Air Conditioning in Sealed Room

[Third Man]

When running a sealed room, how is it possible to run the air conditioner without an exhaust vent? Is it as simple as a stand alone unit turned on high?

 

[boxmunch9]

most window bangers have a recirculating lever on the front of them to close the outside air vent. the stand alone units from what i hear, dont do shit and they waste Co2. Mini-splits are your best bet and for all you eco-terriorists you could use the water chilled models which are the very best except you use 2-5gals of water per minute, which works out to about 108,000 gals a months.

 

[Billy82]

I have seen window ac mounted in walls of growrooms. but if you have a portable one it will need an exhaust vent.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

The part of the AC in the grow is self-sufficient and only recirculates the air in the grow.
There must be a separate intake for the air supply to cool the coils in the back, and a separate exhaust for the hot air off the coils. Unless the AC has the back of it sitting outside,then nothing else is needed.

 

[BrotherBud]

I've been trying to figure out which direction to go in myself, should I create a 'false' door to my growroom{garage} itself and cut an opening for the A/C{window unit} to blow into the entire growroom{garage}, and leaving the flower-cabinet open while exhausting into the laundryroom area, OR... cut an opening into my flower cabinet itself and have the A/C blow directly into there while exhausting into the garage area where it's currently at? I guess it depends on the size of my cabinet and how the plants respond to direct air they come in contact with, I only plan on running the A/C during the lights-on period. Anyone out there ever tried anything similar? Thanks in advance.
Peace, -BB

 

[eyes]

those coils on the back of the a/c are going to need to be cooled with lower than ambient room air.an a/c is the best overall option if you can afford to run one without power $ concerns.not only can you keep all the c02 in the room with the a/c set on recirculate(vent closed)youll get another bonus of nic e humidity levels within the grow room.

a/c can be tricky to some degree.If you run too big of a unit it wont come on enough and create humid air from the a/c not cycling enough.too small an a/c and its working too hard,sucking much electric from running all the time and cant keep up with the cooling.

as far as u running with flower cabinet open and exhausting into the laundry room,the hot air off the back of the coils must be exhausted efficiently or u risk the potential of the a/c freezing up. as long as u can take care of the hot air off the back,then the next issue will be smell from an open flower room and an imbalance of temps due to a smaller light in veg not creating enough heat to warrant the a/c to run enough to keep the humidity down .its all bout balance.

 

[BrotherBud]

Thanks eyes, much appreciated bro, K+. I guess it's back to the drawing board for me, I hope I get it figured out before Springtime. I was considering a portable a/c unit, but hear they don't work as well as the window units, any experience with these? Peace -BB

 

[eyes]

yes,i do.as a matter a fact i once had a huge one called ..well for security reasons i cant say,but yes.there are 2 versions.1 and 2 hose.the 2 hose versions are more efficient although both are not really that efficient to begin with.the room air is sucked through the front or side and exhausted out through the window through the hose.the condensate is either collected and stored in a container and the a/c will shut off for u to empty out.

some of the portables will take the condensate and send it through the exit hose and recirculate the water in the unit itself. some use pumps to pump it out to a sink.

look up moving cool,or ocean air portable a/cs and take a look at these as there more professional then the regular maytag or whirlpools u see in the hd or lowes.

now,u still have to be careful cause some of these bad boys dont have thermostat that will go below 70 so they wont cool that great.they will act more of a spot cooler then a real a/c.thats why u have to research.most affordable bang for the buck is a window a/c .the best is a split system that has the condenser outside and the ac inside.quiet,cool efficient.some will run down to 32 degrees ..meaning outside temps where the condenser is.

let me give props to hosier your daddy for the a/c tutorial for setting up a window box.this will be for a window a/c run inside and vented with a inline fan.maybe he will chime in with his post with tutorial pics cause im not sure how to link em.any more questions throw em at me.

 

[BrotherBud]

Many thanks again eyes, glad you're here at the Farm! I will do the research as suggested. Speaking of Lowes, have you ever seen the 3 inch thick styrofoam sheets they sell for insulating behind drywall? I was going to use one to create the 'false' door leading into the garage, cut to size a hole for the a/c unit, have the cool air pumping in, while an oscillating fan blows on the back on the unit that protrudes into the washroom area.... OR..... use the same 3inch thick piece of styrofoam board to create a 'false' door on my flower box{which is inside the garage itself}, cut an opening 'to size' for the unit, and have the cooling air blow into the box, while again having an oscillating fan cool the condenser in back of the unit, I would create some sort of 'deflector' so the cold air doesn't blow directly onto the plants. I will do some research as sugessted first, thanks again. Peace

 

[eyes]

no problem.the oscillating fan wont be enough to cool the back of the condenser of the ac unit.youll need an ac box with an inline vent fan to remove the heat.can u get us some pics so i can help ya out a little better.visuals are good.

