Grow room too hot, need help. Not the obvious help.

[maryjanesdad]

long time no post.

Im having the same issue, my grow room (bloom room) is too hot. i have (3) air cooled 600w hps lights. Im not using the outside air, rather im removing the heat to the outdoors. I have a 14,000 portable ac which doesnt seem to be doing the job, not like the old wall A/C i used to have anyway. any suggestions how i can cool the room down even more? The temp with only 2 of the 3 lights on was at 88 degrees F. Im concerned when i put the third light on the temp will be off the charts. Im looking to have temps in the 70's ideally.

room is 11 x 7 x 7. Im using 2 inline fans too cool off 5 lights (2) 400w lights (veg room) and (3) 600w lights (bloom room) as mentioned.




i was thinking about:
adding a second portable ac
using reflector covers to trap heat
using insulated duct for the exhaust from the AC (i notice the duct gets really hot)
using a more powerful inline fan, or adding a third fan.

Im in the north east so the temps will be getting colder, but the room is so sealed i dont think the outdoor temps will affect the room.

what to do, what to do????

 

[overbudjet]

Portable A/C are not efficient at all you can cut their rating by half.In my own sealed room (8 x 600w air cooled,2 row of 4 hood each row being cool by a maxfan 8")how big is your cooling fan? Did your A/C is dual hose (intake/exhaust or single)

 

[Frozenguy]

Does the air go from the room, through the lights, to the outside? If so, it sounds like you're sucking your cooled air right out the window?!
Get the air cooled lights on a closed loop from some source (outside?). Then cool your room down and vent the room every once in a while to replace CO2.

Insulating your AC vent will help but it wont solve the problem.

 

[hush]

^ That.

Also, get rid of that POS portable a/c. Those are garbage. You are better off using a window banger, which are actually very efficient, just not lightproof. Your lights need to be in their own closed loop. If not, then you need to vent the lights right back into the room, sealed-room-style, and compensate for the heat by going overboard with your a/c BTUs. Then, start injecting CO2.

 

[BigSteve]

It's most efficient to work on your ducting, as well as your theories on air flow.

As previously mentioned, you want the air to come from a different source and go through the lights and go outside. Your fans should be strong enough to keep the lights cold. I expect to be able to put my hand to the glass and feel cool. This way your room can be a fairly sealed environment, which is easy to control heat/humidity in. Your ducting should be solid and straight as possible. Insulating the ducting would help. But you want the air moving fast enough to keep it cool anyways.

If I want to warm up my room, I plug in the speedster and slow down my fan. And dehumidifier keeps my humidity low enough.

EZ

 

[maryjanesdad]

think i solved the problem.

The issue seems to be the A/C exhaust. I tried to "Y" off the exhaust from the A/C into the duct that cools the light and its too much. My local hydro shop guy suggested i exhaust the A/C into a different duct if possible. I just finished redoing it and i think im good to go. I think the exhaust fromt he A/C was not even being pushed out....its possible it was going back into the unit.

 

[maryjanesdad]

^ That.

Also, get rid of that POS portable a/c. Those are garbage. You are better off using a window banger, which are actually very efficient, just not lightproof. Your lights need to be in their own closed loop. If not, then you need to vent the lights right back into the room, sealed-room-style, and compensate for the heat by going overboard with your a/c BTUs. Then, start injecting CO2.

i had a wall unit A/C which worked great but had serious odor issues so i had to get rid of it.

I checked my room dimensions which is 77 sq ft and a 14,000 BTU portable A/C was efficient enough from what i read online.

 

[hush]

I checked my room dimensions which is 77 sq ft and a 14,000 BTU portable A/C was efficient enough from what i read online.

Maybe you determined that 14,000 BTUs was what you needed for your room, but portables are notoriously the suck. My 5000 BTU window banger probably cools better than a 14,000 portable. When I was researching AC's for my room, that was the number one thing I found, over and over again... was that everyone eventually figures out how portables are useless.

 

[maryjanesdad]

Maybe you determined that 14,000 BTUs was what you needed for your room, but portables are notoriously the suck. My 5000 BTU window banger probably cools better than a 14,000 portable. When I was researching AC's for my room, that was the number one thing I found, over and over again... was that everyone eventually figures out how portables are useless.

they are not as good as the wall units, but i either use a portable A/C or stink up the house. In all seriousness the A/C is working well so im good.

 

[nachoconqueso]

I only have the ability to point out the obvious. I can't help you...I'm sorry.

 

[Ickis]

Oh look the answer was obvious.

 

[nachoconqueso]

Oh look the answer was obvious.

I'm also quite lazy. I never made it past the subject line...I'm sorry.

 

[K.O.Genetics]

long time no post.

Im having the same issue, my grow room (bloom room) is too hot. i have (3) air cooled 600w hps lights. Im not using the outside air, rather im removing the heat to the outdoors. I have a 14,000 portable ac which doesnt seem to be doing the job, not like the old wall A/C i used to have anyway. any suggestions how i can cool the room down even more? The temp with only 2 of the 3 lights on was at 88 degrees F. Im concerned when i put the third light on the temp will be off the charts. Im looking to have temps in the 70's ideally.

room is 11 x 7 x 7. Im using 2 inline fans too cool off 5 lights (2) 400w lights (veg room) and (3) 600w lights (bloom room) as mentioned.




i was thinking about:
adding a second portable ac
using reflector covers to trap heat
using insulated duct for the exhaust from the AC (i notice the duct gets really hot)
using a more powerful inline fan, or adding a third fan.

Im in the north east so the temps will be getting colder, but the room is so sealed i dont think the outdoor temps will affect the room.

what to do, what to do????

exhaust ur light heat.. say u take some outside the grow room air... threw the lights.. and out.. basicly having an exhaust.. with ur carbon filter.. and then having ur light exhaust which doesn't need a filter because it should be taking in clean are then going threw the lights.. and right outside.

 

[K.O.Genetics]

another thing ive found .. is my 5000btu ac will cool better then my 7800 because the digital display cools to 60.. but the 5000btu just has cool and high cool.. and no degrees lol and my room will get down to 58-60 with 5000btu.. and 64-68 with 7800. with lights off. basicly dude the temps at night are going down.. keep ur flower period on at night time.. and use the cool outdoor air to bring in ur cool air.

 

[hush]

You are aware that portable ACs create negative pressure, by their very design, right? You might consider sniffing the exhaust from your AC, to see what it smells like. Funny, I don't hear much about window units causing a smell, other than people reporting the condensate water smelling a little bit, yet EVERYONE talks about how even dual-hose portables create neg pressure and leak smell.

As long as it works for you, though, that's all that matters. I'm a huge fan of "the ends justify the means."