Grow Room A/C

[DemonTrich]

That's not how I want it to work. I use expensive master co trolled to dial in my day/night/weekly temps, co2 saturation, rh. If so I'll stay with my portable that's been working great for 5+yrs.

 

[DemonTrich]

I think I may have figured it out. I moved the fan on the floor blowing up the front of the unit to help push the cold air up (hot air rises, cold sinks), and the controller cycled the ac unit vs the unit cycling itself.

Now I get to babysit my flower room tonight.
Yay

Fingers crossed.


Edit
3rd cycle down, it seems to be working. My guess was the fan blowing cool air upwards and was getting sucked in thru the intake vents and the thermostat was shutting down the compressor thinking it came up to temp. Back to a fully sealed room. And giving the girls a treat, 1200ppm co2 vs 1000ppm in my old sealed/air exchange setup.

 

[joexblack]

New to the forum and this is my first post, I've been reading a lot and this forum has helped me get through my first run with just OK results. I am currently redesigning my veg room in which I was running a 14K portable A/C unit that pretty much was useless except for running my electricity bill through the roof! I just purchased a 2 ton mini split and needed some ideas for discreet installation. Here's the setup:

Room Size: 10 x 11
Lights: 4 X 1000 Watt Sun Systems Dominator hoods with glass removed & 2 X Sun Systems LEC315
Total Watts: 4630
Dedhum: 60 pint Idealair
Fans: 4 X Hurricane 16" Wall Mounted fans

I will be adding CO2 and sealing the room moving forward as I am close quarters with my neighbors and there are times that they have mentioned a "funny smell". Up to this point I was running an exhaust fan and the portable A/C exhaust out of the house through a 4" hole and carbon filter I had cut into the wall. Luckily my neighbors smoke so they were OK with it. However, they may be moving out soon so the need to seal the room is a necessity. I also need to repair the hole in the wall I cut out in case my landlord decides to cruise down from Sacramento to inspect the property if the back house goes up for rent. Like it was never there hopefully. It's bad enough I upgraded the old 1960's 100 amp panel to a brand new 200 amp panel without permission, but when I moved in she did say that if anything I did to the property was an upgrade, then she was OK with it. I also had a 240 watt power drop added to the room as well as 2 more to the garage for future use.

So here's the problem, as stated above, I rent my house. My property is a duplex of sorts where my neighbors walkway to get to their front door is located alongside the wall of my veg room. I thought about renting the back house too and just getting more space to grow however, I'm not sure what my landlord's plan is for that yet, and it isn't an issue yet as the back neighbors have told me they haven't decided what they are going to do. Anyhow here is my questions:

1. Is there a discreet way of installing a mini split? I have a subfloor setup meaning there is a crawl space under the house to hide lines and what not. If not under the house can i run through the attic? I am trying to keep from having to punch a whole through the wall where my neighbors walk way is in case I get new neighbors and the landlord decides to show the house. I though about telling her I was installing A/C
2. Can the outside unit be mounted on the flat roof? How does drainage work in that scenario? I have to keep the outdoor unit on my side of the property.
3. @CannabisJohn I am located in OC. What do you charge for installation? I can attempt to do this myself as I am pretty handy, but A/C has always been a mystery to me. I am also building a sealed flower room in my garage where I will be adding a 3 ton dual head mini split for a 8000 watt setup. The goal is a perpetual grow.

Any thoughts or help on this would be greatly appreciated guys. Everything I do to the house I need to put back to normal (As far as patching holes and what not), if I ever move. Plan on staying here for a while until I can save up enough scratch to buy a home.

 

[joexblack]

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[dnewsome2]

I don't know very much about mini splits but I don't think that condenser will run in an attic you're probably going to have to put it outside behind a bush or something where it can get fresh air and and run your lines through the crawl space like you're talking about. As far as the smell I think if you were to run your vent straight up through the attic and out the Gable it might be up high enough that most people won't smell it and if they do may not be able to tell where it is coming from.

