Cooler fun

[Buster Brown]

Howdy, ive been an ICMAG lurker for years now, ive had a few grows, all pretty small with good results.. Ive seen these things for years and always thought about converting one, well i couldnt pass on this one, and i wanted to share it with the community ive learned so much from, its a work in progress, but any ideas or comments would be great!!

It measures 6 1/2ft long, 2 3/4 deep, and 6 1/2 Tall, ill get some better pictures, but it gives you an idea.. I cut in a vent from the top, hooked up to a downdraft fan, seems to get good air flow in

ill have to go dirt at first, as i already have everything for it, and i want to get a good mom goin as ill have to start from scratch, but ill probably wanna go hydro after that. Imma get some more pics of the inside, but i wanted to share what i had

 

[zenoonez]

I have a repair store down the street and I think the same thing every time I ride by and see all the ones going for junk recycling. Props for doing it man, I have been meaning to call them and see if I can get them to hold on to a large one for me. I look forward to seeing what you do with it man.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Now THAT'S a cooler. Color me jealous.

 

[ScrubNinja]

This will be amazing

 

[TheCheeseMan]

Welcome BBrown

does the cooler still work? that would be great if you could just set the temp to 75*F and never worry about the heat.



This looks like alot of fun, what genetics are you considering?

 

[dorkvan420]

Cool, ...pun intended!!!!
I'll be checking this out for sure!!!

 

[Hella THC]

Haha, this is right up your ally, Freezerboy! Here I was picturing a little Igloo brand cooler when I read the title of the thread... boy oh boy, what a surprise! Nice job!

 

[sito007]

Ill be watching and learning from this for sure MR.BROWN.What kind of lighting you going to run for veg and flower? are you going divide cooler into two one veg and one for flower?

 

[Buster Brown]

Thanks for checkin it out!! Unfortunatly Cheeseman, it dosent cool anymore, i gutted the huge condesor and fans that were inside for more room. As far as genetics, ive started some bag seeds from some pretty good stuff, not sure the exact strain, and yesterday i was Blessed with a few clones, 1 Purple Wreck, 1 Lifeguard(Lifesaver supercross) and 2 chocolopes.

heres some of the young' ungs basking

Sito: I have 2 lights in there right now, a 400 MH that there vegging under, and a 600 HPS on the other side, i was planning on tryin to make it a straight flowering cab, I have another idea for a vegging cab that im saving till im ready, youll all see that one to

Here is the 600, the first pic is the 400

So far the thing seals up very nicely, i need to cut my exhaust very soon, it gets pretty cold where it sits during winter so cooling it shouldnt be a problem, but keeping it kinda warm when lights are off might pose a small challenge .. i hope to get some air cooled hoods in the future when the funds permit, for now im workin with what i got

 

[Buster Brown]

So im having some ventalation bumps, Ive already cut a 4" hole in the top, with the vent piece you see above, the blower fan sits on top ... my plan was to have air in from the top, and have another blower fan inside the cab "pushing" air through a filter, As i read more and more im getting the idea that its better to "pull" air through a filter ...

so i guess my question is, would i be better off cutting the fresh air in vent through the floor and have my fan underneath where theres room, and somehow hooking a filter up to the hole i already cut with my exhaust fan ontop "pulling" the air from the inside through a filter??

 

[ScrubNinja]

Hot air rises and cold air sinks. You want intakes large and low and preferably passive (no fans), and exhaust fan at top sucking through filter. This is the general, classic design you should aim towards to keep it simple. Make the intake hole/s at least twice the area of the exhaust hole. Here is a good page for working out areas, etc. If it still gets too hot, look into cooltubing the lights with their own fan/flow. Hope it helps.

 

[Buster Brown]

Ok, i think im understanding this a little better now, sorry, theres alotta info on here about vent and it gets a little confusing sometimes ...

Thanks for the link ScrubNinja, So your saying cut holes through the floor and use no direct fans to pump air in, Let my exhaust fan pull it in ... Should i use some kind of damper? would it work, cause im worried about being able to see the light from underneath from the holes ... im also realizing i dont have the kind of exhaust fan i need now

 

[zenoonez]

Ok, i think im understanding this a little better now, sorry, theres alotta info on here about vent and it gets a little confusing sometimes ...

