Heat! HPS is killing me!

[told]

i bought an a/c but its going to cost me $30 a month to run it 12 hours a day.

this 400watt hps light is bringing my room to over 100*F!!! ive got so many fans on that bitch and its still so fucking hot. Its not like i can buy a 100 CFM exaust fan and run tubbing accross the room to the window, that will get noticed in no time (yes this is stealth grow).

Im at a loss and may need to scrap this whole thing unless someone can help me figure out a feasable solution to getting rid of the hot air.

Help!

[Johnsy]

Fans will only work if there is fresh air available outside your box, i suggest leaving a window open or something?

Also i found my 400w heats up much less with the fan blowing on it, rather than sucking.

[froggy]

if u cannot get fresh air, u cannot grow.

i dont care how much wind is blowing on them, its about the fresh air.

even a CF will eventually heat up an area if no venting. and ur not recycling ur co2 and o2, which is also important.

sounds bleek

also, u mention a tube running the span. if u decide to do that, there is another problem. the farther the air moves thru a tube, the lower the CFM is. that measurement is at optimal conditions. a tube running into a sealed box is by far less than optimal. this will only be a minor help unless the tube resistance = less than the fan's ability, which means u need a 2ft wide tube running thru ur place. maybe a return air taped to an intake would be a good solution. not sure anyone will notice 2 tubes taped together running outside of ur closet to ur window

even tho its a 'weed', i guess u have proved that u cannot just grow it anywhere.

[DataBass]

I have that problem too. My grow room is on the south/sunny side of the house. It's always warm in the summer. I might put a bathroom vent in the ceiling, but for now, I'm just using half my lights and growing less. That seams to keep it at the cooler temp.

[infiniteawesome]

put as much co2 bottles as you can in there

I have two plants under a 150 watt hps in my closet with two co2 yeast solution bottles in there and while I am worried about the current heat wave, it's the best I can do, save for putting more co2 in there.

EDIT: take some old one gallon plastic milk cartons or 2 liter coke bottles. Cut them in half. Fill the bottom half containers with water, but definately not all the way, only about half way full. Put them in the freezer and let them freeze. After they freeze put them by your fans and hope for the best. Put a towel under each container as it melts it will slowly let off persperation on the sides making the area around them wet.

I don't know if it helps but it does seem to make the area round the container a touch cooler. If necessary put it next to the containers.

[told]

Originally Posted by froggy

if u cannot get fresh air, u cannot grow.

i dont care how much wind is blowing on them, its about the fresh air.

I have an A/C unit in my window. When its not set to cool mode its blowing fresh air into my room. + a small fan to get that fresh air all around. There is plenty of fresh air.

Originally Posted by froggy

ven tho its a 'weed', i guess u have proved that u cannot just grow it anywhere.

Oh. I'll grow it. Nothing is impossible, its just going to be more difficult for me is all, and i like a good challenge

infiniteawesome, thats a good idea but ive tried it already. they melt too quickly so its like a 1 hour fix

i just switched from the HPS light to 4, 3000 lumen output (each) CFL bulbs, 3" away from the plants with exaust. until i can figure out a better ventilation system .

[froggy]

this 400watt hps light is bringing my room to over 100*F!!! ive got so many fans on that bitch and its still so fucking hot. Its not like i can buy a 100 CFM exaust fan and run tubbing accross the room to the window, that will get noticed in no time (yes this is stealth grow).

Im at a loss and may need to scrap this whole thing unless someone can help me figure out a feasable solution to getting rid of the hot air.


then u say...

I have an A/C unit in my window. When its not set to cool mode its blowing fresh air into my room. + a small fan to get that fresh air all around. There is plenty of fresh air.


so which is it? is ur room heating up or does it have enough fresh air???

[czarr]

Originally Posted by How Stuff Works.com

"fans actually add heat to a room. One way to think about it is like this: If you have a perfectly insulated room and you put an electric fan in it, then the room will get warmer. All the electricity that is driving the fan turns directly into heat.
So a fan does not cool the room at all. What a fan does is create a wind chill effect.
When weatherpeople talk about wind chill on a cold winter day, what they are referring to is how the wind increases convective heat loss (see How Thermoses Work for details on convection). By blowing air around, the fan makes it easier for the air to evaporate sweat from your skin, which is how you eliminate body heat. The more evaporation, the cooler you feel."

Originally Posted by froggy

so which is it? is ur room heating up or does it have enough fresh air???

My grow was heating up AND had adequate fresh air... How you ask?! Its summer time and temps outside are 90+ most days. Take it easy on the guy, jeeze.

[infiniteawesome]

Here's another solution I've thought of but haven't tried yet:

Take those two liter bottles, but don't cut them in any way shape or form. Cover them in something opaque, but definately not black, possibly white would be good.

Fill them half way or so with water and put them in the freezer. Make as many as possible.

Put them in the grow room, sealed by the cap.

The white will reflect the heat rather than absorb it like color or black. It will create less hot spots than if you were to use tin foil. This along with sealing it will prevent it from melting quite as fast. But this way you must pack your room with the bottles and if not removed after fully melting could create insulation of heat, but it would take a while to heat up I THINK.

This is all just theory, but I think it could work . . . I just don't have the freezer space to test it out m'self.

[Num]

Pilkington K glass? Thermal insulating glass?? Anyone tried this yet?

http://www.pilkington.com/applicatio...ss/default.htm

Usually used in double-glazed panels, depending which way round u mount the panel, it will either allow heat to pass or reflect it back as it allows thermal transfer in 1 direction only without filtering the light too much. They fit it to new houses standard in UK now = it's so efficient.

