Air Cooled Reflector setup advice please!

Hello,

So my 1000w air cooled reflector came in along with my 391 cfm exhaust fan. The set up will be independent from my carbon filter set up which is already in place and functioning. I have read all the pros and cons of pulling verses pushing the air over the lamp and quite frankly either way is acceptable to me but I think I will opt for blowing the the air over the lamp based on the setup I am presenting to you all. Please tell me or advise me if this will work and any suggestions you have be it a better design or whatever. This is my first time to set up an air cooled light to exhaust heat out of the tent which is a 4x4 footprint.

The tent is in a room that I partitioned by building make shift walls to reduce the size of the room so that the ac window unit will cool the room more easily thus saving me on electric cost. So my exhaust fan will be pulling air from this area then blowing over the lamp then exhausting the warm/hot air into the attic. In the photo are the parts I believe I need to accomplish this.

My plan is to connect the exhaust fan to one side of the Master Flow 6 in. Round Tee. Place the other end through the tent and duct it to the air cooled hood. Then I was thinking that I could use the down portion of the Tee (on the outside of the tent) to serve as an inline air source to the opening at the bottom of the tent using a short piece of ducting. I think the 391 cfm is sufficient enough to serve this dual purpose as when cranked up it moves a lot of air at a pretty stout velocity and it has a speed control. Also from where the air enters the exhaust fan to where it will be exhausted into the attic is maybe 10 feet. This includes extra duct for raising and lowering the light. The intake is opposite side of the tent from the exhaust so by design fresh air will be forced to be pulled over the plants. I believe this is what you want.

As far as the exhaust side I will use the Master Flow 10 in. x 4 in. to 6 in. 90° Register Box. This works perfectly in that there happens to be a vent I can use thats part of my central heat and air that fits these exact measurements. The a/c through this vent is very weak so I plan to just push it out of the way and use the opening to exhaust the lamps heat. This also keeps me from having to cut a hole in my wall.

So my two part question is:

1. Based on what i have described I want to do, will this design process work? Can it be better?

2. How do I mount the exhaust fan up high to where it will be secure? I prefer it be on the outside of the tent if possible.

I appreciate all the help and advice and or suggestions

1. The air in your a/c cooled room needs to stay there, so running it through your light and out to another room will severely decrease the a/c effectiveness and increase your electric costs.


2. You say you're using carbon, so smell is an issue. Pay attention to positive and negative air pressure and where smell will be sucked or blown to.


Hope that helps

Douglas.Curtis said:

1. The air in your a/c cooled room needs to stay there, so running it through your light and out to another room will severely decrease the a/c effectiveness and increase your electric costs.

2. You say you're using carbon, so smell is an issue. Pay attention to positive and negative air pressure and where smell will be sucked or blown to.


Hope that helps

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Thank you for the input. So are you suggesting that I pull air from the outside of the house. It's super hot outside. I don't see how blowing 95 degree air over the lamp is gonna help. Is my thinking correct on this? My only options are to pull air from the room the tent is or from outside. I do see your point though that I would just be using the cool ac air to blow over the lamp making the window unit kick on more. So how do you mitigate this? I realize as the season moves into the winter time heat becomes less of an issue but like I said right now it's still very hot outside. Then there is the issue with winter where they say pulling too cold of air over the lamp decreases its efficiency. Damned if I do damned if I don't. Suggestions anyone?

As far as the carbon filter I am not worried about odor because it's legal where I am at. I just don't want my home smelling like a skunk. The exhaust from the carbon filter is just going back into the room the tent is in. I have a handheld IR thermometer and the air coming out of that is right at 80 to 82 degrees so not to bad given the fact that I am currently using a non cooled 400w reflector but like I stated I am fixing to ramp it up with a 1000w which I can dial it down to 60% and make it 600w if I want. Based off threads I have read there doesn't seem to be a huge difference in using 600w verses 1000w in a 4x4 footprint.

Thanks

95F is still significantly cooler than your lamp temps. Best case scenario is to pull from outside and exhaust to outside, with the attic being a good place for the exit.


