I'm thinking about buying a used fridge and growing in it and had some ? for you experienced growers. Does the smell leak? How big does the refrigerator have to be to grow 2 or 3 plants? How many lights can i use in a fridge? i wanted to use 5 105 watt bulbs
alot of this depends on what you are intending to do?, is it goona be a sea of green or soils, what type of light you intend to use?, never grown in a fridge so I cant answer that
I also have the same plan! Going to pick up the fridge on Monday, do some remodeling to it and hopefully be up and going within a week. I built my own custom growlight out of 8in x 2ft duct split down the middle with a 4 way light fixture mounted in the middle. in each socket i am puttin 2 way splitter sockets and in each socket a 85 watt cfl for total of 6 bulbs 680 watts. I want to grow 8 plants but due to size issues might only be doing 6. I will be lining the inside with panda film, pretty cheap on ebay and I will be putting in 2 in-line fans(either 4 in or six in, haven't decide yet), one exhaust at the top and one in-flow at the bottom with DIY carbon scrubbers attached to both for smell. Being that you are using a fridge it is already air tight besides anything you do to modify it, so as long as you are careful and use the carbon it's a great idea! By the way, as your question was for experienced growers I should let you know that I have not grown before, this will be my first time. I have however put alot of time into planning this out and doing research on all types of growboxes and lights and what have you. It seems like a bad ass way to grow some bud and i'm going full steam ahead on mine
I just want to maximize the growth for the plants so i wont be doing a sea of green. I plan on using river mud witch around my area that and top soil will make shit grow out of control. The lights i will use are the energy saving type (the coils). Yea i like how the smell is contained inside the fridge cause that was my main concern. How much is this going to cost you your way? cause i live out in the country and if the smell leaks out when i open it wont concern me as much as if it would be leaking out the whole time. How big do you plan on your plants being? i want mine huge that's why i say only 3 for mine.
lights along with the fixture ran me about $230 panda film 10'x25' $30 computer power supply, PSU tester, 4 comp case fans & surge protector $72 (2) 6" in-line duct fans and all connections $70 (2) DIY carbon scrubbers $30 In all I'm putting about $450 into the build but I am doing shit right with really good first-hand materials. I'm sure i coulda cut alot of corners, found spare parts from shit off craig's list and did it for half the cost but I wanted it to be perfect. I'm a bit of a nerd about this kind of shit so I have some pretty high standards. I plan on growing 8 plants total getting somewhere between 3 1/2'-4' tall with the final pot size being 3 gallons. I know they say you only get 1 ft of plant per gallon but i'm hoping with some LST and a bitchin setup I can prove em wrong
I plan to use 5 gallon buckets for 3 plants and i don't want them to crowd them self in the fridge. I don't really know if I'm gonna use a vent system the nearest road is about a mile and a half away from me lol. I am wondering if you can grow 2 plants in 1 bucket? 8 plants for a refrigerator seems like a lot? but then again iv never grown weed before and have no idea how big they will get within a small space like a fridge.
well the inside of my fridge only measures 4 ' 10" but my light setup is about 8 inches deep and i plan on having like a drain area so i can measure the ph so my space is limited to slighty less than 4' which is why i will prolly try the LST. I'm not going quantity over quality per say with 8 plants, but i figure 8 medium size plants would produce more yield than 4 gigantic plants, but again, you are limited to the size of the fridge.
Hell i would knock out the shelf between the fridge and freezer and weld the doors together making it BIG but idk if that would work. Have you thought about males and what not? that is a small space and increases the % of the female being pollinated because they would be RIGHT next to each other.
yeah i plan on doing some cosmetics, including taking out the middle wall except for where the door closes on. also gonna take out the icemaker, door shelves(might add some lights to the door later on) and anything else and make as much room as possible before i do anything. all i know is i'm gonna make good use of my sawzall and dremmel lol.
well, i gutted the fridge and man it is quite a chore when you live in an apartment. It's a lot of work and alot of noise so i wouldn't recommend an apartment to build it. I can only imagine what my neighbors think lol and it definitely limits the amount of time you can work. Tomorrow I will mostly be finishing it up, i have to build a wall and floor because of where i had to cut out the fridge and i have to cut one more hole for my exhaust(built from using the fan from the fridge, saved $30 ) and then the poly goes up and the lights go in. I've decided to slim down to 4 plants, 8 was way too hopeful. I should able to fit 4 5-gallon buckets in there nice and snug. as long as i do my lst i think it's gonna be fucking magical in about 3 months. i say go for it man, it's more work than i had originally imagined, but with a little bit of patience, some power tools and some know how, you'd be amazed at how much lighter a fridge is without the compressor, cooling rods, shelves, tubing and wiring lol
The number one dangerous chemical in a refrigerator is freon. If it leaks, the damage can be somewhat poisonous. Chloro-Flouro-Carbon, when exposed to the environment can cause irreversible damage to the ozone. The foam insulation, rife with CFC, will be all the quicker to cause damage the more finely it is ground up. One disposed refrigerator can release 100 grams of CFC. Read more: What are some dangerous chemicals in refrigerators? | GreenAnswers Refrigerator Disposal Releases Ozone-Depleting Chemicals I assume it's in the cooling pipes/tubing as this circulates around through the back of the fridge from top to bottom spreading its coolness.
i gutted the fridge including all cooling pipes, air compressor and some kind of radiator looking thing in the freezer. i disposed of the freon in a more or less practical way and there was not much to it as it was an older fridge there was not much freon in there. I solved the cooling problem of my fridge by installing 2 of my computer fans in the floor to push air in. it seems to keep it around76-78 which i have deemed acceptable. thanks for all the help
fridges will work, they can keep air sealed if the door's rubber is not damaged and if you can silicon seal (or any sealant) all the holes, inline fans are necessary to draw the air out( out is easier than in), pc fans arent strong enough. newer fridges contain freon which is not a very toxic gas but i would definitely gut it outside. older fridges contain all the bad stuff which in that case do not gut it unless you have proper equipment. fridges are hard because they are insulated to keep the cold air cool which does the opposite in your case, keeping the heat from the light, even leds can make a closed fridge over 95*. also have another fan inside to circulate air on the inside to help overall circulation, the insulation is a real bz. try hydro if you can soil can can have insects + bacteria fungus etc.
Did any of you guys follow through on this? My sig is proof that is can work quite well with some planning and patience to dial it in. It just keeps getting better and better. Next project will be an upright freezer for flowering only.
We are actually growing in an old fridge now. Dont use 5 bulbs. We have one 600W HPS bulb. Autoflowering plants and I will try to put up pics of it later once im not high.