# How should I cool my detached home office?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-cool-my-detached-home-office/965597
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 2, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-cool-my-detached-home-office/965597 "2022-06-02T20:23:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-cool-my-detached-home-office/965597/41 "2022-06-03T14:31:17Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#):
>
> If it’s running for say, 3 months a year the ice solution is fairly undesirable. If it’s really like 10-12 days a year, for 8 hours a day…probably worth considering.
Certainly. I have no idea exactly how much it would use vs an air conditioner, but it _would_ be more. Most likely the difference would be pretty insignificant, but if used a bunch, then that can add up.
Then there’s convenience. If it’s something that is being used on a few occasions, scooping ice and dragging a cooler into the office is tolerable. If it’s used a bunch, then being able to just flip a switch and have cool air come out of a vent in an AC unit would be preferable.
I just throw it out as an option to consider, it would be up to the OP to tell whether it would meet their needs and desires.
OTOH, if the OP does already have a deep freezer, then trying out the 1-gallon jug method on a styrofoam cooler would be pretty cheap and easy to do.
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### Author:  [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2022, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-cool-my-detached-home-office/965597/42 "2022-06-03T14:34:36Z")
For those of you who have used ice-based cooling, what’s your estimate on how much ice would be needed to cool this space for a full day? Does anyone know how to do the ‘tonnage’ based AC calculation to figure out how many tons of ice this space would be rated for if an actual AC was installed into it?
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### Author:  [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-cool-my-detached-home-office/965597/43 "2022-06-03T14:42:32Z")
Variable based on conditions, but, consider that a 12,000/hr BTU unit is called a one ton unit because it can freeze a ton of water (starting at 0 C) in 24 hours. And that’s the ballpark rating of most window units.
So, if you had a 12,000 BTU unit running for 8 hours straight, that would be the equivalent of 666 lbs.
That’s why I say it depends on what the need is, if it’s a bit of cooling, where the AC unit is only running part time to take the edge off the worst of the heat, then it’s reasonable. If the AC unit would be on all the time, then it’s not.
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### Author:  [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-cool-my-detached-home-office/965597/44 "2022-06-03T14:47:04Z")
From the times I’ve used this “solution”, I had access to a commercial ice machine at the building in question. I think if you want good cooling for an 8 hour work day you probably need 10 gallons of ice. I.e. a 5 gallon bucket filled with ice, times 2.
Commercial ice maker that isn’t much problem, but for someone without a relatively robust home ice maker it can be a little hard to easily produce that much.
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### Author:  [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2022, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-cool-my-detached-home-office/965597/45 "2022-06-03T14:51:27Z")
Big thanks to everyone who has chimed in, there’s a lot of great info and suggestions here.
> [@filmore](#):
>
> For those of you who have used ice-based cooling, what’s your estimate on how much ice would be needed to cool this space for a full day?
I found [someone on Quora who calculated](https://www.quora.com/Does-placing-a-pan-of-ice-in-front-of-my-fan-actually-help-cool-the-room) 1 kg of ice every 10 minutes to cool down a 25 cubic meter room by 11 degrees C. I think I’d need quite a big fan to melt 1 kg of ice in 10 minutes, but I also don’t need 11 C cooling to be comfortable, and my office has fewer than the 5 air changes/hour he estimates.
Given the low cost of entry, it’s certainly worth trying out on the next hot day.
For those speculating, I’d estimate 8-12 days/year when I really need something, and another 10-15 when it would be nice but I’m not miserable. And on the hot days, the mornings are fine, so it’s probably 4 hours when it’s needed.
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### Author:  [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2022, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-cool-my-detached-home-office/965597/46 "2022-06-03T15:00:30Z")
If you don’t actually need to cool the whole space, they do make ice vests which can be used to keep yourself cool. It’s basically a vest with a lot of ice packs in it. You could keep that in the freezer and just put it on when you needed it.
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