I need assistance from a tent cooling Guru!

Here's the deal:

I'm about to finish up week one of flower.
Tent is 8x4x7
2x 1000w HPS

Current Set up:

Ambient Basement Temp is 79F.
Inside tent is 90F w/ current set up.

So here I attempted to make the a/c cool the cool tubes by sending 61F air through them... didn't pretty much nothing.

A/C w/ Makeshift Ducting Box attached ===> [Tent] ===> Cool Tube ===> Cool Tube ===> [Tent] ===> 653 CFM Vortex Fan ===> Outside via Dryer Vent


Previous Set up:

Ambient Basement Temp is 77F.
Inside Tent Temp is 90F.

A/C Cooling the entire room. Open Ducting outside of the tent sucking air through ===> [Tent] ===> Cool Tube ===> Cool Tube ===> [Tent] ===> 653 CFM Vortex Fan ===> Outside via Dryer Vent

Also two tent vents are open w/ 170 CFM Vortex Fan filtering air through a 210 CFM Phresh Filter.

Set up Prior to that:

Ambient Basement Temp - ?
Inside Tent Temp 86F

A/C Inside the tent w/ a/c ducting going out of the tent into the adjacent crawl space.

Adjacent Crawl Space ===> [Tent] ===> Cool Tube ===> Cool Tube ===> [Tent] ===> 653 CFM Vortex Fan ===> Outside via Dryer Vent

and again w/ the two tent vents open w/ 170 CFM Vortex Fan filtering air through a 210 CFM Phresh Filter.

Keep in mind that I only tried the a/c cooling the ambient basement temp for 12 hours while the lights were on. My a/c is 14k BTU. Are these temps just something that I'm going to have to live with? I'm considering framing out a room and nixing the tent for the next grow. But I have no idea how to do that... research research research. Gonna get some Bob Vila books and see what's up.

Thanks so much for all the help in advance!

Edit: The initial reason for moving the a/c outside of the tent is that my kids have all cracked 2' and then some and there's really just not much room. I've got 4 Sweet Tooth in 7 gal Smart Pots.

Edited by MikeD89, 01 July 2012 - 04:40 PM.
Amendment

Try cooling each HPS individually homie.. Seperate ducting an fan too. Use the AC for both. No reason u gotta live with those temps. Maybe run less duct work or less bends/kinks... Pics help.

Dutchie

Edited by GrapeDutchh, 01 July 2012 - 05:36 PM.
Edit text

Well I can't separately cool each tube because of the way the tent is set up. I also have coming off the box that's attached to the AC is a duct w/ a 240cfm booster fan that blows cool air into the tent. I have to set my AC on a timer w/ the light schedule so it doesn't get too cold. I don't have any buds yet of course... Crossing my fingers that I can still get some nice sized dense nuggs if I get this problem corrected in the next few days!

Lets say u got 100 degrees thru the ducting... if u split em up thats not 50 degrees each but its less than 100 that u need to cool. But i hear u. If your temps are high 80's it ant too bad man.. Some days its hot as fuck here an my tent gets up too 94-95! Scary, but the temp drops slowly at night when the tent is 94 during the day lol

GL homie let me kno what ur solution is. I am currently re-configuring my vent setup

Dutchie

Lets say u got 100 degrees thru the ducting... if u split em up thats not 50 degrees each but its less than 100 that u need to cool. But i hear u. If your temps are high 80's it ant too bad man.. Some days its hot as fuck here an my tent gets up too 94-95! Scary, but the temp drops slowly at night when the tent is 94 during the day lol

GL homie let me kno what ur solution is. I am currently re-configuring my vent setup

Dutchie

So you're saying it's synergistic (I think that's what it's called). Where if you cool each tube separately it'd be like it's only 90 degrees. I think that'd be more of a possibility for the next grow w/o the tent.

I lucked up because when I switched to 12/12 my lights come on at midnight and turn off at noon. It's been really hot here lately so by midnight it's about as cool as it's going to get for the overnight low and by noon when the lights go out it's about 7-8 degrees cooler that the daytime high.