The rest of the setup sounds fine. I like a 1K hps in a 4x4 myself.

Yup intake/outake all outside.Even with temps that high its more efficient cooling that bulb.Try running your lights thru the night when it’s cooler.

Exhaust fan placement

Exhaust fan placement

Where in the run is the most efficient place to place the exhaust fan if blowing over the light?

Depends on the length of the run. The fan will push farther, at higher pressures, than it will suck. Too long of an intake and you'll want to add a booster fan.

Douglas.Curtis said:

Depends on the length of the run. The fan will push farther, at higher pressures, than it will suck. Too long of an intake and you'll want to add a booster fan.

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This information is in my original thread.

"Also from where the air enters the exhaust fan to where it will be exhausted into the attic is maybe 10 feet. "

So placement would be best on this long of a run. Again I have a 391 cfm 6" fan with speed control.

When you say higher pressures are you referring to speed/velocity of the air flow?

Thanks

Yes, higher pressures meaning higher speed of airflow.


Yep, forgot this was a thread with great detail, thanks. I'd recommend putting the fan after the hood, before the 10' run to the attic.

Douglas.Curtis said:

Yes, higher pressures meaning higher speed of airflow.


Yep, forgot this was a thread with great detail, thanks. I'd recommend putting the fan after the hood, before the 10' run to the attic.

Click to expand...

Like this?

Close. I'd put the fan on the attic side of the tent. Other than that, it looks like a winner.

Douglas.Curtis said:

Close. I'd put the fan on the attic side of the tent. Other than that, it looks like a winner.

Click to expand...

You said this:

Douglas.Curtis said:

Depends on the length of the run. The fan will push farther, at higher pressures, than it will suck. Too long of an intake and you'll want to add a booster fan.

Click to expand...

So if I put it by the attic side then it would be pulling/sucking the air.

I've never been a fan of ventilated setups in air conditioned rooms. I mean, all of that cold air the AC is pumping out gets sucked into the attic. I understand that people do this, and that it works, but it never sat right with me and seemed like the AC would be constantly running or something.

So when I bought my first 1000w setup with a 4x4 tent, and put it in a small utility room with a window air conditioner, I decided to just exhaust the air out the tent right back into the room, where the AC could keep cooling it. This setup rocked my world, and I was even able to get purpling out of strains that I never got colors out of, all because it was cool enough in the room. I averaged around 1.5 lbs per harvest in that tent, and the AC turned off and on like it's supposed to.

hush said:

I've never been a fan of ventilated setups in air conditioned rooms. I mean, all of that cold air the AC is pumping out gets sucked into the attic. I understand that people do this, and that it works, but it never sat right with me and seemed like the AC would be constantly running or something.

So when I bought my first 1000w setup with a 4x4 tent, and put it in a small utility room with a window air conditioner, I decided to just exhaust the air out the tent right back into the room, where the AC could keep cooling it. This setup rocked my world, and I was even able to get purpling out of strains that I never got colors out of, all because it was cool enough in the room. I averaged around 1.5 lbs per harvest in that tent, and the AC turned off and on like it's supposed to.

Click to expand...

