DIY Window AC Box Build For a Tent

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Here lies the problem. A 14500 btu ac is doable, but I've been looking at the 18k+ ones and they all run on 230v. This building only has 120v outlets, and it's not possible to run any new breakers.

Do you believe with a 14500, if plant day cycle was run at night bringing the lung room temperature down to 70-75, that the room would be able to keep a high of 85 with 4 vented lights and a co2 generator inside?

I could afford $500 for a nicer and new 14500 ac, but I can't really afford $1500-$2000 for the nice mini split.

UPDATE: Home Depot actually has brand new 15000btu 120v window ac for $349 ftw.

I could easily get 2 10,000btu window units on craigslist for 100 a piece. That might work better than the 14500, just take a lot more power as well as an extra circuit. Problem being that I only have about 5 dedicated circuits for growing the pot. 4 for lights (fans tagged onto those) and the last one for ac/dehumid.

I could make your style box for both of them. Then have both of the cold air returns go to a duct splitter (takes both 6" ducts and turns it into an 8" that will consolidate it to one duct that runs inside the tent) and do the same with the cold air intakes. Have dual ac's run one line into the tent. That just seem's like a lot of work to do, and it would be weird seeing both ac units start up at the same time over and over lol.

Otherwise, I could run the Central AC to cool the lung room but thats also very expensive. My last go I had Central AC cooling 2 bare bulbs, and my bill was running me $300 a month.

a little over engineered bro but at the same time if you do it once you never have to do it again so why not just make it exactly like you want it! i love it keep up the good work! if you put as much thought into your room as you have this ac box i'm sure you have a awesome setup i'm going to have to hunt for a journal from you.....

Good thread canna, thanks for the ideas, between hossier and you, I've come from the dark-side of portable ACs..

but how do you clean the filter?

I'm thinking of (but havent started) cutting a hole in the tent (GL145) and tapeing the front of the AC in the tent, intake from centraly aired room the tent is in and exhaust to the garage.
but before I hack the tent up, does this sound a reasonable way to proceed?

or, cut the AC right into the garage wall and cool the entire, centrally AC'd, room?

In hindsight, after making the enclosure, considering the prices of tents nowadays, its probably easier to just cut a hole in the tent. cut it like a flap so you can tape it back if needed, and get some extra black/white poly in case you mess up. It should be more efficient this way.

My box works great and Ive yet to have any problems with it. I just pull out one side of the wooden housing to clean the filter, but the AC is rarely on, usually less than 10 minutes per day..

In Florida. I'd be happy if it only runs 10 minutes/hour.

Lights off>dehumidifier 12/hrs, lights on> humidifier 12hrs/day.
Keeping the humidity in check is NP.
I'd like to run 5-6F cooler 72-75F vs 77-80F.

I think I cut a hole in the tent and box the back, to vent to the garage.
It will be fewer holes in the walls to repair, later.

Thanks again.

do you run a sealed tent and supplement co2? If you do you should be fine at those temps.

I run my sealed tent with co2 at 78-83 deg day, 70-75 at night. dehuey runs 24/7 and maintains 50-60% rh.

Sealed tent.

When lights are on, I can see so many pin holes along each seam, that I didnt think I could run 'sealed'.

Am I over thinking it?

I do have CO2 and fuzzy controller.

i think the pinholes and the argument that tents are not "sealed" enough to run co2 is bs.

there should be no negative or positive pressure in a sealed tent, its not like air is being forced out anywhere...I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to raise the concentration of a gas in a relatively closed environment like that.

then again i don't have a fuzzzy logic or anything...the plants seem to like it regardless

No negative pressure, yes.

WTF.. I give it a try. Your logic, is... logical!

A day or 2 and I'll be back with the outcome.

Nice post Canna thanks

I wonder if there is there any way to get the AC thermostat inside the room, while still keeping the unit outside?
IS there a CAP temp controller that can handle a 220 AC?

Nice job.

Dont believe so..

You'd need to put the AC on a high amp relay (CAP HPR-1) where the AC would get its power from the 220v source, but use a trigger cable plugged into a Tmp-dne to kick it on or off.

Ive been looking for something like this for the past year. Thanks for showing this.

I have a couple questions. Im looking to cool a couple lights with ease using air cooled hoods as well. Having temps around 82 with a dual hose 12k btu and it sucks

If i connected a 15k btu LG unit (or any other 110 connection that has more BTU for around 500 or so) from home depot that is digital could it be connected to a sentinal or would it just turn it on but not to cooling mode?

Also it seems that any AC unit being run 20 hours a day wears it down and it gets way worse after a month or two of constant using at high power. I was going to buy a window unit and return it every 60 days or so as home depot / wallmart have 90 day return policy in order to constantly. Is there a way to set this box up with those AC units that can be removed easily and a new AC put in every 60 days or is that not worth it?