I'll be sure to hit you up once (if I ever ) get it dialed in.

So you're saying it's synergistic (I think that's what it's called). Where if you cool each tube separately it'd be like it's only 90 degrees. I think that'd be more of a possibility for the next grow w/o the tent.

Idk what its called but thats exactly what i meant... Lol yeah lmk if u do dial it in bro

Use your AC unit to cool the basement to 72 degrees during lights off.

Swap your fan setup. Use your larger fan connected to a carbon filter to ventilate the tent. Use the smaller fan to pull cool air from outside the tent through the tubes and out the heater vent.

You can pump the hot air from the tent through the large fan and dump it in the basement for the AC unit to cool.

Configuring your grow room like this, and maintaining an ambient intake temperature under 73 degrees, is your best option.

Use your AC unit to cool the basement to 72 degrees during lights off.

Swap your fan setup. Use your larger fan connected to a carbon filter to ventilate the tent. Use the smaller fan to pull cool air from outside the tent through the tubes and out the heater vent.

You can pump the hot air from the tent through the large fan and dump it in the basement for the AC unit to cool.

Configuring your grow room like this, and maintaining an ambient intake temperature under 73 degrees, is your best option.

Maintaining that ambient temp is gonna be difficult I think. I got it cranked though so let's see what happens at the stroke of midnight.

I've always thought that my air exchange has been severely under powered... check out my journal Operation Overkill... it's probably the only aspect of my setup that is not over the top. Here lies the problem though. My filter is only rated at 210 cfm I think. So I gotta get a huge filter rated at more than 653 cfm and another 6 inch fan. I am concerned that my tent will collapse on itself though unless I get ANOTHER fan that's rated at maybe 350-400 cfm blowing air in. You feel me? Is my thought process right on this?

So I'm looking at fans again... I could have sworn that the 6" vortex was 653cfm... now they're saying it's 452 cfm... I guess I just never had it right... everywhere I'm looking say 452... so I guess either everybody changed their websites at the same time to fuck w/ my head or I've been wrong for the last two months...

So I'm looking at fans again... I could have sworn that the 6" vortex was 653cfm... now they're saying it's 452 cfm... I guess I just never had it right... everywhere I'm looking say 452... so I guess either everybody changed their websites at the same time to fuck w/ my head or I've been wrong for the last two months...

452 sounds like the right cfm for that size.

You shouldn't need another fan.

The best option here might be to get a carbon filter for your 6" fan and run that like this:
Filter > duct > cooltubes > duct > 6" fan > duct > outside

This will pull the hot air (ideally not that hot) to cool the lights and exhaust the heat from tent.

Then use your smaller fan as an air intake. This will assist the exchange rate and help reduce the deviancy between grow tent ambient temperature and the intake temperature from the basement.

A 14,000 btu AC unit should be capable to cool that basement down quick and easy with all the heat being exhausted out of the room. I think if you are concerned about the tent collapsing in on itself from the negative air pressure then using the small fan as an intake and the large fan as a dedicated exhaust with a filter is the best option.

It doesn't really matter how much air you are moving. If the intake temp is over 75 then the tent temperature is always going to be greater than that. Try to reduce your deviance between in and out temperatures with the right but definitely focus on getting and keeping the ambient basement temperature under 73. I think that 70 degrees on your intake with these lights and these fans is going to give you the most manageable temperatures in the tent.

452 sounds like the right cfm for that size.

You shouldn't need another fan.

The best option here might be to get a carbon filter for your 6" fan and run that like this:
Filter > duct > cooltubes > duct > 6" fan > duct > outside

This will pull the hot air (ideally not that hot) to cool the lights and exhaust the heat from tent.

Then use your smaller fan as an air intake. This will assist the exchange rate and help reduce the deviancy between grow tent ambient temperature and the intake temperature from the basement.

