Covering buckets with reflective insulation?

[TheColt]

Is it really worth it?

 

[Texas Kid]

Yes, if you don't want one or two more potiential issue, I would cover..

Tex

 

[audius]

do it bro, save your self alot of problims down the road.

 

[deacon1503]

Use reflectix or the other brand thats sticky on the backside, both available at HD. I haven't done my buckets yet but when I wrapped my pvc in reflectix last run, the chiller I had at the time, a 1/4hp JBJ, already started to pull temps down farther than it ever had and I only had a 1/3 of the pipes wrapped. Knocks down the radiant heat trying to soak through and blocks all light. Good things IMO.

CCH2O has their new module Hoodies that should also do the trick.

 

[TrichromeFan]

It will definitely keep your nute temps cooler. Chiller works less as a result.

-TF

 

[woodsmaneh]

Helps prevent condensation on the outside of the buckets.

 

[TheColt]

Will do, thanks guys!

 

[Chillville]

For me is the answer could be yes or no

For yes....
What everyone said is completely correct. Basically since your UC water is colder than your room temps the UC acts as a heat exchanger absorbing heat from the room making your chiller run longer. Since you are adding BTU's in the water you need a bigger chiller with more cooling BTU's. This of course raises the cost of the chiller. Adding bubble foil wrap is a great way to insulate the buckets but is kind of a PITA cutting it and installing it, especially if you have a big system. Awesome stuff though. I've used the foil wrap and I also just used standard r-13 wall insulation and large zip ties used for a/c ducting, just wrap around and zip tie at the top and bottom. I get it at lowes because its wrapped in plastic, no exposed fiberglass.

For no.....
Chillers are traditionally more efficient than a/c's so diverting some of the heat load in the room to the chiller isn't a bad thing in most cases. That's if the chiller is exhausting the heat directly outside and can keep the UC water temp at setpoint. For example if someone had an a/c system that couldn't keep up and their chiller didn't run much I wouldn't insulate the buckets. My buckets aren't insulated and they are the only cooling I have during my night cycle. Just a 68 degree 100 gallon top off res and two 6-site xl's keep my room at 75 degrees with it being 80 outside.

In case anyone is interested in how the foil wrap works so well...the reflective material, AKA radiant barrier, is actually a super thin highly polished piece of aluminum that can reflect almost 100% of the heat and radiation that tries to pass through it. Just like it reflects light it also reflects heat in the same way. The trick is that it must have a gap between it and what's being insulated...that's why its installed on bubble wrap. If you were simply to put reflective aluminum directly on the UC it wouldn't work, it would simply transfer the heat right in. With a gap it is able to reflect the heat back in to the room.

 

[Chillville]

Helps prevent condensation on the outside of the buckets.

If your UC is condensating then your humidity is pretty high, unless you are running your UC very cold. If you lower the humidity in your garden you can eliminate the condensation problem. Basically your UC is below dew point. Here is a dew point calculator you can use to find out exactly what your humidity needs to be. My guess it that your humidity level is above 65%.

http://www.dpcalc.org/

Some examples
80 degree room x 65% humidity x dew point of 68
78 degree room x 65% humidity x dew point of 66
78 degree room x 55% humidity x dew point of 61 (my settings)

To get your chilled water lines for your coils to stop condensating you will need to adjust your dew point (by adjusting humidity) to just above the chiller setpoint. For me my chiller is set at 62 degrees...no condensation anywhere.

Don't trust cheap humidistats, they are very unrelaible. With that calcualtor if you know your room temp and the water temp that you just start to see condensation then you can figure out exactly and accurately what your humidity is.

 

[woodsmaneh]

If your UC is condensating then your humidity is pretty high, unless you are running your UC very cold. If you lower the humidity in your garden you can eliminate the condensation problem. Basically your UC is below dew point. Here is a dew point calculator you can use to find out exactly what your humidity needs to be. My guess it that your humidity level is above 65%.

http://www.dpcalc.org/

Some examples
80 degree room x 65% humidity x dew point of 68
78 degree room x 65% humidity x dew point of 66
78 degree room x 55% humidity x dew point of 61 (my settings)

To get your chilled water lines for your coils to stop condensating you will need to adjust your dew point (by adjusting humidity) to just above the chiller setpoint. For me my chiller is set at 62 degrees...no condensation anywhere.

Don't trust cheap humidistats, they are very unrelaible. With that calcualtor if you know your room temp and the water temp that you just start to see condensation then you can figure out exactly and accurately what your humidity is.

I run my humidity at 70 to 80% as that is the optimum range for the plants, the stomata are fully open in that range and can use all the Co2 they can. At lower levels of humidity 40% and lower you are not getting the max from your plants. I don't mind the condensation as it helps keep humidity high. At night it goes down to 60 to 65% and I do not have any problems at all, I do have 1 small 12" and 2 18" fans blowing 24/7 to keep the air moving.

Great info and thanks for sharing, I have a link to one of your other threads on sizing chillers great learning new info, Positive vibes your way.

 

[Chillville]

Thanks Woodsmaneh

Condensation is actually bringing the humidity down in your garden although it really doesn't matter as long as you don't mind the sweating. It's pulling water out of the air and condensing it on the surface of the plastic essentially lowering the humidity. If that water evaporates back in to the air then its just working in a cycle and you never lose it.

I agree that 40% is low but I haven't heard that humidity that high was optimal before. I know that if you have some big nugz you could risk bud mold, that is why I run mine lower (around 55%). I had one of my first crops lost to black bud mold from high humidity, it was heartbreaking. I've always heard that 50%-60% was the optimal humidity but I have never seen any concrete research on that, I'm curious where did you learn that from?