 

[the Rock]

if you are serious about your grow room a split system is the way to go, I have installed quite a few of these. The initial cost is a little more, nothing has to be jury rigged,they come in diff. sizes to fit the room and run off a thermostat. the only problem is they usually need to be installed by someone with exp. with AC and elect experience which can be a security issue(thats why people call me)

 

[BrotherBud]

Eyes, I will try to post some pics 2-morrow. Here are some brief specs. Garage is your average 1 car type, maybe 15' x 45'x 8'? {could fit my car, mountain bike, lawn mower, small work bench and small kennel for my pooch{only when he was a pup, he's waayy too big now}, the door that leads to the garage is in the laundry room area, maybe 8' x 45' x 8', a second door closes off this entire area {garage & laundry room} from the finished basement/rumpus area. The flower box itself is 4' x 5' x 6' and has one hinged door on the 4' side with a removable roof{for when it gets hot}. Air-cooled 1000w, 756cfm elicent fan with scrubber. Any, or should I say, any "more" tips would be greatly appreciated. Peace

 

[BrotherBud]

I posted too quick, THANKS Rock, I have a buddy{since 3rd grade} who is a licensed contractor, he is actually going to install another heavy duty power line for me in the garage after this harvest so I can move my 'mother/clone' box out of my un-used back bedroom. Please keep the advice coming, and thanks again!!!!

 

[eyes]

brother bud,ill be back tomorrow with further help.im toast from my job.ill be back into this thread for ya.

 

[BrotherBud]

brother bud,ill be back tomorrow with further help.im toast from my job.ill be back into this thread for ya.

Thanks eyes, me too:whew. C-ya then. Peace.:damnhippie::420:

 

[eyes]

so what u want to know is how to cool that box when it gets hot out?cause now u have great access to cool dry air form the winter season.when it gets warm out then youll need the a/c to cool that box.obviously its more cost effective to cool a box than a whole garage.so u want to expel the air from the a/c into the garage?

what will happen is that the back of the a/c puts off heat.well not only heat but humidity as well.what will happen is that area will eventually get mold on the wood that the garage is built with.that hot and humid air must be exhausted to an area that wont subcumb to mold.underneath a crawl space.out a roof vent.if you decide to use an a/c, youll have to vent the back.guaranteed.now what are u gonna do when the light is off and that areas not hot?the a/c will not cycle on and off enough cause the a/c thermostat will not be subjected to enough heat cause the lights off.at that point youll have to run a dehumidifier in the box,to keep the humidity down due to plant transpiration(not as much when lights are on) but the container itself will still let humidity in the air due to slight evaporation.if the tops of the pot stays wet and the area gets too humid u risk. mold.

def the best option is by far a split a/c system.if u do run an a/c run it with lights on,then have the dehumid kick on when lights off and a/c off.i can go on and on but i hope this helps to get u started

 

[BrotherBud]

Again Eyes, I can't help but express my grattitude for all the knowledge you've dropped. I did the research as suggested and think that maybe going with a 12,000 "no draining needed" style portable a/c unit might be the fix. As you stated, it would be more cost effective to cool just the flowere box instead of the entire garage. I saw a model that had a small tube that expelled the excess built-up condensation in a mist, the small tube ran through the 4" hose used for the hot air extraction and could be easily extended in length and vented through my dryer vent or elsewhere, this particular model also doubled as a dehumidifier as well. Have any experience with these? Again, thanks for all the help partner. Peace -BB

 

[eyes]

hey whats up? a small tube in a mist huh?thats interesting i know that the drip of the condenser is usually caught with a container stored inside the ac itself...or with the 2 hose they will use that condensation to cool the a/c itself and expel the rest out of the second hose.read up on portables b4 u buy one.spend a few nights comparing each one and take note on the differences.like i said a portable ac is not that efficient.it will draw air through the front grill or side.wherever the intake is buy some carbon in a roll impregnated carbon padding and place that over the intake.it will catch any terpines that are in the air from the plant itself.possibly place a prefilter over the carbon as well.same prefilter that u see the cans or carbonaire filters using.try to get the highest eer rating portable u can find.kinda a joke because portable acs arent that efficient.when u get the coin,get a split system.that way the compressor and condenser are outside and the evaporator(the ac unit thats doing the cooling that houses the thermostat and is blowing the cool air) is inside the grow box.set it and forget it.run a veg box with the flower box that way u have heat when the other is off and u can recirulate the air into both boxes and keep perfect temps/humidity 4 both. let me know if u have any other questions.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

If you plan on growing for a while a split is the best way to go. Put the noise and heat away from your grow. JK

 

[CannabisJohn]

here is a link for ac boxes.great read.


http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=95491&highlight=window+boxes

That is on here too. Same tutorial.