Wardrobe Cabinet Ventilation Design Help

[1ManGrow]

I have my wardrobe cabinet set up but I am having heat issues and would love to have some input I what I can do to fix the problem..

I will start with the Cabinet -The whole thing is 48"w x 72"h x 20"d

Flower Area Is - 22 1/2"w x 40"h x 20"d (3.1 sqft)&(10.41 cuft)

I am running a 400w remote ballast in a cooltube with it's own separate intake / exhaust

Here is a picture Of the cooltube intake / exhaust

In the picture I have the fan on the left top pulling fresh air in and then on the other side of the cooltube is another fan pulling the air out..

The fans are the same model
Specs For Fans-
[FONT=arial, helvetica]Max. Air Flow: Max.78.0CFM(2.21m3/min).
[/FONT][FONT=arial, helvetica]Static Pressure: Max.2.97 mmH2O[/FONT]

Now for the Grow area-passive intake there are 16 - 1 1/2" pvc with the area in Square Inches of each 1 1/2" pvc @ 1.76 now multiplied by 16 would be a total intake area of -28.16

Now my grow area Exhaust is a 80 CFM Nutone Bathroom exhaust fan with Scrubber

That exhaust through a 4" vent out the back of the cab

Carbon scrubber has a 1" bed of carbon with batting and a/c filter to sandwich it together

Now the problems I am running into are my ambient temp is 73 degrees and the flower area gets up to 103

I know get a bigger fan and I plan to -(Delta 220CFM) for the cooltube..
Do you think this fan will help?


also do you think with the 2 fan setup I have going now It would be better to go with only one(Are the 2 any better than just running 1)This pertains to the cooltube cooling only

Do you think the 80 cfm bath fan is enough once I get the bigger fan for the cooltube??


Or should I just invest in a 250w and call it a day?

All the input you have will help..I am very open to constructive criticism...

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Your flower footprint is on par with a 150 HPS. Typical setup has 50 wpsf and you're closer to 125.

IMO, you need about ~250 cfm minimum. That typically comes with a 6" flange. A 6" circle is a little over 28 square inches. Passive intake would need to approximate 56 square inches. You might want to consider a bigger footprint, smaller lamp or maybe air conditioning.

 

[philcollins]

good luck keeping that thing cool...i cant get more than a 250 in a box, without a loud ass fan...which kinda defeats the stealth of it all

 

[1ManGrow]

yeah I figured 400w was pushing it..if I were to get a 150w do you still think I would need bigger fans for the cooltube or do you think the setup now would work???

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Might work. You have more footprint than I do and 95cfm/carbon scrubber and speed controller on low keeps within ~+5*f of ambient.

For the price of a 150 you could get a tent and rock the 400.

 

[1ManGrow]

Might work. You have more footprint than I do and 95cfm/carbon scrubber and speed controller on low keeps within ~+5*f of ambient.

For the price of a 150 you could get a tent and rock the 400.

a tent would be nice but I have invested too much into the cabinet build...

I will keep the 400 and go with a 150 - for my first few grows...once I get a few runs under my belt I will move up to the 400.

a 250w with a 220 cfm delta fan would not keep it in a reasonable range with the bath vent getting other excess heat..

I have a 4" dryer duct going from the home a/c vent down to where the intakes are.would this not help with temps when it is blowing 73 degree air down by the intakes?

Thanks

 

[Guest304546]

For the price of a 150 you could get a tent and rock the 400.

a tent would be nice but I have invested too much into the cabinet build...

I will keep the 400 and go with a 150 - for my first few grows...once I get a few runs under my belt I will move up to the 400.

a 250w with a 220 cfm delta fan would not keep it in a reasonable range with the bath vent getting other excess heat..

I have a 4" dryer duct going from the home a/c vent down to where the intakes are.would this not help with temps when it is blowing 73 degree air down by the intakes?

Thanks

while a decent quality tent would probably cost a little more than a 150 would run you, Disco is right that you'd be better off going that route, despite what you've invested in the cabinet build.

growing weed successfully in small cabs is tricky and if you are a relatively new grower then learning to grow AND learning to grow in a micro-environment might be more difficult than you'll like, ...having a tent would give you a space that is designed for growing from jump street so setting it up is child's play in comparison to tweaking a new micro-cab.

i grew in micro-cabs for almost 4 years before i upgraded to a tent and almost overnight things just got way easier to manage.

AD

btw, getting a tent doesn't mean you have to scrap the cab, i still have a mother cab and a cloning cab, it's just my budding chamber i've retired.

