Upgrading to Water-Cooling

[lsdn420]

Hey Everyone. Follow me as I change my old air conditioned garden over to a new water-cooled garden.

 

[lsdn420]

So here's the short version...Currently I've got a dedicated building that I've grown in for years that has a 12' x 24' flower room, 10' x 12' veg room, 10' x 12' equipment room. I'm currently running a 6 site under current system with (2) 1000 watt horizontal fixtures with (4) 250 watt verticals in the flower room. I've got (3) 2' x 4' t5's in my veg room over a 6 site undercurrent, also have a 2'x2' t5 over a ez clone 60 site. For cooling I'm using a 3 ton a/c unit that sits inside the equipment room that is vented out the roof. I'm also using a 1.5 hp eco plus chiller to cool my under currents, ez clone, water-cooled co2 generator, and an Ice Box heat exchanger in my veg room to assist the a/c.

My plans are to turn my current 6 site UC in to a 9 site UC, add another 9 site UC on the other side of my flower room, and change my 6 site UC in to the veg room to a 9 site. I will be running 8 weeks cycles and the 9 sites will be staggered so that I'll have a harvest every month. I will be changing out the lighting to (8) 600 watt horizontal lights and also (8) 250 watts vertical lights. I'm adding a water distribution manifold, Ice Boxes on all 8 reflectors, CoolCoils to chill the UCs. In the veg room I'm switching out the (3) t5's with a 1000 watt dimmable MH and will be connecting an ice box to it also. To chill the water I'm replacing my 1.5 eco plus with a 2 hp chillking outdoor unit. I'm simply going to use this to cool the lights and let the a/c take care of the rest. I'm hoping that since it will be more efficient my power bill doesn't jump greatly after the upgrade. If everything goes well I'm going to sell this chiller system to a friend and upgrade to a larger commercial chiller with the water-cooled air handlers.

 

[aleYarok]

nice looking good.
you should check out the iceboxes too for cooling your room down

 

[lsdn420]

Thanks aleYarok. I will check it out.

 

[deacon1503]

There are Ice Box Pro models now that have a steel stand and either a 6" or 8" max fan attached.

Can u describe how u ducted out the heat from ur conventional split condenser in ur work room there? How's it perform?

 

[lsdn420]

That Ice Box pro sounds cool. I will have to check it out. Where can I find it?

It's a heavy duty ducting that I used. I will see if I can find a link or the exact name of it. It performs ok for my application, but ducting as you see in the pic reduces the efficiency from 10-30 percent.

 

[thumpnasty]

i think i read some where that you need a BIG res for the co2 thing to be worth while. like hundreds of gallons ... do you find this to be true?

 

[RMCG]

I would run the HydroGen drain to waste vs trying to chill the water.

 

[deacon1503]

That Ice Box pro sounds cool. I will have to check it out. Where can I find it?

It's a heavy duty ducting that I used. I will see if I can find a link or the exact name of it. It performs ok for my application, but ducting as you see in the pic reduces the efficiency from 10-30 percent.

Its a Hydro Innovations product.

 

[MTgrower]

There are Ice Box Pro models now that have a steel stand and either a 6" or 8" max fan attached.

Can u describe how u ducted out the heat from ur conventional split condenser in ur work room there? How's it perform?

Those are just regular Ice Boxes using the wall mount brackets. You can purchase the brackets at watercooledgardens.com.

They do have a Hydrogen Pro, already present in this grow.

I recommend running the Ice Cap for your burner. Using my well water on run to waste, my gas leaves the burner (with ice cap) at 78 deg. F.

Do not buy the 2 HP spot chiller. If you do, make sure you request the metal fan blades, not the blue plastic piece of shit.

I have the 5 HP commercial chiller, and the two HP spot chiller. I would only buy the commercial grade if I had it to do over. The 3 HP commercial chiller is a HUGE step up from the spot chillers.

I have been in plenty of grows. I have never regretted going the water chilled route. I run everything run to waste now. I can flip a couple valves and turn on the chillers for a closed loop as well. Run to waste is just much easier for me to deal with. Far fewer things that can go wrong.

I highly recommend getting the prefilter for the Co2 burner. It is very sensitive to any blockage of any kind. If your unit won't fire, clean the screen first. It is probably the reason it won't light.

 

[lsdn420]

Thump, I use a 75 gallon reservoir in conjunction with the chiller to handle both the coils in the UC's and the heat from the generator.

 

[lsdn420]

MT, good advice about the prefilter on the HydroGEN, because I have been running this with mine and it has helped keep my screen super clean.

Also, I did some more research on the 2 HP chillers, and Hydro Innovations makes the spot with the plastic fan and the compact commercial 2 HP with the metal fan. The price difference was pretty substantial with the spot at $2975 retail and the compact commercial at $4800. So, I took your advice and asked to have a second replacement metal fan sent out with my 2 HP spot unit. :)

I like having a backup for all my equipment anyways, because eventually on a long enough time frame everything will breakdown. So, I have backup ballasts, air pumps, filters, bulbs, air stones, and now a backup fan. Thanks for the heads up on the fan, because it is always good to be prepared for the worst. :character0050:

 

[lsdn420]

Stay tuned as my chiller should be in soon according to my shop and I will begin the transformation over to water-cooling. Can't wait!! :party

 

[aSilvrHaze]

any news?