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Water Cooled Growers Unite!
- Thread starter toohighmf
- Start date
Yes it will, I run a 2 hp chiller with a 75 gallon res. supplemented with a water cooled CO2 generator and 4000w. I run daytime temps at 84-85 (CO2 temps are higher than normal) and night time temps at 74-75, this diff gives me great purple colors on the ones that do have purple genes in em. The only issue is you need a large dehumidifier to keep up with all the extra humidity.
I have my system hooked up so that the heat from the bulbs is extracted thru sealed hoods ( 8"XXXL) and exhausted immediately outside. One 8" cool box with a 6" vortex blowing across it keeps the girls real happy day and night. In the veg I have a 4" eco fan hooked to 6" cool box that basicaly runs all the time to keep to 2 -8 tube t5's cool ( 800 watts total). I use one more ice box and fan outside in my tents to knock any extra heat out and it rarely runs only when the 4000w kicks in at night.
Good luck, Peace
budleydoright
Member
I just cut off the air coil and replaced it with a coaxial direct to liquid heat exchanger. Required a skilled and licensed refrigeration guy as it did require a r22 charge.
A friend did it for me.
I think he is asking if a 5 ton air handler can be used with a 2 ton chiller. I would think it could, you will still only get 2 tons of capacity though.
What kind of 2 hp do you have?
watercooled@
Member
No, it wont. He'll need more then good luck if he tried. I believe you misunderstood since your example has nothing to do with the question as noted in the previous post, Peace.
I would listen to watercooled@. He has proven in this thread that he knows what it takes to water cool an 8kw room. Even though I believe he runs in a pretty damn hot & muggy part of the country. If your temps exceed 90f, you need a 4hp chiller with the best of aircooled hoods. again, like watercooled's 12kw setup.. If he ran tubes over that area, he could of dropped 1 full horsepower, and relied more on air cooling to be more efficient.
which brings me to my next issue. I can cool 10kw with a few 90w inline fans, a small 10k btu AC, and a heat evac fan in my crawl (which I use for my corona discharge in my attic anyway.. It would take me about $1000-1200 to set up. a chiller, ice boxes pump blah blah blah is going to cost $5000+, and my power bill would be a bit higher. does the cost justify the means? will the chiller last long enough to pay for itself? when it breaks, I pay the shipping roll the dice and hope they don't claim it's user error... home depot will return that AC in a heartbeat, and most fans have a 5-20 year no bs warranty.. If I had to hide a heat signature, oro run a lot of lights in a CEA sealed environment where I couldn't risk a FLIR signature and grew for big bucks in a no tolerance state it would really help me sleep better at night..
which brings me to my next issue. I can cool 10kw with a few 90w inline fans, a small 10k btu AC, and a heat evac fan in my crawl (which I use for my corona discharge in my attic anyway.. It would take me about $1000-1200 to set up. a chiller, ice boxes pump blah blah blah is going to cost $5000+, and my power bill would be a bit higher. does the cost justify the means? will the chiller last long enough to pay for itself? when it breaks, I pay the shipping roll the dice and hope they don't claim it's user error... home depot will return that AC in a heartbeat, and most fans have a 5-20 year no bs warranty.. If I had to hide a heat signature, oro run a lot of lights in a CEA sealed environment where I couldn't risk a FLIR signature and grew for big bucks in a no tolerance state it would really help me sleep better at night..
budleydoright
Member
In my experience, watercooled is much more complex and less forgiving of stupid stoner mistakes. I too have had a no flow switch fail on me. I now monitor the room temps and cut everything off when it goes above 90f. For a greater degree of safety, I am going to put a temp sensor on the glass on my fresca sol. This way I can monitor the water temp in the vessel and assume a failure in the system if it goes above 75f.
Failures can be catastrophic. It reminds me of aviation. You need to run down a pre-flight safety check everytime your leaving your room.
Failures can be catastrophic. It reminds me of aviation. You need to run down a pre-flight safety check everytime your leaving your room.
poindexterous
Member
Alright, a water cooled thread! Here's my wacky contraption: 4 Fresca's on a SunCircle...
For me the choice to go water cooled was because I like light movers, both track and circle, and 1/2" hoses are much easier to manage moving around than 6" or 8" duct, and much easier to route to where I want to bring the heat.
For me the choice to go water cooled was because I like light movers, both track and circle, and 1/2" hoses are much easier to manage moving around than 6" or 8" duct, and much easier to route to where I want to bring the heat.
budleydoright
Member
That's quite a piece of work there! what are you cooling your setup with?
poindexterous
Member
Hey BD, about 50 feet from the lights I have a 150 gallon stock tank rez and a 24" square radiator with a fan pulling air through it. It's a crazy plumbing system but I just didn't want to run a lot of air conditioner amps.
budleydoright
Member
I like it! Are those 400 or 600s in there?
Your fresca Sols look new. Make sure to keep you water ph'd around 8 otherwise the powdercoat flakes off in the water chamber.
How well does the radiator work? Cool climate?
Your fresca Sols look new. Make sure to keep you water ph'd around 8 otherwise the powdercoat flakes off in the water chamber.
