Cooling (water?) My Growroom.

[MSH]

Hey guys,

This is my first post here; I stumbled upon it after some googling on cooling systems.

I've been growing for around 3 years, I've got a small room which is 6.8 x 4.6f and handles around 2000w of light. I've got a 250mm fan as outtake, hooked up to a 315 mm filter, and a 150mm fan for intake.

I've never thought about air (water? AC?) cooling my room until recently and would really appreciate some help on the matter :)

My friend has been using a type of radiator (I think that's the word for it) which is connected with a hose to cold water and on that radiator he has a 150 mm fan and I was thinking of doing the same thing as he being that there is water and a sink in the next room to the growroom.
But after reading this thread I see that that's not the way you guys are cooling your rooms.

I want to be able to use as many watts as possible in my small room so what would you guys recommend I buy/use?

I'm Icelandic and English is not my first language and therefore I'm not sure on how to best describe the cooling system this friend of mine uses.

Best wishes!

 

[Smokey503ski]

Very simple. Get a water chiller. They use them in aquariums.

 

[MSH]

Does a water chiller work better than other gadgets that are used to cool air?

 

[Smokey503ski]

I'm confused.
Maybe you're thinking of a swamp cooler?

 

[MSH]

Whatever works best and fits inside my room, what are you guys normally using to cool your rooms?

 

[Smokey503ski]

Ac mini split. Window ac. Portable ac, swamp cooler. Air cooled lights, water cooled lights, Lots of fresh air.
I'm sure there is more.

 

[sixstring]

good vid to show water cooling

most new rooms are set up with these mini splits.a major advantage of the mini split is alot of them will also do your heating as well as cooling.

 

[MSH]

Thank you so much! The first video looks amazing!... and complicated! :)

The mini split setup looks more doable, the bigger box is placed outside the growroom? Does it have to be placed outdoors?

edit*

I googled a bit and found a shop that sells these mini splits and that if it's placed indoors (the bigger box) it's watercooled and if outdoors it's aircooled.

The cooling capacity is shown in KW, a shop here in Iceland has systems from 2.1 - 13.2 KW.

How much does 1 KW cool?

 

[MSH]

Been reading a lot and found out that I need 3500-4000 BTU per 1000W.

I'm thinking of buying a mini split, a 24.000 BTU mini split should be able to cool down as many as six 1000W lamps - I do find it hard to believe that I'll be able to use that much wattage being that my room is only 31 square foot but judging from what I've read it should be possible! Hope so! :)

I also found this BTU calculator:

 

[DemonTrich]

I run a 14k btu portable a/c for 1800w and works great...when I finally got it dialed in. I used to run an 8k btu portable a/c for 1200w and also worked great.

 

[atwofour]

Mechanical AC...not the best...consumes a lot of power.
Water to Air...you want that. It is the best. Grow rooms...Drag Racing...
You are exactly right...it's a Radiator, similar to automotive, that you run water thru...move air across/thru it.
Cold water will extract the heat from the air passing thru. Any cold water source works....free flowing or otherwise. Temperature drop will depend on the incoming water temperature.

 

[mojavegreen]

If I were in Iceland I would draw fresh filtered air from outside for cooling.

 

[MSH]

That's how I'm cooling right now, but 2000w is all that the fresh air cools in my small growroom and therefore I'm looking into other alternatives.

 

[MSH]

Mechanical AC...not the best...consumes a lot of power.
Water to Air...you want that. It is the best. Grow rooms...Drag Racing...
You are exactly right...it's a Radiator, similar to automotive, that you run water thru...move air across/thru it.
Cold water will extract the heat from the air passing thru. Any cold water source works....free flowing or otherwise. Temperature drop will depend on the incoming water temperature.

From what I've read the mini split is more common among growers and cools better, power isn't an issue so I reckon I'll go for a 24.000 BTU mini split and see if I can double the amount of wattage I'm using.