Should I match CFM for the air intake from the side of the AC unit as posted in that post you linked us to?

I just dont want to get stuck with an AC unit that shits out after a couple months of heavy usage even though I dont like returning and returning products.

Thanks for your input

Also doesnt water have to come out of these AC units or get stuck inside it?

ya just cut hole in tent, like a flap and have something to collect water from it, maybe a tube recirculating to the rez..

EAsier, cheaper, quicker breakdown than doing the whole box imo, but i really like the professionalism of this thread.,

do you guys think co2 is needed if i sleep in the 10x14 room with a 1200w grow?

if i were to cut a hole in the tent the ambient temps would still be very high considering its exhausting into the garage and not out a window. it seems like the box method is good but yeah maybe just install the AC unit up high but then you may as well put a plywood wall on one side of ur tent with AC built into it

SB.J said:

Ive been looking for something like this for the past year. Thanks for showing this.

I have a couple questions. Im looking to cool a couple lights with ease using air cooled hoods as well. Having temps around 82 with a dual hose 12k btu and it sucks

If i connected a 15k btu LG unit (or any other 110 connection that has more BTU for around 500 or so) from home depot that is digital could it be connected to a sentinal or would it just turn it on but not to cooling mode?

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Hi SBJ,
A digital ac wont work with a controller, at least not any that i've seen.
I can understand that your portable sucks, most of them do. how many lights exactly are you running? 1k's?

Youll be fine cooling 'a couple' of air cooled lights with a 15k btu portable and 82° ambient. In the summer it ranged from 80-95 in my garage and I have the AC kick on at 84°. It takes about 3-5 minutes to drop a 5'x5' tent from 84 to 77° and the AC comes on 2-3 times per hour.

SB.J said:

Also it seems that any AC unit being run 20 hours a day wears it down and it gets way worse after a month or two of constant using at high power. I was going to buy a window unit and return it every 60 days or so as home depot / wallmart have 90 day return policy in order to constantly. Is there a way to set this box up with those AC units that can be removed easily and a new AC put in every 60 days or is that not worth it?

Should I match CFM for the air intake from the side of the AC unit as posted in that post you linked us to?

Click to expand...

You shouldnt have to run the AC 20 hours a day, thats inefficient as shit and probably due to using a portable. If you don't want to cut a hole in your tent then build the box as I described. The weatherstripping around the wooden frames on the front and back makes it really easy to pull on and off for cleaning the AC...or returning it in your case. Just remember to get the same model

Not sure I follow your CFM questions...do you mean hot air intake(the slits in the AC housing that pull garage air through the motor to cool)? or the cold air intake(the intake pulling air from your tent/room)?

I definitely suggest using fan to help the hot air exhaust(back of the AC unit) push the hot air away, I push my ac hot air exhaust completely out of the garage. If you don't have a fan to help, your AC motor will die extremely quickly.
This doesn't seem to be the case for the cold air intake nor the cold air exhaust (front of ac), the AC is able to suck and push the tent's air through the cooling system on its own.

My 10k btu exhaust with 240 cfm AC hot air exhaust motor was matched with a 270 cfm 6" Can fan to exhaust the hot air. See if you can find the motor's CFM on the AC unit your purchase and match it similarly.

SB.J said:

I just dont want to get stuck with an AC unit that shits out after a couple months of heavy usage even though I dont like returning and returning products.

Thanks for your input

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the AC shouldn't be working too hard to cool your room if you match it correctly with the your ambient temps, how powerful your light air cooling is, number of lights, etc. I think you'll see a big efficiency improvement when you switch from portable ac to window unit. they kick ass.

thanks for the questions, let us know how it goes

SB.J said:

if i were to cut a hole in the tent the ambient temps would still be very high considering its exhausting into the garage and not out a window. it seems like the box method is good but yeah maybe just install the AC unit up high but then you may as well put a plywood wall on one side of ur tent with AC built into it

Click to expand...

After being hesitant of cutting holes in my tent and thus going with the box method, looking back, I would probably cut holes in the tent if I knew it was going to be a dedicated sealed room.

If you were going to do this, you slide just the front of the AC unit in, leaving the side slits and back exhaust out. I think if you're even considering building the box, you need to figure out a way to exhaust the AC's hot air out of the garage, it's critical.

Interesting cannabean, you said digital AC's won't work with a controller and I was just about to buy a new digital 24,000btu LG window unit to go along with my already purchased Sentinel CHHC4. I guess I'll have to do a little more research before buying.

I thought if the AC had the power outage memory featue that many do now that when the controller turned it on it would just start cooling to whatever temps you had set before the power outage?