What heater for grow tent.

[Willisbrow]

What kinda heater are u guys using for a ur grow tent? I am using a ceramic heater right now and it is drying the shit out of my grow room. Getting 25% RH when the room my text is in sits at sbiut 60%.
I was looking at an oil filled heater or a IR type heater.
One other thing that I want is when the timer turns my light and heater on I want my heater to turn on. The one I’m using now when the timer turns my light and heater on, I have to go in my tent and hit the power button in my heater.
I would like a heater that has a on off switch. So I can leave it on the on setting so it turns on automatically when my light goes on.

U guys have any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[Titleist]

Last time I used a tent that needed additional heat we used an oil filled heater. They look like a little radiator but their point is to heat the air in the tent not blow it all over the plants. In a 4x4 it'll take some space until you get farther into veg. At that point if it's an emergency you can try pulling it out o the tent and putting it in front of a tent window to pull in warm air. We had an issue once where we had to open the side door on the tent, prop it open so it was sticking out to the side and put the heater under that eave create by the door. That captured all the heat and pulled it into the tent without damaging the plant next to the window opening. If you're talking about trying to keep the plant warm in cold garage after winter it's a bit more of a pain.

Where is the tent and how cold is it around it?

 

[Willisbrow]

Last time I used a tent that needed additional heat we used an oil filled heater. They look like a little radiator but their point is to heat the air in the tent not blow it all over the plants. In a 4x4 it'll take some space until you get farther into veg. At that point if it's an emergency you can try pulling it out o the tent and putting it in front of a tent window to pull in warm air. We had an issue once where we had to open the side door on the tent, prop it open so it was sticking out to the side and put the heater under that eave create by the door. That captured all the heat and pulled it into the tent without damaging the plant next to the window opening. If you're talking about trying to keep the plant warm in cold garage after winter it's a bit more of a pain.

Where is the tent and how cold is it around it?The tent is I. My garage. And it gets into the high 50s night low 60s during the day. I saw some oil filled heaters that have a 24 hour timer that my coworker will do what I’m looking for. What do u think?

 

[GrowHobo]

Radiator heater with analog controls hooked to an inkbird thermostat. I’d also stick a piece of insulation under the tent

 

[Willisbrow]

All I could find are these fancy radiator heaters with digital controls. Some had 24 hour timers. But u have to set them everyday, so that doesn’t help me.
My coworker told me to look at baseboard heaters. He said they are stupid, on/off heaters. That will work with a timer.

 

[Ganjadad]

Limited-time deal: andily Compact Portable Ceramic Space Heater with Adjustable Comfort control Thermostat, 3 settings, Easy grip handle, Great for use in Home, Dorm, Office Desktop, and Kitchen, ETL for Safe (Black) https://a.co/d/90xirk2

I use these. They have nice built in safety features, thermostat and a high and low. I dont put them in my tent but out side of it pointed in it’s direction and I don’t use the thermostat either bc it gets way to hot in the tent/room when relying on the thermostat to make it shut off. I like them bc you can turn the switch on low and plug it into a timer and have it come on and off when ever you want. Some don’t have a switch more like a button you press with a digital screen and if you hook those up to a timer once it’s power is cut off it won’t to back on when the power is back on.
Edit- they also make a heater/humidifier combo or just buy a humidifier

 

[Willisbrow]

Limited-time deal: andily Compact Portable Ceramic Space Heater with Adjustable Comfort control Thermostat, 3 settings, Easy grip handle, Great for use in Home, Dorm, Office Desktop, and Kitchen, ETL for Safe (Black) https://a.co/d/90xirk2

I use these. They have nice built in safety features, thermostat and a high and low. I dont put them in my tent but out side of it pointed in it’s direction and I don’t use the thermostat either bc it gets way to hot in the tent/room when relying on the thermostat to make it shut off. I like them bc you can turn the switch on low and plug it into a timer and have it come on and off when ever you want. Some don’t have a switch more like a button you press with a digital screen and if you hook those up to a timer once it’s power is cut off it won’t to back on when the power is back on.
Edit- they also make a heater/humidifier combo or just buy a humidifier

Hmm. I have a ceramic one in my room/tent right now and it drops my RH way low. I like the fact that u can turn it to low and it stays in the on position, I want something like that.
I was reading that radiator heaters don’t dry things out like ceramic ones do. Do ideally I want a oil filled/radiator heater with an on off switch, that I could leave in the ON position, not a ON button.

 

[Willisbrow]

My garage get a lot of draft. So heating up the area out side of my grow room/tent is not really an option. Unless I build a smallish box and have my intake ducting connected to it with the heater running inside the box.
But that will take up space in my already crowded garage.

 

[Ganjadad]

Hmm. I have a ceramic one in my room/tent right now and it drops my RH way low. I like the fact that u can turn it to low and it stays in the on position, I want something like that.
I was reading that radiator heaters don’t dry things out like ceramic ones do. Do ideally I want a oil filled/radiator heater with an on off switch, that I could leave in the ON position, not a ON button.

My garage get a lot of draft. So heating up the area out side of my grow room/tent is not really an option. Unless I build a smallish box and have my intake ducting connected to it with the heater running inside the box.
But that will take up space in my already crowded garage.

Yeah since I have it outside my tent the humidity stays in range. Definitely wont work on every set up, I wouldn’t try heating up the garage but more the tent itself. You should try your ceramic heater outside the tent but pointed really close to it. Maybe two feet away, i have mine 2 ft away and it works perfect but I’m in a insulated closet not a garage so maybe it won’t work as well

 

[GrimReffer]

Oil filled work the best and doesn’t remove humidity. I run 2 in a 10x12 room in the winter.