A 14,000 btu AC unit should be capable to cool that basement down quick and easy with all the heat being exhausted out of the room. I think if you are concerned about the tent collapsing in on itself from the negative air pressure then using the small fan as an intake and the large fan as a dedicated exhaust with a filter is the best option.

It doesn't really matter how much air you are moving. If the intake temp is over 75 then the tent temperature is always going to be greater than that. Try to reduce your deviance between in and out temperatures with the right but definitely focus on getting and keeping the ambient basement temperature under 73. I think that 70 degrees on your intake with these lights and these fans is going to give you the most manageable temperatures in the tent.

I ordered another fan just cause along w/ another phresh filter and a couple submersible pumps for the RDWC set up that I'm trying to get going for the next round from the hydro source... wicked cheap brah (just kidding i'm not from boston haha!)... I'm digging your advice and I'm definitely gonna give it a shot...

I didn't have the a/c on but I cut it on around 7pm and by 10 the ambient temp had dropped to 75 from sitting at 79 the entire time. So hopefully it'll be around 72 by now... I'm also going to put up panda plastic up to partition of the half of the basement that I use for the setup so that I can do laundry w/o being worried for having light herm my plants... I'm thinking that it might also help keep the area cooler simply because it's smaller. Don't know how insulating that stuff is though... supposed to be pretty light proof though... Oh well... that's the update. I'll let everybody knows how it goes over the next day or so because I know it's a problem that a lot of people are having. Wish me luck!

You strike me as a man never caught unprepared. Its a different approach from all the low budget setups and to some people they'll think you're going overkill. Which, as I understand it, is the point.

You know, one option here that might actually save you a little on the power bill is to consider just enriching your environment with CO2 and going mostly enclosed.

You'd need to frame in a wall, but that's not tough without electrical. But with the wall in place and a dedicated ventilation setup for the lights and another for the filter you could keep the temps relatively high.

I dunno. There are always options and ways of solving a problem. I think you could have waited a day to mull over your purchase a little but regardless of what you could do it is fine you chose a path and ran with it.

Hopefully your temps get low enough so they can rise a little through the day.

You strike me as a man never caught unprepared. Its a different approach from all the low budget setups and to some people they'll think you're going overkill. Which, as I understand it, is the point.

You know, one option here that might actually save you a little on the power bill is to consider just enriching your environment with CO2 and going mostly enclosed.

You'd need to frame in a wall, but that's not tough without electrical. But with the wall in place and a dedicated ventilation setup for the lights and another for the filter you could keep the temps relatively high.

I dunno. There are always options and ways of solving a problem. I think you could have waited a day to mull over your purchase a little but regardless of what you could do it is fine you chose a path and ran with it.

Hopefully your temps get low enough so they can rise a little through the day.

Eh... I wouldn't exactly say that I intentionally wanted to do everything over the top it just turned out that way. So many people told me I was going overkill and I should just get CFLs. It just seemed more economical to buy a little bit bigger rather than buy stuff that I'll grow out of after the first grow. Plus if I don't see a reasonably substantial result I'll get discouraged. I've always felt like since I started researching this little hobby in late march that if I have all the dope shit equipment the only thing I've gotta worry about is developing my green thumb. I've thought about CO2 but didn't quite want to get into that just yet. Especially because I'm in a tent vs a sealed off room (we're getting there). Plus I figured I'd need the fan and the filter down the road anyway so... eh.

BTW the Grasscity25 coupon code for The Hydro Source works like charm. If I bought what I got on amazon I would've spent close to 400 and I think my order was 311 and small change shipped to my door.

There's definitely more than one way to skin a cat in this game... I'll keep you posted on the temps.

Yo SCMC! I finally got it! 84 degrees at the moment! Fan came in w/ my new big as donkey winky phresh filter and they are sucking out all the heat which allows for the ambient temp to stay low and then I got my 170 cfm fan and 240 cfm fan blowing into the tent. I have negative pressure and nothing smells to me!!!:D:D:D