How well does the radiator work? Cool climate?
poindexterous
Member
Holy crap, you're not kidding about corrosion, I had to replace all my end plates after they corroded very badly, not only did the paint come off but the aluminum was pitted over 1/4" deep in the worst places. Best Coast's new re-designed end plates have a uni-gasket so no water touches the metal, although in my opinion their new design while much better seems like a quick fix and needs improvement in the nipple to gasket transition, just hoping no water makes it to the nipple threads. My water was closer to pH 7, but I'm still surprised how bad it ate up that aluminum. Now I also add some pool conditioner meant to protect metal plumbing, hopefully there won't be any more trouble.
Those are actually 1000's(2mh&2hps) in there at the moment. Cooling is adequate, water gets into the 90's in summer when it's as warm outdoors, but it still removes enough heat, in winter I make use of the heat which is a perk. I thought about adding a chiller, just trying to conserve power, maybe at some point.
poindexterous
Member
Thanks T. Yeah I love circular movers, great way to mix different bulb types and spectrums together. I thought about trying to air cool at first but it would have been an engineering feat to have two way air ducting function while the whole thing is turning 360 degrees. Water hose twists easily though.
poindexterous
Member
Also here's my Fresca on a track...
watercooled@
Member
Lots of good points. I agree! I've moved around the country since I first started posting, but I too have a room (in the hot muggy part of the US) with 8k in efficient 8" 1,000 watt tubes with 2 12k portable A/C's. I specify portable since they are notoriously over rated.
first thanks to all who contributed their knowledge to this thread, I have a question regarding the cooling of a bare bulb setup. I see most folks using fresca etc cooled reflectors would it be more efficient to run these versus a Canadian style liquid to air exchager? My experience has been that the light bouncing off a reflector converts a lot of the light into infared(HEAT) and with bare bulbs there is lower overall temperature gain in the room. It seems that the start up costs/ carbon footprint would be lower just buying one or two fan forced coils and 1 large chiller for the room versus all those fresca hoods which are in turn creating additional heat. Which would be a more efficient water cooling system bare bulbs and exhanger or frescas etc? I am in the design phase of 3 100kw warehouses and we need to make these as 'GREEN' as possible. After reading this thread I am thinking that a large insulated rez with a big chiller and a thremostatically controlled coil in each room might be the ticket. In addition I think maybe some air to water exchangers outside set up to take over the chillers job when outside temps drop. What do ya'll think...
HM
HM
watercooled@
Member
^ I don't have the answer with proof, but I still have an opinion and here it is...
If I had access to cold water I would certainly use a liquid cooled air handler...
If I had access to cold air, I would certainly use a liquid cooled air handler and use a cooling tower with no chiller to drop the temperatures.
I would not use frescas on anything close to the size you are talking about.
If you decided to have a chiller as a backup in summer months and a cooling tower for the cooler months, that would make more sense.
I look forward seeing a thread on the setup.
If I had access to cold water I would certainly use a liquid cooled air handler...
If I had access to cold air, I would certainly use a liquid cooled air handler and use a cooling tower with no chiller to drop the temperatures.
I would not use frescas on anything close to the size you are talking about.
If you decided to have a chiller as a backup in summer months and a cooling tower for the cooler months, that would make more sense.
I look forward seeing a thread on the setup.
poindexterous
Member
300K wow!
For me the main motivation for going water cooled was that I can only use so much electricity, and my fresca setup uses a small fraction of the power I'd need in AC with open reflectors. And air cooled reflectors while being as efficient as the fresca's just make it harder to bring the removed heat where I want it, at least in my situation. So going water cooled was very situation specific for me. Many variables, like watercooled@ mentions access to cold water, or cold air. I just hate to waste heat that could be doing something, heating someplace in the winter, or in the summer heating a swimming pool. Been thinking of plumbing my fresca water to a small above ground pool in the summer instead of just blowing the heat outside.
For me the main motivation for going water cooled was that I can only use so much electricity, and my fresca setup uses a small fraction of the power I'd need in AC with open reflectors. And air cooled reflectors while being as efficient as the fresca's just make it harder to bring the removed heat where I want it, at least in my situation. So going water cooled was very situation specific for me. Many variables, like watercooled@ mentions access to cold water, or cold air. I just hate to waste heat that could be doing something, heating someplace in the winter, or in the summer heating a swimming pool. Been thinking of plumbing my fresca water to a small above ground pool in the summer instead of just blowing the heat outside.
Thanks bud,
Yes there will be air handlers and traditional ac installed by hvac contractor ... the deal is we have backers with capitol and we need to be really green about the design so air cooling using a water to air exhanger system with an exchanger outside and a chiller and insulated reservoir for warm weather.
It now appears that the bare bulbs may not be an option due to fire regulations so what is a cheap source for quality water cooled hoods, this seems to be a really good idea, point cooling bulbs to prevent room heating. And cold weather cooling could be almost free with only pumps and fans running.
HM
watercooled@
Member
If you absolutely cannot go bare bulb I would consider going 8" tubes. I particularly like these: http://www.accessdiscounts.com/ad50029.html I'm sure you would be able to get them MUCH cheaper considering the amount you're buying. I would use 8" ICE Boxes or equivalent. Be prepared to run a lot of PVC, valves etc... It will easily double install man hours.
I would avoid it if at all possible on this scale. I'll admit, I would love to see it!
Keep us posted.
I would avoid it if at all possible on this scale. I'll admit, I would love to see it!
Keep us posted.