Hush,
Thanks for the input brother! Basically that is what I am doing right now. The air being pulled through my carbon filter is exhausting right back into the room my tent is in. Not sure if you have read the whole thread but essentially the room my tent is in, I have modified making it smaller by building two partitions. This way the window unit doesnt have to cool as much square footage. I have the window unit on a temperature controlled timer so when the the temps in the room where the tent is in hit 89 degrees it kicks on and cools the room back down to 79 degrees. I would say the window unit kicks on every 20 to 25 minutes and it takes about 8 minutes to cool it back to 79 degrees. I have my lights off during peak energy times set by my electric company to avoid the higher rate.
Keep in mind I have the main tent door and a side door completely open and I am sure this is mitigating a lot of heat build up obviously. If I completely shut the tent doors I am sure the heat would get pretty crazy. I would be curious to know 1. did you have your tent doors completely zipped up and 2. How often was your window unit running with the doors zipped up or completely open. Because I am fixing to ramp up the lights to 1000W maybe dial it down to 600 as my ballast allows when I switch to flower. Basic common sense is that there is going to be twice the heat I have now and I currently running a 400w. My original blueprint was going to be a setup where I would be using the ac from the window unit to run through my cool tube fixture and exhaust into the attic but as "Douglas Curtis" mentioned I would just be wasting all that ac. So now I am going to run a duct to the window that the window unit is in and pull air from outside to cool the lamp and exhaust that into the attic thus keeping my ac air in the room cycling through my tent through the carbon filter and exhausting right back into the room like you said you did. So as long as I keep the ambient air in the room the tent is in at or around 78-80 degrees I would think this would be the way to go. Of course as we transition into fall/winter heat isn't going to be an issue. It will be the opposite and I will probably redirect the heat when it starts to get cold outside and blow it into the room the tent is in instead of the attic. I am just curious how things will change if I zip the tent completely up. There is only one passive vent at the bottom of my tent and I am not sure if that is enough for fresh air exchange so a positive airflow might be needed in addition to the oscillating fans I have going inside the tent. I am just not sure.... I would like to hear more about your setup though. Like the two points I asked you about as well as the climate you live in. How hot are your summers etc... Were you doing your runs in the colder months etc.... Thanks man!

That was when I lived in south Florida, so it was hot and humid, all the time. The room was about 10' x 6' (usable space 8x6) and it was detached from the house, so it didn't have any central air or anything like that. It was a laundry room, and I didn't have a washer or dryer, so it made sense. It also had a window, so that made the air conditioning option cheap with a window banger. I bought the cheapest one at Walmart. Then I set it down all the way to the coldest setting. I didn't modify the thermostat or use any separate temperature controls, just used the AC the way it's supposed to be used, but on its lowest setting.

There were two tents in that room, one with a 400w, and they both used the same light timer, and the lights came on during the day, so there was a defined temperature swing between day and night in the tents. At coldest overnight it measured something like 62° F at canopy level, and at warmest during the light cycle it measured 78 or so. It's a little foggy now. I have a thread somewhere talking about it. I'll see if I can find it for you.

Edit: Here it is.

Here it is.[/QUOTE]

Excellent! That Sadhu looks intoxicating! Great job 360 man! I am going with an organic grow. Just a twist off subcool soil amendments etc.. Sort of a no till/organic only feed regimen hybrid cover crop, live worms worm castings all that shit.... So far so good! With your Sadhu grow our setups are damn near identical How often was your window unit on? I mean from a cost perspective? I mean South Florida like you said hot and humid....Great insulation?

There was actually zero insulation in this room. It was a concrete block structure, though, and I think that probably helped. But there was no ceiling, and the roof was just plywood, with tar and shingles on top of that. Also, it was under a really old, really big Live Oak tree that got shade all day long. Still, ambient temperature in there without any AC or lights or anything was around the upper 90s on days where the outside temperature was in the upper 90s, if you catch my drift.

I don't know how to quantify how often the AC turned on, though, I'm sorry. I just know that it was negligible to the electric bill. I mean, I had already done the math with my kW/H cost to determine how much the lights alone would add to my electric bill, and then when those electric bills started rolling in I realized it was pretty much where I expected it to be... so the AC usage was sort of negligible in terms of energy usage (in the grand scheme of things anyway, knowing I was using 1400w in there on lighting alone).

Window AC's just work *really* well. Best thing about them, as opposed to dual hose portables, is that they don't exchange air with the outside or leak stinky air out.

hush said:

Window AC's just work *really* well. Best thing about them, as opposed to dual hose portables, is that they don't exchange air with the outside or leak stinky air out.

