck up the solar gain from the sun beating on it. Normally a 2 ton should have taken care of it but for the solar gain. I put a 4 ton in there and for the most part it takes care of things. Sometimes I wish I put in a 5 ton. The shop stays at 73ºF and I'm very happy.

It would be easier to help you if you told us where the shop is and the volume you intend to cool?

What does shop size and location matter unless your planning to do a free heat loss/gain calculation and specify cooling demand for free? There are three options, fans, evap, or AC, all of which have been covered? Unless there is some other voodoo type of cooling that is highly location specific, two of three of those mentioned cover all the options for all locations.

If you put a swamp cooler in a shop that isn't in an area that can use it, you will create so much humidity it will feel like the swamps of Louisiana right after rain storm. So it does make a difference.

I'm having my shops metal roof sprayed with icynene foam and adding a 17ft awning on the west side
Hopefully with fans will lower the temperature some

Thanks for the responses everyone,
To Jim the shop is approx. 7000 sq ft in southern calif. temp today to reach 97 degrees, humidity 68 currently at 6:30 and i imagine it will drop later this morning. Ceilings are 12 ft and up tp 20 ft. one large rollup at back of building. I appreciate your expert accessment.

Sorry Jim, that was supposed to go to RichC.

MarkB., there are sights that sell DIY mini splits and I didn't want to overload the OP with lots of data if he was trying to cool 100,000 square feet. Too bad you guys are getting thinner skin.

I wouldnt assume a 100k sq' ask here but for sure which was the package unit either pad/wall/roof mounted.

Lots of large facilities run mini splits for economical targeted spot/zone cooling as opposed to the days of just cooling it all.

Cooling the shop? It is difficult especially when you run central dust collection. Nothing worse than cooling air then pumping it outside with the saw dust. 5000 sq ft and we have 4 large roll up doors, one large 60 " exhaust fan. We are in Atlanta and it does get very hot and humid here. When it gets over 95 and is going to be that way for a while we start at 5:30 and quit at 2. We use a lot of fans and keep lots of ice cold water around. I don't think that the cost of adding air conditioning for two months or so of extremely hot weather will justify the cost. We have the same issue in the few "cold" winter months as well. All our heated air goes out with the saw dust. We have grinned and bared it for the last 30 years and it is difficult at times but it does make a really ice cold beer at the end of the day taste sooo good!!!!!

As far as I am concerned it was big time justifiable. But I also did 95% of the work myself. The only thing I had a pro do is mate the two units together, pull the vacuum etc. For $3400 I have a nice work environment for myself.

I dont dump DC air outside but its still a miserable expense for standard cooling as well as to offset the heat of all the equipment. Its a trade off. I pay to cut the heat in the summer then the machines are a gain against the heating costs in the winter.

The big issue for my area with the AC is to get some of the moisture out of the shop. If I were in a drier climate I'd probably push through it a bit more.

Best move I ever made was to buy older concrete block building ,got away from steel building bought two roof top units 1 10 ton on 5000 square ft 11 ft ceilings an 5ton on 2500 soft bld 15 ft ceilings dust system is inside bags I been in business 20 years never regret buying central air an heat I am in tx summers are very hot. If you have comfortable working condition your workers will get more done ,then you can pay for it

Moved to the east coast 100 ft from the ocean, all kidding aside moving from Montreal was getting really bad in the summer used to start at 6 in the morning and finish at 2 in the afternoon . If I was still living in Montreal there would be no if and or but the shop would have airconditioning now its a health issue