4x8 2kw cooling issues

[anti]

turned my lights on for first time and the temp shot up to 81 within 20 minutes and I shut em down, have a 6" fan sucking from the grow room blowing thru the lights out the tent into the room its in.... they make window pieces for a 6" duct to hook up to so I could vent the heat from the lights outside? also considering portable ac but not sure if i will need it if I vent the hot air outside instead of in the room the tent is in. whats max temps for good plants?

 

[darlingmaster]

2x1000w in a tent? Yeah, you'll need that portable.

 

[1971]

really? you thought 2 1000w lights in a 4x8 area wouldn't need a/c? have you thought to read the plethora of threads about cooling rooms?

you might consider smoking much less than you are currently :)

my frustration at bonehead growers aside, you will probably need at least a 8500 btu a/c and a 8" fan that pulls from outside the room, through the lights, and out the room.

 

[anti]

bonehead I am :P thanks for your help :)

 

[anti]

the cheapest one have a reservoir that needs to be emptied I wonder how often they fill up and if they bring the humidity way down in the tent

 

[TrichromeFan]

anti,
any ac brings down the humidity. If you can, don't go portable. They suck. Stick a basic window unit through the side of the tent. Vent the back with a fan, and you're set. Cheaper, better cooling, no smell going out with your ac exhaust. You can have a small bucket under the back to catch any condensation. I would just go for a 12k btu. My unit barely drips at all. You want to have temps around 80. You're gonna also have to vent those hoods also to outside of that room. Are you in a house or apt?

-TF

 

[anti]

house, id have to cut a hole in my tent for it eeeeeeek there is a window right up against the back of my tent though that could possibly work....

 

[anti]

renting the house cant really tear shit up

 

[TrichromeFan]

I would always recommend not tearing up a rental. I would measure out the window, and get a 12k window unit for it. Then Block off the rest of the window. Butt the tent up to it, and cur the appropriate rectangle out. Tape it up good for air seal. Done. Great AC, cheap, and can go back with a minimum of fix up. Is the window the only one in the room that is useable? You will need to have an exit for your light air as well. Is the window near where nobody would come around? If I had my way, I would try to make the light air outlet in a somewhat subtle location if possible. Also, if you can keep the air that feeds the light cooling from being the same as the area around the garden, all the better for security. Then your light air outlet doesn't have possible smell problems. Any way to take pics of the room and what you have to work with?

-TF

 

[anti]

yah ill take some pics today... im wondering if I just put the window unit in that room (not inside tent) and have the air sucking thru my 6" fan from inside the tent thru the lights and out there would be positive ventilation thru the tent it would be sucking in the cooled air thats in the room.... or another option is like you said have the air thats cooling the lights come from outside tent thru lights then vent outside but that would take up my only two 6" ducts on the tent and i wouldnt be able to hook another fan up for smell control unless i just set it right on top the carbon filter with no ducting so it just scrubbed the air inside the tent?

 

[1971]

if you put the a/c just in the room you'd be mixing the cold air that it produces with the hot air it creates in making the cold air. honestly, people are offering good solutions to you and you are trying instead to use your very flawed solutions. either drop the amount of lights you are using to two 400's or 1 1000, or install some serious a/c, or do what you want (the wrong way) and watch everything heat up and die. seriously... maybe you shouldn't be growing or growing with so much light if you are only willing to do it half assed

 

[TrichromeFan]

so anyway,
the ac will work best cooling off an "environment". So, if the ac cools the room the tent is in, and the tent draws the air in with a fan, the thermostat on the AC has no idea what is going on in the tent. As well, you are cooling off a much bigger area. You just need to go balls out. Mount that AC in the window, and cut that rectangle out in the tent. It WILL work the best at cooling off that environment. Then use outside air coming and going on the light cooling. A carbon filter with a fan on it in the tent, and one more eventually in the room that houses the tent. At that point you have a completely temp controlled chamber, that is not exchanging air with the outside world. IE, keeping your monkey ass safe from smell leakage. Oh yeah, get a co2 tank and controller for that as well. Then you are 100%. Enjoy the rewards.

Your welcome,

-TF

 

[jigilous]

I'm planning 5 4x8 tents myself and have been very concerned about what to do about cooling. In NorCal it is usually 55-65 year around, however 2KW in each tent should cause the need for AC.

A rough guideline I've heard is that for each 1KW of light energy you need ~3000 BTU of cooling. So for 10KW of lights I would need 30,000 BTU of cooling. When I told my hydro store guy these numbers he said, "That is true for most places. But this is NorCal."

Obviously, once I get in the room and have it running I'll know if I need A/C, but I'm somewhat confused still.

If I do get A/C, am I really going to need to buy an A/C for each tent?

 

[anti]

Thanks again TF obviously you understood I meant put the ac in the window in the room the tent is in not just stick it in the room freestanding. It is a rather wide window I wonder if the supplied window kit will seal the gap I'll have to measure and check out some units @ home depot. also I was thinking I could vent the hot air from the lights outside by cutting a hole next to the window unit in the plastic that fills the window but if the tent is right up against it not sure if that would work, id like to keep a foot or two of clearance between the wall and the tent in case I need to get back there but if the tent is gonna be right up against the wall dunno if that will work, unless i made some kind of rectangular box that fit over the window ac and extended a couple feet into the tent. kinda anxious about cutting my tent but I guess I'm gonna have to. I ran the lights for an hour or so today with the tent closed, the home central ac running and the tent just venting into the room and it didnt go above 81 so i am curious if i just vent the hot outside instead of in the room the tent is in if I will really need the ac after all.... sigh :)

 

[TrichromeFan]

the central may work out, but in my past experiences I had to goose it to be in the temp zones that I wanted. Especially in summer. In the end, I had much higher electric, and less precision. You can try running it that way if you like. I would measure out that window. I bet you could make your own filler panel to seal it off, and have a duct hole or 2. Remember, you don't want to use any air from the room that the tent is in for light cooling if you have any option. You could make a nose around the ac that would space off the tent by say 8-12", so you could have space to get a duct to go back there as well. Just an idea.

-TF

 

[hiboy]

Tri had a great one,,,, first choice is to vent straight into the tent, waste alot of electricity cooling a larger room with the tent inside, plus you would have trouble with the thermostat. I like his idea of putting the tent around the window with the a/c in it, that would rock.
hiboy