What would be the best options (without cutting any holes, and no access to windows) for ventilation and keeping the grow cool?
Just pick up a small A/C unit. I've seen some small models that are supposed to be mounted on a wall at Lowes for around $100. Then just make sure you have enough ventilation into the room. I've seen some setups where they completely seal the doorway so it is airtight and then intake and exhaust the air into the area between the inside of the door and the grow area. That way the exhausted air can be filtered and blown out of the cracks in the door and new fresh air can be sucked into the room. Then just sit the a/c unit in the closet to manage temperature.
That sounds like a plan, can the seal simply be a tent like material with a zipper opening? I'm wanting to keep the closet door shut & locked, so taking your idea would this work? AC unit/fans in the grow room, have an area between the closet door and the grow room entry. Have carbon filter ex/intake between the grow room and this small entry area that's separated by canvas/tent material from ceiling to floor. The crack under the door will be enough ventilation for this? Thanks by the way, everyone has been extremely helpful.
The back side of a window mounted or wall mounted A/C needs to be outside of the area you are cooling, the back side cools the condensor by washing air over it and exhausts slightly warm air, thats why you have the front end in the room and the back end of a window A/C outside. Typically not all A/C's introduce new air, they re-cycle the air through the front cooling it, I have heard a few folks advise there A/C does have a selection to introduce fresh air. The small grow room type A/C's have an intake from the room and a cool exhaust back to the room or you just sit them in the room and an exhaust to a window to expell the warm air created from cooling & operating, bummer is there around $400.00 duckets, seen them at H.D. & Lowes this year, must be trying to get in on this indoor grow fad Regards, S.S.
If you mean a grow tent like material then yes that would adequately seal the room. If you mean just a regular tent material then no. Regular tent material isn't air tight. Air passes through them fairly easily or else it would get hot as hell inside of a tent during the summer, well I guess it still does. You need to get some type of plastic like panda film. If you have a hydro store near you they will most likely carry it, or you could order a roll of it off of the internet from most hydro supply sites. If I was going to rig my closet like this, I would do it like this. Create some sort of frame for the inside of the doorway. Use wood if you want something more permanent, or cardboard if you are on a budget. Just tack the frame to the door frame on the inside of the closet, all the way around. Then seal it up with duct tape. Then use two lengths of panda paper and cover the frame on the side of the wood/cardboard frame furthest from the door. Run it lengthwise from the top of the door to the bottom so they overlap in the middle and get some velcro to hold them together. Then just cut your ventilation holes either in the frame if you made it deep enough or into the panda film. Here I'll make a quick diagram to show you what I'm talking about. I was pretty high when I drew this so it might not work, especially the little rodents, .
I have a similar set-up to what your talking about. To seal my door I went to home depot and picked up some weather black weather stripping. Put it on the door jamb between the jamb and the door. Left the bottom of door alone to allow ventilation. So far it's worked great. No light comes out of the door at all (minus out of the bottom. I solved it by simply taping a piece of tarp on the inside bottom of the door (like a flap). Hope this helps. Good luck!.