Design Questions 1600 Square Foot Basement

[Anthem]

I admitted I don't know. So I'm taking advantage of you by tossing out things I've seen and heard. The majority of my quite limited knowledge comes from my brother, an Ex-HVAC guy.

Now, this is the first I've heard something that starts to explain things. It never occurred to me that increasing the pressure would also make it harder to pump against. Very obvious when you mention it though. And as I processed that thought my ADD said squirrel by whispering "fluid dynamics". Ahhhhh......... And the mist begins to clear.

I knew that some time ago and it is why I am not on this site so much anymore. The be right at all cost is getting old and it has chased off a lot of the best growers from sites like this.

 

[Anthem]

Money is not really the issue. For the right benefits I would take the extra steps. In regards to the HPS vs LED I have credible sources with proven results insisting on the value of HPS and since I already have them at a cost so low its basically nothing. I figure it would be smart to use it. I can also completely take their advice almost blindly if I'm running basically the same set up.

Ya ah you will probably not get anyone to touch such a project for under 15 grand so money is an issue.

 

[FET]

If you understand your heat product and therefore your cooling requirements you have the basics. BTU (British thermal units) converts to tons of AC as the following equation.
12,000 BTU's equals 1 ton of Air Conditioning. Being in a basement the heat lead generated by outside influences is going to be at a minimum. I would probably go with a factor of like 1.1. to 1.2. Meaning that if your total heat load is say 100,000 BTU's I would look at cooling for say 110,000 BTU's or 120,000 B

If you understand your heat product and therefore your cooling requirements you have the basics. BTU (British thermal units) converts to tons of AC as the following equation.
12,000 BTU's equals 1 ton of Air Conditioning. Being in a basement the heat lead generated by outside influences is going to be at a minimum. I would probably go with a factor of like 1.1. to 1.2. Meaning that if your total heat load is say 100,000 BTU's I would look at cooling for say 110,000 BTU's or 120,000 BTUs.

Yes but the actual design of my ventilation and how it relates to my Home AC vs Grow room AC vs Cool Tube air flow...from where to where during which seasons. That is given some of the extra advantages that I'm looking for if possible... is way more than understanding BTUS. The V in HVAC? Ventilation right?

What you're saying is in line with the 20 percent headroom that I've read suggested.

One of my questions was... for really rough numbers...if I need (for lights only) 4000BTUs for every 1000w bulb. (I believe that is for non air cooled and closer to the engineering basic of 3.4ish for air cooled) then x that by 8. I will only run 8 at a time.... so that's all I need the cooling btus for. Which is why I wondered if I could cool via a third room that I could direct back and forth. Otherwise If I could get the outside unit to handle say 36000 btus and put two 18k units inside the rooms that would be more than enough but even more expensive then it needs to be. More expensive than one each. I know that there is such thing as too much but in very big rooms I've seen it done like this to drop cold air down from the sides and help displace the hot air upwards. However in those rooms the center of the ceiling was the intake for the heat. Those are just very rough numbers for conversation and only consider the lights themselves. I'm still considering the co2 enrichment options while understanding that co2 generation produces alot of heat. I'm not sure what costs more cooling co2 heat or buying co2 for refillable tanks.

I do appreciate the advice.

We have a mechanism here in Canada for going from legal medicinal licenses to micro grow production sites. It is an option in the near future but expensive.

 

[FET]

Ya ah you will probably not get anyone to touch such a project for under 15 grand so money is an issue.

I said that money is not an issue not that this could be done for nothing. Once I understand the benefits, the extra investment for a postive pressure set up could make sense. That's all I'm saying. I appreciate the ballpark quote though.

 

[FET]

I knew that some time ago and it is why I am not on this site so much anymore. The be right at all cost is getting old and it has chased off a lot of the best growers from sites like this.

That goes both ways though and people who think in those terms are usually contributing to the problem. A postive, solution oriented person thinks more in terms of not wanting to be misunderstood than being right. Wanting to make sure that the right information is out there to help rather than to be right themselves... as if that has any value. Lol. Thank God there are no Right Points or Right Trophies on this website. Likes are bad enough. Can you imagine the arguments? If you're arguing then everyone has already lost.

I hope you continue to contribute to the website as your technical background...especially at such scale, is valuable.

When I try to say a lot at once my writing gets hard to read and follow. Gets even harder when what I'm trying to say is complicated.

You could be right though about most people on this website being much smaller than what I intend to do. However its the technical side of guys like you and CannabisJohn which is how I found the site.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

See, I'm thinking about the tubes over your lights to move hot air out. Are those tubes optically correct for transmitting light? On my meter I can read the difference in a piece of glass over it from nothing. Will you be wasting light? How much of it will be bouncing around inside the tubes instead of growing plants?