How do you ventilate a grow (bed) room?

[scurred]

Currently in the planning/testing stage of building a room, still waiting for my card from the state so there aren't any plants but so far we have a light and just some hydro buckets bubbling to try and get an idea for heat and humidity and what kind of ventilation we'll need.

With the door to the room open the temp/rh stays fine but as soon as we close the door the rh shoots up to 80%. There's 1 door and 1 window in the room, the window is already covered well with poly to block all light and the door has a few layers of protection against light leaks, the room is totally blacked out but we can't figure out how to ventilate this thing.

Does anyone have any ideas or experience with this sort of thing?

Some ideas I thought of is to install a inline or squirrel cage fan, cut a hole in the ceiling and have it exhausting to the attic..could even attach a carbon filter. Or use an air cooled hood and exhaust the hood with a fan - intaking and exhausting from/to the attic to control temps, but then we'd still need something to control humidity such as a dehumidifier which uses electricity. If we just have a fan exhausting into the attic, how would we setup some intake in the room without allowing light in?

Ideas for passive intake, cutting holes in the floor and installing dark room louvers which would intake from a crawl space.

Thanks in advance for anyone willing to help!

 

[Yes4Prop215]

im also in a 10x10 bedroom...asked this same question a few weeks ago. for a bedroom, you need at least a 10-12 inch exhaust fan capable of 1000 CFM or so..some recomended a 12inch 3000 CFM fan on a speed controller..i went with a 10inc 800 CFM exhaust hooked to a 10x39 phat filter and its exhaust my room pretty nicely.....and yes you will need a carbon filter..go with a phat or phresh filter instead of CAN.

with a 10-12in exhaust you can use a passive intake. punch a hole run some ducting stuff it with 3m filter...and then you gotta figure out your eletrical load and what the room is capable off...unless you have upgraded a standard bedroom only has one or two 120v circuits only capable of 1500 watts each...so you will need to add a new circuit preferably 240v with around 30amps....my bedroom has two 120v 20amp circuits, a 15a 240v, and a 30a 240v run off the dryer...i can push 5200 watts safely in my room, with enough juice for fans, AC, and dehuey on top....four 1ks off the 30amp, two 600s off the 15amp, and all equiipment, fans off the double 20amps...

you will need a dehumidifier capable of at least 60 pints a day. most on IC rec the heavy duty santa fe classic 100 pint which is around 1400 bucks. you can find other ones around for like 500 but they arent as hardcore as the santa fe classic and might pull more amps. the classics 100pints to 6 amps of power is the best deal on the market...

 

[scurred]

im also in a 10x10 bedroom...asked this same question a few weeks ago. for a bedroom, you need at least a 10-12 inch exhaust fan capable of 1000 CFM or so..some recomended a 12inch 3000 CFM fan on a speed controller..i went with a 10inc 800 CFM exhaust hooked to a 10x39 phat filter and its exhaust my room pretty nicely.....and yes you will need a carbon filter..go with a phat or phresh filter instead of CAN.

with a 10-12in exhaust you can use a passive intake. punch a hole run some ducting stuff it with 3m filter...and then you gotta figure out your eletrical load and what the room is capable off...unless you have upgraded a standard bedroom only has one or two 120v circuits only capable of 1500 watts each...so you will need to add a new circuit preferably 240v with around 30amps....my bedroom has two 120v 20amp circuits, a 15a 240v, and a 30a 240v run off the dryer...i can push 5200 watts safely in my room, with enough juice for fans, AC, and dehuey on top....four 1ks off the 30amp, two 600s off the 15amp, and all equiipment, fans off the double 20amps...

you will need a dehumidifier capable of at least 60 pints a day. most on IC rec the heavy duty santa fe classic 100 pint which is around 1400 bucks. you can find other ones around for like 500 but they arent as hardcore as the santa fe classic and might pull more amps. the classics 100pints to 6 amps of power is the best deal on the market...

Where are you exhausting to? My room won't have that much lights, I am starting with a single 600w because I am only a patient, so I am trying to keep this as inexpensive and simple as possible.

An idea, could I setup the air cooled hoods to exhaust all heat to the attic but have the room sealed? Then setup a CO2 tank to run once every hour or something similar? And also have a dehumidifier running. If I have an exhaust fan exhausting all air out of the room, I'm not entirely sure where I would setup a passive intake, unless I just cut a hole in the floor and install a dark room vent - which seems like a lot of trouble.

I already own a dehumidifier, I'll have to check and see what it's capable of.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

Do you have plans for a bigger grow, to use the whole room? or just that 600. if its only one light, you should be good using a 6-8in with a 40 pint dehuey. i just recomended the big stuff in case you use the bedroom to your potential. a standard 10x10x8 bedroom can be maxed out at around 5-6 lights...

my exhaust goes into a crawlspace..i punched a hole and ran ducting into it. passive intake comes from the opposite side of the room, sucks air from a laundry room.

if you are pulling air through your hoods out to your attic you will need a bigger fan and the negative pressure will create weird air movements inside your room, which is why you punch the passive intake hole so it directs all the airflow, instead of having air rattling the doors and windows being sucked in through every crack....

