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too many cfms?

U

UberPooner

Member
Is there such a thing as too many cfm's?

I have a 5x5x6 I only need about 60 cfm with all the calculations of size and lights and including 3 min refreshes.

My fan is a vortex s600 and thats at like 350 cfm. I have it exhausting so its a passive airflow setup.

Is there anything bad that happens from running the fan on full blast 24/7?
 
exploziv

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
Do the plants move too much from the air currents? Do the leaves show signs that they don't like the environment? Also, if you can run it at a slower speed, you should, cause there is no point on having that much air moved.
Plants may like it or not, depends on set-up too, but your setup sounds big enaugh that the air currents won't concentrate that much. I would be more careful with too much air movement in microgrows, but for your situation should be ok. That being said, always watch the plants to see if they like it or not.
 
Snook

Snook

Still Learning
Veteran
my assumption is your area is 5x5x6 feet not cm. in feet your area is 150 cubic feet, your fan is good for 350 cfm. running full bore isnt necessary but if thats what floats your boat, knock yourself out. you would be changing air 2x/minute... but like [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]exploziv said, not really necessary ... 1 or 2 oscillating fans on the floor apart some but facing each other will mix the air just fine. GL
[/FONT]
 
S

St. Phatty

Active member
UberPooner said:
Is there such a thing as too many cfm's?

I have a 5x5x6 I only need about 60 cfm with all the calculations of size and lights and including 3 min refreshes.

My fan is a vortex s600 and thats at like 350 cfm. I have it exhausting so its a passive airflow setup.

Is there anything bad that happens from running the fan on full blast 24/7?
Click to expand...

Fans are often rated at free flow into a zero pressure drop. Pushing a load, there's a good chance the fan you have is AOK.

One way to measure it is to open up a 55 gallon bag so it's not sticking to itself, then put it over the outlet & wire it on so all the air goes into the bag. The volume left in the bag after it's tied down might be 48 gallons - roughly 6 cubic feet.

So it would take 1/10 minute to fill it, 6 seconds.
 
E

Easy7

Active member
Veteran
You want a cfm per watt OR an inch of fan diameter per 100 watts usually dose the trick. Always depends on climate and highly advantaged to get a speed controller recommended by the fan manufacture.
 
Douglas.Curtis

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
Easy7 said:
You want a cfm per watt OR an inch of fan diameter per 100 watts usually dose the trick. Always depends on climate and highly advantaged to get a speed controller recommended by the fan manufacture.
Click to expand...
And here I thought I had too much airflow with a 6" fan and a 1k watt light. A 10" fan would be serious overkill for a 1k in a 5x5.

6" fan is fine for a 5x5. Exploziv has it correct with plant movement. :)
 
Snook

Snook

Still Learning
Veteran
Douglas.Curtis said:
And here I thought I had too much airflow with a 6" fan and a 1k watt light. A 10" fan would be serious overkill for a 1k in a 5x5.

6" fan is fine for a 5x5. Exploziv has it correct with plant movement. :)
Click to expand...
Although the 10" fan could be slowed down (rheostat) to run at much slower speed, accomplishing the required amount of cfm exhaust but with less noise or fan hummmm.
 
Phaeton

Phaeton

Speed of Dark
Veteran
Easy7 said:
You want a cfm per watt OR an inch of fan diameter per 100 watts usually dose the trick. Always depends on climate and highly advantaged to get a speed controller recommended by the fan manufacture.
Click to expand...

5600 watt bud room, 5000 CFM powered intakes and six stirring fans.
Any actual fluttering of the leaves is avoided so the edges do not fray. Temp sensors in the light beams, out of the light beams, and on containers ensure stable temperatures top to bottom.
Misting with distilled water shows the real time airflow through and around the canopies.

Works for me. Definitely not the only way.
 
E

Easy7

Active member
Veteran
Really depends on the wattage of the light and time of year/what outdoor/indoor temps are.

4" inch for 400
6" for 600
8" or 10" for 1k

If temps are 60f than that's different than if 80f. Depends on fan brand as well. Not all are rated for the same size/cfm.
 
G

Granger2

Active member
Veteran
Depends on temps. Keeping enough fresh air exchanging is different than keeping temps down. Good luck. -granger
 
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