Help a new indoor grower figure out his ventilation!(w/ diagrams)

[jimmy.carlyle]

Howdy good people of ICMAG.

I was looking to get my closet started. I am in the process of moving into a place with a closet with a window, 3 feet deep, 6 feet wide, and 9 feet tall. After asking you guys, I am planning to start with a 600w HPS and add another 400w or 600w along the way, and maybe a mother/clone room a little bit down the road.

Right now, I am trying to figure out an integral part of a grow room with connoisseur grade potential: VENTILATION.

There is a window in the closet to a pretty secure location outside (the window could use a little bit of camouflage - its medical, but I'm paranoid). The window is 16 inches wide and 22 inches tall.

MY BIG ?: Would there be a way I could intake fresh air from outside and outtake fresh air with the same window with potentially 1000-1200w going in the space I have?

Here is what I was thinking. The walls highlighted in red can have holes put in them. The intake would be from the kitchen pantry right next to the closet (would pantry air be worse than fresh air as an intake?). The outtake would be out the window.

I place a priority on quality over quantity, so if I have to scale down my wattage to produce grade AAA buds with the closet to accommodate the effectiveness/noise of the ventilation, so be it.

How would y'all do it with the closet given. Thanks, and bom shiva!

 

[JacuzziSplot]

Intake from the pantry, exhaust out the window sounds good.

Make the intakes about a foot up from the floor so you are not sucking up dust off the floor and your pots dont block the intake.
If your window opens from the top as well I would use the top of the window over the bottom. Either way open the top or bottom all the way and black out the glass with plastic or whatever. Install a piece of plywood over the entire window attached to the frame and make sure there is room between the plywood and the glass, use some strapping board as a spacer if neccessary. Make your hole for your fan exhaust behind the blacked out glass so you cant see it outside. If you do it right it will look like a boarded up broken window from the outside. Attach a carbon filter to the intake of your fan or air-cooled hood and your good to go.

Maybe go with an 8" fan can 66 combo and you might be able to stick a 2nd 600 in there later on.

 

[Phedrosbenny]

If it wasme I would do it reverse from what your doing.I would make the window my intake.This way you would have much better air going into your growroom.

My first growroom was a closet.Tis is how I had it set up..I slit thecloset into two seperate grow areas.Now I didnt have much of a budget to work with so I had to use the materials that I could get a hold of to make it work.

So,I used cardboard to make my wall to seperate my closet.Cardboard isnt the best thing to use.It can be a fire hazard and if it gets wet its ruined.Its is cheap though and if your careful it will work.

I had used a 400 watt hps and some cfls in my veg room.I ran those lights 24 hours.The otherroom didnt have any lights in it.Its was strictly a dark room.When I wanted to flower a plant I put it in thedarkroom on a 12 hour shift and then I put it back into the veg room to get its dose of light.Although you have to move the plants in and out of the dark room manualy this does have its up side beacause if your flowering on 12 hour shifts you can use your flower room space on each shift meaning you can flower double the amount of plants out at the same time.

For ventilation I just used a box fan that I set in the top of my closet above the light pushing air out of my closet.I had to leave the door cracked at about an inch to vent.I didnt use anything to bring air into the closet except the passive air flow that was created from the fan blowing out.

I never really had a problem with temps.I would have kept it about 5 degrees cooler if I could have.But most of the time it was just about perfect growing temps.Depending on the weather wherever it is you live..if it isnt too hot you should be able to keep the right temps using that window pretty easily.

It sounds like you have a better budget to work with than I had.That is good because good equipment makes things a helluva lot easier on you.Here is a free piece of advice.You dont have to take it if you dont want but here it is.....alot of the shit that is sold as "must have" items for grow rooms is actually bullshit that you dont need that somebody came up with just to get your money.There are alot of growers that are caught up in this to and they beleive you "must have" alot of the bullshit.Mostly these are guys that have just begun growing,but there is some of the older growers caught up in it to.

If a person hasnt grown for therself alot they should probably get atleast a grow or two under their belt before they go droping 1,000+ of their money on equipment they dont know how to use yet.Alot of people probably grow for the first time and then decide that growing is a fucking headache sometimes.Maybe they decide then that it is easier for them to just buy their bags.If so that 1,000+ that they would have spent on overpriced equipment could have went a long way towards buying them some good trees.

Well I hope this helps you.If you have any questions that I can help you with let me know.

 

[JacuzziSplot]

The reason I suggested to exhaust out the window is the air in the pantry should be a more constant temperature so it would be easier to control and predict temps. outside air could be below 0f or over a 100f depending on the location and time of year.

I totally agree with the not spending boatloads on equipment and with the 9' of headroom I would try a parabolic reflector or batwing first. Aim a fan at the bulb and use the fan / filter to blow all the hot air outa the closet.

 

[redbud56]

So,I used cardboard to make my wall to seperate my closet.Cardboard isnt the best thing to use.It can be a fire hazard and if it gets wet its ruined.Its is cheap though and if your careful it will work.

I would recommend styrofoam board over cardboard, it comes in different thicknesses, 1" works great as a divider and is only about $9 for a 4x8 sheet. Get it at any home imp. store.
I did the ceiling of my grow room with styro and I like it. Easy to work with, much easier than drywall. HATE drywall!!!

 

[Phedrosbenny]

I would recommend styrofoam board over cardboard, it comes in different thicknesses, 1" works great as a divider and is only about $9 for a 4x8 sheet. Get it at any home imp. store.
I did the ceiling of my grow room with styro and I like it. Easy to work with, much easier than drywall. HATE drywall!!!

Yeah I agree about the styrofoam.I didnt know that it was sold at home improvment stores or I would have used it.It stands up good to water.

 

[jimmy.carlyle]

Intake from the pantry, exhaust out the window sounds good.

Make the intakes about a foot up from the floor so you are not sucking up dust off the floor and your pots dont block the intake.
If your window opens from the top as well I would use the top of the window over the bottom. Either way open the top or bottom all the way and black out the glass with plastic or whatever. Install a piece of plywood over the entire window attached to the frame and make sure there is room between the plywood and the glass, use some strapping board as a spacer if neccessary. Make your hole for your fan exhaust behind the blacked out glass so you cant see it outside. If you do it right it will look like a boarded up broken window from the outside. Attach a carbon filter to the intake of your fan or air-cooled hood and your good to go.

Maybe go with an 8" fan can 66 combo and you might be able to stick a 2nd 600 in there later on.

This is exactly what I needed to know. The window will be modded as such.

If it wasme I would do it reverse from what your doing.I would make the window my intake.This way you would have much better air going into your growroom.

I like the idea of intaking through the window as well. I have a strong notion that fresh air from outside emulates natural living conditions more accurately than indoor air.

...Here is a free piece of advice.You dont have to take it if you dont want but here it is.....alot of the shit that is sold as "must have" items for grow rooms is actually bullshit that you dont need that somebody came up with just to get your money.

I certainly agree. The hydro stores certainly have their hustle on.

Jacuzzi and Phedros, I am thinking of combining both your ideas. I will disguise the window, and since I am starting with just a 600w light, I will intake and outake through the window. The first round will give me time and a feel for the room to eventually make a solid intake through the pantry complete with a hepafilter and everything and I'll be able to try and put some serious wattage in there.

Shiva bless both of you for your kind words and helpful consideration.