 

[joexblack]

I don't know very much about mini splits but I don't think that condenser will run in an attic you're probably going to have to put it outside behind a bush or something where it can get fresh air and and run your lines through the crawl space like you're talking about. As far as the smell I think if you were to run your vent straight up through the attic and out the Gable it might be up high enough that most people won't smell it and if they do may not be able to tell where it is coming from.

Well I have a flat roof, so I am thinking I can put it on top of the roof, I'm just not sure how the condensation drain from the inner unit would work?

 

[dnewsome2]

Well I have a flat roof, so I am thinking I can put it on top of the roof, I'm just not sure how the condensation drain from the inner unit would work?

You might have to hook a PVC pipe and run it out and down the side of the house.

 

[dnewsome2]

Sorry I'm not too familiar with those split units.

 

[CannabisJohn]

New to the forum and this is my first post, I've been reading a lot and this forum has helped me get through my first run with just OK results. I am currently redesigning my veg room in which I was running a 14K portable A/C unit that pretty much was useless except for running my electricity bill through the roof! I just purchased a 2 ton mini split and needed some ideas for discreet installation. Here's the setup:

Room Size: 10 x 11
Lights: 4 X 1000 Watt Sun Systems Dominator hoods with glass removed & 2 X Sun Systems LEC315
Total Watts: 4630
Dedhum: 60 pint Idealair
Fans: 4 X Hurricane 16" Wall Mounted fans

I will be adding CO2 and sealing the room moving forward as I am close quarters with my neighbors and there are times that they have mentioned a "funny smell". Up to this point I was running an exhaust fan and the portable A/C exhaust out of the house through a 4" hole and carbon filter I had cut into the wall. Luckily my neighbors smoke so they were OK with it. However, they may be moving out soon so the need to seal the room is a necessity. I also need to repair the hole in the wall I cut out in case my landlord decides to cruise down from Sacramento to inspect the property if the back house goes up for rent. Like it was never there hopefully. It's bad enough I upgraded the old 1960's 100 amp panel to a brand new 200 amp panel without permission, but when I moved in she did say that if anything I did to the property was an upgrade, then she was OK with it. I also had a 240 watt power drop added to the room as well as 2 more to the garage for future use.

So here's the problem, as stated above, I rent my house. My property is a duplex of sorts where my neighbors walkway to get to their front door is located alongside the wall of my veg room. I thought about renting the back house too and just getting more space to grow however, I'm not sure what my landlord's plan is for that yet, and it isn't an issue yet as the back neighbors have told me they haven't decided what they are going to do. Anyhow here is my questions:

1. Is there a discreet way of installing a mini split? I have a subfloor setup meaning there is a crawl space under the house to hide lines and what not. If not under the house can i run through the attic? I am trying to keep from having to punch a whole through the wall where my neighbors walk way is in case I get new neighbors and the landlord decides to show the house. I though about telling her I was installing A/C
2. Can the outside unit be mounted on the flat roof? How does drainage work in that scenario? I have to keep the outdoor unit on my side of the property.
3. @CannabisJohn I am located in OC. What do you charge for installation? I can attempt to do this myself as I am pretty handy, but A/C has always been a mystery to me. I am also building a sealed flower room in my garage where I will be adding a 3 ton dual head mini split for a 8000 watt setup. The goal is a perpetual grow.

Any thoughts or help on this would be greatly appreciated guys. Everything I do to the house I need to put back to normal (As far as patching holes and what not), if I ever move. Plan on staying here for a while until I can save up enough scratch to buy a home.

The outdoor unit can go on a roof. There is no condensate drain needed for outdoor unit. That's only for indoor unit. I can do the install. PM me on this forum and we will talk. Condensate from indoor unit can be drained into a bucket or Rez. It can also be pumped to a drain by a condensate pump

 

[dnewsome2]

The outdoor unit can go on a roof. There is no condensate drain needed for outdoor unit. That's only for indoor unit. I can do the install. PM me on this forum and we will talk. Condensate from indoor unit can be drained into a bucket or Rez. It can also be pumped to a drain by a condensate pump

Yes I know the evaporator is where the condensation comes from. You could capture that water in a bucket and actually use it to feed your plants

 

[dnewsome2]

Take it from here cannabis John thank you.

 

[CannabisJohn]

Take it from here cannabis John thank you.

