Recirculating Hydro: Water Temps And Thermodynamics ???

[DGP]

So often I see people say my room temps are 78-80 during lights on and my water is 68F. Wow, without a chiller? How?

Anyway, in my UC system as well as my NFT strawberry patch I see super efficient exchange of energy between the room and water. In other words the water goes into the warm room and comes out heated fairly fast. Now, I have not insulated my buckets and pipes etc., but holy cow the heat transfer to the water is fast and efficient. I adjusted a vent in one room this morning and the room temp dropped and I saw the water respond in less than 30 minutes. I use a chiller on the cannabis rooms but in the food crop rooms it is not so critical and I see this effect every day. I am data logging 24/7 and track everything: water temp, air temp, humidity, light levels, chiller temps, fan movement, water level etc. If it does something we have a sensor on it!

So. when I added a chiller earlier this year I saw a huge reduction in AC costs and of course KWH I saw an immediate reduction. So, how is it some folks report not having to chill their water? How can there be such a dramatic delta T between their water and the ambient in the enclosure? Doesn't seem to make sense to me and if it is possible I want to know how to defy physics in my own grow:)

Dee

 

[Flox0chknz]

Good question lol

 

[NGA]

Well in my set up, 80% if not more of my fluid is in not in my room it's in the res ,I top feed 24/7 fluid is always cooler ,

 

[Shawnery]

I can't wait to see what pothead is actually smart enough to answer this!

 

[Evil Monkey]

I can't wait to see what pothead is actually smart enough to answer this!

Not this one

 

[DGP]

I can't wait to see what pothead is actually smart enough to answer this!

He he, wasn't trying to hurt anyone's brain or cause a stroke, its just this question has always bothered me. I am jealous that I cant get by without chillers. Dang it if I could just will (with my mental powers!) my water and other environmental conditions to do my bidding I could be a master grower now. :)

Must defy physics....

Dee

 

[Shawnery]

If you run your lights at night and use frozen water bottles you might be good.

 

[DGP]

If you run your lights at night and use frozen water bottles you might be good.

My lights are on from 6pm to 6am and already did the shuffling frozen 1 gallon milk jugs but between my reservoir and 8 sites represent over 50 gallons. Takes a lot of ice shuffling to cool that consistently.

I still do that in the res for my veg tent but it is smaller and requires an ice jug only 2X per day. Planning for a 1/10 horse chiller for it.

Dee

 

[Shawnery]

It's not that hot yet but I run a 5x10x7.5 with 75 degrees set on my exhaust fan. I put a frozen 1.5 liter in the res when the lights come on and when I go to bed and so far no issues. I also have heat resistant foil everywhere.

 

[DGP]

It's not that hot yet but I run a 5x10x7.5 with 75 degrees set on my exhaust fan. I put a frozen 1.5 liter in the res when the lights come on and when I go to bed and so far no issues. I also have heat resistant foil everywhere.

Yeah, been pondering wrapping up the buckets and 2" pipes with that insulated reflective sheeting from Home Despot. Also, even though where I live the summers aren't real hot I find it a lot harder to control the grow environment than any other time of year. It was 60 outside today and I am already noticing the differences.

Dee

 

[Shawnery]

Instead of doing that consider this,

Let's take my grow just as an example,

I have 2 rows of four plants, if I took four pieces of some type of structural bottom(cardboard or plastic) cut them to fit between each set of two plants until you cover the entire portion of grow room beneath the top of your bucket or what not. You could make each plank bend in half so they can easily be removed and placed as needed.


In my head it makes perfect since and wish I had done it.