can u run a tent as a sealed environment?

[Snagglepuss]

This may be a silly question,ive got my new tent.I was wondering if i could cool the lights with a straight pipe from a tent vent through the tent and out the other vent and into the wall .And just leave the ac inside ,cooling without venting the interior/smell area

Im fine now ,but when summer comes .Its gonna be hard to keep the temps down ,while exausting all my ac out through a filter.

Can a tent keep the smell in? Depending on what i grow .Or is this just a bad idea that wont work...?

 

[sanjuan]

Do you have a plan for providing CO2?
Humidity might be a problem also.

 

[OnTheWater]

can u run a tent as a sealed environment?

It'll just be a sealed room. You would most likely need a dehumidifier during lights off. You'd also want to look into a co2 setup. In a tent you can go with bottled co2 so you don't have the additional heat burners produce.

 

[Bob Smith]

There is no completely sealed tent.

I've run them that way but with seems, pinholes, and the zippers it's impossible to be completely sealed and smell will have to be dealt with in the surrounding area.

 

[stussy22]

Check my grow thread out I'm working with pretty much what you are talking about. But like Bob said. "There is no completely sealed tent". I sealed everything up with a reflective duct tape. Cooling the 1000 watt light with outside air in the evening. Which is any where from 40-50 F. I also have control over every element in there as well. Dehumidifier, Humidifier, Heater as well as Co2. Give it a look.

 

[Snagglepuss]

Thanks for all the responses guys,Stussy it must be nice to be an electrician and have those valuable skills when you need them...Your setup looks great...love those vents on the roof .

I got nice and ripped ,im gonna be up all night setting up.Thanks for the info ,im gonna try this out ..And im gonna look into the co2 tank and dehumidifier...you guys are great!!!

 

[grow nerd]

Unless it's a huge tent or you have some means of controlling the environment with equipment placed inside, or outside and ducted in, the best way is to exchange air within the surrounding room and have all the equipment handle the air outside of the tent.

 

[Cannabean]

A tent can be a sealed environment...obviously not as sealed as drywalled room can be but sealed enough to produce the same effect with no consequences...

Bob Smith, I disagree. Unless you have positive or negative pressure in the tent, an adequet sized carbon filter will clean the air no problem, the pinholes and zipper seam holes wont matter if there is no positive pressure pushing smelly, uncleaned air out of the room.

Stussy has the right idea, seal it as much as easily-possible and get a decent carbon filter = win.

I run a sealed 5x5 growlab tent with co2 supp, window ac sitting outside and ducted in, and dehumidifier sitting inside. Inside the tent is an 8"x24" Phresh filter with a 6" 270cfm can fan hooked up recirculating the tent air.
Temp is maintained with a CAP TMP-DNe, turning the AC on at 86F and off at 79F, which takes about 3 min. The dehumidifer works harder than it should because I have 2 27g reservoirs sitting inside the tent.
The 1000w bulb heat is ducted out of the garage where the tent sits....No smell escapes through the tent into the garage nor does the light exhaust air smell whatsoever.

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[Flow]

Pressure has been my greatest problem with tent growing. Trying to draw air into the tent with out having any exhaust, even with a small fan, causes the tent to "puff out". I draw my A/C in on a 6in fan, and air cool one of my lights straight thru, but the other 2 lights suck air from the tent and out to help equalize the pressure, to keep the tent from floating away. Gonna loose the tent soon so I can run a true closed system.
If anyone knows how to set the pressure up correctly I would love to know.

 

[Flow]

Hey CannaB, my set up is similar to that, how do you blow into your tent without creating to much positive pressure?

 

[Cannabean]

I blow no air at all into my tent or out. The lights should all be on dedicated lines running from one side of the tent out the other drawing no air from inside at all. Where is your pressure coming from? You said you have two lights not on sealed lines? you gotta make them sealed.

You draw the AC in with a fan? Is it a portable or window ac? Portables suck for tents and both single and dual hose models will create pressure from that exhaust air, even if ducted from outside. I tried a portable and it didn't work for me for this reason. Went with a window AC and solved the problem.

 

[Cannabean]

my buddy runs 2400w in an 8x8 sealed growlab tent using a portable dual-hose ac sitting inside the tent. He says it does creates some negative pressure but not enough to cause a problem. Obviously his is less 'sealed' than mine, but he compensates with more co2 supplementation than I do because window AC's have sealed lines between cold air intake/exhaust and hot air intake/exhaust.

 

[Flow]

I took a closer look at your picture and it looks as though your A/C does not have an additional fan to draw the air into the tent.
I have a window shaker converted to run inside, it sits outside the room my tent is in and I ducted a 6" tube to the front and suck the cold air in through a 6" inline hung inside the tent.
I have an 8" max fan sucking air through 2 lights inside the tent in a row and out through a can 120 in another room.
If I dont exhaust my tent the positive pressure would most likely collapse the structure.
I also tried portables with no luck, i would lose the 6" fan but the A/c wouldnt push enough air in.
Like I said probaly gonna get rid of the flower tent and just build the room out.

 

[Snagglepuss]

A tent can be a sealed environment...obviously not as sealed as drywalled room can be but sealed enough to produce the same effect with no consequences...

Bob Smith, I disagree. Unless you have positive or negative pressure in the tent, an adequet sized carbon filter will clean the air no problem, the pinholes and zipper seam holes wont matter if there is no positive pressure pushing smelly, uncleaned air out of the room.

Stussy has the right idea, seal it as much as easily-possible and get a decent carbon filter = win.

