10x10 grow tent Major heat issues need some opinions.

[8zlag]

So, I have 10x10 grow tent inside a 21x19 garage. The garage doesn't have the best insulation but it is warmer in the garage than it is comparing to outside temps. I have 6, 315 watt cmh lights. 4 at 4200k and 2 at 3100k. For cooling we have a two portable acs, dual hose system at 14,000 BTU each. Temperatures are at 105 F. I was wondering if anyone has had a similar setup, if so should I be adding more BTU and or is there an alternative solution. Assuming that the total 28,000 BTU is enough. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[cemchris]

Insulate the door. Most garages don't have insulation in the walls. Are you cooling the tent or the garage? You exchanging the ac air to outside or the garage?

 

[8zlag]

Insulate the door. Most garages don't have insulation in the walls. Are you cooling the tent or the garage? You exchanging the ac air to outside or the garage?

Cooling the tent, we have the AC air going outside the garage.

It tends to be hotter inside of the garage than outside of the garage I doubt the door insulation is the cause.

 

[Aqua Man]

Change your lighting schedule so lights on is over night. Add air exchange between the garage and outside air.

Put the exhaust higher up and the intake low down on the side that has the most shade

 

[Jimster]

Is the 105 temp in the garage or in the ten? I'm guessing you are talking about the garage's temps. Can you run the AC into the tent only? A 10K BTU AC unit should handle a 20 x 20 room even if it is hot outside the room and with the lights on. Running the lights at night will help to keep it cooler, like Aqua Man said. 14K X2 BTU should handle everything with head room to spare. One question is what you are planning on doing with the exhaust air. Are you going to try to re-circulate it in a closed loop system, or are you going to directly exhaust the air outdoors/elsewhere and have it continually replaced by fresh AC air? This could affect your humidity levels as well as any odors that might appear during flowering. I prefer to exhaust the used air outdoors with fresh air being drawn in via negative pressure from exhaust fan. Drawing the air from an AC would be the same as drawing it from a cool air supply at a semi fixed humidity level.

 

[8zlag]

Is the 105 temp in the garage or in the ten? I'm guessing you are talking about the garage's temps. Can you run the AC into the tent only? A 10K BTU AC unit should handle a 20 x 20 room even if it is hot outside the room and with the lights on. Running the lights at night will help to keep it cooler, like Aqua Man said. 14K X2 BTU should handle everything with head room to spare. One question is what you are planning on doing with the exhaust air. Are you going to try to re-circulate it in a closed loop system, or are you going to directly exhaust the air outdoors/elsewhere and have it continually replaced by fresh AC air? This could affect your humidity levels as well as any odors that might appear during flowering. I prefer to exhaust the used air outdoors with fresh air being drawn in via negative pressure from exhaust fan. Drawing the air from an AC would be the same as drawing it from a cool air supply at a semi fixed humidity level.

So I have it exhausted to the out doors directly. It's sadly 105 in the tent which is why I'm lost. The ACs are also both inside the tent. Sorry for the lack of clarity.

 

[Jimster]

So I have it exhausted to the out doors directly. It's sadly 105 in the tent which is why I'm lost. The ACs are also both inside the tent. Sorry for the lack of clarity.

Where do the AC units exhaust their heat? If it's 105 in the tent with 28K BTUs of cooling, something is wrong. What is the temp in the garage? Is there cool air coming out of the AC units?

 

[8zlag]

Where do the AC units exhaust their heat? If it's 105 in the tent with 28K BTUs of cooling, something is wrong. What is the temp in the garage?

We have ducting tubes going to the outside of the garage and the temps in there are at 112 F. I definitely feel I'm being lied to bout the BTU ratings. I have a $700 lg dual air system with dual inverter and a ideal air $450 dual hose unit both rated at 14,000 BTU.

 

[Jimster]

So your 28K BTU ac units only bring the temps down by 11 degrees? What is the temp of the air coming out of the duct work? I know that tents don't provide much insulation, but a simple vapor barrier should provide more insulation than what you are seeing. I am almost sure that you have enough AC spec'd to the room, but I almost think you are having a plumbing problem or a physical issue with the AC units. The air temp coming out of the AC should be around 50-55 degrees. The AC should also have a BTU rating on it somewhere... I would verify that nobody switched things for you. We will solve this issue one way or another and it is getting interesting to figure out.

