Question for HVAC people

Thanks Ray C, room wise, I was more looking at for one I could mount/hang from ceiling or walls.
BTU info sure helps though.
 
One thing to be aware of is voltage drop at 500 ft. from house. Some halogen lights will give off heat also while in the unit along with a small electric heater for main heat. If you plan on running machines, heaters, fans, lights ect. that would add to the power requirment and should need a larger gauge wire. You would always be adding to the electric in the future so keep that in mine when buying wire. Moving the container closer to the house would be cheaper and save you from walking 500 ft. thru 2 ft. of snow while it is -20 below. Figure out what amps you require for each device and double that to get to the size of wire required. Just my 2 cents worth.
Paul
 
500 feet is a long way to run enough power for even small machines. Get ready for sticker shock when you price the required size cabling. 100 amp service 500 feet will require 4/0 wire...... 3 runs and a ground. Found some online for $4.62/ft plus freight, which will be considerable. Local source likely would be better, even if per foot price is higher. Probably be cheaper to get the power company to hang another pig if you're near the line.
 
Thanks for the warning, but I'm hooked in to a meter service about 5 feet away. Had to keep the old service live for power to old barn and sheds.
They're in bad shape and needed rewired so just disconnected and ran new to my shop container. I would have had to rewire the house service for room and figured since I had the other service anyway in a location that was more ideal for my shop.
 
JP,
We converted quite a few of those while I was deployed in Iraq. We used regular 2x4 for framing and covered them with plywood. we dropped back a bit from the container door and installed a regular house door on the right side with a window heat pump on the left. When the doors on the container were closed it was invisible and safe from tampering. When you opened the container doors you had a regular door like on a tool room. The amount you drop back from the container doors is set by the depth of the window unit. All power in Iraq was 220, 50 hz so we had 220 lites and the unit was 220 also. Made a great office in the heat and cold of the desert so the US should be simpler and require less BTU's of heat and cool too. Hope this helps.
Bob
 
BTW: I'm guessing that for the size space you're talking about 15,000 BTU would be OK but, most smaller heaters come in 5, 10, 20 and 30,000 BTU. For some reason, 15,000 is not that common. I just got through looking all this up. Also, the heater I have (as mentioned before) keeps the garage at 62 on it's lowest setting. Next notch pushes up to about 72 degrees. Finally, I'm not a big fan of the IR (infrared) types and prefer the blue-flame. They are no more or less efficient but tend to toast you on one side and leave the other side cold as the dark side of the moon. My buddy got the IR type and regrets it for that reason.

Ray
 
Quite a few years ago I worked for a company that bought old shipping containers and refurbished them to use as rental storage units. We also did quite a few as portable worksite storage and office units. As you found, these units are vented on each corner, but it is minimal ventilation and was in place to prevent moisture problems inside the containers.

We used to cut in windows and doors all the time. We would cut out the opening, then make a frame from rectangular tubing welded to the corrugated sides. Then the doors and/or windows were attached to those fabricated frames. Barred windows were a standard item, and doors were always steel and were set to open OUT. A secondary sliding door made of heavy bar could be closed over the outside of the entry door, and the padlock was inside a pocket where the hasp could not be cut, much like "Job box" tool storage boxes. The beauty of this arrangement is that (1) a door that opens out cannot be kicked in, (2) space inside the unit did not need to be wasted to allow room for the door to swing in, and (3) the sliding security door was built heavily enough that it was NOT coming off.

Most job office units were forty footers, split into a 20 foot office and a 20 foot storage area, separated by a steel wall that was welded in. The rear end with the doors was obviously the storage end. The office door and window(s) were added on the sides only, because the hookups for power and phone were on what had been the front of the container, along with a heat and A/C wall unit similar to those used in many motels. Units that had heat but no A/C used electric baseboard heat instead of a wall unit. Walls and ceiling were framed out with 2x2 studs in most cases, though some had 4" thick walls, styrofoam insulation, and white plastic crinkle finish paneling. Floors were also framed out and insulated the same way, but with 3/4" plywood added as a subfloor on top, covered with plain old linoleum flooring. Modern practice is to use self expanding urethane foam for insulation so that moisture cannot get to the steel walls, as they would be completely sealed off by the urethane. Breaker panels, outlets, switches, and lighting are all wired and installed prior to the insulation being installed.

Extra ventilation was not added to those containers, as job site offices were generally not "heavily populated" and the door opened and closed frequently throughout the day, providing some fresh air each time it opened. In your case you might want to add some form of forced ventilation that can be turned on as needed, as there are many opportunities to create noxious fumes in a shop environment.

I realize that you probably have your plans pretty well set already, but thought that I would add my two cents worth based on what we used to do for commercial use on rental units, knowing that you might find some tidbits useful. We did make one big mistake with our first office container though. When welding in the new door frame, we forgot to allow for the thickness of the new raised floor that was going to be installed, and we had to cut it all out and cut the opening 2" taller and put in a 2" filler bar at the bottom of the opening. It was relatively easy to fix, but we were kicking ourselves for overlooking something so obvious. Thankfully we discovered our error prior to painting the container, which was normally done after all of the welding was completed, but before any interior work was begun.

I wish you luck with your project, you should find that the container will work well for your purposes.
 
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