Help!

[Scientis150]

Hello fellow farmers, have a few questions about witch ac unit I should run with, okay, here is my dalema, I recently acquired a 3 family apartment building, each floor has 3 bedrooms, so I plan on starting off with the first floor, and having 3 flower rooms on a parpitual harvest, about 3 weeks apart, two of the rooms are 14'×12' one room is 12'×10', I would love to use mini splits, but I can't have 3-4 condenser units in my back yard giving away what's going on inside,... and my grow room design don't allow me floor space for portable units, I then thought about a super sized central ac unit, or maybe even refrigeration units, like the ones in walk in freezers, any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated, ohh by the way I'm eventually gonna spread out to all 3 floors.....

 

[Canalchemist]

Can certainly be done but being stealth would be difficult. I would say initially if you had a three family apartment unit it would be so out of the ordinary to have a mini-split per unit, that would actually make sense, if you want to fly under the radar you need to appear as normal as possible. You can balance the load between all the mini-slits by completing a circuit of ventilation between all three areas in the house, could be as simple as connecting each space via duct work and flowing air through all the spaces with a ventilation fan capable of moving your volume of air a few 4 or 5 times an hour.

Running an industrial size refrigeration unit will give it away simply because it is not normally what you would see on the outside of a house.

 

[Scientis150]

Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it, but if I do run with the mini splits, I'm a need more than three units? I'm starting off with 12000 Watts, 4000 Watts in each bedroom, eventually moving to the 2nd floor for 24000 Watts then the 3rd floor for a total of 36000 Watts, I know some mini splits have a duel head, so u could cool two separate rooms on the Same condenser I'm pushing for 16- 18 btus per room, to have maximum control of temperature, I like to run my rooms between 75°-78° day time, 60°-65° night time also, what about a central ac unit? If I'm a do this I wanna do it right the first time, so I rather over due it a little, than spend 1000$s just to realize it wasn't sufficient enough for my needs,

 

[Scientis150]

Good point!, scratch the refegaration unit Lol.....

 

[Canalchemist]

I would start first by controlling your heat sources as much as possible before implementing a counter measure, I am sure this has been done already.

 

[Scientis150]

Thats the purpose of the ac unit,... to control me heat, if your talking about the lights, I run open hoods, no glass, no pushing air through the hoods, in my 20+ years of experience, I notice a difference between the two open, and air cooled hoods, I get a bigger all around healthier harvest with open goods, so did a little research on the subject, come to find out it's counter productive to cool your light, better to cool the room, the hotter a light bulb Burns, the brighter it Burns, by cooling the lights, u actually dim the lights, resulting in less lumens that reach the plant, I do have venallation, 10" exhaust, 8" intake, to control the ambient air,

 

[Canalchemist]

You are absolutely right, so if it is a legal three unit building it would be much harder to get a legal warrant to search based on three Mini splits. and the amount of electricity, it matters not what it's for as long as you can assign a normal use to it, such as you have a massive Salt water aquarium and you need HID lights to grow coral and pumps and filters, it uses a lot of electricity Cops can't bust your door down because of that, Hottubs use a lot of power. Can't get a warrant for that. Creative thinking can mask what your doing to the layman. If it was a legal three unit apartment building it is reasonable to have a mini split per unit that can be controlled independently in each unit. If each unit was modified to share the same air/heat load via central ventilation of some sort it should be a totally legitimate install and if anyone ever asks you can say it is a legal 3 unit building, but no one should really ask unless something is out of the ordinary.

And your right a massive AC condenser is strange and out of place. But if you have three mini splits and three mailboxes on the front of the house with three addresses that get some mail from time to time then it isn't really that conspicuous.

 

[Scientis150]

Everything is legal and legit, I got 5 medical cards, plus my own, I got power of attorney to the 5 patients I'm growing for, the building is is mine, but not in my name, (in my spouse name ) I don't plane on staying at this location more than 5 years, so to actually install a central ac would not be in my best interest, seeing that I won't be able to take it with me when I relocate, or I could install it, and up the rent when I do relocate, so, with that said, sounds like splits are the only option, only issue with that, is how big do the mini splits come? I need 16000 BTU in each room, I'm starting with three rooms, by by the end of the year I'm a have 9 flower rooms going,.... do they make mini splits higher than 36000 BTU??

 

[Canalchemist]

I totally understand would not be a fan of permanent mods to a house.

I have seen Mini splits over 54K Btu but you can get 18K BTU Mini splits for as low as $600 if you are buying three of them.
Another option would be window shakers modified to handle the air on the hot side ducted outside in an inconspicuous way like out a bathroom or kitchen style vent.

 

[Scientis150]

Okay, 3 18000 BTU mini split ac will only cover the 3 initial flower rooms I'm starting out with... what do I do when I expand? I would rather get 3 54000 BTU, one for each floor of the building..... and the duct it out to fit my needs?? Could that work? Man I can't wait to get sufficient space.... a warehouse, or something along that line.... this apartment, set up is giving more issues than resolutions..... appreciate the help...

 

[Canalchemist]

Anytime :)

I think 54k would work fine as long as the heat load was there but be aware that the 54k BTU units will run for shorter periods of time so moisture levels may not be affected as much, you could use a dehumidifier for this and if you are using hydro you can use the water as it will have very little if not any dissolved solids, it would be important to keep it sterile and clean though, and you could easily get them installed before you build your room around them. If anyone asks why so big just tell them you got a deal on the end of the season sale online.

 

[Scientis150]

I have a industrial size dehumidifier for each room, gonna hang them close to the ceiling, I also have a evolution RO 1000, I run in pure coco... I have my dehumidifier water draining into a 100 gallon reservoir to use in my nutiants, I also got 18+ years in carpentry and experience in pluming, electrical, got a few freing, witch are patients of mine in the Hvac field, so between us I'm pretty sure we can keep anyone away... besides of course the inspector, I got a election coming to to up my amperage to the whole building, besides that, all other work would be done by me, or close trusted friends....

 

[Canalchemist]

Very good!! you are set then :) hope all goes well for you :)

 

[Scientis150]

thanks for the support and help, I'll keep everyone posted on progress.... HAPPY GROWING...

 

[Canalchemist]

Happy growing to you to brother :)