 

[Jimster]

I wanted to get some further details on the AC unit. The idea dual air hose system looks decent. Where is the unit itself located and where does it's operating heat discharge? The ones I have seen have an air to and from ductwork, but the unit itself exhausted it's hot air out the back of the unit. The excess heat has to go somewhere and I'm wondering if it isn't somehow being recirculated into the mix somehow.

 

[8zlag]

So your 28K BTU ac units only bring the temps down by 11 degrees? What is the temp of the air coming out of the duct work? I know that tents don't provide much insulation, but a simple vapor barrier should provide more insulation than what you are seeing. I am almost sure that you have enough AC spec'd to the room, but I almost think you are having a plumbing problem or a physical issue with the AC units. The air temp coming out of the AC should be around 50-55 degrees. The AC should also have a BTU rating on it somewhere... I would verify that nobody switched things for you. We will solve this issue one way or another and it is getting interesting to figure out.

Yeah that's what exactly what I'm getting at it's not dropping temps much at all. They are in opposing corners in the tent , there are multiple fans circulating the air as well (inside the tent). I'm not physically there at the moment so I can't check the AC just yet but I can get that info soon.
I think you're onto something with the operating heat discharge. From my memory being around the portable units there wasn't too much heat coming out them. Basically not enough for me to even notice.

 

[8zlag]

Also the ACs are blowing cool air and the exhaust are definitely blowing hot really hot air.

 

[8zlag]

These are pics of the positions of the AC.

 

[Jimster]

Wow. So, if it is blowing cool air into the tent and the exhaust air seems to be coming out, then it sounds like the unit is working at least somewhat, but I still think it should be enough to pull it down more than 11 degrees. I know that there are formulas that will give you the proper BTU rating needed for certain size rooms... I think you probably have around a 3600 cu/ft room and 28000 BTU cooling capacity... according to the estimated AC capacity for a room 20x20x8 (3600 cu/ft) X 2.5 (the BTU constant?), coming out to 9000 BTU. Since you have 3 times the cooling ability of what is supposedly needed, something is wrong. I realize that 115 degree temps are higher than typical, but you aren't seeing too much of a drop in temps. If nothing can be determined wrong with the setup, some sort of insulation would probably be the next easiest solution. The thin bubble wrap protector stuff is avail in sheets, making it easy to cut into the shapes and sized that you might need. Applied inside or outside the tent should help a lot.

 

[Jimster]

Is that the cooling unit with the hoses attached to it? Is there warm air coming out the back of it?

 

[8zlag]

Is that the cooling unit with the hoses attached to it? Is there warm air coming out the back of it?

Not much that I'm noticing.

 

[stonestacker]

Those duel hosed air conditioners unfortunately are junk
can you somehow get a window Banger unit that would cool the whole garage? And then use the garage is a lung room to suck cooler out of the garage through the tent and blow the hot air outside.

 

[Jimster]

I think I see the problem. The AC unit is in the tent, blowing the heat that it extracted back into the tent via the hot air coming out the back of the unit. The unit should sit outside of the tent with just the air hoses entering the tent... keeping the cool air inside and the hotter air outside. The AC units might not work as well in the garage, so keeping them cool should help the tent stay cool.
Of course, if there isn't any warn air coming out the back of the unit, then I'm on the wrong track. I ran into a similar problem once when using a similar unit and the AC was in the room being cooled, which it didn't do so well. The AC was working, but it was putting the hot air back into the room thru the AC's cooling system

 

[8zlag]

Those duel hosed air conditioners unfortunately are junk
can you somehow get a window Banger unit that would cool the whole garage? And then use the garage is a lung room to suck cooler out of the garage through the tent and blow the hot air outside.

Definitely what I've been pushing for but I had these and wanted to put them to use if possible.

 

[Jimster]

It looks like I might be barking up the wrong tree if the AC units aren't pumping hot air back into the tent. What are the temps like with the lights off, compared to the temp in the garage... in other words, how much do your lights raise the temps in the tent compared to the garage temp?