 

[1ManGrow]

while a decent quality tent would probably cost a little more than a 150 would run you, Disco is right that you'd be better off going that route, despite what you've invested in the cabinet build.

growing weed successfully in small cabs is tricky and if you are a relatively new grower then learning to grow AND learning to grow in a micro-environment might be more difficult than you'll like, ...having a tent would give you a space that is designed for growing from jump street so setting it up is child's play in comparison to tweaking a new micro-cab.

i grew in micro-cabs for almost 4 years before i upgraded to a tent and almost overnight things just got way easier to manage.

AD

btw, getting a tent doesn't mean you have to scrap the cab, i still have a mother cab and a cloning cab, it's just my budding chamber i've retired.

thanks for the reply..There are other factors that prevent me from doing that...In a different situation I would go that route..

I am doing a test run now with the 400w .I have the temp at a steady 85f .What I did was reseal the cool tube and also rigged a 4" duct going from the a/c vent to the light intake area -

My ambient temp is 74f and grow area is 85 so deltaT is 11 so 3.16x400=1264/11=114 fan is rated at 80 so 114/80 so my efficiency is 134% in the grow area.I think I have that all right..

for my cool tube - ambient 74f and exhaust is 87f so deltaT is 13
so 3.16x400=1264/13=97cfm .My to fans are rated at 78cfm each.
so that would be 156cfm .156-97=59% efficiency..

if that is all correct then the a/c going into the cool tube intake is really helping with temps.That would lead me to believe that getting a good 220cfm delta fan with high static pressure would help drop the temps a few more degrees giving a manageable growing temp ..

Thoughts on this?

 

[Guest304546]

i'm kinda lazy by nature so i've never bothered to actually crunch the numbers for any of the cabs i've modified, i've just kind of winged it if you will.

what that means for me is that every cab i've done i've had to redo the intakes to make it work because just winging meant i'd underestimated the size required.

so experience has taught me to always err on the side of increased airflow so i'd have to say yeah, you can never have too much fan, add a speed controller to a too-big fan and you can step it down and run it real quiet.

and 85 is doable, not optimum but still doable, just watch the plants and they will show you if they are stressed.

and here is a link to Disco's cab, reading his thread will reap unlooked for rewards.

[URL="https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=144720"]Biscuit Box[/URL]

peace, AD

 

[redbudduckfoot]

i would use the current fan as an active intake and purchase a 4'' 200cfm can fan or any comparable fan for exhaust. you will have no problems after that. 4' x 6' x 20"deep w/ a 400w is no problem. do not bother using the smaller lights, you cant hurt anything by using the larger light. it works out to about 65wpsqft, where 50 watts per sq ft is the goal, but as long as you can keep plenty of fresh air(2 exchanges per minute) and your canopy temps below 80 deg you will have excellent results. throw a trellis up at around canopy level, lst the plant till 3/4 of trellis is full, flip to 12/12 and yield 10-14 oz, depending on strain/plant#'s, etc.

good luck buddy. just for an idea of what is possible, this is a 5' x 4' 1K hps grow, trellis and blumats. day 13 of flower.



the room is about 5' x 7' and has 225cfm active intake and 650 cfm exhaust, but with the charcoal filter(can 66) only allows 412 cfm of exhaust. so thats about 640cfm. my room is about 220 cubic feet, so i have plenty of air being moved even if u dont count the active intake in your calculations.

hope this helps,
RBDF

 

[1ManGrow]

Thanks..I have looked through biscuits threads but will give them another look..

I will try to keep the temps manageable with a bigger fan..If I can not get the temps where I want them then I will drop to a 250w..

I will only run into heat problems this time of year as are summers are hot..Once September hits then the temps outside are not to bad and will help my heat issues...

 

[Guest304546]

yeah, i pointed you at Disco's thread because he has skills and he was already here offering advice but if you've read it then maybe you need to check out a few other micro-environments, ...there are HUNDREDS of others to see.

here is one that MAY help and even if you've read through it already, this one is definately worth the second, thorough read.

[URL="https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=112862"]Ventilation 101[/URL]

peace, AD

 

[redbudduckfoot]

also, something to keep in mind:

you should have a window banger AC installed in the room the closet is in. if you can keep the room at 70 deg, with proper air movement in the grow area there is no reason temps could go above 80 deg, especially with an active intake.

also, do you exhaust the air into the room or up into the cieling?

RBDF

 

[1ManGrow]

I put a fan inside the cab to blow air around and now have my temps 7 over ambient ...Sitting at 82-So I am almost there...Give it a full night burn in and see what the temps are in the morning