 

[Willisbrow]

Oil filled work the best and doesn’t remove humidity. I run 2 in a 10x12 room in the winter.

I was looking oil filled ones. But I want them to come on when my lights turn on. The one I’m using now I have to manually press the ON button every day whe the lights come on. All the oil filled heaters I’ve seen are kinda set up the same way.
How do you have ur heaters turn on? Cause they aren’t running 24/7 right?

 

[Titleist]

Ok you're in a garage. That makes it difficult if it's not heated. You'll only be able to use the radiator heater inside the tent until the plants get large and start getting too close to the heating fins. Then you'll need to move it outside the tent and suck the warm air past the heater into the tent. You probably don't want to use a heater with a heating element in it as others have mentioned they burn up humidity, cycling on and off really messes with the plants as well. Either way you'll be pulling cold air towards the tent. Whether you heat it before it enters the tent or try to heat it inside the tent is up to you but inside the tent will eventually be a problem. If I can suggest, if you don't have a smell issue to worry about, you can retain the heat and humidity lowering exhaust fan speed which should work in a pinch in veg as humidity isn't that crucial. I guess a good thing is once you hit flower the lower humidity doesn't matter as much as well as the temps should be a bit cooler anyway for multiple reasons.

One other thing to try is trying to create a mini lung room around the tent and heat that lung room. If money isn't an issue and you can build something, get some 2x2's and build a frame around the tent, trying to leave at least 1 foot space between the tent and exterior box. You can use OC insulation board to build the room, as think as you can afford. Make sure to keep an entrance where you need it and hopefully you gave yourself 2 feet around the tent so you can get some access to the sides of the tent.

I had a 3 car garage that I insulated and drywalled. Putting 1 oil filled heater in there kept the garage around the 50 degree mark in the upper midwest area. Building a much smaller insulated lung room around your tent should keep things warm enough and help mitigate the fluctuations that can occur sucking in 50 degree air, heating it and sending it to the tent.

Good luck sir! At least you won't have a problem chilling the last few weeks of flower if that's something you like to do for a color change.

 

[Willisbrow]

I

Yeah since I have it outside my tent the humidity stays in range. Definitely wont work on every set up, I wouldn’t try heating up the garage but more the tent itself. You should try your ceramic heater outside the tent but pointed really close to it. Maybe two feet away, i have mine 2 ft away and it works perfect but I’m in a insulated closet not a garage so maybe it won’t work as well

will try this today when I get home. Lights come on at 8:30.

 

[GrowHobo]

I was looking oil filled ones. But I want them to come on when my lights turn on. The one I’m using now I have to manually press the ON button every day whe the lights come on. All the oil filled heaters I’ve seen are kinda set up the same way.
How do you have ur heaters turn on? Cause they aren’t running 24/7 right?

I got one with analog controls at Walmart it’s on 24/7 but hooked to an inkbird thermostat so it turns on/off at set temps.

I don’t see the allure of running a heater on a timer. Plants like to stay warm at night in veg

 

[Titleist]

I was looking oil filled ones. But I want them to come on when my lights turn on. The one I’m using now I have to manually press the ON button every day whe the lights come on. All the oil filled heaters I’ve seen are kinda set up the same way.
How do you have ur heaters turn on? Cause they aren’t running 24/7 right?

What's your daily swing in temps like? Not that this applies to every situation but in our case, the difference between light on and off was around 7 degrees. That's not a bad swing. If you put the heater in the tent, set it so that it turns off and on to maintain the normal swing. During the day we may hit 81 max, down to around 73 or so lights out. You use the thermostat on the heater to maintain the swing, that way you don't have to turn it on and off constantly and it's powered at all times without having to mess with it. That assumes stable temps around the tent.

I used both the rotary knob heaters and digital. Rotary knob is easier to set your swing as you can hear it kick on and you can back it off a hair to settle it in.

 

[Titleist]

Just noticed this, you want the heater to turn on when the lights come on? What heats the tent when the lights are off then? Let the lights provide some heat and show you what the average daily swing is, then put the heater in there to minimize the swing and keep the tent warm at night when the lights are off and not helping heat the tent.

 

[Ganjadad]

I

will try this today when I get home. Lights come on at 8:30.

It’s worth a shot

 

[Willisbrow]

I got one with analog controls at Walmart it’s on 24/7 but hooked to an inkbird thermostat so it turns on/off at set temps.

I don’t see the allure of running a heater on a timer. Plants like to stay warm at night in veg

It you do want it cooler at light off right?
Same temp 24/7 isn’t a good thing?

 

[Willisbrow]

Just noticed this, you want the heater to turn on when the lights come on? What heats the tent when the lights are off then? Let the lights provide some heat and show you what the average daily swing is, then put the heater in there to minimize the swing and keep the tent warm at night when the lights are off and not helping heat the tent.

I got a 800 watt led and it doesn’t get to warm in there with just the lights on. I would be surprised if it got to 65 degrees with lights on and no heater. I have to check my thermometer to see what the cold temps are.

 

[Ganjadad]

I got one with analog controls at Walmart it’s on 24/7 but hooked to an inkbird thermostat so it turns on/off at set temps.

I don’t see the allure of running a heater on a timer. Plants like to stay warm at night in veg

Yeah I have my heater turned on at lights off. It would be to hot and really not needed.