Current set-up Grow Tent 4' deep x 8' wide x 6' tall 2x 1000 watt hps lights (digilux bulbs and quantum ballasts) 2x Magnum XXXL 8" Hoods 8 inch Inline Fan 740 CFM Pulling air from outside the tent through the lights out of the room. Ebb and flow system 18 site, with 18 air stones one in each bucket. 2x small fans in the top corners of the tent 2x large fans mid level of the ten 1x evaporative cooler running My ambient temperature is 74 - 76. When the lights are on with the tent closed temps are 88 to 91 I know I need an A/C unit in tent. How many BTU should I get? What brand have you used? I currently have a 12,000 BTU unit in the tent that isn't doing shit. http://www.lowes.com/pd_416710-37374-416710_0__?productId=4574782&Ntt=air+conditioners&pl=1¤tURL=%3FNtt%3Dair%2Bconditioners&facetInfo= (DON'T BUY THIS PIECE OF CRAP) Took a few hours just to cool room to 70 degrees with the lights off. Please help, this heat issue is running my growing experience. Thanks ahead of time....
Nice setup, you plan on running co2? Then you might want to look into a split a/c, those portable units suck. If not running co2, then you need a second inline fan ventilating your 4x8. I run 2x 600w in the same size tent with 2x 6" inlines. One to cool the lights and one to exchange the air in the tent. I run my ventilation out the house, keeps my tent within a few degrees of ambient. I even have to turn down my fans when ambient temps drop too low so I can maintain 72f.
You run the air from the lights out of the house. The air from the second inline fan do you let that run into the room? Do you run that through a carbon filter.
I have the option of exhausting both out the window, only need to do that during the summer though. My basement temps go down to 60f in the winter so I don't have to do that year round. The second fan pulls from a carbon filter hanging in the tent like this
For security reasons I'm going to have to change everything about the way I grow. I'm going to need a room within a room (a tent won't be sound proof enough I don't think). I know nothing about it, particularly dealing with temperatures. Unfortunately, I am unable to vent to outside from the room it will be in, other than allowing air to enter and escape through an open window. In my current setup, I have problems in summer with excessive heat. I have recently begun using a digital ballast and it is significantly cooler to the touch than my old one so I'm not expecting next summer to be as bad as past ones, but it is a major issue. If I have a window box aircon unit put in to the room I intend to build in, I won't be able to get fresh air into the room unless running the AC unit. Running at any time other than in hot weather would be suspicious and defeat the whole exercise. I'm looking at 4.5' x 5.5' with height 7' to be assembled inside a spare room where my existing grow area is/was. I will have either 1 x 1000w HPS or 2 x 600w HPS, a carbon scrubber and 2 fans in there. The ballast will be kept outside during summer and in the grow box during winter. I intend to air cool the lamps and vent the room with a second fan system. I'd appreciate your advice on the following: 1) How often do I need to replace the air in a box (if not using CO2). In other words, if my box is 175 cubic feet, how often am I going to have to move that amount of air in and out again? 2) How many degrees will the fans and the carbon scrubber be adding to the internal air (assuming the lamp cooling system is effective) when the ambient air is above 70F? Thanking you in advance
Hey bud The faster you exchange the air in your grow box, the closer it will be to ambient temps. People throw around the "rule of thumb" a lot but it's pretty worthless considering how much the variables can change from grow to grow. That being said, I would recommend exchanging the air in that box 2-3x per minute, which would be a 6" 440 cfm inline. In addition to the cooling for your lights, of course The fans shouldn't be adding to the grow room temps if installed properly, but I'd expect them to raise temps by 4-5f in a small box or something, larger room would obviously be less of an increase. I played around with an active intake once, actually raised temps in my small box by 5f. If you're not piping in cool air from someplace (like a crawlspace or basement) then active intakes are useless. De-humidifiers raise temps too. Other than that your plan should work, as long as you can ventilate that room. Hope that helps.
Thank you so much. You have answered more questions than would be obvious. Yes, the cooling. I have been mulling this whole thing over for three days now. I'm no closer to building my box but I've made some decisions. Air Con is a must. I have decided to install a recycle system in my property. I will use it in other parts of the apartment on extreme weather days and it will improve the value of my home, so it is an investment in more ways than one. There is a thing called a Energy Ventilation System that you can install. It takes the air from an airconditioned room to the outside and brings air in from outside into the room. Travelling both ways the air passes through a box where energy transference takes place so that the fresh air entering the room is at a temperature close to the air that was taken out. I'm not sure of the rate of transference I can get with one of these, I'll know in the next couple of days. How often would you suggest I replace the air in the grow room proper (8.25' x 12' x 7.5')? Same thing, 2-3x per min? That would be around 1,000 cfm yes (this is the whole room inclusive of the grow box)? Assuming that is the solution to my heat problem in summer, I can then use an open window in the room in which my box will be for the rest of the year. I've been growing in that room for nearly four years and never had issues with mold or humidity in general, except for during summer, although I've had issues with stunted growth in cold winters. The box will fix that up. There is so much to get my head around and so much to organize. I'm a quick learner but it is tough going sorting out the gold from the dross on these sites. I'm hoping to be set up ready to begin on New Year's day, not sure how I'll go. In the meantime, I'm going to ask Sam a couple of questions on a few minor details I need clarified before I do my first alcohol extraction and infusion into coconut oil for use in edibles