Tips for saving money on cooling cost
- Thread starter mjr99
- Start date
air cool lights so you get rid of most of the heat initially.
Use water chillers and heat exchangers instead of AC to cut costs in half.
Stagger lighting so only half your bulbs run for two hours, then the other set for two hours, back and forth. Like a slow-moving light mover. Cuts energy and cooling needs in half (see my 16kw grow in sig)
Seal up all cracks, leaks, and insulate the shit out of the room, and water barrels
Use a dimmable digital ballast for hot days so you can cut the heat in half again
Use watercooled CO2 generators or tanked CO2 to avoid the heat of typical generators
Keep your ballasts out of the flower room
Use fluoros in veg instead of MH
Stagger lighting so only half your bulbs run for two hours, then the other set for two hours, back and forth. Like a slow-moving light mover. Cuts energy and cooling needs in half (see my 16kw grow in sig)
Seal up all cracks, leaks, and insulate the shit out of the room, and water barrels
Use a dimmable digital ballast for hot days so you can cut the heat in half again
Use watercooled CO2 generators or tanked CO2 to avoid the heat of typical generators
Keep your ballasts out of the flower room
Use fluoros in veg instead of MH
cant say anything better then that! spot on! going to do the water cooling for the summer
reckon
Member
decent condition A/C radiator or trans oil cooler @ junk yard: $20.00 (note: you MUST get ALL oil/refrigerant out of this or it wont work: the oil/refrigerant insulates the pipes from the water and it wont transfer heat)
Lasko (or other brand) 20" box fan: $20.00 (on sale @ home depot now @ $14.95)
small 145 gph fountain pump (harbor freight): $9.95
4 ft. black silicone tubing 1/2" O.D.(hot rod shop): $6.00
Water Wetter : http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=74&pcid=10 (1 qt=$10.00)
Small Ice chest (mine was $15 at wally world)
total was about $80 for everything, and took maybe 30 minutes to assemble, seal, and get it running.
I sit the pump in the bottom of the ice chest, run a tube from the outlet to the top radiator opening, and another out the bottom draining back to the chest, and sealed it all up with silicone sealant.
I run black tubing to stop algae growth and to help with heat exchange.
I use the water wetter (from when I used to race karts & motorcycles), because it gets colder than just plain water, and it stops any algae or bacteria from forming in the "swamp cooler" tubing system,...I run a full small bottle in 4 gallons in the system
it fits on a shelf,, it's SMALL (only an inch thicker in cross section than the original fan) it uses less than 2 amps of electricity, with the water wetter I got about 5-8 degrees cooling if you just run it with no additional cooling,......if you stick an ice pack, or frozen 2 liter bottle of water in the chest, you can drop the temps as much as 15-18 degrees as long as the water stays cold.
on hot days I just exchange the warm ice packs with frozen ones, and re-freeze the warm ice packs about every 6-8 hours of lights on.
it adds almost NO humidity, I only get about 2%-5% increase in RH when I run it with ice packs (I'm sure due to condensation/evaporation), if I run it at room temp, it adds NO RH,...unlike an open system swamp cooler, it also almost never needs refilling since it's a closed and insulated system.
it's kinda ghetto, but I was always taught "if it's stupid, but it WORKS,....it's no longer stupid"
Lasko (or other brand) 20" box fan: $20.00 (on sale @ home depot now @ $14.95)
small 145 gph fountain pump (harbor freight): $9.95
4 ft. black silicone tubing 1/2" O.D.(hot rod shop): $6.00
Water Wetter : http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=74&pcid=10 (1 qt=$10.00)
Small Ice chest (mine was $15 at wally world)
total was about $80 for everything, and took maybe 30 minutes to assemble, seal, and get it running.
I sit the pump in the bottom of the ice chest, run a tube from the outlet to the top radiator opening, and another out the bottom draining back to the chest, and sealed it all up with silicone sealant.
I run black tubing to stop algae growth and to help with heat exchange.
