RatDog

Hey Jim,

Yes, I plan on posting with before and after pictures when I'm done. I'm pretty much finished, just doing some touch up. Color is darker than original teal but I'm fine with that. If you have black, I wouldn't hesitate. Teal can be many shades but black is black (with due respect to Los Bravos).

Steve

Powershift

Put a small drain line thru the garage wall and drain to a garden area or someplace where water will not create a slipping hazard. This is not hard/difficult to do.

If you are overly concerned with gas fumes as Roger stated, then any source of ignition in the garage is a concern.......... I agree that it is a concern and needs to be addressed, but over the years I have run heaters and other open element and spark producing equipment in the garage without issue. But you never know when the gas tank or a rubber fuel line starts to leak.....or you simply do a dumb thing. That is why you really don't want the garage sharing a system with the house or an open flame source nearby......such as a gas hot water tank.

But you don't need an open flame source to start a fire..........an intermittent spark producing source could also do it.

A dehumidifier running always with a split AC system for days when you are in the garage or the heat/humidity is very high is a nice compromise. But even this has some risk.



Larry

65GTO

I had a vacation home on Macro Island for a number of years. Had a few of my cars there. This was my experience;

• House was for all practical purposes, direct on the ocean.
• The combination of sun, humidity, salt air rusted everything not protected
• My 'tarnish proof' door fixtures were all junk within 2 years (rust and and finish coming off)
• Nearly every outdoor light fixture junk within 2 years.
• Metal doors... all started to rust, even galvy ones.
• Even stainless steel rusts
• All this, on a brand new home, that I 1st hand picked out top of line materials thinking about the environmental conditions there.
• Any unprotected metal would get that rust dust coating on it in very short order (think raw unprotected metal parts on a car)

If not apparent from the posts you have read, you need to keep the heat, humidity, and depending on location, salt in the air in consideration as an environmental condition you need to mitigate for anything keep there for any period of time. Notice the environmental controls all the posters have in their pictures.

I did not have any environmental controls in my 5 car garage. So.. heed the advice other give... control the environment

My cars and outcomes... Note.. my home was a vacation home.. so the cars many times never got used even when I was there... too busy always repairing the house (think 24 x 7 heat, salt, humidity).

• Two fuel injected cars (Miata and a Porsche). Both never ran again after sitting the garage with minimal use for a couple years. Turn over, never start. Troubleshooted until I was blue in the face.
• 1942 Chev PU; Generally OK except; Any raw metal parts getting surface rust / dust / oxidation. Brakes and clutch disk seizing to their respective surfaces (both would break free with help of people pushing the car), Mold and mildew accumulation as would be expected.
• 39 LaSalle; Pretty much same as above, but with a cloth interior, mold an even bigger problem.
• Fuel; Due to heat, turns to varnish / crap real fast in the tanks and carb bowls. The heat on the fuel in the injection systems is what I think did in the FI cars.

As an aside, my buddy who collects 30's and 40's Harleys, brought a few down to his place in Naples. I warned him in advance 'do not bring them to a non-climate controlled garage'. Did not head my warning... all his spokes, rims and other chrome bright work are showing rust.

So... I think you know what you need to do.

Jim

xkeots

Not sure if an electric hot water heater will ignite any possible gas fumes. If so, I don't think they would have put in every garage in my area the hot water heater in garage.
jax

xkeots

An electric hot water heater will ignite it's coils inside the water tank eliminating any open hot coils exposed to gas fumes as they are also sealed in the tank so water doesn't leak out. any possible gas fumes shouldn't be able to ignite. If they did, I don't think they would have put in every garage in my area the hot water heater in garage. All over south Florida houses I looked at too before buying mine.
Gas hot water heaters have a pilot, that could go boom in garage from fumes.
jax[/QUOTE]

davekp78

[/QUOTE]

Not really.
A pilot light will burn off any fumes when they are way too dilute to explode.
Do you worry about the spark created by a light switch blowing up the garage? Or any electric motor(air compressor, electric drill, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, etc)?

