Building a grow room and have a couple questions

[Confuten1]

So after getting my first full on grow(outdoor) under my belt, I will now transfer my operations to an indoor set up and I have a few questions.
First my room discription :
I am building a 10ft X 8ft with 8ft ceilings. 2x4 framing, 1/2inch styrofoam insulation(white) all held in place with plywood. room lined with black/white 6ml plastic white side up.
Light will consist of 3x1k digi ballasts horti dual arc bulbs hangin vertical (no hoods)
A/C 15k btu window unit
growing hempy, 50/50 chow mix (hydroton / cana coco)
Venting with 6 0r 8 inch inlines(not sure what size yet, havent sat down and done the math, volume of air cleared every 5 minutes right?)
I will later add a forth 1k light, and dehuie/huie. hopefully that is enough info on my space to ask the following questions;

1) A/C unit, my walls will be 8ft high and i understand that heat rises, how high/low should i install my window unit?I was thinkin 4-6ft from the floor but im not sure if it should be above canopy to counter the heat or at canopy to stablize plants.
2) electrical, I will be tapping into an existing 240, 30 amp dual pull breaker that currently runs my pool, I was planning to switch out the breaker to a minidual 30amp with the added 2 additional 30 amps. lights will be run of a 4 light controller 240 in 30 amp fuse(hope i explained that right, electrician, i am not) I will be running my lights opposite my pool pump i.e. pool pump runs 10am to 4pm lights come on at 430pm. Will this be enough for the load i want to run (all above goodies included)?
I hope i didnt imberrass myself tryin to explain the electrical ish, and and all suggestions would be greatly appriciated. I will either update thread with pictures or start a new grow diary when the room is ready to rock in a couple weeks. thanks in advance guys!
Confu...

 

[yeeee510]

it never hurts to go with the bigger fan its nice to have the extra ventilation how are your plants going to be set up? like a stadium or something?

 

[Confuten1]

it never hurts to go with the bigger fan its nice to have the extra ventilation how are your plants going to be set up? like a stadium or something?

Yeah true that on the fans, yes ill be setting up on a stadium style 3-4 plants per light.

 

[CannabisJohn]

So after getting my first full on grow(outdoor) under my belt, I will now transfer my operations to an indoor set up and I have a few questions.
First my room discription :
I am building a 10ft X 8ft with 8ft ceilings. 2x4 framing, 1/2inch styrofoam insulation(white) all held in place with plywood. room lined with black/white 6ml plastic white side up.
Light will consist of 3x1k digi ballasts horti dual arc bulbs hangin vertical (no hoods)
A/C 15k btu window unit
growing hempy, 50/50 chow mix (hydroton / cana coco)
Venting with 6 0r 8 inch inlines(not sure what size yet, havent sat down and done the math, volume of air cleared every 5 minutes right?)
I will later add a forth 1k light, and dehuie/huie. hopefully that is enough info on my space to ask the following questions;

1) A/C unit, my walls will be 8ft high and i understand that heat rises, how high/low should i install my window unit?I was thinkin 4-6ft from the floor but im not sure if it should be above canopy to counter the heat or at canopy to stablize plants.
2) electrical, I will be tapping into an existing 240, 30 amp dual pull breaker that currently runs my pool, I was planning to switch out the breaker to a minidual 30amp with the added 2 additional 30 amps. lights will be run of a 4 light controller 240 in 30 amp fuse(hope i explained that right, electrician, i am not) I will be running my lights opposite my pool pump i.e. pool pump runs 10am to 4pm lights come on at 430pm. Will this be enough for the load i want to run (all above goodies included)?
I hope i didnt imberrass myself tryin to explain the electrical ish, and and all suggestions would be greatly appriciated. I will either update thread with pictures or start a new grow diary when the room is ready to rock in a couple weeks. thanks in advance guys!
Confu...

A/C should do well at 3-4 ft off of floor. You can put higher if you want but IMO not needed.

 

[Confuten1]

it never hurts to go with the bigger fan its nice to have the extra ventilation how are your plants going to be set up? like a stadium or something?

yeee, sorry for the lag in responding, I posted a reply but I guess a moderator never got around to approving it( still on probation status and all posts must me approved).
Neways, agreeded with the extra ventaliation, and yeah I'll be rockin stadium setup. 3-4 plants per light.

 

[HerbinGrower]

Just as long as your light run time and pool run time don;t over lap you should be fine with that electrical setup.

 

[Confuten1]

Just as long as your light run time and pool run time don;t over lap you should be fine with that electrical setup.

ok, thanks man. Jus had my electrician come check out my panal my set up requirements, looks like ima have to run and additional 20amp 240, for the air, so since i have to do this, im jus gonna run extra power for all the later upgrades. I was hopeing not to have to do this now, but ohwell.

