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cooling issues, what am i doing wrong here?

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Graham Purwatt

i'm thinking my main problem is the lack of any type of attic.anyway,i just put in an extra 6" duct for the tent intake,put in a new oscillating fan and changed out the carbon in my scrubber.also bought a new thermometer to see if maybe the old one gives a different reading.just started everything back up so we will see.
 
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dunkybones

Graham Purwatt --

Is the whole tent hot, or is it hottest just in the canopy? You have 1200w close coupled and bearing down on those plants. 12" is as close as you'd like to get with those lights, maybe back off to 16/18" and get good air flow between the canopy and the lights. Or...

If the whole tent is cooking, the 170 cfm fan is getting slowed down by the scrubber and you aren't exchanging air fast enough. You could intake through the filter, through the lights, and out into the laundry room, using the one big fan for both purposes. And/Or...

You could add more insulation to the existing heat duct to trap more radiant heat. Flexible duct insulation is cumbersome, but it helps everywhere you put it. I just found gummy insulation for my hoods at Home Depot, in the duct section. It's meant to wrap around square duct, but I laid it over my hoods to contain more heat. It's silver on one side and gummy like a yellow sticky note on the other, a small roll 18"x48" cost like ten bucks and was more than enough for my 4 600w hoods. I'd include a picture, but my camera is on vacation.

And no matter what happens...

You are screwed come summer. So get it dialed in as best you can now, and then when summer comes, you'll have two options. # One, as someone said, you have a 1200w heater in the basement. If you're dumping that heat into the laundry room, sooner or later your central a/c is going to deal with it. If it is up to the task, that's just dandy, crank it a pay your bill. # Two, exhaust that heat out the laundry room just like you do to the heat from the dryer, if that is even an option for you.

Good luck, and let us know what worked (and what didn't).
 
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Graham Purwatt

i will raise the lights some then.after the new fan and intake i am holding at 78.3f right now,improvement.i plan on moving soon so hopefully i'll make it until i can get in a place with an attic and central a/c to my spot.i didn't even want to start back up here but my partnership went sour and i had to get back up myself so i'm stuck with these heat problems.here is the best i could draw of my layout,point and laugh at my skills if you will but if you see anything that needs changing let me know.

*note-my veg area is in the same room,208 watts of cfl's but it only runs 18/6 and the lights go out in there from 11am to 5pm,the hottest parts of the day
 

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Guest 18340

Curious, why don't you just grow in the room the tent is in? Their are many reasons I'm sure, just curious is all.
*edit*, never mind, saw that you're moving soon.

good drown, "challange" may have been too strong a word. i just didn't want this thread to turn into AC vs no AC back/forth and get off topic.
 
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Graham Purwatt

basically i only have that room for growing and i need a way to be able to mess around in my veg area without disturbing the flowering ladies.also i feel better about smell control in the tent
 
messn'n'gommin'

messn'n'gommin'

ember
Veteran
Switch your fans. I've got a 2x4 closet with 500w's and used a Stanley fan mod to scrub the air and cool it with. On the third (full) setting it kept me about 10-11 degrees F of room ambient. At 1200w's I don't think the 170 CFM fan is going to cool it was well as the 424 CFM fan.
 
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Hempster

New member
Hey elvlme2,
I don't want to go OT on a thread, but am desperate for some mini-split advice. Should I start a new thread? I got an amazingly efficient fujitsu with 25 SEER, refrigerant, a manifold, and a 2-stage pump. I did the installation. Then I got to a point where I didn't know enough about how to charge it properly. Don't know enough about subcool and superheat readings. AC seems essential if you want to maximize CO2.
Hempster
 
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Hempster

New member
I think I may have solved my problem. Sorry to hijack the thread, (and sorry about misspelling your username, evlme2!). Once I've got this up and running, I'll post a thread about DIY mini-split A/C, because it has been pretty hard to get info.
Hempster
 
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globel

Member
Ima say this one more time but in caps so you listen.


MOVE THE INTAKE FOR THE LIGHTS... TO INSIDE THE TENT. SO THE TENTS AIR MOVES FASTER!!!

No matter how many holes or osculating fans you put in. at the end of the day your only moving 170 cfm in that tent. The only way to cool it more is to exchange the air faster. take the ducting off the intake to the lgihts so it sucks the air from inside the room and cover the hole up top were the lights use to be ducted threw.
 
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Graham Purwatt

i have a small scrubber and if i unhook the intake for the lights or move it inside i can't keep the smell down.the problem is the heat from the lights,directly under the lights.i get cool air out of the tent exhaust.the heat problem is at the canopy,the top of my tent is cool as can be.it isn't heat building up in my tent,its like the fan cooling my lights isn't powerful enough.and my tent is 175 cuft.5x5x7=175.so far it appears that my problem is in check,the extra osc.fan is keeping cool air blowing across the canopy better but i won't know for sure until it heats up outside somemore. i will be getting a larger scrubber soon so that i can just hook it to the lights intake and exhaust the tent and light together and eliminate the 170 cfm fan
 
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puff adder

Member
Your 424cfm fan will easily cool your lights, and if (as advised) you move the intakes for the lights inside the tent, it will accomplish cooling both the lights, and the room.

For example, my room has one 747cfm 8" fan outside the room. Scrubber is in the room, and air is drawn through the scrubber, T's off to cool 2 rows of 2 1000 watt lights (4000 total), T's back together and then out to the fan outside the room, with a passive intake. Hoods are cool enough to lick.

The fan draws the hot air from both the lights, and the room, out of the room, and creates a negative pressure in the room, and all air exiting the room is scrubbed (No odor).

Now if you can hook your passive intake up to a cool air source (I knocked out the central heating/AC duct in the floor and draw cold air in from under the house) that would be ideal.

You can accomplish what you want with what you have IMO.
 
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Graham Purwatt

well if you can cool that much wattage with less than half the cfm's my fan has then i guess ill get a 6"to 4" reducer and try it with the little scrubber i have. hopefully it works until i can get a bigger scrubber
 
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