PM me

 

[joexblack]

Thanks for all the responses guys, I have contacted @CannabisJohn and figured I let a pro handle this!

 

[DaSwoop]

Sup CJ, great work you are doing here. Nice job.
I've read a lot of your input and know your formula, but I'm needing some input if you can. I'm setting up new room with equip. from other room and modifying with new equip.(Anyone can chime in on room setup btw):
20x16x10 room(Converted garage into a bedroom,slightly insulated)
Not sure if I will keep it sealed or not.
6K/vented or maybe not?(I've been running can in room venting out, using house AC for years).
6 wall fans and a couple hurricane standing fans.
Dehumidifer
Planning on using CO2/not sure on gas or burner
Planning on using a LG 24000 btu split/biggest one I can afford atm.(Upgrade or add another unit soon if needed)
I run at night, located outside of Sac.(Cool/Cold nights all year)
Still deciding to vent hoods, if so vent attic to attic and seal room or keep canfan in room.
Questions:
With my nighttime temps being cool/cold at night, could I get by with a smaller AC if I vented, sealed, and used gas CO2?
Could that 24000 btu AC work with 7500 watts, vented, sealed, and using gas CO2?
If I use a canfilter in the room venting out, would that effect the split AC? If so, how much?
Any input on room setup/design is always appreciated.

 

[CannabisJohn]

Sup CJ, great work you are doing here. Nice job.
I've read a lot of your input and know your formula, but I'm needing some input if you can. I'm setting up new room with equip. from other room and modifying with new equip.(Anyone can chime in on room setup btw):
20x16x10 room(Converted garage into a bedroom,slightly insulated)
Not sure if I will keep it sealed or not.
6K/vented or maybe not?(I've been running can in room venting out, using house AC for years).
6 wall fans and a couple hurricane standing fans.
Dehumidifer
Planning on using CO2/not sure on gas or burner
Planning on using a LG 24000 btu split/biggest one I can afford atm.(Upgrade or add another unit soon if needed)
I run at night, located outside of Sac.(Cool/Cold nights all year)
Still deciding to vent hoods, if so vent attic to attic and seal room or keep canfan in room.
Questions:
With my nighttime temps being cool/cold at night, could I get by with a smaller AC if I vented, sealed, and used gas CO2?
Could that 24000 btu AC work with 7500 watts, vented, sealed, and using gas CO2?
If I use a canfilter in the room venting out, would that effect the split AC? If so, how much?
Any input on room setup/design is always appreciated.

It probably won't work very well. I only recommend 6000 watts air cooled with a 24k a/c. If you're venting air from room then yes it could affect the a/c and may have a temperature control issue.

 

[MI.Woody]

Well it appears that my thread disappeared from the forum during the server change. So here goes a new one. Ask away about your grow room a/c questions.

Michigan winter is here and I have a new Ideal Mini, 32k heat/cool. How do I get this to heat in lights off and cool lights on. Documentation not much help....

 

[Freshone]

Michigan winter is here and I have a new Ideal Mini, 32k heat/cool. How do I get this to heat in lights off and cool lights on. Documentation not much help....

Do you have auto mode?should be able to set high and low temps.

 

[MI.Woody]

Do you have auto mode?should be able to set high and low temps.

yes, its set on auto. when I set it to that mode the temp setting digits on the remote go away, i think that's odd. The paperwork said of the Tstat it overrode the remote. I Called the store today and they said it's best to get the optional thermostat. "Optional" seems misleading, lol. years past the space heater and the window unit chased each other this time of year.

 

[Freshone]

I have a Mr slim heat pump and you can set high and low temp and I'm pretty sure the wireless remote is the t stat itself.I mostly just run it in cool though by running lights on during coolest part of night.When all else fails read the instructions!

 

[MI.Woody]

...When all else fails read the instructions!

The instructions were ok on the install, but lacked detail on the features and how they work individually and together. Like, I "guess" I should set it to heat in winter and it will cool back to target temp when the lights come on (they are sealed air cooled). Got more info from store and ordered that optional thermostat, hope that will put much of this to rest. Ill get back to this after Tues when I expect to install that.
Woody