Cooltubes vs. Vented Hoods ?

I have a 6" diameter cooltube with a 440cfm fan pulling directly across the 600w Hortilux. It's basically a sealed tube with 6" flex hose out of each and sealed with clamps and aluminum duct sealing tape. Heat is not a problem at all and you get your lights damn close even with the 600w.

Now the drawbacks and why I am changing back to vented hoods.

Mine has the the bottom 2/3 of the aluminum barrel that is Pyrex or high temp glass, some thick stuff though. The glass is in a track a revited for a sealed tube with access only through the ends. So you have a tube about 32" long, opened at both ends, and one end has the light base and cord mount.
For any bulb changing you have to break down your exhaust ends and reach up in there and change the bulb.(every 3rd cycle). The glass is not removable and as it has started to get dirty and/or discolored there is not anything you can do. The glass was starting to yellow a bit after 4-5 cycles(7 or 8 months) but it's revited in so your screwed. If you run a bunch in line the hassles just compound. I do not think they give very good light distribution through the reflective back and lense opening combination. I haven't put a meter on it but I bet it's output is reduced because of it.

A regular old vented hood fixture has better access to the bulb, if the glass becomes discolored or damaged it can easily be removed, cleaned, and/or replaced. Direct ventilation through the top or side of the fixture in smaller more standard 4" size flanges. 6" reflective flex was suprisingly hard to find, you would think oh Home depot ,no way.( 4", 8", 10" and rigid all day long) hydro shops or net order was the only way to get it.

I am back to conventienal wisdom on my overhead lights. I am going with a 600w Hortilux salvaged from my cooltube and get my vented hood with removable front glass set back up. I may add some 175-250w vertical hanging side lights also. I did some 100w mh side lights on last grow and what a difference. lower branch and lower bud developement were awesome.

Anyway my.02

Tex

real nice. very tasty setup... much better than mine lol

i do make it a policy to use vertical lights for her lower portion and i couldnt agree more TK... more buds for the bang ~

air cooled hood suggestion

air cooled hood suggestion

hey tk,
i recently came across a hood by sunlight supply that appears to use the cool tube principle in its design. the vents are 6" diameter located at the base and top of the bulb allowing great airflow. this was a common drawback to most air cooled hoods (restriced inefficient airflow) due to poor design. i dont remember the excact model but if you go to sunlight supply website i think you'll see what i mean

ps on the 6" ducting, try hvac suppliers

Hey TK,

I run a 1000k switchable (hps/mh) with a sunlight supply vented hood and a 265 cfm Dayton squirel cage fan sucking air (krusty's suggestions) thru the lite in my flower area.

It works well, but the vented hood does restrict the lights foot print on my grow. It is virtually maintainence free however.

After learning what I know now, I need a wrinkle free mylar room. Perhaps, I could flower 12 instead of 9 plants.

What about those umberrella style reflectors?

What is a "Vertizontal"? I saw that last time I was a the shop.

I want to set up a new 4x4 flower room with either a 600 or 1000w Hortilux

Tex

got a 400 w in a 3 X 8 "closet" for veg, no ventilatin. that gets hot with the door open. my first 1k lite, i m fried things, and that was MN temps a -30 in feb. that was in the basement.

4x4. thats a truck, not a grow space.

Yah not really a fan of the cool tube contraptions. The glass is so thick, At least a 1/4 inch. How many lumens do you loose with that in the way. Plus the reflectors that come with the commercial made ones are just a piece of sheet metal. Not very technical to me. I use a sun system air cooled hood. could'nt work better. The foot print is ideal for my Cabby setup.

Blatant

here's the one i was talking about....

here's the one i was talking about....

http://www.sunlightsupply.com/horticulture/products/reflectors_h.shtml#coolsun

it's called the coolsun. i'm going to be replacing all of my hoods with these as you get the best features of both the cool tube and a standard air cooled reflector. plus the inline design will allow me to put my 8 600s on light rails, allowing meto get the light even closer to the canopy.

heres a summary of the manufacturers description:

The Ultimate Combination of Cooling and Performance. This reflector incorporates a vented cooling of the reflector as well as heating the room at the same time. Air passes through both ends of the reflector to easily cool the fixture. The exhasted warm air, in turn warms the growing environment during cold winter months

.
Advantages of Cool Sun Reflectors :



• Air passes easily through both ends of the reflector directly over the lamp for maximum inline air cooling.
• 95% reflective aluminum insert (German Import) offers excellent reflectivity and diffusion porperties.
• Tempered glass included with every fixture.
• Rugged and durable electro-galvanized steel housing.
• Socket assembly and lamp cord are built into the reflector... no wiring required!
• 6 inch air cooled fittings are intergrated into the design of the reflector - no need for separate fittings!
• White powdercoating provides a rust resistant, clean appearance.
• Sturdy chrome wire hangers make for easy hanging.
• Sealed reflector won’ t draw air from inside the room, CO 2 stays in place!
• Exhausted warm air can be used as a heat source during the winter months.
• Eliminates excess heat problems.
• Prolong life of expensive HID lamps.

Hoods pretty kickass!
I have the Super Sun reflector, works pretty good.

Now thats more like it. I would use that. I'll keep that one in mind.

mb420, TK was talking a 4x4 closet. not 4-5k commercial grow.

Either way, no worries

I like the fact that you can set it inline and have easy access to the bulbs

Tex

What about this setup?

http://www.texashydroponics.com/shop/customer/product.php?productid=1184&cat=134&page=1

If the link worked it's that vertizontal. For a single light with a dedicated exhaust fan 265+ cfm drawing right through the top.

What ya think?

Tex

Can you hook up exhaust to parabolic hoods?

I don't see why I couldn't bring a 4' right strait down from the top to the center of the parabolic

Tex

captain cannabis: yeah, i realized that, i just though i'd outline some of the features that had me leaning toward this one and i figure that since tk was possibly gonna run a 1000 watter in a 4x4 closet he could use al the airflow he could get
not exactly a "commercial" grow in the usual sense as i'm a med patient who helps other patients by doing the growing for them when they arent able. granted some is used to recoup costs for electric, soil, nutes and what have you but for the most part it's just a passion of mine. i was growing my first plants when i was 15 or 16 outdoors

texas kid: i used a parabolic once but switched when i put a gash in my head by bumping into the edge of it. interesting though i've never seen one that was air cooled. i like the fact that the cool sun is completely sealed so you dont have to duct it through your odor control if you have a dedicated intake for your light

racketeer: i used the super sun for a couple years back on the east coast and i loved it for the closet grows i was doing at the time, but the footprint it gives off is designed for smaller areas.
although i'm pretty sure it give off one of the most efficient spreads for areas up 3x3 you can get. that was the very hood i had airflow issues with though.

blatant: yeah i'm really excited about trying this one out myself. i'll give a report on it in a few months