Using exhaust from lights to heat your house?

[MasterChief]

I am currently in the process of moving my room downstairs into the basement, the room is right next to the heater for the house (it's a heat pump) and if possible would like use the exhaust from the lights to heat the house, if possible. Has anyone done this? Is it possible and or practical?

The goal would be to disconnect the heater, and use the savings in electricity to add a few more lights while still keeping our house warm.

* I will NOT be exhausting grow room air into the house, just the lights. I am considering keeping the room sealed.

 

[CannabisJohn]

I am currently in the process of moving my room downstairs into the basement, the room is right next to the heater for the house (it's a heat pump) and if possible would like use the exhaust from the lights to heat the house, if possible. Has anyone done this? Is it possible and or practical?

The goal would be to disconnect the heater, and use the savings in electricity to add a few more lights while still keeping our house warm.

* I will NOT be exhausting grow room air into the house, just the lights. I am considering keeping the room sealed.

Depends on size of area you want to heat and total wattage of lights. It would be expensive if even possible. You would need about 20-25 lights to heat 1000-1500 sqft depending upon your local conditions. Also you would need to store the heat from lights some how to have heat available 24 hrs a day.

 

[ibTheMan]

If you run the heat from any amount of lights into your ducts it will help, has to right? the more lights the better for sure tho.

 

[f1ydave]

You can do this, just T it into your furnace. I would recommend that you get a 1-2 square carbon filter (like a furnace filter) that you can add before the exhaust leaves the room, just to make sure you don't have any oder issues. They are cheap on ebay.

 

[BakedasBeans]

A friend of mine had his 8k lights going into a "y" then exhausting into his living room and it worked really well to heat up his downstairs area. His house isn't huge but he does live in tahoe, so it's definitely possible.

 

[sky high]

I currently exhaust 4K (lights only >so far<) into the front hallway of my house. While it DOES help keep this area >warmer<, it will make you appreciate the amount of heat your heater puts out for the $$$ and just how hot the air must be for it to travel through all the ductwork in yer house and still keep you warm.

in other words, you will gain SOMETHING by capturing the >warm< air from your lights but you AREN'T going to even come close to heating your home with such a set up.

you also need to think about carbon monoxide/etc......so >IF< you fuck with your heater/venting/airflows in your home....etc...do your family a huge favor and buy a carbon monoxide alarm or two and make SURE you aren't pulling in something nasty that should be going out/etc. (this is a good idea, IMO, for anyone using large fans/exhast/etc....especially right now when folks are firing up their furnaces/etc.)

good luck

s h

 

[theTinker]

I exhaust 2*600 HPS into my living area. Its a small apartment, but the hot air from the exhaust REALLY helps. I only turn the furnace on at nite during quite cold nites now. and in the morning the hot air from my exhaust has my small apt at a 'normal' (not warm) temp instead of a cold temp.

the lights run 18 hours a day so even a lil help over that long of a time really helps since it never stops!

I use a carbon filter and have no odor at all.

 

[theTinker]

The alternative was to exhaust outside which is wasteful + more work imo.

 

[Str8Dank]

yeah i'm with you on this one! i have about 25 ft of duct that runs through my grow room and when my girl turned the heat on at my garden home the other day my temps went from 77 to 88! i did also have a hole in the duct that was open bombing my room with the hot air becasue i use to let the house ac assist with cooling. now that i'm not using my heat in my house i'd love to do the same thing. i'm going to tap in right in my grow room and pump that heat to my living room. i also have a ac that exhausts currently out the chimney that i wil tap into this keep the rest of my basement in the 90's so i know it will keep my upstairs nice and toasty!

let me know how this works out for you and i'll update here once i do it and let everyone know also.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

If you tap into your furnace ducting and have it running it will create back pressure on your lights.How much ???? JK

 

[motta-tokka]

I vented 600watts to the attic and the house temps kept much better in winter time.. Make sure your scrubbing good before its vented into a living space or else your just going to stink it up for nothing. Also I would like to note that I bought a First Alert 3 in 1 detector and its worthless for c02 which it says it could detect. I called the company and let them know I was testing it in a sealed tent allowing first it to be open and with ambient air to get it adjusted. Then I would allow my lights to run its normal cycle (with the co2).. the thing never detected anything!! It even has a PPM meter on it to let you know what it is in the air.. Well my co2 monitor worked fine constantly bringing it to 1500ppm and the detector never even beeped. The lady at the company said I was testing it wrong that it would have to be used in "real world" type of conditions.. Meaning I literally would have to put it in the house and have a gas leak to tell them the unit was not working. I actually said this to her and she said yes! Unbelievable. I can post up a video of it if anyone would like just pm me.

