Swamp Cooler in a grow room?

[winta]

i been lookin for the same shit disco! thanx for the links :)

 

[Disco Duck]

i been lookin for the same shit disco! thanx for the links :)

These two links below are the best ones I found in terms of having the widest selection. Most are a little cheaper on other sites, but these two sites really show most of the available ones.

It is important for people to remember that evaporative coolers are only effective in very dry climates. There is a reason you've never heard of them before. If humidity in your area is above about 30% forget about them and just get an AC. But if you are in a bone dry desert climate (Denver is typically between 15-25% humidity) then they are very effective. The good modern ones can rival an AC when humidity is below 20 and temps are in a certain range... as both are inside my tent:-)

There are a lot of advantages over AC if you are in a dry climate. It cools and humidifies and you need both (an AC removes a little humidity from the air, the alternative is AC and a humidifier)... so this one device is killing two birds with one stone. It also does not generate heat. It is not a heat exchanger, it cools the air that is already in the room. It takes hot air and makes it cooler through evaporation. This means it has no exhaust, it is just a stand alone air cooler. They also use very little power. Some models use only 85w, the one I got uses 200w at full power, but will be running on medium (if I get it working/exchanged somehow).

So a swamp cooler is a great idea if you are in a desert climate like Denver or Pheonix, but will essentially just be a humidifier in more normal climates.

http://www.air-n-water.com/evaporative-cooler.htm

http://www.nextag.com/portable-swamp-coolers/stores-html

 

[true grit]

Just jump on CL, there are usually some for $40-$75....

 

[Disco Duck]

Grit,

I was already planning on first just trying it outside the tent, cooling that corner of the room and see what effect that has. Thanks for the manifold/ducting idea, I see how I could do that already. I think they actually make an aluminum ducting piece I saw that might fit right on there, if not I could imitate it in cardboard in the right size. That's definately what I will do if just cooling the room the tent is in doesn't do enough. The room is half the size the cooler is rated for, so just cooling the room might wind up working all by itself.

If I was going to put it inside the tent I would find a table that was the right size to have it up near the roof. No so much for the more effective cooling as to keep it from blowing directly on the plants.

 

[Disco Duck]

IMO, get a good one. Home Depot and other retailers will ship you one to the store at no charge. Then if it fucks up you can take it back to your local spot instead of having to deal with internet warranty shit. Which can be a major PIA.

I actually tried this first because Home Depot was selling the same one I wound up getting for $150 as a special, but were sold out of all evaporative coolers throughout the state.

They would order me one. It might take up to two weeks. Would cost the full $269 instead of the special price, and there would be over $90 in shipping costs too. I wound up finding one for $150 shipped free, but of course it arrived broken.

That's the first and last time I will ever order something shipped too me. I knew it would arrive broken. How, you ask... because I was the Operations Manager of a major freight terminal for over 3 years. Anything electronic that is not entirely solid state only has about a 70% chance of arriving undamaged and functional. I know how it all works, and something like this is very likely to be damaged or broken in shipping. The only reason I even tried was because you absolutely can't get one locally, and it was coming from Texas which meant it would ride on a single truck without transfering.

But even that wasn't enough... it was probably broken during loading when a dock worker literally through it 5 or 6 feet up onto the top of a pallet. Or, it survived that toss then caught on the roof at the back doors while being unloaded and the forklift driver pulled the pallets from beneath it and just let it crash 7 or 8 feet down to the ground.

 

[noone88]

I use 2 swamp coolers in one of my rooms as a supplement to my mini-split. It is the Sumo-J model which has a pretty good throw distance and easy to setup with a float valve. RO water is not necessary. It helps control the temp deltas (the highs are not as high).

However, a hydrofogger works better than a swamp cooler, but you need to make sure your walls/paint are mold resistant. The swamp cooler does not leave condensation, but the fogger does.

I am completely sold on humidity in the 60-70% for the first half of flower.