I run a sealed 5x5 growlab tent with co2 supp, window ac sitting outside and ducted in, and dehumidifier sitting inside. Inside the tent is an 8"x24" Phresh filter with a 6" 270cfm can fan hooked up recirculating the tent air.
Temp is maintained with a CAP TMP-DNe, turning the AC on at 86F and off at 79F, which takes about 3 min. The dehumidifer works harder than it should because I have 2 27g reservoirs sitting inside the tent.
The 1000w bulb heat is ducted out of the garage where the tent sits....No smell escapes through the tent into the garage nor does the light exhaust air smell whatsoever.

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Damn ,that is just awesome...I love how the carbon filter just cleans and recirculates...I never woould have thought of that....I gotta keep my eyes out for a dehumidifier...thats the item i need..

 

[stussy22]

Cannabean : So from what you are saying is that you want a negative pressure inside the tent to keep the smell from getting out? Is that the reason why you have the carbon filter above the door? I have yet to run my set up yet. I do not have a carbon filter inside of the tent. In the picture below I have a carbon filter that is pulling air from the common area around the tent and up and out of garage.

From your experiences do you think this will do alright will smell ? Or have you seen best results with the carbon filter inside ?

Snagglepuss: Really looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Keep the ideas flowing.

 

[Snagglepuss]

I just started it up after hours and hours of dicking around setting up...I still gotta get a PhreSh filter and figure which way to run it.I probably need to attach a batwing reflector maby as well.It sure runs cool in their venting the light separate from a filter.

I swear they must make these new tents for portable a/c,the back a/c grid lined up perfect with their cutouts,i just had to make 1 hole for the duct vent.Im gonna order a filter setup,right now .You guys have some great ideas ,thanks for sharing..

 

[trichrider]

scrubbing the air after it is exhausted......finally gaining some perspective here.
higher rated fan pulling air out than in = negative pressure. this keeps smell inside tent then vented out through filter...exceptions to Snagglepuss...
good luck with your tent!
peace

 

[Bob Smith]

A tent can be a sealed environment...obviously not as sealed as drywalled room can be but sealed enough to produce the same effect with no consequences...

Bob Smith, I disagree. Unless you have positive or negative pressure in the tent, an adequet sized carbon filter will clean the air no problem, the pinholes and zipper seam holes wont matter if there is no positive pressure pushing smelly, uncleaned air out of the room.

Stussy has the right idea, seal it as much as easily-possible and get a decent carbon filter = win.

I run a sealed 5x5 growlab tent with co2 supp, window ac sitting outside and ducted in, and dehumidifier sitting inside. Inside the tent is an 8"x24" Phresh filter with a 6" 270cfm can fan hooked up recirculating the tent air.
Temp is maintained with a CAP TMP-DNe, turning the AC on at 86F and off at 79F, which takes about 3 min. The dehumidifer works harder than it should because I have 2 27g reservoirs sitting inside the tent.
The 1000w bulb heat is ducted out of the garage where the tent sits....No smell escapes through the tent into the garage nor does the light exhaust air smell whatsoever.

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We must have differing opinions on "sealed".

Do you have a CO2 monitor in yours? Because that's a good way to check to see how sealed your tent is.

Like you, I had a 6x24 Phresh Filter running constantly (recirculating) in my 4x4 Sun Hut (CO2, dehuey, etc.) and the smell certainly escaped (with two ozone generators in the surrounding area the smell was still there).

Anyhow, everyone has differing degrees of "tolerable" for smell - if your freedom depends on "no smell", I wouldn't recommend trying to run a tent sealed.

 

[Cannabean]

for a truely sealed tent to NOT smell, it must have no positive or negative pressure. There should be no air entering or leaving the tent. Portable ACs are a risk because they exhaust a minor amount of smell room air out, thus creating negative pressure.

If you are trying to run a sealed tent with a portable ac, Id put a small carbon filter on the exhaust of it if smell is a concern.


Bob smith, maybe the sunhuts leak more than the growlabs? but with the carbon filter we have (rated for much bigger room than our 4x4s), and an adequet fan, it really shouldnt smell. once I open the tent it beings to smell all over but when I put my face up to the fan of the carbon filter, it smells like absolutely nothing.
My buddy with the 8x8 doesn't even scrub his portable's exhaust air and I couldn't smell the room in late flower standing right outside his garage. Sounds like trial and error depending on your level of security, but overkill helps.


Although Im legal I would consider keeping smell down a major concern for me. If the air my tent sat it got smelly, I would know because the sealed line for the light exhaust sucks the garage air and blows it out. I can put my face up the air blowing out of the garage, also no smell at all.


flow: you have a window ac sitting inside the tent and suck in outside air for the ac? I can see how this would create positive pressure but why do you have it set up like this?
hmm...I think i understand...your ac doesn't push the cold air into the tent strongly enough so you supplement with a fan? I only have a fan on my ac exhaust to help with the push, the cold air intake and exhaust on my unit have strong enough fans to do it on their own.

stussy: For a sealed room there should be no positive OR negative pressure but negative pressure will keep the smell from escaping into the surrounding room, but that smelly air is going somewhere and should be scrubbed if smell is a concern. However, this isn't a sealed room. The goal with sealing the room is to preserve co2 levels, if your AC is exhausting out, you are losing co2.

I set my filter up by the door because it was the easiest place to hang it up, but yes all it does is recirculate the air in the room. both the fan and filter are overpowered for my size tent, which may contribute to my room not smelling.
Scrubbing the ambient air where the tent sits is a great idea if smell in the garage does not matter.

snagglepuss: looks like you're running a similar setup as my friend, single hose portable ac ducted out but otherwise tent is sealed. Remember your co2 concentrations will drop when the ac turns on. Consider buying a cheap co2 testing kit at the hydro store to test how much co2 levels drop when your ac turns.

If anyone is interested, here is the DIY build to use a window AC and set it completely outside of your tent.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=194599

good discussion anyone else want to share how they seal their tent??