Worthless $60 on the first alert 3 in 1 detector.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

I vented 600watts to the attic and the house temps kept much better in winter time.. Make sure your scrubbing good before its vented into a living space or else your just going to stink it up for nothing. Also I would like to note that I bought a First Alert 3 in 1 detector and its worthless for c02 which it says it could detect. I called the company and let them know I was testing it in a sealed tent allowing first it to be open and with ambient air to get it adjusted. Then I would allow my lights to run its normal cycle (with the co2).. the thing never detected anything!! It even has a PPM meter on it to let you know what it is in the air.. Well my co2 monitor worked fine constantly bringing it to 1500ppm and the detector never even beeped. The lady at the company said I was testing it wrong that it would have to be used in "real world" type of conditions.. Meaning I literally would have to put it in the house and have a gas leak to tell them the unit was not working. I actually said this to her and she said yes! Unbelievable. I can post up a video of it if anyone would like just pm me.

Worthless $60 on the first alert 3 in 1 detector.

Do you have a co2 alarm or a carbon monoxide alarm? If both did you ask her what level of ppm would set it off? JK

 

[mrdizzle]

I've been venting 4k into my living room for a yr and a half now, I live in SF and it keeps me hot some nights and perfectly warm others. I like it when its hott because I can leave my front door open at night and get that fresh ocean breeze. just to note I have a massive steal cage over my porch so its ok to leave the front door open.

I would avoid tapping into your heating line if you can, like JK said you could cause some back pressure ect

 

[sky high]

A few years ago on another forum a guy told a story of venting his grow into his attic for an entire Winter....and when Spring came he had massive water damage to the ceilings in his home because (unbeknownst to him) the humid air he was pumping into the attic was freezing & creating frost on the rafters and other surfaces in the attic. Once it wrmed up outside, he said it was like it was RAINING inside his home (before the drywall came down).

just something i thought i'd pass on.....

be safe!

s h

 

[cannabeans]

hot air discharge...

any extra heat will help your living quarters.... i live in montana, get cold here!!!! i picked a room in my house i chose to keep "warmer", found the duct in the basement( where my grow is too) disconnected it from the house furnace and reconnected it to the discharge from my lights. works awesome! kicks up temp quite a bit! that works well for the winter!

 

[AlterEgo860]

if anyone wants to do this.. just use a closed circuit for your lights.. and exhaust your grow seperatly outside like u normally would.

 

[ttystikk]

A thousand watt bulb is just like a hair dryer in terms of power consumption and heat output. It is indeed a waste to simply spit that out into the winter and then spend more money to heat your home. By all means, investigate the utility of bringing your excess grow room heat into your home, so you can get your electricity to work for you twice; once growing your plants, and again by offsetting your heat bill.

While ductwork may seem the most direct route, there are many ways to skin this cat; in my case, I simply pull my 2 Ton chiller inside for the winter. Now anytime it runs, the heat is directly dumped into my house. Last winter I ran my furnace for 30 minutes, once. That was four days into a five day cold snap. In Colorado. In February...

 

[pussOGbrah]

i've always wanted to heat my house with my lights but what if you blow a bulb?? wouldnt all that toxic dust get blown right into your living space? That would suck..

 

[AlterEgo860]

they have hepa filters that u can use on the exhaust to run into your place..
I hear of people bblowing bulbs.. but honestly. ive been growing for 12 years.. I don't count the first few years because it was mainly just a few plants and not paying attention or anything.. so out fo the 12 years ive been growing.. ive never ever ever.. blown a bulb into pieces... don't get me wrong ive had bulbs not light.. or blow as in not light up.. but never had a single bulb shatter while in the hood.

 

[cornista]

Exhaust from light is used to provide a gentle radiant heat which is particularly useful to avoid being cold when you get out of the shower in winter.

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