 

[Disco Duck]

Since I had posted the link where I bought the swamp cooler here I thought I should post about how they resolved the broken cooler. Compact Appliance was amazing about replacing the broken swamp cooler. The new one will be here by Friday and they gave me what in the freight business we call a disposal order on the one I have. In other words, they just told me to throw it away, keep it, do whatever I want with it.

This really is amazing considering they sold me an open box return at a $100 discount. Now they are sending me a new sealed box one, and telling me to just keep the broken one too. That really is the best resolution to a problem like this I have ever had. I didn't even ask for any of that, it was just their resolution too it. So I have to say this place really is great about what they are selling.

This isn't some kind of stealth ad or anything, I have no connection to them other than having bought this cooler from them online. I just thought it was right to post this since I had linked too them earlier in the thread.

 

[Disco Duck]

It got so dry the last few days that I started to become concerned. Humidity has been 16-19% for most of the last few days. So I tried putting a 1 gallon jug of water in the tent... humidity shot to 35-40 percent just from a single open jug of warm water. I'm guessing the chilled water in the Rainforst isn't evaporating much, but the warm water in the jug is going quickly and having this effect. It probably has to do with some kind of exponential effect, too, where the jug is almost doubling humidity from 20% but would have little effect if placed into the tent if it was already at 40%.

I was expecting to have to put a few more jugs in if it had any effect, I was really shocked at what a single 1 gallon jug of warm water did.

 

[spiderman]

swamps are good in arid climates. remember though, you need good pads! best are the waffled kind, second best are aspen fiber, third is the synthetic ones.

 

[Buddy Hemphill]

and if a swamper wont raise RH enough...like me...

buy a hydrofogger.

No looking back. Hooks to my cap controller. The girls LOVE it in veg. Mainly a summertime tool.

 

[daliwarpaint]

i know this was a long time ago but im having thiss issue if i got a swap cooler to help with humidity then how do i keep the humidity up my lights are on during the day and it to cold at night to leave it on what do i do

 

[gondalez]

Hi Guys,

I made an iPhone app that forecasts the output of evap coolers.
Sounds like it might come in handy :)



I'd really appreciate any feedback you have.

 

[Zombie seed]

The swamp cooler arrived... broken. The fan doesn't even come on. I have never bought anything on internet because I always KNEW it would arrive broken and just be a nightmare. This was the first and last time I ever buy anything on internet. I knew it. I knew it all along. For over a decade. Order something on interent, it will be broken and nothing but a nightmare. I had no choice, these things don't exist in denver after July. But I did have a choice, be smart and never order anything shipped too you under any circumstances.

So now I need to go through the nightmare of getting my money back for this, and cannot get a swamp cooler for my tent because none are avaialble locally. This was my one and only lifetime attempt to buy something on internet. I always knew this is how that would work, and I was right. So I guess I can't get a swamp cooler until next summer because that is the next time they will be available again. I will never be stupid enough to try and buy somethiing on internet again, I was riight all along.

That's ridiculous!!

Buy on EBay and your protected and will.get money back with no headache. Except printing a label and shipping it back then waiting for a replacement. Better yet buy from Amazon and they instantly send a replacement then issue you a return label.

I buy online ALL THE TIME most the time it's packaged well enough to be rough housed. Anyway a swamp cooler is a basic thing that may work for a lot of situations. But so would numerous other solutions.

In a tent that's sealed your humidity is low? I'd suggest adding more plant surface area. Increase the canopy size with a SCROG (screen of green) low stress training where the plant grows under a net.

It will even out your canopy, increase yields, increase quality (colas equidistant frome lights) as well as increase humidity due to the massive increase of vegetation breathing venting water as they suck it up threw the roots.

If you r room is sealed then why not run Co2 then you can run your room at 85-90 degrees and may not even need AC then.

 

[icanfarm]

I've been considering this for a few years and what I'd like to try as I am in a fairly dry climate a portable self contained swamp cooler they make for shops they are on wheels I think they are called port a cool . And run the fresh water for the pads thru a bench top ice machine a friend gave me from his store chilling the water befor it runs over the pads