 

[clampie]

I am also in a bedroom this size for flowering (I veg in a separate eave/closet space). I have two 600s on one table, and a 1k on the other (on a lightrail). both tables' lights are vented from (and back to) the attic space by a 10" Max fan, through a Y connector, then through both tables' lights, then back up to the attic.
I have another 6" fan for a room exhaust (as the lights' fan never touches the room's air). I have an intake for the room that is also coming down from the ceiling, with dampers on that and the exhaust. when the exhaust is off, and both dampers closed, my CO2 kicks back on via the Sentinel EVC-1 that I have running both. I haven't had any need for a separate dehumidifier (besides the occasional exhaust of the room). I subscribe to the theory that it is better to have a "tight" room than a completely sealed one. That way, air is moving in and out of the room, at least a little. you'll spend a bit more in CO2, but that isn't much in the grand scheme of things. In the picture here, you can see the hole for the 6" exhaust fan, the EVC-1 controller, and the intake duct (it has to be at 90 degrees for the damper to work correctly).

 

[clampie]

hey prop, what size is that bedroom circuit that you mentioned running two 1500W. 20A??
thanks so much for the info...

 

[Sir_Nugget]

Son... You don't ventilate the bedroom, although that would depend on your spot.. you get a 8x8 grow tent, put a 10" vortex inside that

 

[scurred]

Do you have plans for a bigger grow, to use the whole room? or just that 600. if its only one light, you should be good using a 6-8in with a 40 pint dehuey. i just recomended the big stuff in case you use the bedroom to your potential. a standard 10x10x8 bedroom can be maxed out at around 5-6 lights...

my exhaust goes into a crawlspace..i punched a hole and ran ducting into it. passive intake comes from the opposite side of the room, sucks air from a laundry room.

if you are pulling air through your hoods out to your attic you will need a bigger fan and the negative pressure will create weird air movements inside your room, which is why you punch the passive intake hole so it directs all the airflow, instead of having air rattling the doors and windows being sucked in through every crack....

If I remain a patient I have no need for more than the 600, I will have a 400 in a separate area for veg. The only need for more light would be if I became a caregiver which at this time I don't plan on it.

This is something else I am considering, this would be 10x easier because I could just leave the bedroom door open 24/7. Build 2 enclosures inside the bedroom, 1 for veg and 1 for flower... out of 2x4's and either use foam insulation or b&w poly for the walls. Then I can just ventilate the two enclosures instead of the entire room which would be much simpler, only problem is getting the enclosures light tight.

 

[scurred]

Son... You don't ventilate the bedroom, although that would depend on your spot.. you get a 8x8 grow tent, put a 10" vortex inside that

We've tried the tents, they aren't light proof. That's why we're considering building our own enclosures, and yes using a fan as exhaust, and using dark room louvers for passive intakes. Then a couple fans inside the bedroom to get the hot/humid air out of the room.

 

[RedRain]

venting = problems

sealed rooms and use ac and a dehum...air to air, water cooled ac, or water cooled heat exchanger.

only way people do it in BC



my 2 cents

 

[odium33]

sealed rooms and use ac and a dehum...air to air, water cooled ac, or water cooled heat exchanger.

agree agree agree. i would never do an exhaust/intake room again. spend up on some ACs and dehueys and go to town

 

[Stress_test]

For a 600watt personal use med grow you will do perfectly fine with passive intake from a crawlspace and a squirrel cage fan exhaust.

I have 15 plants in a 10 X 10ft room and 1400watt. In the hottest parts of the summer the exhaust fan kicks on for 5 minutes every 30 minutes. Now, in the winter it kicks on for 5 minutes every hour just to cycle fresh air.

If you have good air circulation then humidity shouldn't ever be much of an issue...

 

[scurred]

I think I'll just build an enclosure, it'll be easier to control everything and I won't need to waste electricity on AC or a dehumidifier. Leaving the door open keeps RH and Temps in check, and if I build the enclosure right it will be light proof and ventilate well enough.

Also this way, I can build 2 enclosures in the one room...1 for veg, 1 for flower - so I can do all of my growing in the one bedroom.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

agree agree agree. i would never do an exhaust/intake room again. spend up on some ACs and dehueys and go to town

what was wrong with exhaust/intake setup? damn...im starting to wish i installed that damn window AC..

 

[scurred]

Exhaust intake seems like it'd save you some bills... AC's and Dehumidifiers use quite a bit of electricity.

 

[RedRain]

ac+ dehum = safe and secure.....in my books....i dont trust venting/pulling air from outside...but that is just paranoid me...

its to easy to have a smell leak out

in my books if you arent legal, you should be running a sealed room.

my 2 cents...

water cooling is fricking amazing, but no one seems to use it....is ur water metered??

i guess for a small little show like 600-1000w using intake/outtake will save u money....i am just always super cautious and paranoid to vent....

 

[clampie]

Exhaust intake seems like it'd save you some bills... AC's and Dehumidifiers use quite a bit of electricity.

that's the main reason I exhaust. I also have an AC window unit, just in case I need it for summertime, but otherwise, I exhaust into a carbon filter, and have no problems with smell leaks.

 

[Rednick]

Step 1:
Sealed? or Open?

Step 2:
Grow

IMO, if your humidity is 80% w/o plants, then you are going to need a dehumidifier anyway, or bubbling away all that moisture is raising your humidity more than a normal garden would...
You may be creating an evironment like in the Middle East where they have the covered courtyards with relatively high humidity compared to the arid surroundings.

No info on environmental RH, so help stops here.

Low environmental RH = Open
(too) High "" '"" = Closed

 

[clampie]

scurred, I am embarrassed, I don't grow hydro, and so all of my advice/experience probably makes my previous advice flawed.. With soilless or handwatered coco, I don't have the same humidity issues, hence my open-ish room (with dampers closed, it is not an "open" room).

Good luck, and sorry I missed that important info from the start.

 

[Leroy Brown]

I'm glad this topic came up, I've been scouring the net & this place and there really isn't that much info on running open rooms. Anyone more experienced please feel free to chime in with any kind of advice etc.