So after two grows in my closet the mrs was over it. So I decided to put up a wall in my basement and make a bookcase door passageway! The area is 7ft tall 4ft wide and 10ft long. I am finishing up my first grow in here in bout two weeks and am happy overall. BUTTTTTTTT some changes are needed The biggest issue I have is heat. Even with the door open the temps are really high 80 to low 90. My a.c. jas been set on 72 all summer and it still is that hot. I DONT want to vent outside. I do jave a small fan running but my big fan is just way to loud but I do have good airflow. I want to add a portable ac unit. I know these need to be vented outdoors. But since I dont want to do that can I vent it out of my room straight into my basement?? And is that safe? I can cut a hole in the drywall and put up a picture to cover the hole. All thoughts and advice welcome and appreciated!!
Nice space! Dumping the heat back into the basement don't sound too good as temps will rise higher than what you have,. Ideally you need fresh air in and the hot air from lights and a/c to the outside or the attic.. Otherwise I think the portable a/c won't keep up.
If you don't vent it outside then you will be venting hot air into the same space you are pulling air from, which is obviously just going to create more work for the AC unit, or make it run less effectively. It shouldn't kill you, but it isn't going to be cold where you vent it and could create heat problems anyway. You know they make charcoal filters to handle smell, right?
Charcoal filters?? No what is that? And I guess maybe im mistaken on how port able ax works. I figured I just had one exhaust I didnt know there was an exhaust and intake. I figure the heat dumping into the basement wouldnt hurt anything as it usually stays pretty cool I jist didnt know how much heat it would put off and if it was a bad thong like fire causing or some complicated like that
Wouldnt dumping it into the basement be like dumping it in attic? Just brainstorming thank you for the input!
Check out charcoal filters, it will be your best bet. You can vent to outside without a worry that someone will smell you. If you add a portable AC unit in your basement, where will it be pulling its air from? From inside the basement itself? All you are doing is taking the hot air out, putting it through an ac unit, then sending it right back in. A huge waste of electricity and your efforts. Vent to outside, that way you have fresh, cool air constantly flowing through the system. With your central air system, your basement temps should stay cool, then you can skip the whole portable ac idea and just have a humidity controller and a few fans for the grow room. If you are going to exhaust, think about it this way... There is air leaving the room, so there must be air entering the room to keep it at the right pressure, otherwise you are creating a slight vacuum. Where there is an exhaust (with an exhaust fan, normally) there must be an intake (with an equally powerful fan). Create an air vent from your grow room to the main basement (close to the ground for cooler air) and stick a fan in it, this should help your cool air problem. Those are my thoughts. Whatever suits you best. Good luck
Even if a closed system? I have a fan blowing inside so wont a portable ac work and just exaust fine into the basement?
You really need a properly sealed exhaust with carbon filter. I personally use an 8" vortex fan and 8" in line filter for my micro cabs but it should be good for about 500sqft maybe a bit more if you really push it. You want negative pressure meaning no intake fans. Only exhaust. Fresh air will be drawn into the room through all the holes and cracks ect. I make a hole the same size as my exhaust and add a filter to it so no contaminated air particles come in. I have enough negative pressure at my intake hole that a sheet of paper is easily held up by the suction You really should vent the ac unit outside as you will actually cool down the space much more effectively. But with a sufficient exhaust system AC usually isn't a must If it is vented inside you are just heating up your space by running that ac unit, it's just exchanging the air but raising ambient Temps in reality.
I tried a 6in inline fan and the noise was RIDICULOUS! I have a 6in air cooled good but that fans just way to loud
If sound is a concern what you need is a good quiet fan such as the vortex S line inline fan paired with a variac fan speed controller (very important it is variac!), an inline carbon filter, and a silencer with muffler. You can then build a sound proof around the fan, and even part of the silencer. The only sound you will then hear is the sound of rushing air, but that should be dampened greatly by the silencer and muffler. I used two layers of 3/4 plywood and you can barely hear my fan 8" fan in my stealth cab at about 50-60V from inside the room. The sound of air pumps are much louder lol Sent from my Spaceship using the Tapatalk App http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1348058-DaS-Perpetual-Stealth-Cabs-Grow-Chronicles