Ventilation with Bare Bulbs and CO2

[the]

Hey everyone, new here

After reading a couple of posts about bare bulbs I was sold on using them since they're apparently easier to cool than cool tubes.
However, how do people usually setup a bare bulb system with CO2 injection?

I have a 840 sqft area, 200 will be sectioned for veg and I might run cool tubes there - 6x400W, the rest I plan to have 12x600W.

After reading the ventilation guide I calculated I need a 48k BTU A/C, and I plan to get a mini split system with a couple of units. The area is well insulated. What sort of intake/exhaust do you recommend, with CO2 in mind?

 

[TheCatsMeow]

i think you might be confused...

why do you want to vent if your using bare bulb(ie-no ducting/fans) and your using an ac to cool your room?

as long as your room can be cooled by your ac and you are supplementing co2, there is no reason to vent.

 

[sso]

really? lets say you dont have ac but do vent, how much ,less cfm would you need?

and how close do you want the plants?

 

[budlover123]

If you're going bare bulb I would spring for the shatter resistant type that is not meant to be run in an enclosure. You never know.

 

[Lammy]

Hey everyone, new here

After reading a couple of posts about bare bulbs I was sold on using them since they're apparently easier to cool than cool tubes.
However, how do people usually setup a bare bulb system with CO2 injection?

I have a 840 sqft area, 200 will be sectioned for veg and I might run cool tubes there - 6x400W, the rest I plan to have 12x600W.

After reading the ventilation guide I calculated I need a 48k BTU A/C, and I plan to get a mini split system with a couple of units. The area is well insulated. What sort of intake/exhaust do you recommend, with CO2 in mind?

I've been using a $550 - 25,000 BTU LG window AC to cool 12x 1000w air cooled lights. Works good so far. Haven't used it during the summer yet. but have used it on 85 degree days. (W/ a co2 burner)

Everyone thinks a fan is gonna to solve their cooling problems. Does it get warm where you live? It's not going to cool very much blowing 80 or 90 degree air through your room especially with a small in line fan.

I would recommend going the air conditioner route. When you look at the split AC's, you got to look at the SEER rating. 13 SEER Is the lowest allowed by law in the US. Window ac's is are at least 13 seer. You can spend thousands on the split ac but if they don't list their SEER rating or it's not at least 13 you're going to pay just as much to run it as a cheap window unit.

You could probably have central air professionally installed for just your garden for less then a lot of split ac's cost.

 

[the]

So as long as there is air conditioning there is no need to have air exchange?

 

[cody2white]

So as long as there is air conditioning there is no need to have air exchange?

You got it. Dont forget the co2 every couple hrs

 

[OBK]

Co2, but you have that covered.

 

[Granger2]

the,
Consider making a closed lamp cooling system. Designs are plentiful on this site. If you and a verticle system are betrothed, then I guess Cool Tubes it is.

So you have an intake from outdoors, an exhaust to outdoors, and the outside air is pulled thru the lamps and exhausted without mixing with the room air. Over build this system and use a bigger centrifugal fan or fans than you think you'll need. Be sure to have twice the intake as exhaust. [You have to use pi r squared. eg. 2 4" intakes are not enough for one 6". Four inches radius = 2", squared is 4, times pi, or 4 times 3.14 = 12.56 sq in. One 6", radius = 3, squared =9, times pi, or 9 times 3.14 =28.26 sq. inches. For your purpose, you can leave out the pi calculation. Just do r squared to see how mucn intake and exhaust you need.]

In the summer at least, I would run the lights during the coolest hours, and even if much of the time the air intaken is 70 to 85 F, it is much cooler than the lamps. It will help a lot, and save you money on AC use. No wasted CO2.

Also, spring for an AC with the highest SEER rating you can afford. Money WELL spent. Good luck. -granger

 

[watts]

cool tubes suck for vertical. open bulb vertical or go horizontal. do not vent air outside if you want complete stealth.

 

[Granger2]

I haven't used cool tubes, but by many reports they do suck. As far as stealth goes, it depends on how you set up the closed system. I have a separate room addition that shares a roof with my house. I intake from the floor, and exhaust into the attic of the house which happens to be a foot and a half from where the water heater closet is below the attic. I'm pretty stealthy. Good luck. -granger

 

[supermanlives]

cool tubes are ok. they are cool running and light weight. but the reflected light pattern blows on horizontal setups.i know i have several.

 

[TommyTwoColas]

For all those saying vertical cool tubes suck, have you ever used one? I LOVE my cooltube.........allows me to run 4 stacked 600s and keep the temp wherever I like it.

The light readings don't vary very much for me with or without the cooltube (measurements done with a digital light meter, can't recall the exact numbers off the top of my head but they weren't earth shattering)...........don't just repeat stuff you've heard on the Internet if you haven't actually done it.

OP, if you're set on vertical and running a sealed room, cooltubes will save you boatloads on your electrical bill (if used correctly in a closed loop system).

 

[the]

The reason why I was interested in bare bulbs over cool tubes is because of this thread:

Why did you guys go to bare vertical lighting?

The overall opinion on that thread is that it is easier to cool bare's than cool tubes. However, there are always people that will contradict each other and swear by their methods.. so who knows. I am running cool tubes right now just fine, just in a smaller setup.

How many oscillating fans do you think I'll need for the 12 lights? I'm estimating 1 per 2 tables?

I'm also worried about dehumidifying the place too much by running the A/C, does anyone with similar experience use a humidifier?

 

[Lammy]

....How many oscillating fans do you think I'll need for the 12 lights? I'm estimating 1 per 2 tables?

I'm also worried about dehumidifying the place too much by running the A/C, does anyone with similar experience use a humidifier?

I ran a sealed room with 12 air cooled lights, air conditioned with a dehumidifier to keep the humidity at 50%. it pulls out about 4 gallons of water out per day. The ac drips to outside so I don't know how much water it removes.

 

[the]

Need help from the pro HVAC guys:

I was looking at 48k BTU Mini Splits and there are a couple of packages that come with a 36k BTU outdoor unit with 4x12k BTU indoor units, advertised as a 48k BTU package.

The packages with the 48k BTU outdoor unit are significantly pricier. What are the implications of going with the cheaper, undersized condenser?

Would a single split, 4 ton A/C be a good alternative? I really liked the idea of having a separate indoor unit for each section of the space. The room is approx 23x32 with a 15x13 corner sectioned off.