Thanks for the link ScrubNinja, So your saying cut holes through the floor and use no direct fans to pump air in, Let my exhaust fan pull it in ... Should i use some kind of damper? would it work, cause im worried about being able to see the light from underneath from the holes ... im also realizing i dont have the kind of exhaust fan i need now

Exactly, use the suction of your upper vents pulling hot air out of the top to pull in cool air from the bottom. The only thing that you really have to worry about is making all the vents lightproof because you don't want to let light in for your night cycle. Oh and post some more pics, I personally want to see more of this sucker on the inside and out and I am sure others would like to as well.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Hell yeah more pics would be great and it was nice how you had them sized a little bigger originally. Yeah it does get very confusing but really there's only a handful of different ways to do it. Most or all grows could be slotted into 3 different vent styles - the one I outlined, or a heat shield with one fan doing the cab AND the heatshield, or cab and heatshield on their own paths with seperate fans. Then you get the variations on those - intake fans, combining multiple cabs etc etc. But it all comes down to the same basic principles. If you plan on doing something that nobody else seems to do, question it long and hard - like the intakes on roof idea.

So yes, down at floor level for intakes except the lower section of wall is the best, that way holes arent interfering where you can place pots etc. Check the link in my sig for a light trap, I'd put it on the rear wall at floor level. On the exhaust, the carbon will block all the light. Hope it helps man. Don't skimp on the fans either. I had a lot of problems trying to keep a cooltubed 600 cool in a decent sized cab. You mentioned it's cold weather there and I'm in the tropics, but nevertheless, I would still recommend cooltubes or vented hoods.

 

[Buster Brown]

Thanks for the replies, and now i gotta lotta work to do cause my whole way of venting has changed, i wanna do it right though, and i accually have some nice pieces that will work good for the floor vents, i havent drilled the holes yet, but heres what i can put on the inside

these are right in the middle kind of dividing the two sides, i accually have another set like that i could have 4 holes

My apoliogies for the crappy pics, im workin on gettin an accual camera

The fan i have may work after all!! heres a horrible pic of it, but its pretty strong and responds good on the speed controller, im gonna have to make the 4" hole on top a 6" hole now and i can mount this bad boy right on top

 

[Rocky Mtn Squid]

Right On...!!!!

Right On...!!!!

BB.....I've been wanting to build on of these for years, but have never able to find one for a reasonable price let alone figuring out how I would get it inside my front door.

Have you considered installing a sealed air cooled "cool tube"...??? IMHO, that's is what i would do. WIth all of that room inside, you could mount the cool tube on adjustable hangers so that you could lift it up and down to suit your needs. I would install a 1000 watt bulb, or 2 x 400's and supplement it with some T5's for lateral lighting.

Cooling and venting will require at least 4 x 4" ventilation holes to keep your temp and venitlation requirements under control. You're also going to requre a carbon filter.

Wow.......that old cooler has a ton of potential. Nice find...

 

[Buster Brown]

Thanks rocky, Ya im accually quite lucky i find all kinds of crazy things like these, here a sneak peek of my future mother/clone vegger, They use this thing is science labs apperantly, its quite bitchin and weights a ton!! check it out:

with the door closed, it reads temp from the outside, nice big door lock on the side

With the outside door open, theres 2 panels with latches, its awesome

then with the 2 inside doors open, the shelvs are removeable up and down

Like i said, thats getting a little ahead of myself, but i have the thing already so its in tha wings =)

 

[zenoonez]

They look very nice, how much do you end up paying for these things?

 

[Rocky Mtn Squid]

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[Buster Brown]

Nice rocky mtn!! looks like some tasty smoke in there!

zenoonez: im pretty lucky i can get these things pretty cheap, i paid 50 bucks for the big cooler

So ive been busy inside, i cut some new intake holes in tha floor, there right in tha middle, Again i apologize for the poor quality of the pictures, i put some screen over the holes, and they have some cool covers that snap on:

and with the covers on:

I changed the exhaust hole to, now its just a square with a 6 inch flange, Heres a very bad picture of it,

I started making a carbon filter today as well, i made it as far as making the inner core, after reading the DIY for it, i ended up making a 8 inch outer, and 24 inches long, using the formula i hope thats right ... heres another bad picture, but this is only the inner core i got hooked up, when im standing inside with the doors closed, theres a strong pull of air, so i think im on the right track:

Is it bad the holes are pretty much right underneath the filter, i mean is the air gonna circulate good? i plan on putting a smaller fan in there to blow the air around