What I'm thinking of is a k glass panel between the lights & grow space.
Obviously the light space would need to be vented / cooled if u are reflecting the heat back, (to avoid ur thermal cutout operating & leaving u in darkness) but it would greatly reduce the heat that hits the plant tops.

Multiple implications

Another idea is to use desiccant bags to reduce the moisture content in the grow space. Dry air carries a lot less moisture & it's moisture that retains the heat.
A humid grow room will be a hot grow room. (relative humidity)

*infinite - ur idea is not a theory - it's a whole science in itself = specific latency

Or u could just switch from hps to cooler 200w envirolites?
I once badly burnt my ear on a 400w son T, so I can sympathise with u 100%

[froggy]

My grow was heating up AND had adequate fresh air... How you ask?! Its summer time and temps outside are 90+ most days. Take it easy on the guy, jeeze.

i thought i was trying to get to the problem? and i didnt know i was being harsh on him.

I have an A/C unit in my window. When its not set to cool mode its blowing fresh air into my room. + a small fan to get that fresh air all around. There is plenty of fresh air.

my contention is that this statement is wrong. he doesnt have plenty of fresh air and that is what he has to solve.

is it 90F out side? didnt hear him mention that. even if it was that hot, he still must solve the problem and u can do that with air flow, yes even at 90F.
he is trying to grow in a sealed room without any venting other than his window. that is obviously not enough, especially if he is trying to pump into a sealed room. so picture trying to move air into a box that is in a box with only one way in and out which is in a small window. u cannot force air into a sealed room, it doesnt work. so ur air heats up, gets humid, then heats up more, then gets more humid and the walls get hot and humid and its a spiral to hotness. even if its 100F outside, if u can blow air into the area, u can at least stop that cycle.

so he needs to 'balance' his air. somehow bringing in freshair whilst exausting his hot, humid air. weed can handle 8hrs of 90F with adequate water, no problem. but not if the co2 also goes down and the #'s get over 105F. that can easily happen in a sealed, stale air room. so by balancing ur air flow, even @ 90F days, even at 100F days, u can still cool ur plant with enough air flow.

which brings me to one of my original points, that u cannot just grow weed anywhere. there are certain requirements that MUST be filled or its not gonna work. one is adequate air exchange.

[told]

ok let me explain better, i do have an A/C & Fan unit in my window. The only reason i bought the A/C is because my 2nd box was getting over heated from the first box along with the 30-35*C (100*F~) constant weather outside. But i agree with you, i do need better air flow, thats what i ment by a better ventilation system. If i have to vent from the first box into the second box, atleast i have the ability to remove the stale/heated air from the second box to the outside. & are you saying that any stealth grow will never work?, because i have news for you if you think that :P

"i just switched from the HPS light to 4, 3000 lumen output (each) CFL bulbs, 3" away from the plants with exaust. until i can figure out a better ventilation system" - This is only temperary until i can figure out a solution, because i want to veg these feminized seedlings for a few months before i flower - without killing them of course lol.

I really want to do the venting, but i need to keep it as stealth as possible... what can i do?

[froggy]

& are you saying that any stealth grow will never work?, because i have news for you if you think that :P


nope, i think u could 'stealth' grow but u cannot 'stealth' grow without adequate air flow. well, maybe u could actually 'grow' something. but there is a difference in thriving vs existing.

let me give an example;
i have a buddy that i gave some clones to. he grew them out in his crappy grow room. hot, moldy, humid with no air flow. shitty ass condition. and the plant was the same, it was a shitty ass plant. it tasted shitty and was rotten looking. being a clone...it wasnt nature but nurture that made it so.

so what is the moral of the story? its that u need adequate air flow. dont kill the messenger, im just trying to answer the question the best that i can.

[told]

i didnt mean to insult you, sorry.

Do you think if i have constant fresh air blasted into the room, if i vented from the closet to the room and vice versa -- will this be suffitient fresh air?

5200 BTU A/C in the window, with a high powered fan mode when its not hot outside, for fresh air.

the room is 10'x14'x9' (W x L x H) and the closet is 2 1/2'x7'x9' (W x L x H) half of which is cut off for the grow area.

[froggy]

again, u are trying to get air into a box (ur closet) that is inside of a box ( ur room).

that is very difficult to get adequate air flow for proper exchange.

i have a buddy that is a AC guy and we have had many discussions about air flow. the best idea is to exaust the place that u want air to move to. so that means running a return air (exause air) directly from ur grow room to the outside. this will suck fresh air into whereever ur trying to grow.

also, u mention that u are 'blasting' air into the room. actually u are not. because ur trying to force air into a dead end. even tho air cannot be seen, it has mass. the analogy of what u are trying to do is this;

lets say u have a glass full of water. no matter how hard u try, u cannot get anymore water into that glass. and most of the water that u are pouring flows directly out of the glass, certainly not mixing the bottom of the glass with fresh water. air flow is the same way. u need an in, and a flow, and an out. this is called balancing ur air flow. so how u get the mixing of the water glass is to have a hole in the bottom of the glass, so that the water flows from the top, thru the glass, and out the bottom. then all the water is 'fresh'.

again, ur intake of fresh air is prob fine. ur room isnt that big and certainly u could prob. get enough air into the window. the problem is, u have no 'out' so that the air u are trying to push into ur room cannot go in because of the lack of place for it to go. u need to exause the grow room. somehow.

does this make any sense?

by the way, im not offended. it takes more than that to offend me.