I use the water wetter (from when I used to race karts & motorcycles), because it gets colder than just plain water, and it stops any algae or bacteria from forming in the "swamp cooler" tubing system,...I run a full small bottle in 4 gallons in the system
it fits on a shelf,, it's SMALL (only an inch thicker in cross section than the original fan) it uses less than 2 amps of electricity, with the water wetter I got about 5-8 degrees cooling if you just run it with no additional cooling,......if you stick an ice pack, or frozen 2 liter bottle of water in the chest, you can drop the temps as much as 15-18 degrees as long as the water stays cold.
on hot days I just exchange the warm ice packs with frozen ones, and re-freeze the warm ice packs about every 6-8 hours of lights on.
it adds almost NO humidity, I only get about 2%-5% increase in RH when I run it with ice packs (I'm sure due to condensation/evaporation), if I run it at room temp, it adds NO RH,...unlike an open system swamp cooler, it also almost never needs refilling since it's a closed and insulated system.
it's kinda ghetto, but I was always taught "if it's stupid, but it WORKS,....it's no longer stupid"
grandmasgreenma
New member
what about heating a grow room
what about heating a grow room
i am five miles from canada and one of my main problems was heating .even with 2400 watts in a 5x6 flower room it would get down to 62-65 lights on.so i used heat from air cooled lights to heat during lights on and installed in floor radiant heat for night
what about heating a grow room
i am five miles from canada and one of my main problems was heating .even with 2400 watts in a 5x6 flower room it would get down to 62-65 lights on.so i used heat from air cooled lights to heat during lights on and installed in floor radiant heat for night
Spl1fftast1ck
Member
Forgot one, "Hire Lazyman to come out and flip your grow". Kickass advice Lazy, (+rep) should give many at least a few ideas to work with.
Reckon, ...That, wow, Very Nice.... I am going to keep an eye out for those parts (or similar) and build me one of those. Thanks for the Idea. (+rep)
---Spliff
decent condition A/C radiator or trans oil cooler @ junk yard: $20.00 (note: you MUST get ALL oil/refrigerant out of this or it wont work: the oil/refrigerant insulates the pipes from the water and it wont transfer heat)
Lasko (or other brand) 20" box fan: $20.00 (on sale @ home depot now @ $14.95)
small 145 gph fountain pump (harbor freight): $9.95
4 ft. black silicone tubing 1/2" O.D.(hot rod shop): $6.00
Water Wetter : http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=74&pcid=10 (1 qt=$10.00)
Small Ice chest (mine was $15 at wally world)
total was about $80 for everything, and took maybe 30 minutes to assemble, seal, and get it running.
I sit the pump in the bottom of the ice chest, run a tube from the outlet to the top radiator opening, and another out the bottom draining back to the chest, and sealed it all up with silicone sealant.
I run black tubing to stop algae growth and to help with heat exchange.
I use the water wetter (from when I used to race karts & motorcycles), because it gets colder than just plain water, and it stops any algae or bacteria from forming in the "swamp cooler" tubing system,...I run a full small bottle in 4 gallons in the system
it fits on a shelf,, it's SMALL (only an inch thicker in cross section than the original fan) it uses less than 2 amps of electricity, with the water wetter I got about 5-8 degrees cooling if you just run it with no additional cooling,......if you stick an ice pack, or frozen 2 liter bottle of water in the chest, you can drop the temps as much as 15-18 degrees as long as the water stays cold.
on hot days I just exchange the warm ice packs with frozen ones, and re-freeze the warm ice packs about every 6-8 hours of lights on.
it adds almost NO humidity, I only get about 2%-5% increase in RH when I run it with ice packs (I'm sure due to condensation/evaporation), if I run it at room temp, it adds NO RH,...unlike an open system swamp cooler, it also almost never needs refilling since it's a closed and insulated system.
it's kinda ghetto, but I was always taught "if it's stupid, but it WORKS,....it's no longer stupid"
this is very cool!! can u add more pics Reckon. Still a little confused how it actually works. the pump runs the chilled water thru the radiator so what exactly does the fan do? temps where i'm at are thru the roof already. this would b a huge help. thanks again.
