Trying To Solve A Cooling Problem! I'd Appreciate Any Help...

[phreeezer]

Hi guys,

Long time lurker here, first time poster. I've had a grow room in a walk-in closet I have for around 3 years now, and have had reasonable success. I desperately want to improve my grow environment, but I'm having a frustrating time keeping my grow room cool.

I have two 600W HPS lamps in cool tubes in a walk-in closet that measures 6' X 5' X 8'. Air is drawn through a carbon filter that sits near the ceiling in a corner of the grow room with a 6" duct fan (334CFM), through a Y splitter, through the 2 cool tubes, through another splitter (to join the two ducts back together), and out the closet door into my bed room. I have a 5000BTU portable air conditioner that sits in the corner of the grow room as well. With this setup, my grow room regularly averages temperatures ranging from 80F to 85F.

I am getting ready to upgrade my grow room, and I would really like to modify my setup to keep temperatures down. I've attached diagrams of my current setup, and my proposed setup. I was thinking that I could put ducting through the wall of the grow room, into the next bedroom, and connect it to the window to draw outside air in to cool the lights, and then spit it back outside again. But, because I live in the south, the air temperature outdoors is usually in the eighties. So I'm not sure if this would even solve anything.

I've attached diagrams of my current setup, and my proposed setup. I'd appreciate any advice you guys could give me... I've been driving myself nuts over this. I'm considering switching to LED because of this issue, but the one I would want to replace my current 1200W would run me $1700. I'm not crazy about that idea. Really, all I want to do is get my temps down... and I feel like there has to be a way to do that without buying LEDs.

One more thing--I've ordered a water chiller for my system, and I plan to put it outside the grow room.

 

[sixstring]

i would suggest you just insulate all your ducting including the hose coming off the a/c unit and i bet your heat goes down quite a bit.10k or 12k btu a/c would also solve your problem.but im sure if you feel all that ducting you will feel all the heat its radiating back into the room.i have 14 cooltubes with 600w in them so i know what kind of heat your dealing with.5k btu just aint quite enough imo.but insulation might fix the problem.

 

[blazer]

If chiller is big enough put a cooling coil in the room Or put a mini split

 

[phreeezer]

Thanks for the responses guys. I think I've decided I'm going to go with LEDs. It's a 650W LED fixture, so I will still need some cooling... but I'm thinking my current AC can probably handle it just fine. Any thoughts?

 

[ShroomKing]

Your single hose ac is exhausting air at a rate of 150-250cfms? With no fresh air intake into the grow area, the negative pressure created by the AC is pulling air through door gaps etc. Adding that fresh air intake to go into your grow space , not just through the lights. It will make a huge difference imo.
Best of luck.

Or keep your current set up, just add that fresh air intake , just into the room , you can even just make it a passive intake.

 

[Wildill]

Adding co2 would help with the high temps

 

[lollipopman]

First thing is you need to pull your air not push, is the brown mark the door to the closet? Can you put a 6" duct threw the ceiling? On your proposed setup are you running the duct out the closet into another room then to a window? I have a way to help you and get rid of the portable ac just need more info of your diagram

 

[lollipopman]

I run 3 de 1k but since it's been over 100 I've got the 600 in them plus a dehumidifier only have one ac vent in room my temps don't go over 80

 

[sixstring]

yeah i like my fans at the end of the run pulling all the hot air out of the room,if there are leaks it will keep the heat in the ducting better.i did not catch that lol,if you can move the fan you could still insulate the duct and tape all the seams real good.

 

[rubthe nub]

If you 'pull' with the fan be careful that all of your connections at the lights are good or you'll also 'pull' smells/aromas out with that hot air.
I'll also second or third the insulated ducting, it's surprising how hot they get. Especially the duct from an AC. I've seen the duct from a portable ac check over 120' with my IR gun.

 

[gardnguyahoy]

Im pretty sure trying to push air is half as efficient as pulling it. I agree with lollipop and sixstring. Also, using a mini split a/c is a lot more efficient than those hose out air conditioners. Mini splits just seem to work better all around imo.
Also agree with whoever said vent out at the ceiling, heat rises, makes sense. I put my vent out at the ceiling for this reason, with a Y-duct split so I could suck moisture and air from the room as well as from an enclosed light hood.

make sure you vent your hot air far away and out of the room, a good idea to consider instead of carbon filters is an ozone generator. I think they can be setup along inside a tube, so you could set an exhaust fan directly in the wall you vent out, perhaps buy an exhaust fan with a higher CFM rating and put it on a Y-duct split to each 600w.
>>>>>>air sucked this direction>>>>>>>>>
[600w]====
\ |
(y-duct)=={ozone generator)=(baffle box) {exit fan}|
/ | outside grow room
[600w]====

now this is just an idea, but im pretty stoked on it. It just might help solve your problems.
this setup, with an exit fan thats got a higher cfm rating. and a mini split A/C to replace that room/vent A/C.. maybe increase the BTU's above 5000 would be a good move like dude was saying up above there.

if not, i might buy those two 600w off you haha.

 

[gardnguyahoy]

It didnt let me draw it out lol. Here's a pic of what i had in mind.

 

[gardnguyahoy]

plus, after looking at your setup id say that pushing the hot air into a room beside the grow room is going to heat up the walls, thus heat up your room. vent that baby outside and into the dirt, or underground somehow if thats an option. not sure. anyhow. heres more stoney two cents from this guy


........littering annnnnnnnd..?

 

[phreeezer]

Hey guys, thanks for all the responses. So, here is what I've decided to do, I hope it will solve my problem:

Right now, I am running a 5000BTU single hose air conditioner. I am going to buy a 14,000 dual hose portable A/C, but I am going to place the unit outside the grow room, directly in front of the window. I am replacing the cool tubes with two hoods, that I am going to connect in-line, and I am going to use insulated ducting. Currently, I have a six-inch hole in the door through which the ducting for my 5000BTU is inserted. Once I remove that AC unit, I am going to drill that hole to 8-inches and cover it with a dust filter for a passive intake. I figure these modifications will solve my problem.

 

[sixstring]

why are you replacing the cooltubes ? iwould keep them and run them inline,ditch the y pipe,use insulated flex.going bigger on your a/c will probably solve all your issues even if you dont change anything else.your talking about 140% more cooling than you have now lol.gl

 

[phreeezer]

I've used the cooltubes for a few grows and have good results. That being said, it seems like the light distribution from these things is terrible... I get quite a few hot spots. I wanted to use hoods this time for better distribution.

 

[fishwhistle]

If you go with the dual hose you can increase the efficiency ALOT by using an inline fan to blow the air into the INTAKE hose,i just recently saw this done and it worked like a charm.

 

[sixstring]

I've used the cooltubes for a few grows and have good results. That being said, it seems like the light distribution from these things is terrible... I get quite a few hot spots. I wanted to use hoods this time for better distribution.

well i will have to disagree that the tubes are your problem with hotspots unless your talkin 4 inches under the bulbs lol.are you using the wings that come with them? if not do it now :)
nothing will cool better than tubes imo,and i rock some serious tubes lmao.i have built a few rooms for friends and other customers using radiant 8's and raptors because the grow store guys told them they were better.the radiant 8's went on craigslist a few months later,the raptor room got a 5 ton a/c to keep temps in check.and the rooms i built with tubes are still using them,doin well.heres some shots of my tubes in action,i run 4 or 5 tubes per 6 inch vortex fan.peace

 

[sixstring]

:)