Frankie the Fink

I had a boss years ago whose forearms were horribly burned. He had an open fuel container in the garage when his water heater pilot light ignited the fumes and he got injured tossing the container outside. Scarred for life.

Roger Walling

My main concern about having AC ducts running into the house is that they can carry fire or gas fumes into the house that will make crispy critters out of your family in case of a fuel line leak.

Ps, Gas water heaters in MA. are required to be at least 18" above the floor, as gas fumes tend to stay low to the ground. However, gas unit heaters must be at least 6' high.
(I guess that the gasoline knows enough to stay away from the water heater. (;-) )

dplotkin

[/QUOTE]


Electric water heaters I'm familiar with have one or two thermostats mounted behind access panels on the tank but not inside the tank. These thermostats typically switch 240 volts at 30 amps with a snap-action set of contacts that certainly generate a spark. Then again so to do the contacts on the pressure switch of an air compressor, or the motors of all kinds of tools used in a garage.


I think the legitimate worry is a gas/propane water heater or space heater using a unsealed combustion chamber. These most certainly can ignite gasoline and lacquer thinner/other petroleum distillate fumes and therefore ought not be used in a garage.


Most codes require a 2 hour fire separation between a garage & living space, double 5/8 sheetrock on both sides of the wall. Sharing supply & return air between a living space and a garage must be a code violation, I'd never do anything like that...


Dan

xkeots

Not sharing exhaust, but they are adding an a/c duct. Gonna add some type of vent and dehumidifier. Never got down to it as I told them we will do it next trip down in November. They are the largest and oldest A/C, heating and plumbing in Palm beach county. Called Lyndstrom.
thanks
Jax
Electric water heaters I'm familiar with have one or two thermostats mounted behind access panels on the tank but not inside the tank. These thermostats typically switch 240 volts at 30 amps with a snap-action set of contacts that certainly generate a spark. Then again so to do the contacts on the pressure switch of an air compressor, or the motors of all kinds of tools used in a garage.


I think the legitimate worry is a gas/propane water heater or space heater using a unsealed combustion chamber. These most certainly can ignite gasoline and lacquer thinner/other petroleum distillate fumes and therefore ought not be used in a garage.


Most codes require a 2 hour fire separation between a garage & living space, double 5/8 sheetrock on both sides of the wall. Sharing supply & return air between a living space and a garage must be a code violation, I'd never do anything like that...


Dan[/QUOTE]

kingwoodvette

When I inquired about adding an a/c duct to my garage, I was told that a fire damper was required between the house and garage. Houston area code.

phil2302

It is not a big expense fot a damper and it makes sense that they would require that.
I installed a Mitsubishi Mr. Slim AC / Heat pump combo unit for the garage. Works great, wasnt too expensive and is completely independant of the house systems.

kingwoodvette

that's what I ended up doing.

xkeots

weird, I rebuilt my first Jaguar E Type in 1965 now I am 64 and because of age and spine issues, I can't get out of an E-type anymore. They are pretty water tight if done correctly. I did an even swap 4 years ago my E-type for my 1962 matching #'s Corvette and 8 years ago I swapped my 1953 Jaguar Xk 120 Dhc for my 63 SWC. I do have a 1999 Jaguar XK8 convertible in Florida for my daily and it is very tight, especially for a 17 YO car.
i am going down next week an having my garage cooled and de humidified by Lindstrom A/C service. Either have it added to my unit or a ductless unit.
Last month I pulled Jaguar out and the floor paint came off on my tires.
It was painted in April!

Jax

brit vet

That's the ticket and if there's concerns regarding garage fumes getting into the house when the a/c is off, fit a backdraft damper as well. When the a/c is off the backdraft damper closes

xkeots

lyndstrom is one of the largest A/C companies in south Florida. I trust what they will tell me. If I need a separate unit, I will do that and buy a dehumidifier till I get the work approved by homeowners association.
Jax