I've got a 400W MH light. I want to move the plant closer, but the temperatures are getting hot. Room temperature is 70-75F, close under the light it can go above 90F. Will a reflector with air cooling reduce it by a lot? I can vent outdoor winter air through it. Don't want to go through getting an air coolable reflector to find out it doesn't help much.
The enclosed air cooled hoods are very efficient. I couldn't even use my 400w lamp in my closet even with an exhaust fan cause the temps would be in the 90's. So I upgraded to an air cooled hood and it works great, the plants can literally touch the hood with no adverse affects, and they have once or twice. Hell the fan I have dedicated to hood only kicks on if the temp in room goes above75-80f and it rarely needs to. I'm guessing since heat rises and the air exhausts into the attic allot of the heat travels out the ducting on its own.
That sounds great. I'm looking at a reflector with only 4" holes, can I use 8" or 6" ducting/inline fans? Will the CFM reduction be significant. I could go with other reflectors with bigger holes, but the one I'm looking at is suppose to be pretty efficient.
Yes you can hook a 4" hood exhaust to 6-8 fan, and I believe it would actually increase efficiency. All you need is a duct reducer.
Yes I am well aware of bleaching leaves is a bad thing. I use the sun master lights they have a 6in air conection. I use a 6 in vortex fan with a carbon scrubber attached. I rid myself of heat and smelly air in one shot. A 6in inline fan is overkill, a 4 in would be fine.
Think an 80 CFM 4" inline fan is sufficient? My local home depot doesn't have 6" or 8" ducting, and I don't feel like buying duct reducers and using a bigger fan. It's going to drive two reflectors.
what kind of 80 cfm 4" is it? because the cheaper fans ( like home depot inline duct boosters) do not actually move that much air. that cfm rating is with no air restrictions so when you connect it to something and add some restriction in air flow those cfm ratings drop rapidly. if you are having heat issues don't cut corners on ventilation, thats the one thing i spent a good amount of time and money on, although i have to cool a 1000w hps. any ways just make sure its a good reliable brand of inline fan.
Alright I know exactly which fan u r talking aboutI tried using them for exhaust before I got my real fans. And as Joxter said if it has to pull air through ducting the cfm decreases significantly. However I had a 6" one lying around so I stuck it directly in the hole I cut in the floor of my closet to pull cool air from under my house over my lamp and out through a hole in the ceiling to the attic. The "Suncourt", I think thats what the home depot fans are called, Is on the whole time the light is on and does the job for the most part. My 6" Vortex fan, which was about $150(Found a good deal some sites where charging up to $280) and is attached above the light so it pulls air through it rather than pushing air through it like the home depot fan is doing, only comes on a few times a day for a few minutes each time. The vortex is attached to a cooling thermostat so it only kicks on above 77f. However it's winter and we only turn our heat in the whole house up to 65f. So Basically the Light is heating the grow closet. I'm pretty sure that during the summer when outside temp reaches mid 90's to low 100's the Vortex will be on most of the time the light is on seeing as how the air blowing over my light will not be near as cold.
Are you sure? That's hard to believe, those are standard ductwork sizes and it's one of Home Depot's core businesses...
Pretty sure I was there and asked a guy where the ducting was and he showed me. They have galvanized steel (non flexible) stuff that is bigger, but for flexible aluminium ducting they only have 4". And a lot of it hehe. They also only have 6" to 4" reducers, no 8" to 4" reducers (probably too damn big). Thanks for the advice I will probably get a bigger fan instead of the home depot suncourt. So an 8" 500CFM rated suncourt still performs badly compared to other brands?
By flexible, you mean like a vent tube for a clothes dryer? You want to avoid that if possible, the "ribs" in its construction act as baffles on the inside that slow down your airflow. You want smooth pipe, that aluminum stuff, and use joints and connectors to configure it the way you need it.
No it states it's not recommended for clothes dryer venting. Says it's for heating, cooling, and exhaust. No ribs, but it is flexible, so can bend a little and stretch it longer. It's like aluminium rings connected with aluminium foil. Something like that.
I have an air cooled hood for my 400 watt hps and I was wondering if my 6 inch suncourt inline fan is designed to push the air through the hood or pull the air through? According to the earlier posts it is only made to push and the vortex type fans pull. Helpfull local hydro shop guy told me it is can work either way but it is better to pull! Just wanted to be clear about this before I install it incorrectly.
none of these "suncourt" "home depot" fans are going to be comparable to a name brand horticulture style in line fan. those home depot ones are just boosters for your heater or stuff like that in your home, not for extracting hot air out of a grow room. they might work decently for the grow room, but not near as good as one made for a grow room. those home depot ones are made to fit in your ducting for your heater or anything like that, so take the heater for example ( the ones with the vents in the floor) they already have moving air going through them, so these home depot in lines will work good because they are just helping already moving air. they aren't made to exhaust air by themselves, just help move, already moving air a little faster. hence the name "booster." horticulture style inline fans are made to do exactly what we need them too, extract air out of a grow room by themselves. hence the name, eco plus in line exhaust fan, or dayton, etc...
That sounds like the "ribs" I was referring to. It's not a matter of what the package says it's made for, it's how it's actually made. Is it smooth on the inside? That's what you want.