If a flowering room where 4'x8'x8' @ 256 cubic ft, with one 1000w + one 400w ac hps lamps and need to cool room as well as the lights, would this be practical. First let me say there is a portable ac unit available, but can't make this particular one work with co2 enrichment system and purchasing a different one is out of the question at this point. Now if you took two 6" inline fans (435 cfm) that worked independently from one another, one with the lighting timer and the other connected to the enviro. controller for cooling (dampner attached). During the cold winter months both lights and room could be cooled w/cold air from attic space. Now there's adjacent room 192 sq ft cooled by a 6500 btu ac, during warmer months could cooled air be pulled from this room to cool both the flowering chamber & lights? First do you think this idea would work? If so, what effects might pulling all that air from the room have on the ac unit and the room itself? If you have the knowledge please respond, thanks...
IMO by taking cooling air from 2 seperate areas depending on season you create more work dialing in your enviroment. Try pulling your air from the same place controlling the temp there and seasons have no effect, making less variables. Personally I would draw air from inside as its easier to control and maybe split and use a dampener to augment only if I had to.
I have a 1000w Dual Arc over a 4x4 table in a 5.5'X5.5'X8' tall closet and it is pretty easy to cool. I have a 6" centrifugal fan pushing air in from the room next door through a duct and past the light out of the closet (ideally the fan should pull, but my situation makes it too much of a pain in the ass). I have two wall mount 16" oscillating fans within 2' of the table (high setting), and a dual vent window fan that I adjust level with the bottom of my reflector that constantly blows cool air across the super hot glass (high setting), and a 24" box fan at canopy height blowing across the table and slightly upward (medium setting). The canopy hovered around 88* with my lamp 2' above it and I dont have a portable ac unit, so I duct my light vent directly from the winter air (I'm in Denver so it's between 25* and 40* outside this time of year, and when the air tavels it's distance to my light it's about 40* the same as cold air coming out of an air conditioner). I cut a 2" hole in the duct about 8" before it enters the light, so cold air constantly cools my closet, and the temperature now stays at exactly 79* with the closet door shut, light lowered, and the CO2 pumping. The answer is YES you can definitely grow in that space with 1400w as long as you vent it correctly and use your AC unit. And your 400w will have to be much closer to the plants than the 1000w. Here is a pic of my medical grow: 5.5' X 5.5' Closet w/1000W Dual Arc - Marijuana Pictures, Photos & Videos - Grasscity.com Media Gallery
Thank 1234, Basically this location is not in a home and there is no centralized heating or cooling system. I have no problem pulling from the attic space in the cooler months, it workout great, but the summer is the killer for me. If I can't figure out a way to cool this efficiently ( in summer) without spending hundreds of more dollars, I'll have to skip summer months and focus on outdoor activities. The fan for pushing cooling air into the flowering room is mounted above the ceiling in the attic space, the dampener stays closed when cooling is off to keep co2 from escaping. I'm attempting to run a closed system just without the ac in the room.
Thanks Denvernug, your setup looks great, you certainly appear to be a scrogmaster. My port. ac has one exhaust hose that blows out hot air which needs to be exhausted from the room right, not my co2 enriched air though, no way man too much bread.
Even at that I still draw my lamp fan (500cfm 1600w) for cooltubes from the same room, but I have tents which help too, but I toss the hot (not that hot) into my livingroom to augment heating in the winter and my heat rarely goes on with lights on. In the summer a/c kicks more but thats the choice I made. You can get the a/c in the same room during the summer? Even indoor air temp in house should be lower that attic I would think, so theres a few degrees less anyway. Gotta be a way to keep things going.
Can the AC unit be put in an adjacent room and vented into the grow space? Or, a box can be built around the AC unit with a vent for intake from the other side of the wall the box is built against so the AC doesnt suck out your CO2. I saw a hoakey cardboard one, but it looked like a great idea if you can seal the box properly with epoxy or caulk. Hehe, I said caulk. I'm fucking baked. Later
I was thinking to hook the cooling fan to a ceiling vent in the adjacent room when things start warming up, about a 10-12 ft run in the attic. I would use insulated ducting to help keep the air cool in the hot attic space, like I said the other room as a ac window unit. Still wondering if pulling all this air from that room will have an adverse effect on the ac unit, just seems like it would.
Thanks for the ideas DN, At this point I'm about ready to ditch the portable ac idea anyway, more to that store. The unit isn't even here for me to mess with, it's in our camper at the lake. Originally bought the thing because our camper didn't have ac, not sure if mamma would appreciate me using it for herbs. Lucky she indulges me as it is, she can't partake because of her occupation. Like I mentioned my main concern with pulling ac from the adjacent room is will it damage (strain) the ac unit in there. With two fans pulling 435 cfm each out of that room I'm not convinced the 6500 btu unit will be able to keep up.