Any advice on saving a warehouse in this hot weather ?

[outwest]

I feel ya bro. I'm just a personal grower and my little 11,000 BTU portable AC is working it's tail off right now. Luckily I'm closing out my current run shortly.

outwest

 

[psilobuds]

not much of value to add mate as i don't have experience with such a grow space. good luck!

 

[fishwhistle]

If i was you id get one of those electronic point and shoot thermometers(they have cheapies at harbor freight)and start shooting my walls and ceilings in the hottest part of the day,find out where most of my heat is coming from(probably roof) and start applying some kind of thermal barrier there,something along the lines of reflectix can reflect up to 90+percent of the heat radiating into your grow.metal buildings are heat sinks and tough to insulate,good luck.

 

[Bubblehaze]

If i was you id get one of those electronic point and shoot thermometers(they have cheapies at harbor freight)and start shooting my walls and ceilings in the hottest part of the day,find out where most of my heat is coming from(probably roof) and start applying some kind of thermal barrier there,something along the lines of reflectix can reflect up to 90+percent of the heat radiating into your grow.metal buildings are heat sinks and tough to insulate,good luck.

We insulated the concrete walls that were inside rooms. I wish our area we have to do to make it right wasn't so big.
I am about to go in now and give a few more things a try. From what I am hearing and reading I missed my time to prepare for this not realizing it was coming. Our last warehouse was an office building with 8ft drop ceilings and small rooms. Next year we will have this place like an ice box. For now I guess I will be grabbing my nuts and taking it like a man. Thanks for the input

 

[dirk d]

if you can't add any more AC then only choice you have is to start shutting off lights. nothing will help much. Next time try to plan ahead, especially with a warehouse. However much AC you need, double that.

 

[Cort]

We have enough ac's they just don't cool enough under these conditions.



Yes our exhaust dump into the warehouse couldn't afford to run them out yet. All the rooms run at night now but its not helping enough.

imho This is your answer and probably one of the more cost effective things you can do. Bang for buck, get that exhaust set up. Fans and ducting

 

[datDANK]

get a chiller and spot chill the plants... cool the plants not the room

 

[Cort]

From what I see, if you combine all this good advise people have posted

1. shut down some of the rooms
2. fix up as many rooms as you can to cool and vent proper
3. plan ahead so you can expand into new rooms as you go.

 

[Dorje]

R5? You need much more insulation.

 

[Bubblehaze]

All of the suggestions have helped quite a bit. Thank You
1) I had the ac guy come and check things out all off the rooms with ac are holding strong one blew a compressor and we will have to replace it lucky we are running half lights.
2)We put a fan on the ac compressor that couldn't keep up today that room was 84 just before the lights went out I can live with that.
3)We found any and all openings in the ceilings from old heater vents and unclogged them all.
4)Turned all the rooms off by 10 am instead of 12 pm
5)Turned all veg to 16/8 instead of our normal 18/6
6)Moving the mom's into an ac'ed room until the heat breaks and lowering the light to a 600 instead of 1k.
7)Opening the garage door before we leave everyday for an hour to replace the hot air
8)Chilling all water for soil plants with chiller to help them deal with the heat.

Doing all that
Our biggest room 15 k 16 plant is fine now running half lights.
The veg is fine now 4 k digital's turned down to 600's.
Our 8k 6 plant room is at a good temp now.
Now I just have to kill the bugs and pm that popped up with the heat.'
Also I have some leaf burning from the mom's the warehouse went to 110 at one time they hated it even though the lights were off.

Today it was 90 in the warehouse when I got there @10 am and when I left at 2 pm it was 95.
If it doesn't get over 100 outside for a prolong period of time (3-5 days strait) We might make it
We did more planning for this place than I ever have anywhere else and still missed this major issue.
Its amazing the amount of work, planning and patience you need to build/ run a multi room commercial caregiver grow.
I tell my partner all the time.
Lesser men would have given up a long time ago.

With that said I feel bad for our farmers that are stuck in that fire zone. My problems seem like nothing compared to that. I know one farmer evacuating now and one hoping it doesn't reach the 10 miles to his house.
Good luck fellows be safe.

 

[Bud Spleefman]

Bubblehaze, you messed up by not dumping that a/c exhaust outside, so now you gotta ventilate the fuck out of the warehouse. Spend a grand on some heavy-duty Vortex, and cut some intakes, and run them all non-stop. With only R5 in the walls, the ambient heat in the warehouse might be worse than 104 degrees outside!

 

[fishwhistle]

"With that said I feel bad for our farmers that are stuck in that fire zone. My problems seem like nothing compared to that. I know one farmer evacuating now and one hoping it doesn't reach the 10 miles to his house"

I hear you bro,my prayers goes out to them also.
Where im at the climate is very much like yours,ultra hot(100+)in summer and LOW humidity and many just shut down ops during the hottest summer months

 

[Bubblehaze]

Happy to report the warehouse is now under control . Being borderline on all the insulation and exhaust made it difficult but all the suggestions helped tremendously . Even got our moms's in a cooler room so they can start healing. The warehouse didn't get over 92 degrees yesterday and none of the rooms even reached over 85 which is perfect. It actually had gotten so hot at one time we had to take the breaker box cover off because random breakers were popping from the heat.
Glad I asked for some help almost had a disaster on our hands.
Thanks for your answers and time.

 

[outwest]

Happy to report the warehouse is now under control . Being borderline on all the insulation and exhaust made it difficult but all the suggestions helped tremendously . Even got our moms's in a cooler room so they can start healing. The warehouse didn't get over 92 degrees yesterday and none of the rooms even reached over 85 which is perfect. It actually had gotten so hot at one time we had to take the breaker box cover off because random breakers were popping from the heat.
Glad I asked for some help almost had a disaster on our hands.
Thanks for your answers and time.

Glad to hear it's working out. Seems like we've had a little reprieve too.

outwest

 

[Cort]

Good deal.
FYI Home dePot has good size gable fans on sale for like 90. The ad I think rated them at 1500 cfm.

 

[putembk]

According to the long range weather maps the pattern should break by mid week and temps will drop about 10 degrees. That along with more afternoon clouds should help a bunch.

I wait all year for another year in the sun and all I have done this year is run from it, sun is about to set now and I am glad.

 

[Rollinhard]

The answer is not more AC and insulation.

The answer is BETTER insulation.

Spray Foam is the way to go. Period.

 

[cemchris]

The answer is not more AC and insulation.

The answer is BETTER insulation.

Spray Foam is the way to go. Period.

And I will second that. If room wasn't foamed I would be in a world of shit right now.

 

[Rollinhard]

I am thinking about opening up an office up there just to help farmers!!!!!! :D

 

[Dorje]

The answer is not more AC and insulation.

The answer is BETTER insulation.

Spray Foam is the way to go. Period.

Unless the spray foam outgasses and kills all your plants. This has happened to a fellow farmer recently. I'd stay far away from spray foam.