Stepping Up To The Co2 Game....with A Few Q's

[sixstring]

yeah man i would be inclined to just use it for co2 and the deheuy.keep fans and a/c the way they are but i dont know your setup.programming the controller is the hardest part of the whole deal.the valve just needs to be screwed onto the tank and you could spray some soapy water on the threads to check for leaks but these days they are pretty straight forward.then just run a hose or 2 from the valve to somewhere up high above the canopy or like i did i have them dump out right in front of 2 dif fans to push it across the canopy.

 

[DemonTrich]

I get the jist of setting it up. as far as my grow, lol.

3x600w in big kahuna hoods (hoods are fully sealed/caulked/weather stripping on glass) offset in a 8x12x6.5 room (sealed if need be w/damper on intake fan). lights and plants are under 5'x12', remaining 3' is my walking and work area
2x8"750cfm fans for hood cooling
3x 18" oscillating fans in tent when needed. currently have 1 on low at this time for a 75* lights on and 75* light off temps :)
4x 10" adjustable fans on floor blowing up...as needed in summer
8" 420 cfm intake fan on speed controller
14k btu portable a/c on 12/12 timer, fan speed on low in winter, med or high in summer (can get 73* lights on in summer if need). custom ducting from a/c taped to 1/2 of my 8" intake (sucks cold a/c air into tent.
BIG F'n ASS scrubber (65#) matted to an 8" 720cfm fan at 75% power

room is framed with 2x4 and 5 layers of panda film with 3' overlaps on ALL seams, PLUS 1x layer of very expensive refletix material on all walls and 1/4 up the ceiling edges. ALL screws are TRIPPLE taped and seams are 6x taped over. floor had 8 layers of panda film.

so as you can clearly see, im super anal about my build. I used to do show car paint work for XX and XXXXXXXX (sorry, confidentiality agreements prohibit me from mentioning former employer). we had to be within 3mm of our target number or do it all over again on 120,000 pain jobs.

 

[sixstring]

well now my only concern would be the portable a/c and weather it is taking air away from the whole setup.most of them exchange air in some way and it will be pulling out co2 if so.this is why most sealed rooms use mini splits or conventional a/c with the air handler inside the room so all the air stays in the room.also i dont know if you cover this but tape all connections to the hoods and fans,clamps just wont block enough air.gl

 

[DemonTrich]

the only time the a/c and room intake will be on is for room recycling during light on, and room intake fan on during lights out along with the scrubber.

im saran wrapping all my duct work in the room. the hoods are totally sealed. all my seams are taped and clamped if applicable. trust me, my room is wayyyyy over done. I have a double seal on my entry door. my intake had a 90* elbow and is turned down in winter, up in summer. this would be my only leak point. but im sure I can find an 8" damper somewhere that's electronic or flaps like adryer duct damper when in use.

my portable a/c only uses 1 exit tube.

I might as well source a deheuy while im spending cash.

 

[DrFever]

six string were talking pure c02
Your body, of course, has to get rid of CO2. The higher the concentration of atmospheric CO2, the harder it is to do so. CO2 does bind to hemoglobin, and while it is a different site than oxygen binds to the hemoglobin, it does reduce the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood.
The red blood cells also catalyze the dissolving of carbon dioxide in the blood, and the formation of carbonic acid. The higher the CO2 concentration, the more acidic the blood.
And of course c02 s heavier then air It is about 150% of the weight of O2 and N2, and thus if you introduce pure CO2 into a room, it could be more concentrated near the floor. but noramally c02 on the floor is useless so its needs to be fanned up .
i was just saying safety safety safety with out knowing how much c02 is in the room how safe is it to enter the room ?? remember if you faint , and c02 pools to the floor your dead ..
if no one is there to get you out now even thou c02 is on floor what also occurs is death to plants root sytem not to many people are aware the although c02 is good for plants c02 also kills plants
So your damned if you do and Damned if you don't
if your growing in really airated soiless mediums c02 can in fact do more harm then good we all know 2000 ppm of co2 will fry root systems

 

[dexfarm]

I don't know how accurate this data is with regards to co2 but it seems like you need a huge amount for death to occur. Very good read for anyone interested in co2 and safety. http://inspectapedia.com/hazmat/CO2_Health_Effects.php

 

[DemonTrich]

dr fever, I could put a co2 monitor in the main floor, as well as a few feet once you get down stairs in the grow area, but not in the flower/veg rooms. this would tell me if the co2 was pooling and at dangerous levels, no?

imo, the only way co2 would get to the upper level is if the co2 was pooling on the floor and got sucked up by the hvac system then spread thru the ducts and dumped out the registers.......

just thinking out the box here.

im all for safety, and would rather not be dead on my floor to gain 10-20%, if that.



six--- my ac is outside of the flower room, I have the a/c blower fitted with some metal ductwork, then 6" flex duct matted to that, then fed to my 8" intake. works perfectly. except I need to remove the 14k and toss in my 8k. I cant get it any warmer than 75*, with a 71* floor temp.

