Where to put my portable airconditioner?

[viper]

Hi guys, asked on an earlier thread about having an portable airconditioner etc.

i`m using a secret garden 1.2m x 1.2m x 2.0m grow tent with a 600w lamp, altami wilma 8 pot and carbon filter etc but its too hot in my attic and in the grow room so was going to use an air conditioner.

i know this is probably a stupid question but should i put the air conditioner in the grow tent or should i keep it outside in the main attic blowing by the inlet opening?

just want to get it right as it has a humidifier on it so dont want to drain all the moistur out of the air if its too close if you get what i mean.

thanks again guys

 

[Rural_GrowOp]

It all depends on the size of the a/c and the size of the attic. If the a/c isn't big enough to cool the attic then putting it outside the tent isn't going to help.

 

[shivavaranessi]

my bro has to use an aircon for the same reasons you do
he just has the unit next to his tent (not blowing onto it)
and his temps are perfect now never higher than 28 degrees
peace :)
shiva

 

[been]

If you put it inside the tent you're losing out on nugs. Maybe you should consider partitioning the attic?

 

[grizz]

outside the tent, run duct from ac into tent, you put that baby inside the tent all that hot exaust will heat it up more than it will cool it.

 

[koopa troopa]

very wise grizz. hot exhaust isn't on most people's minds when it comes to putting it in the tent. maybe if you exhausted the a/c out of the tent?

 

[grizz]

yeah that works to but you always get more heat with it inside, its pretty simple to go to home depot and get a rectangle to round duct piece and screw it to the ac and run the duct to the room or tent. the only draw back to this is the thermostat is outside the tent so its going to run 24/7 unless put on a timer or a remote thermo.

 

[shivavaranessi]

trust me stick it outside the tent:)
it saves you having to spend money on
things that are not going to make a difference
i'll take 100% blame if it does not work lol thats how sure i am dude
shiva:)

 

[smoke1sun]

If you have the cash and time, i would partition the attic well insulate it. and use it kinda llike a lung room. Maybe a lil over board, but you might be able to save some power by not having the ac on 24 hours.

Couple things to consider, is 1. Does your ac have a water hose hook up, for the drip?
If so you can run it for 24hours and not worry about the drip pan filling up and your not there to empty it. mine does not. pain in the ass.

2. If power is lost will you ac come back on with the same setting. Once again mine didnt. another pain in the ass.

I should of did more homework before i bought.

 

[grizz]

good points smoke1, most do not come back on after a power outage ..and make damn sure it has a drain hose.

 

[Snap]

My tent intake is pretty agressive, as I've got reasonably overspecced extraction. I stuck a portable A/C by the tent intakes, and the tent blower takes care of the rest.

Works fine for the minute, but I know it's not the most efficient method.

I'm planning to do as recommended above, section off the bit of room with the tents inside, and use the A/C to cool the little pseudo-room.

 

[greenplanetguru]

How about a second tent for A/C?

Yeah make sure you get an A/C with 'manual' controls... Just good ol' knobs and switches. And they're usually less expensive than the digitally controlled models. I have one that I used in my last grow location which was a room built inside a room down in an unfinished basement. We just cut an outline of the A/C unit into our 'wall' which was made of 1 x 1's with panda film covered 4' x 8' insulation sheets but I doubt if you want to cut a large hole in your nice tent. With that setup I just set my manual A/C on max and used a remote thermostat that Green Air Products makes inside the bloom room to control it.

I always failed miserably at trying attic grows in the summer but I have a buddy who does an attic grow and what's worked for him is using a 2nd tent just for the A/C unit. He puts the A/C inside of tent #2 and exhausts the unit outside the tent but uses the 2nd tent as a place he can pull cool air from for his 600w cool tube and he routes his air right back into the A/C tent. Even after the air whooshes through the cool tube it's cooler and less humid than the air in his attic. He also has another intake fan that pulls air into his grow space from tent # 2...

I think this same concept could be accomplished cheaper by making an A/C 'chamber' out of a 1" PVC frame with Panda Film over it. I made a grow tent out of these materials a few years ago and it was VERY air tight. It was so air tight that if I made another one I'd design it with bracing every 2 feet instead of every 3 feet like I had it. Even with a decent sized passive intake hole the walls would really suck in whenever I ran the Eclipse/Ostberg 630cfm fan on my lights.

One other thing... Little Giant makes a great pump with a float switch that works great for dumping the condensation for you. You route the A/C's condensation hose to any one of the holes you see on the top of the Little Giant (Model VCMA-OULS) and route plastic tubing to wherever you want the water to go and when it fills up enough to trigger the float switch the unit kicks on and runs the cute little pump about 20 seconds and BOOM! Bob's your uncle! We even had the hose running uphill in our basement grow and the pump had plenty of push to deal with the incline. Here's a pic of it... I saw one online for $35 at this website:

http://www.simplyplumbing.com/littlegiant-554425.html?productid=littlegiant-554425&channelid=FROOG

I hope this helps...

Peace!:character0103:

 

[inthefire]

Hey Greenpalnetguru how many times would the Ac turn on?Did the green air work good?
How would you drop the temperatures lights on and lights off did it have a night and day settings?Or did you just set the temperature on one setting through the grow?