How to make a wharehouse grow work

Lickitysplit · Mar 14, 2017

Hi there, First post here, I am a legal grower and am looking at a commercial space that is 1400 square feet and has 19 foot ceilings. So it is 26600 cubic feet. I am wanting to do a simple intake and exhaust setup. By my calculations running 16-20 lights I would need a HUGE amount of exhaust/intake fan power. Is there any way to avoid this or having to build an interior room inside the warehouse to reduce the cubic feet of growing space. Also I am not wanting to do a sealed room on account of the space itself not being possible to seal and the cost/hassle to dial it in.
Thanks!

Speed of green · Mar 14, 2017

ambient temps, air cooled lights? a/c? there are many factors to take into consideration. if you hang 20 lights in an empty warehouse and start growing you are going to run into issues.

Lickitysplit · Mar 14, 2017

Current temp is about 41 degrees. Will climb steadily to about 86 degrees by July and then start dropping again and hit a low point of about 26 degrees in January. I would like to run this year round. I don't wanna do air cooled lights. I was planning on using Gavita 1000's. I was hoping to use just air exchange for the first cycle and start in the next monthish and then throw in a AC or chiller for the summer. At the moment I am thinking of framing in a 30 by 16 room with 10 foot ceilings and doing 10 lights to start. right now I hav a 20 by 30 space that had some real good things about it but got clones with broad mites that are 10 days along. I think I am gonna just torch the clones and move to a different space and avoid the headache. At the moment I just have some clones under a single light and very little invested in this place other than some rent and clones...
Thanks again for the input

Lickitysplit · Mar 14, 2017

Just to be clear I am currently in a space that i am going to abandon because of broad mites. I have been told by experienced friends that they can be a nightmare and it might be easiest to just restart in a new space. Only problem with the new space vs the old one is that it is 26600 total cubic feet where as the first wharehouse was 5400 cubic feet so the air exchange is now a problem...

Phaeton · Mar 14, 2017

The building will need a minimum 2,000 amp service. This is fairly expensive to install and certify.
Buildings not used for gardening will not have enough, a high energy usage assembling or service building will not exceed 1,000 amps, tops. Close does not work and all will have to be torn out to install appropriate sized wiring.

Power is the major problem, venting is a bit more complex than in one end out the other but manageable. Floor drains are in place?

Gardening is a specific needs activity and doing it on a large scale depends on proper equipment. A building designed for other purposes is expensive and difficult to convert. It is not a matter of doing the same thing only larger and more of it. The dynamics are different.

It is being done though, and often. What worth doing has ever been easy?

Gypsy Nirvana · Mar 14, 2017

How to make a wharehouse grow work.

I had to do a double take on your spelling of warehouse because the way you spell the word makes it close to a house with a red light over it.

Speed of green · Mar 14, 2017

you will need to build rooms more than likely. you could try running gravitas in an open space but your lights off time will have huge temp swings, most warehouses have poor insulation.

i would do more research, people build grow rooms for a reason. a 20 light grow is not a little investment, be prepared to spend 25-35k

Wendull C. · Mar 14, 2017

More like 50 g plus. That's just to start...

MJINC · Mar 14, 2017

Phaeton said:
The building will need a minimum 2,000 amp service. This is fairly expensive to install and certify.
Buildings not used for gardening will not have enough, a high energy usage assembling or service building will not exceed 1,000 amps, tops. Close does not work and all will have to be torn out to install appropriate sized wiring.

Power is the major problem, venting is a bit more complex than in one end out the other but manageable. Floor drains are in place?

Gardening is a specific needs activity and doing it on a large scale depends on proper equipment. A building designed for other purposes is expensive and difficult to convert. It is not a matter of doing the same thing only larger and more of it. The dynamics are different.

It is being done though, and often. What worth doing has ever been easy?

Can I ask why the electricity demands are so high? I know the US has 120V which doubles the amperage of most other countries but I would think at 1000 amps your still not using even half the amount of capacity for the size he is talking about?

OldPhart · Mar 14, 2017

1-2 thousand amp??? I would say more like 2-4 hundred amps. Assume single phase 240v, a 200 amp panel can eek out 40KW. Assume 1/2 for lights, 1/2 for a/c, dehuy, fans, pumps. That would get you to 20 lights, allthough with very little reserve. Now if you have a 200A three phase panel, that could provide a lot more power, but the lack of having single phase 240v could screw you over when it comes to running stuff like consumer a/c equipment

OP

Lickitysplit · Mar 14, 2017

Thanks for all the reply 's. There is 200 amp 3 phase power in the WAREHOUSE. I see the only option is to do an interior room. I am thinking of starting with framing in space for 10 lights and then eventually expanding to 20 lights. I currently have approx 20 g's to get this going. Any input on the broad mites. I currently have a great space but wanna burn the plants and move shop on account of the mites. Do you guys think this is overkill should I just kill the plants heat treat the room and bleach it?

Lickitysplit · Mar 14, 2017

And stay in the same building

Speed of green · Mar 15, 2017

i would stay where you are and eradicate the mites.

Floridian · Mar 15, 2017

If you deny the mites anything green for a short time and hang a no pest strip for a couple days you wouldn't have to do any extreme measures like that

Wendull C. · Mar 15, 2017

One word of advice. Build everything up to and surpassing fire code. The cops can't get rid of you very easy anymore with the proper paperwork, but fire inspectors can and will red tag you for so much as a switch plate being cracked, or an extension cord running a fan.

Don't give them a chance, build it all to code and keep it that way. Get it inspected and permitted if need be. 20,000 is alot to lose on a surprise inspection.

Floridian · Mar 15, 2017

And I'm sure you're aware of this but if not you really do want 50 watts a sq. ft for flowering,it would be a real shame to do all that construction and come up light on the lights if you know what I mean

Lickitysplit · Mar 20, 2017

Thanks for all the tips! I am in Canada and have never heard of a fire inspection for a legal grow but it is defiantly something important to consider. I am planning on using a approx. 4.5x4.5 footprint for the 1000's so I should be pretty close to the 50 watts per sq foot mark. I am gonna run normal 1000's with a single Gavita in the mix and see if it comes out on top. If it's looking good I am gonna switch over to Gavita's.
Any tips on eradicating the broad mites??? I was planning to burn all existing plants throw away everything in the room I can and then bleach every surface followed by a coat of white paint. I will also do a few heat treatments(120 degrees+ for 1 hour) and possibly do some sort of bug bomb or sulfur burning(I have no experience with these methods).
Cheers

CosmicCharlie · Mar 20, 2017

Check out RB26's thread on building individual rooms in a large warehouse

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?threadid=318644

FirstTracks · Mar 20, 2017

yes ^

Lickitysplit · Mar 20, 2017

Nice! Thanks
Any tips for the broad mites. The warehouse is only necessary if I ditch my current location I am wanting to just burn the plants clean and santize the room, do some heat treatments add some predatory mites and use the same space with new clones. The local pest management company said based on pics "I very likely have broad mites" But after the initial leaf twisting etc.. that happened there has been no more damage for about 10 days so I am hesitant to kill the plants although I'm probably just delaying the inevitable

How to make a wharehouse grow work

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