 

[sixstring]

Honestly you have as much chance getting poisoned by your gas stove or furnace as you do with that controller you picked up.just be smart and it will be fine.if you read the last link someone just posted you can take 20% co2 for 5 to 7 mins which is somewhere in the 250,000 ppm range lol.a 20# tank would have to be cracked wide open and dumped in a 1 min span to fill the whole house if i had to guess.check your meter when you enter the room.you will probably find that first tank doesn't last more than a week because you have an air leak somewhere.but maybe you have it sealed up tight as a drum,in which case the grow room would be the only place to ever pose a threat.gl

 

[G gnome]

Im still rockin the ol school

 

[G gnome]

@sixstring hey man i got a lot of experience w co2. If ya got any questions, fire away

 

[DemonTrich]

well the only weak point I noticed (besides the intake fan opening), are the holes in my ceiling (x6) where my chains come thru to hold my 3x hoods. ive taped them and taped them as best as I can, but (imo) that's about the only spot I can think of that would be an air leak. like I said earlier, all my seams have a 3-4' over lap...think of it as if you were laying out fiberglass matt on a body panel for repair or tio make a new piece.. each piece is laid over top of each other in an offset fashion criss crossing each other.

gonna have to check on the chain tape job at the hoods. and I only use 3m hvac tape inside rooms, and gorilla tape on exteriors or where no heat gets to them.

thanks everyone for the help, tips, and ideas. if it weren't for these forums, im sure there would be a lot of growers stumped or doa from bad installs.

 

[dexfarm]

@sixstring hey man i got a lot of experience w co2. If ya got any questions, fire away

I have a question if you don't mind :D. Have you ever tried to control pests by raising co2 levels to 10,000ppm? I've read about this a lot and some swear by it while others dismiss it as myth...what's your experience with this,thanks.

 

[G gnome]

I have a question if you don't mind :D. Have you ever tried to control pests by raising co2 levels to 10,000ppm? I've read about this a lot and some swear by it while others dismiss it as myth...what's your experience with this,thanks.

Sorry pal cant help ya w that one. Ive heard of dojn it but never tried it.

 

[G gnome]

@sixstring hey man i got a lot of experience w co2. If ya got any questions, fire away

Oops must of quoted the wrong guy sorry. I meant if @DemonTrich needed help haha

 

[DemonTrich]

thanks ill probably be hitting you up after I get the dbac2 and do my install. still need my deheuy. figure a 70 pint with a pump/hose for auto draining should suffice. damn things are $$. im about to enter week 3 (since flip 12/12), or week 2 as I call it. I count from preflowers, not flip. and scored a spare 20# tank w/ cert for 30.00 :)

just swapped out my 14k btu portable a/c for my 8k btu a/c. I couldn't get my flower room warm enough. temps were about 72* floor and 75 canopy. now im hitting 77* canopy and 75 floor. much better for growth, and saving on my power bill just a tad.

 

[We Solidarity]

six string were talking pure c02
Your body, of course, has to get rid of CO2. The higher the concentration of atmospheric CO2, the harder it is to do so. CO2 does bind to hemoglobin, and while it is a different site than oxygen binds to the hemoglobin, it does reduce the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood.
The red blood cells also catalyze the dissolving of carbon dioxide in the blood, and the formation of carbonic acid. The higher the CO2 concentration, the more acidic the blood.
And of course c02 s heavier then air It is about 150% of the weight of O2 and N2, and thus if you introduce pure CO2 into a room, it could be more concentrated near the floor. but noramally c02 on the floor is useless so its needs to be fanned up .
i was just saying safety safety safety with out knowing how much c02 is in the room how safe is it to enter the room ?? remember if you faint , and c02 pools to the floor your dead ..
if no one is there to get you out now even thou c02 is on floor what also occurs is death to plants root sytem not to many people are aware the although c02 is good for plants c02 also kills plants
So your damned if you do and Damned if you don't
if your growing in really airated soiless mediums c02 can in fact do more harm then good we all know 2000 ppm of co2 will fry root systems

Oh really? I've had burners on accidentally and had co2 at over 6000ppm ( that's 5 ft in the air where the sniffer was) and I never even noticed it until I saw the flame still on in the burner. Probably plugged in running like that for days and I was spending hours in that space. then the first warehouse I ever worked had a co2 extractor in it and they would routinely dump their c02 in the room, it would spike to around 4200 and stay at 2500 for the whole lights out, at least three times a week...how are you going to try to say 500 ppm over target level is lethal to roots?

It takes way way more co2 to kill someone than will ever happen because of a tank or a burner, burners can suck all the oxygen out of a space though which is definitely a far more legitamate problem, I've felt this happen after a friend chopped and I was helping clean up, her burner was on in her 15x20 ft space and it was definitely hard to breathe. She was trying to kill mites or something, it didn't work.