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Yeah they cool the space really well. I see a huge difference after it cycles off. I hit the top of the canopy with my IR thermometer and it registers around 78-82. The air exhausting out ranges 80-83sh. However those increase between cycles of the window unit cranking on and off. So you never mentioned if you zipped your tents up. I am assuming you probably did because you mentioned odor. If you did and you had a 1000w and a 400w I just don't see how you had those temps in check as good as you did. That defies logic lol.. I am gonna run air over my cool tube though. Everyone states that the idea temps are in the mid to upper 70s. I am sure that is true but if you think about it cannabis in the wild has to endure really hot temps especially those close to the equator so I think these plants can hold their own when it comes to heat but I prefer the temps not creep into the 90s at all cost. I am also sure it has to have a lot to do with the origin of the strain too. Man, I was checking out Mandala seeds and I am fixing to order some beans of this strain Deluxe Krystalica check this shit out man. https://www.growshopalien.com/onlineshop/contents/de/d259.html

2nd from the bottom. It looks like a champion. Well it was lol... Only downside is they are straight run so you gotta weed out the nut sacs. I usually order feminized only. When I find the one that resinates with me perfectly I will create a mum and keep her around. I have ordered beans from this place over many years. Very reliable, never one problem germination is spot on and they always throw in freebies. Great bank highly recommend.

Yes, I zipped the tents up. You kind of need to in order to have the proper air flow going through the tent. I actually believe that by keeping a tent unzipped, it makes it warmer, because the airflow isn't neatly coming in through designated intakes and being exhausted out the top. That negative pressure in the tent is what keeps the air exchange so effective.

Yeah man, 1400 watts in lights, plus whatever the wattage of each exhaust fan (one for each tent), and the AC took care of it. Keep in mind that I was dealing with only 480 cubic feet, which is quite small for what the AC unit was designated for. In my current house, I'm using a basement bedroom which has normal bedroom dimensions (something like 10 x 10 I think). So I couldn't go with the cheapest Walmart window unit here, because that would have been under powered, so I had to spend quite a bit more this time around. Still though, now, with the oversized window unit in there, it stays cold as fuck if I want it to. But I don't have to, because I'm actually only running 600w these days, in a 3x3 tent... but that is subject to change, and I'm prepared for dealing with much more heat down there.


Yeah, I'm going back to all feminized seeds again myself with my next order. I hear ya. Feminized seeds are definitely nice, and help to not waste any space (or media) on males that will eventually be culled.

I tried clicking on that link but my security software is giving me a warning so I'm going to pass. I'm on my office computer. I'm familiar with Krystalica though. I used to be big into Mandala genetics until Mike got sick and suddenly they stopped participating in online forums. I prefer to grow genetics by people who are available for compliments and comments. That's why I'm all into Ace these days.

hush said:

Yes, I zipped the tents up. You kind of need to in order to have the proper air flow going through the tent. I actually believe that by keeping a tent unzipped, it makes it warmer, because the airflow isn't neatly coming in through designated intakes and being exhausted out the top. That negative pressure in the tent is what keeps the air exchange so effective.

I used to be big into Mandala genetics until Mike got sick and suddenly they stopped participating in online forums. I prefer to grow genetics by people who are available for compliments and comments. That's why I'm all into Ace these days.

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Thanks for the tip. I mean I know about negative pressure and all. My tent has only one intake vent measures probably 5" wide by 12" long. That doesn't seem like it's enough but I have never used a tent before. It makes sense leaving the door open that it would be exposed to the rooms ambient air temps. However, there is air moving through the tent because I can feel the exhaust coming out at a fairy good rate. So what I smell you steppin in is that if I keep the ambient air in the main room at a constant 77-79 degrees then that will be the temps being cycled through the interior side of the tent and exhausted out.

Did you have anyway of monitoring your temps inside the tent? I think I will zip the tent up and see how it effects the ambient temps in the room the tent is in as well as see what the temps are exhausting out. What temp would you suggest I set the unit to for the ambient temp outside of the tent? I will hit you with my findings.....

Also, I am new to the forum. Who was Mike? Are you saying you got beans from other members on the forum or just bought based off peoples recommendations and photos you saw etc.... Why Ace? They are a seed bank aren't they?