Building first real grow room, help me figure out how much A/C and venting please

[halitzor]

I am upgrading from a 6.5ft square grow tent in the basement and bringing the grow upstairs to a spare bedroom. I am halving the bedroom lengthwise so that I can keep part of it as my computer area and also a 4ft x 4ft retired grow tent to keep my birds in.

The area of the room that I will be using is 11ft long by 6ft wide by 7.5ft high and there is one window. I will be sealing up the window so it won't be used for anything. My house is brick so do I still need diamond weave on the outside walls?

There is a 4ft x 2ft x 7.5ft closet with an attic access panel in the room, this is where I will be venting the air when temps go over a set point. I will also have a mother and clones in the closet. I'll need 16 per week or 64 per month depending on how much I break down the staggered-ness of my harvests. What would be needed to climate control this room properly?

The window is new and very well insulated.

I plan to only use a 1000w light at first but may expand a little down the road. The reason I'm only using one light is because I'm using a drip to waste system I designed that uses a light mover and should yield roughly 1lb/month on the low side.

That said, how many BTU's of a standalone air conditioner am I going to need? I already have a 50 pint dehumidifier, will that be adequate enough? With my grow tent currently I only use a carbon scrubber and exhaust fan to control temps.

Any input is appreciated, thanks.

 

[lowerarchy]

I assume you'll be using a 400w for the moms in addition to the 1000w?

 

[lowerarchy]

There is a 4ft x 2ft x 7.5ft closet with an attic access panel in the room, this is where I will be venting the air when temps go over a set point.

Sorry, just for clarity - is this environment AC cooled or vented? Or is this attic vent just an emergency thing in case the AC fails?

 

[halitzor]

I assume you'll be using a 400w for the moms in addition to the 1000w? Sorry, just for clarity - is this environment AC cooled or vented? Or is this attic vent just an emergency thing in case the AC fails?

No problem, I'm blazed so I know I'm not being all that clear.


I will be using a 400w ceramic metal halide in a cooltube for the mother / clones. The mother and clones will be in that closet which is off to the side of the room. Here is a diagram of the room layout from overhead.

The closet will have its own exhaust blowing air into the attic on a digital thermostat to keep it roughly 80 in there. The grow room will be separated from the rest of the room by black plastic or panda film and I will seal it very well with lots of tape. That room will exhaust to the attic as well via ducting along the ceiling.

 

[odium33]

running 1000w is not very complicated, put a six inch inline fan on it, i ran 1000w in a 3x3 closet year round with no problems

 

[halitzor]

I'm not cooling my light.

 

[lowerarchy]

Sounds like it'll work pretty well without an AC if you have an intake and exhaust fans for both rooms and set up that cooltube, assuming that you keep the bird office (which functions as a lung room) around 15°-20°C. Intake fans make controlling light leaks a hell of a lot easier and you may have issues with that.

I like the fact that you've got birds in your grow room.

 

[halitzor]

Yeah it was previously known as the bird room. I have two cockatiels, fred and maggie. They will provide some extra c02 and benefit with fresh oxygen . Plus they love high temps since they're tropical. I hang them in my grow tent in a small cage for a while daily and they love it. Well, when its not nice enough to hang them outside.

Anyways.

Yeah I have been thinking that I may not need an AC at all. I also have a 1/4hp chiller available. A tub of chilled nutes in the room with a fan blowing on it would cool the air a few degree's. I'm guessing with the 1000w running on high my ambient will be roughly 85 and a 6" intake / exhaust cycle on a timer should keep it manageable.

I'm not worried about light leaks at all. I'm totally blacking out the only window thats exposed. We have black curtains in the bedroom already so it won't look odd. And then I have a 15w cfl on a lamp in the room as the only light source. Also I take everything very seriously and I do it right the first time, no cutting corners or half assing something only to redo it later.

 

[Steinawitz]

Hi Hal,

I'm also setting up my first grow room and i hope that some of what i've done may help you out a bit. I have an 11x11 room with a closet that i'm in the process of setting up as my grow area. Ultimately, i plan on halving the 11x11 room to 6x11 and running two 600w hps as my flower area. That section isn't complete yet, but i've installed my ventilation system and hopefully it may lend you some ideas.

My system consists of
8'' Vortex Inline Blower 747CFM &
Phresh Carbon Filter 8" x 24" which i've branched out to (1) 6" and (2) 4" ducts. I assembled the unit on my floor and hoisted it up into my rafters and hung it on a nylon rope 'hammock' to dampen noise and vibrations. I used eyelet bolts into the frame of my house to loop the nylon through.




I branched my exhaust out to a 6" inlet which will be sucking from my 6"x11" flower area, and a 4" going to my nursery, and a 4" going to my veg.

The way my closet was built, it was split horizontally leaving a small area up top and a larger area underneath. With a little modification, i found it perfect for a nursery and veg area. (i'm currently using my future veg area as a flower chamber until my larger area is complete).





I ran one 4" duct straight to the upper area, and continued the other 4" duct to the lower area.


I've fallen in love with R3 insulation board that you can get at Home Depot. It's easy to cut and shape, dampens noise, and is reflective on one side. I used it as the doors to my closet area, and am using 4'x8' sheets as the walls of my larger area.






For my intake, i got (2) 4"x10" vent covers from home depot, and cut one hole in my grow room wall, and another in the adjoining room's closet. I cut the vent holes between the same two studs in the wall, and separated them a foot and a half vertically. (my intake is on the floor and exhaust into grow room is approx 2' off floor.) Then i cut a piece of 2x4 and screwed it in place inside the wall, between the studs, above my top vent. I then caulked all the cracks (a pain in my ass to say the least), and thereby made a little cavity in my wall for adequate air flow. It looks pretty normal once i put the nice pretty vent covers in place. Plus, being in my closet, the intake is hardly noticeable to anyone.

In my current flower area i have one 400w hps and one 150w hps. I haven't yet seen the temperature of that chamber climb above 85. It usually stays around 81. Being in Southern Cali, the weather is temperate enough where i haven't yet needed any A/C. I hope it stays that way ; )

Hope this helps you out a bit

- Stein

 

[halitzor]

Hi Stein, thanks for dropping in.

My room is setup such that I will have a 6 or 8" carbon filter in the flower area ducting filtered air into the roof of my closet and into the attic via access panel.

I am not sure right now what size filter/fan I should get.

I already have a 4" vortex and filter. I was thinking I could get a 6 or 8" fan/filter combo and use my fan speed controller on low to just continually scrub the room and use my current 4" fan to do an air exchange every 15 minutes or so.

Money is tight right now since I am no longer working, oh well harvest fixes that

 

[Steinawitz]

I totally understand you about money being tight. I'm putting my area together piece by piece. I was looking at grow tents, and for the price, i think i may set up a 4'x8' tent with 2x 600watt lights. I'm thinking i'll run an inline fan to suck off my lights in the tent and vent straight into my main room, which is already ventilated and scrubbed. Once my lights are in, i can let you know how my existing ventilation system handles the heat load.

So far, in terms of smell, nothing at all is noticeable anywhere around my house. Even when your in my grow room, you need to be hovering over the pants to smell them.

I'll keep ya posted. GL in your setup.

 

[Steinawitz]

Here's a few current pics of the closet set up. So far it's working quite nicely.