Can I use an aircooled hood on its own?

[forknowledge]

Take a look at this pic (hope Heath doesnt mind):

See how hes using air cooled hoods without the glass panel or fans, I was wondering wouldnt the hood become extremely hot?
Ive heard of some people using there aircooled hoods in the same way & eventually the paint on the hoods begin bubbling. Well these hoods have no paint but how does the heat not affect the plants. Actually there are many non aircooled hoods which have no openings except the bottom how do the users cope with all the heat in the room? Surely an oscillating fan wouldnt be enough.

 

[jansjukebox]

I curently use a reg reflector that is not cooled. I have to keep my light quite a bit farther from the plants than I will have to when I install my new air cooled in 2 weeks.With my fan placement, I'm able to keep the light as close as 14 inches from my plants..once they have been hardened to it but new plants have to stay 24-36 inches away. With older plants, an air cooled could be placed just inches from them. I also have heavy duty ventalation that helps pull the hot air out of the chamber so this time of year everything sits at about 76-78 degrees

 

[CAPO]

Jans got it right.
with those kinda hoods......... a piece of tempered glass would be an improvement.

In a sealed room you got to run AC or vent your lights. In a vented room you could vent the lights on a thermostat.
2 or 3 1k's are fairly easy to cool with just venting the room, except in the really hot months. Some growers actually shut down during this time.

 

[forknowledge]

So how is this grower able to keep the hoods 2 feet away from the plants with no ill affects?

 

[Tobor the 8th Man]

The reason cool tubes and cooled hoods like the one Heath has are fan cooled is so you can get the light closer to the plants. Also is you tried to use one without the fan it could overheat and damage the glass and bulb.

If you take out the glass it just becomes a reflector. Yes reflectors get got but all of them do. I think people who buy glass ones or cool tubes end up not liking to have to clean the glass frequently. But you can remove the glass and then use them without a fan.

Unless you have a fan on them I think you could fry and egg on any reflector.

 

[Radio_Dread]

cleaning the glass is just a pain cos you have to reach over all your plants to clean that sucker....haha. but i think compared to an open wing reflector and air cooled hood is the best way to go. other than that usually takes less than a min to clean each hood you have running.

 

[DrDanko]

I'm currently running 2 of the 8" XXXL's that are sweeet! With no venting because it's winter time and I don't need it. It's a sealed room with a temp of 74-76 near plant tops(i tape the temp. sensor to the side of one of the stakes). When it gets warmer I plan to hook up my air scrubber to feed through them and out and exhaust, so the negative pressure brings in lots of fresh air. I've checked the temps on the hoods during run time, no issues at all. Just depends on the quality I guess. Good luck. DrD.

 

[forknowledge]

So we all agree that using reflectors with no additional heat extraction will cause it to eventually become very hot. What is the main thing that allows the reflectors in the pics to placed so closely to the plants without them getting burned... better heat extraction from the room perhaps?

 

[DrDanko]

So we all agree that using reflectors with no additional heat extraction will cause it to eventually become very hot. What is the main thing that allows the reflectors in the pics to placed so closely to the plants without them getting burned... better heat extraction from the room perhaps?

I'm actually gonna disagree with that statement. I mean, a reflector/hood is gonna give off a certain amount of heat. That's just a fact. Like I said, I'm running the 8" XXXL hoods with only a couple box fans in the room to circulate air. That's it. But I'm also running electronic ballast with Sun Pulse bulbs, so my heat is much less than it would be if I was running a coil ballast with regular HPS bulbs. I can place my lights about 10-15 inches from plants with no heat stress. And as far as the amount of heat that the hoods give off, I could place my hand on top of the hood no problem. Is it warm? Yes. but not too hot to touch. So again, it just depends on the equipment. Paint melting on a hood sounds like some extreme heat! I'm sure if you buy brand name you'll be fine. Buying cheap just gives you headaches like melting paint and burnt down grow rooms! Good luck to you. DrD.

 

[forknowledge]

Cheers DrD.

I guess there is no one way of keeping the room cool all the factors come in to play...

Im planning on growing all my plants using the lollipop method to achieve individual central colas. Any idea which reflectors (air cooled & not) give the best light depth? Im not looking for best light spread as itll give off a larger foot print Id like for the light to directed downwards to penetrate the entire long colas.

 

[ehole]

if you're lollipop'n them a bigger foot print would be better cause there isn't as much depth vs growing bushes... or maybe it's just me

 

[still learnin]

if its a sealed grow hes probably running ac unit w/fans to keep lights low to plants..

 

[still learnin]

had a grow box 3x4.5x6.5tall with a 400wt hps nonventable with a 365cfm exhausting anda 386cfm (or close to)bringing in freash air.. still to hot, but thats in the southern summer.so it all depends on the temp where u live...sheds heat up fast on thier own anyway.good luck.

 

[forknowledge]

Would over doing it on air exchange (intake from outdoors) be able to help keep temps down?
Heath has mentioned he exchanges 3 times the volume of his room per minute.

 

[still learnin]

Would over doing it on air exchange (intake from outdoors) be able to help keep temps down?
Heath has mentioned he exchanges 3 times the volume of his room per minute.

dont know.if so who much higher on intake,compared to exhaust..that could help me also..