Hello forum! Long time reader, first time poster here with a bit of a heating issue. Ironically enough, I live in California but am having a difficult time getting the temps up in my grow tent. The Setup: It's a 3x3x7 with a 200+ CFM exhaust fan. I also have a small non-oscillating fan between the light and plant tops. Air is sucked in from the garage then passed through a cool tube and vented outside the garage. All plants are atop a block of styrofoam to keep the concrete floor from chilling the roots too much. The Problem: With the winter approaching I'm having a very difficult time keeping the tent warmed during the night (actual night, not the plant's night). My temps are around 68-70 with the lights on but get down to 60-62 with the lights off. A space heater would be difficult since my garage is rather large; propane is not an option either as I have no hookups or tanks for that. I've heard of people putting computers in there and such but I'd rather not fill up an already-crowded tent. I've dialed back the exhaust fan to about a third of it's potential but I'm nervous about turning off the fan from the plant tops. Plants are about 2 weeks into veg and lights are off from 11am-5pm. Any suggestions for how I could raise my temperatures without sacrificing air flow further?
running a hid? lower your lights a bit if a space heater is out of the question (i'd recommend at least trying it, it would probably help imo) i dunno.. someone else chime in
Space heater. Or put a vent tube inside the grow tent connected to your ventilation and turn heat on at night
Wow, you guys are quick at replying. Thanks for the recommendations, though I don't think a space heater will work in my case. My garage is about 30'x30' and the only thing it is used for is for this little 3x3 tent. The cost to keep a garage that size heated would put me in the poor house real quick I'm guessing. There is also not any other heating or ducting that goes out to the garage so routing it from a source like that is out of the question. . Other thoughts?
don't need to heat the garage, just your tent. is there space inside? it'll help even if only a few degrees
Right now there's a MH installed but I'll switch over to HPS at flowering time. Currently I have the light as close as I've heard I should get - 600w at about 8". As a reminder, my lights are on throughout the night from 5pm-11am so I can utilize as much of that daytime heat as possible and try to get my light to put off some heat at night (this cool tube cools too well, without it temps skyrocket to 90-92 degrees, I need like a lukewarm tube)
Your going to have to use a heater in some fashion. There is nothing you can change about the light that will improve temps during lights off. The only other easy answer is run autos and keep the light on 24/7
What about just building a smaller room inside your garage, then putting the tent in there? You could use a space heater then without near the cost of trying to heat the entire 30 x 30. A lot of work i know but you dont have many options. How far is the garage from your house?
Does it get that hot if you turn up your fan? I have my intake on the floor of my tent angled up at the bulb, and it seems to carry heat pretty well towards the exhaust while adding some nice cool air everywhere. You could try something like that
It's sounding like I have no choice but to try the space heater idea. I'm hoping I can sit it just outside the tent and get enough heat to pull in. As a reminder, I have my fan set to about 1/3 to try to heat the room via my light the most that I can. Strangely enough, if I get rid of the non-oscillating fan, the plants stay at an almost-perfectly-steady 75 degrees. The last grow I tried to do without it though, Mr. and Mrs. Mite (and kin) took the liberty of moving in.
In the 3'x3' tent I have 4 5-gal pots so I should be able to put it in the middle of them or something. Any problem with it being on top of styrofoam? These two heaters look to be good choices for the floor of the tent, but I'm not sure how many watts I'd need or if a thermostat is really necessary. http://www.amazon.com/Lasko-100-MyHeat-Personal-Ceramic/dp/B003XDTWN2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1384202943&sr=8-4&keywords=heater OR http://www.amazon.com/Lasko-754200-Ceramic-Adjustable-Thermostat/dp/B000TKDQ5C/ref=cm_cd_ql_qh_dp_t Would you get a powerful heater with a thermostat or a less powerful heater that you leave on all the time (might burn out quicker?)?
i'd get the little one. if it's not sufficient, send it back and get the other one. they ship from amazon so they will send you a new one as soon as you call. that other one draws a lot of power. 2x more than my hid. as far as the Styrofoam, i'd err on the side of caution and fashion something non flammable
OK I've ordered the little one, I was kinda shocked over the current usage of that large one too. Think it's okay to put it atop styrofoam? Also, where do you think I should point it? I'd of course like the roots to benefit from the heater but it may be better to face it blowing at the underside of the leaves in the center of the buckets.
No need to worry. 62 is actually a pretty good temperature for the "night" time. It mimics the drop in temperature that nature has. If you could bring it up a couple degrees it would be nice, but tbh you probably wouldn't notice a difference in growth from the temp you're at now.
Thatts what I do and I leave my door from my house to garage open Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Grasscity Forum mobile app