READ FIRST: Grow Room Design & Setup Guide + Help Template

[logic]

Welcome to Growroom Design & Setup.​

Use this forum for planning, building, upgrading, and troubleshooting indoor grow spaces: tents, rooms, cabinets, closets, lung rooms, ventilation, odor control, cooling, heating, humidity control, controllers, electrical planning, and room layout.

This sticky is locked to keep it clean.

If you need help with your own setup, start a new thread and copy the template below. The more details you include, the faster members can give useful answers.

Post in the right place​

Before starting a new thread, check whether your question belongs in one of these sections:

• General grow room, tent, airflow, cooling, heating, humidity, odor, and layout questions: post here in Growroom Design & Setup.
• LED-specific lighting questions: L.E.D Grow Lights
• DIY builds, homemade grow boxes, grow cabinets, automation projects, reservoirs, exhaust boxes, and custom systems: DIY Farms

Archived reference threads​

These older threads are no longer stickied, but they still contain useful discussion and examples:

• Grow Room Electrical
• Grow Room A/C
• What’s your cooling setup?
• Buying the correct fan speed controller
• DIY Building An Exhaust Box For Window Unit Indoors
• How to size a cooling system for your garden

Useful Learn Center guides:

• Adding Ventilation to a Cannabis Grow Room
• How Much Ventilation Do I Need in My Cannabis Grow Room?

Safety first​

Grow rooms combine electricity, water, heat, lights, fans, pumps, timers, controllers, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, heaters, A/C units, and sometimes CO2. Bad planning can create fire, shock, water, mold, or equipment-failure risks.

• If a breaker keeps tripping, an outlet is discolored, a plug feels hot, a cord smells hot, equipment buzzes, lights flicker, or anything arcs or sparks, shut it down and get qualified local help.
• Do not bypass breakers, fuses, grounds, GFCI/RCD protection, thermal cutoffs, manufacturer limits, or safety devices.
• Do not use extension cords, cheap splitters, cube taps, or power strips as permanent grow-room wiring.
• Do not daisy-chain power strips, timers, adapters, or extension cords.
• Keep reservoirs, runoff, sprayers, humidifiers, drain lines, and wet tools away from plugs, outlets, power strips, drivers, ballasts, controllers, and timers.
• Electrical, HVAC, gas, and CO2 work may require a licensed professional depending on your location and setup.

Members can help you think through a setup, but nobody can inspect your wiring, panel, HVAC install, CO2 system, or building-code situation through a forum post.

Forum rules reminder​

Know and follow your local laws.

Do not use open forum threads or posts to buy, sell, trade, swap, test, solicit, request, or give away seeds, clones, pollen, cannabis, hash, or any other prohibited item.

Do not post illegal activity, spam, personal information, external image links, flamebait, or off-topic political/religious arguments.

Upload photos directly to THCFarmer instead of relying on outside image hosts.

Use this template when asking for setup help​

Copy and paste this into your new thread:

1. Goal:
- First setup / upgrade / redesign / troubleshooting?
- Veg, flower, mother, clone, drying, curing, or multi-use?

2. Space:
- Tent, closet, cabinet, room, basement, garage, shed, or lung room?
- Exact dimensions: length × width × height
- Sealed, semi-sealed, or exhausted?
- Number of plants planned or currently growing:

3. Location conditions:
- Typical lung-room temperature:
- Typical lung-room humidity:
- Hot-season issue?
- Cold-season issue?
- Can you vent outside? Yes/No
- Can you bring in fresh air? Yes/No

4. Lighting:
- Light brand/model:
- Actual watt draw:
- Number of fixtures:
- Dimmer setting:
- Distance from canopy:
- Veg/flower light schedule:

5. Exhaust, intake, and odor:
- Exhaust fan size/model/CFM:
- Carbon filter size/model:
- Intake: passive or active?
- Duct size:
- Approximate duct length:
- Number of bends:
- Where does exhaust go?
- Any negative or positive pressure issue?

6. Air movement:
- Oscillating fans:
- Clip fans:
- Under-canopy airflow:
- Dead-air pockets?
- Windburn symptoms?

7. Cooling, heating, and humidity:
- A/C type and BTU:
- Heater type/watts:
- Dehumidifier size:
- Humidifier size:
- Controller model/settings:
- Lights-on temperature/RH:
- Lights-off temperature/RH:

8. Electrical:
- Country/voltage:
- Breaker size if known:
- Total watts/amps of equipment if known:
- Are any cords, plugs, outlets, strips, timers, or controllers getting warm?
- Any breaker trips, GFCI/RCD trips, buzzing, flickering, or burning smell?

9. Grow system:
- Soil / coco / hydro / RDWC / aeroponic / other:
- Pot or reservoir size:
- Plant count:
- Current plant stage:

10. Photos:
- Full room/tent photo
- Light and fan layout
- Intake/exhaust path
- Controller screen/settings
- Problem area close-up
- Upload photos directly to THCFarmer

Good thread titles get better answers​

Good titles:

• 4x4 tent running hot — 720W LED, 6-inch exhaust, need airflow advice
• Need help planning veg + flower tents in one small lung room
• Humidity spikes at lights-off in 3x3 flower tent
• Breaker trips after adding dehumidifier — need safe next steps
• Drying tent RH too high — exhaust or dehumidifier?

Weak titles:

• Help
• Need advice
• Is this good?
• What should I buy?
• Setup question

A useful title should include the space size, main equipment, and the actual problem.

Basic grow-room planning order​

Plan the room in this order:

1. Safety and legality — local laws, electrical capacity, water control, heat, fire risk, and privacy.
2. Space — footprint, ceiling height, access, workflow, plant count, and maintenance room.
3. Environment — lung room, fresh air, exhaust path, temperature, humidity, and seasonal swings.
4. Lighting — footprint coverage, watt draw, mounting height, dimming range, and heat load.
5. Airflow and odor — exhaust, intake, carbon filtration, ducting, circulation fans, and room pressure.
6. Cooling/heating/dehumidification — size equipment after you know the heat and moisture load.
7. Controls — timers, thermostats, humidistats, fan controllers, alarms, and failure points.
8. Maintenance — access to water, drains, filters, cords, pumps, fans, sensors, and cleaning.

Do not buy everything first and ask how to make it work afterward. Post your plan before cutting holes, overloading a circuit, or building around equipment that may be the wrong size.

When to start a new thread​

Start a new thread when:

• You have a specific room, tent, cabinet, closet, or lung-room layout.
• You can provide dimensions and equipment details.
• You are choosing between equipment options.
• You have a heat, humidity, airflow, odor, electrical, or controller problem.
• You want feedback before building, drilling, wiring, venting, or buying major equipment.

Please keep one setup in one thread when possible. It helps members follow the full design and troubleshooting history.