Confu...

 

[Confuten1]

A/C should do well at 3-4 ft off of floor. You can put higher if you want but IMO not needed.

Straight from the a/c guru himself!!!! thanks Cannabis John!
Confu...

 

[Bobby Smith]

You should talk to Cheech - he ran a VERY similar setup with plants surrounding 600s, if memory serves.

 

[Seamaiden]

Quick question for you, couple actually, because you're describing my room almost to a T.

First, why do both that white rigid insulation and panda film? Why not use the white insulation on the interior of the room and have the white side facing in? Also, why not go for the 1" insulation? There's an added cost, but the benefit is being better able to control the room despite exterior conditions.

Second, why 2x4s? My husband built out my room using 2x2 (or was it 1x2s?) and since it's non-structural it's been just fine. Please note that I do not use an A/C, and so don't have anything quite like that mounted on or through my walls. I do have my Big 10" Inline mounted in that wall, though, and no additional structural supporting was necessary.

Third, go BIGGER with the ventilation. I'm using a 10" EcoPlus and it even sucked the fungus gnats out of the room. My room is all 8s, volume =512'cu. Fan is rated at 747cfm, so that means my room volume is turned over in less than a minute. You want turnover to happen at minimum every two minutes, size accordingly.

Since you're going with the 1Ks, that's gonna be expensive in terms of power, the inline fans don't pull so much amperage, you might be able to save yourself some power operating costs if you pull more air through the space.

(I'm in PG&E territory, so I've gotten pretty anal about electric draws.)

 

[Bobby Smith]

Since you're going with the 1Ks, that's gonna be expensive in terms of power, the inline fans don't pull so much amperage, you might be able to save yourself some power operating costs if you pull more air through the space.

(I'm in PG&E territory, so I've gotten pretty anal about electric draws.)

OMFG.

You're officially the first legal grower I've ever heard who actually takes electricity usage into consideration.

I've found that (IMHO) the CA answer to most issues is "throw more amps at it", which to me is laziness and not using creative solutions.

Hell, it seems like all the legal systems (RDWC) are in a race with each other to use as many watts as possible.

Sorry for the rant, but I was just amazed at a guy on another site who's claiming 1.5g/w, yet doesn't take into account the 3K watts in electrical he's running for his 1K HPS grow.

Fucking jaw dropping.

End rant now.

 

[Confuten1]

You should talk to Cheech - he ran a VERY similar setup with plants surrounding 600s, if memory serves.

Thnx, Bobby Smith, ima try to track down his grow journals and read up. Cant pm yet.

Confu...

 

[Confuten1]

OMFG.

You're officially the first legal grower I've ever heard who actually takes electricity usage into consideration.

I've found that (IMHO) the CA answer to most issues is "throw more amps at it", which to me is laziness and not using creative solutions.

Hell, it seems like all the legal systems (RDWC) are in a race with each other to use as many watts as possible.

Sorry for the rant, but I was just amazed at a guy on another site who's claiming 1.5g/w, yet doesn't take into account the 3K watts in electrical he's running for his 1K HPS grow.

Fucking jaw dropping.

End rant now.

Haha, yeah not sure bout other states but here in cali(so cal) we pay alot for electricity, .31 per kwh, and i think pg&e (norcal) pay more :(. also u bring up a good point about g/w and ppl only calculate the light, but in rdwc theres so much more wattage being consumed. I was comtimplating rdwc but after i factored all things into the equation, i like the hempy method for many reasons.
next time keep ur rants to ur own threads, lol, j/k, i appriciate ur point of view.

Confu...

 

[Confuten1]

Quick question for you, couple actually, because you're describing my room almost to a T.

First, why do both that white rigid insulation and panda film? Why not use the white insulation on the interior of the room and have the white side facing in? Also, why not go for the 1" insulation? There's an added cost, but the benefit is being better able to control the room despite exterior conditions.

Second, why 2x4s? My husband built out my room using 2x2 (or was it 1x2s?) and since it's non-structural it's been just fine. Please note that I do not use an A/C, and so don't have anything quite like that mounted on or through my walls. I do have my Big 10" Inline mounted in that wall, though, and no additional structural supporting was necessary.

Third, go BIGGER with the ventilation. I'm using a 10" EcoPlus and it even sucked the fungus gnats out of the room. My room is all 8s, volume =512'cu. Fan is rated at 747cfm, so that means my room volume is turned over in less than a minute. You want turnover to happen at minimum every two minutes, size accordingly.

