tent fan choices

bogartty · Nov 6, 2011

Hi,
Ive been battling heat issues with one of my tents. Its pretty clear I need a larger fan and maybe a better reflector.

The tent is 3x3.
Currently I have a 400 watt super sun 1. It is an air cooled hood, but it only has 4 inch vents. My 180 cfm 4 inch fan isnt enough, and 4 inch fans dont seem to get much more powerful.

Im thinking I will get a solid 6 inch fan and a 4 inch reducer, and use that until I can replace my hood with a 6 inch air cooled.

Im leaning towards:

Ostberg 487 cfm

or

soler & palau 293 cfm

I realize using a reducer isnt the best, but I need to get these temps down. I tend to be clueless about ventilation and pressure buildup. Are these fans too powerful? Is a reducer just a bad idea?

I would eventually like to get a 6 inch daystar ac. My experience is they do a much better job cooling. Id like the fan to be a good match for that in the long run.

Thanks for ANY help!!

bogartty · Nov 6, 2011

Forgot to mention the third fan Im considering is a 409 cfm sunleaves windtunnel. I want the most quiet fan I can find that will do the job.

Thanks again for any suggestions!

DangerDub · Nov 7, 2011

I run the same setup. I dont believe you need a bigger fan. your problem probably lies in where you are intaking/exhausting from. what i mean is you have your tent in a closet or bedroom, the hot exhaust heats up the bedroom, the intake is now taking in hotter air, which doesnt cool the tent as well and the condition then worsens. If you can exhaust the air out of a window or into an attic it should fix the problem. but then you can run into the issue i have... by venting out a window you create negative pressure in the house, which in winter creates cold drafts.

bogartty · Nov 8, 2011

Thanks for the response. You are right I could do a better job exhausting my heat. Unfortunately Im trying to make the best of the space I have to work with..and I dont have many options as far as that goes.

To make the situation worse, where I live we don't have winter. Its basically spring or summer all year. Im hoping by making the jump to a 6 inch fan and hood I can keep the temps in the tent as close to room temp as possible-usually in the mid 70s.

If that works, I wil be ok.

DangerDub · Nov 13, 2011

you could also try making your intakes bigger or adding another one. as well as making your exhaust run shorter. this will increase the efficiency of your fan.

RELOADER212 · Nov 17, 2011

I had heat issues as well, then switched to 8 air cooling, dropped my grow tent temp 10 degrees. Now room temps are 77-79 lights on. I also mounted and outtake fan on the top. Just dropped a 6 flange in the hole and put a fan in, works great.