Since you're going with the 1Ks, that's gonna be expensive in terms of power, the inline fans don't pull so much amperage, you might be able to save yourself some power operating costs if you pull more air through the space.

(I'm in PG&E territory, so I've gotten pretty anal about electric draws.)

Seamadian, thanks for chiming in,

First, why do both that white rigid insulation and panda film? Why not use the white insulation on the interior of the room and have the white side facing in? Also, why not go for the 1" insulation? There's an added cost, but the benefit is being better able to control the room despite exterior conditions.

Im building out in my garage and want to be prepared for the hot summer, 100+ temps, im going over kill with insulation, plus probbily next round, ill be running a sealed room so the wrap will help me completely seal in. if i jus run the rigid insulation i think there will be to many gaps and stuff to tape off/foam up. 1inch insulation is a great idea, but cost to r-value( its not worth it. ) Im also later going to insulate the outside 2x4 with r-30 insulation in the studs, i need the depth to fill in the gaps, in fact ima have to add 2x6s later to give me the debt to hold the r-30.

Second, why 2x4s? My husband built out my room using 2x2 (or was it 1x2s?) and since it's non-structural it's been just fine. Please note that I do not use an A/C, and so don't have anything quite like that mounted on or through my walls. I do have my Big 10" Inline mounted in that wall, though, and no additional structural supporting was necessary.

as i metioned before, went over kill on 2x4s for insulation purposes only.

Third, go BIGGER with the ventilation. I'm using a 10" EcoPlus and it even sucked the fungus gnats out of the room. My room is all 8s, volume =512'cu. Fan is rated at 747cfm, so that means my room volume is turned over in less than a minute. You want turnover to happen at minimum every two minutes, size accordingly.

This is a great point, (liked how it also helped solved the gnats problem 2). My concern here is that; wont that suck all my a/c air out to and replenish it with whatever air im bringin in, (temps can get real high) u said u dont run ac (i think) so, will this be a problem for me?

thanks for the info, i always appriciate ppl like u helpin out a fellow farmer!!

Confu...

 

[Seamaiden]

If you're planning on running a sealed room, then you've moved outside the spectrum of my experience. I can only imagine you have to run it like an aquarium--entirely closed loop system.

 

[Bobby Smith]

You either need to bite the bullet now and buy the huey/dehuey and a CO2 unit to run in conjunction with your AC, or scrap the AC idea and do intake/exhaust (as Seamaiden does).

There are pros and cons to both methods (sealed vs. intake/exhaust) - there's a thread (sticky) you should read to get some info and make an educated decision about which route you wanna go.

Sealed is more expensive and complicated to setup and run, but it gives you total control over the plant's environment.

Intake/exhaust is much cheaper and easier to setup and run, but you lose some control.

You could always do a hybrid of the two, which is something that I'm contemplating/brainstorming about currently.

 

[Confuten1]

If you're planning on running a sealed room, then you've moved outside the spectrum of my experience. I can only imagine you have to run it like an aquarium--entirely closed loop system.

Yeah, my bad for not being entirely clear, my plans are to run vented with a/c for now and by summer to rock a sealed room, and ill damper the vents off for the intake and exhaust and have them set up for a fail safe in case the temps get to hot and then air in and out will come on.

Confu...

 

[Confuten1]

You either need to bite the bullet now and buy the huey/dehuey and a CO2 unit to run in conjunction with your AC, or scrap the AC idea and do intake/exhaust (as Seamaiden does).

There are pros and cons to both methods (sealed vs. intake/exhaust) - there's a thread (sticky) you should read to get some info and make an educated decision about which route you wanna go.

Sealed is more expensive and complicated to setup and run, but it gives you total control over the plant's environment.

Intake/exhaust is much cheaper and easier to setup and run, but you lose some control.

You could always do a hybrid of the two, which is something that I'm contemplating/brainstorming about currently.

Im intrested in hearing your thoughts on the hybrid of the 2 because thats kinda what ive been throwin around. for now i cant bite the bullet on the c02, no money for that. on the hybrid, can u suggest any threads i can read up on, i dont recall reading to much about that...

Confu...

 

[Bobby Smith]

By hybrid, I kinda of just meant a "smart" grow room, that will use intake/exhaust when it makes the most sense (weather and temps will allow it), and will stay sealed when that's not an option (it's gonna be pretty expensive to setup with dampers and whatnot and to properly automate it all).

As far as "running vented with AC", what in the world does that mean? You've gotta pick one or the other, and if the latter, you're gonna need to add CO2.

 

[Seamaiden]

Mr. Smith, this is in lieu of hitting you with rep again (cuz I can't).