[kiz]

I'm going to get a C13 or C22 cabinet (home depot) and put a 400w in it. I will have a one sided cool tube. I have a 365cfm dayton cooler which is too loud for me (the sound of the air not vibration or anything). I will put the dayton in the cabinet with a fan speed controller to make it about half the speed it is now,to suck from the cool tuube and throw it through some 6" ducting 9 or so feet to another inline booster (from home depot) which then goes to a home made carbon scrubber. Does this sound doable?

[diggity-dank]

right now im growing in a C13 with 250w MH/HPS. I have to have mine by a windows with the window open a crack just to keep my box around 75f. and its winter here...and with a 300cfm fan. If you want the C22 you could try the 400w light but the depth on the C22 is less so you will have to spread the light differently and prolly less efficient.

i would suggest the C13 with 250w light. its easier to cool and i know of others with a 400 in theirs that will be getting a 250 because of the heat issue.

[kiz]

im pretty sure i'd get the c22 and do an aeroponic setup...but i need to figure out this ventilation

[twax4real]

I run a 400 in a C13 and the temps are about 75, never reaching 80. The room temperature the C13 is in is 70 deg, so about a 5 deg jump. The key is to exhaust the air somewhere, like through the attic. If you exhaust the air into the same room the cabinet resides in, then the temperature will gradually climb higher and higher and you will have to leave a windoe open to neutralize the temperature. (This is from experience)

Like I said, if you exhaust the air somewhere, like the attic or all the way out the roof, then heat shouldnt be a problem. BTW, this is with a poorly air cooled hood.

[elmo quist]

It's so doable, I'm baked from doing it......no disrespect at all meant to my pal diggity, as the 250 IS easier to cool in this small space.

I have had good results from splitting the airflow into two separate systems--the cooling fan, the cool tube and hoses/ducting to an exhaust vent comprising one system to cool the 400 watt, and on a different loop, a passive intake, the exhaust fan, hoses/duct and scrubber cools the cabinet and deodorizes. Mine keeps the cab temps around 2-3 degrees warmer than room temps. Kiz, bear in mind that the hoses and ducting and scrubber may slow that Dayton fan down a bit once you get it all hooked up.

And Twax's experience speaks volumes....if you exhaust into the room that your cab lives in, you'll have to consider that it will gradually get warmer after a few hours of lights on. Exhausting to the attic sounds like a good idea, but unfortunately wasn't an option for me. My own room goes from 70-72 up to 77-79, so I open a window a bit to compensate for the temp rise. During the hot months, I have to close the window and crank up a window unit A/C.

Time for my medicine.

[Stuper Grower]

I agree with everyone on that, i have a 250 in a c13 and i vent into the same room, after a few hours it gets a little warm, the highest temp ive had is 84. i vent with a 246 elicent inline fan!

[The Dog]

My c13 is in my basement and vents right into the room. Two sections split with 157 cfm fan 3inch pvc from each area into carbon scrubber. It is sectioned off with a door. The area is about 20x20 . I guess my room is big enough that it doesnt really heat up the air in the room. Plus the air blows out of the scrubber pretty fast the air feels cool to the touch.

[SuperBonBon]

Originally posted by elmo quist
I have had good results from splitting the airflow into two separate systems--the cooling fan, the cool tube and hoses/ducting to an exhaust vent comprising one system to cool the 400 watt, and on a different loop, a passive intake, the exhaust fan, hoses/duct and scrubber cools the cabinet and deodorizes. Mine keeps the cab temps around 2-3 degrees warmer than room temps. Kiz, bear in mind that the hoses and ducting and scrubber may slow that Dayton fan down a bit once you get it all hooked up.

I'm really glad I finally read of someone else who considered this idea before getting into the C13.

I've been planning one out for quite a while and am going to try and work a dual exhaust system for mine as well. I'm going to be running 400w, but it will be a 250w HPS and a 150w MH (compromising a complete grow system in one box, clones included).

Since the major reason I want to use the C13 is for stealth, I figured two fans running more quietly will be a much easier coverup than one trying to cool the whole thing. Plus, I figure that once the heat is completely isolated from the grow chambers, the heat issue will drop significantly.

Do you have any pictures or a more detailed description anywhere about your setup? I'd like to see it if possible.

What size fan did you end up running on the 400w exhaust to keep it cool?

SuperBonBon

[elmo quist]

I don't have any pics at the moment, SuperBonBon, but if you give me a day or two I'll either take some pics or break out the crayons and try to come up with a diagram. Right now I'm using a 80 cfm bathroom fart fan for the 400 watt cooling and it's not as quiet as I would like, but it was here in my spare parts/junk pile (I am a cheap bastard). However, I'm going to test a 70 cfm waffle fan after this grow is done. Just a word on these fans--I use them to push cool air to and through the lamp, not pull the heated air from it. The impeller of my fan is made of plastic, so I didn't want plastic blades and the fan motor having to deal with exhaust temps from the 400.....I've read about such things before and I wanted to avoid a Chernobyl-style meltdown in my growbox. Other than that, the fan blows into 4 inch PVC to carry the air to the cool tube, which is homemade (Pyrex Bake-A-round & 2 metal coffee cans & weatherstrip, what a cheap bastard, LOL), which exits through a short length of 4 inch metal dryer flex duct, around the ballast, and out the top of the cab. The cabinet ventilation fan is a 280 cfm w/ speed control, which is activated by a thermostat inside the cab. The fan is then ducted to the scrubber, which is a miniature version of one that someone built at OG (can't remember who). It also exits out the top of the cab.

Tech note: Pyrex Bake a rounds are great for skinny HPS bulbs at 3 3/4", but most MH bulbs are too fat/round for good airflow--6 inch cool tubes are better for MH, IMHO.

Another Tech note: I turn on the cooling fans a half-hour before the light goes on--the cool air chills the bulb, tube, and ballast and it takes quite a bit longer for them to heat up....in fact, the ballast remains warm to the touch throughout lights on.

How I do run on.....long-winded SOB that I am....

Too much typing.......where's my bong?

[SuperBonBon]

It sounds like you and I could get along fantasticly.

Though, instead of a junk "pile", I actually have my junk seperated into boxes and drawers. One for plumbing thingies, one for electrical thingies, and one for electronic thingies. All brimming to the full and fairly difficult to root through in the event of a necessity.

Ah well.

I'm also going to be using a Bake-A-Pound tube for my HPS, but mine's a 250w. I tried it on the 400w HPS a while back but I found that it created too much back pressure on the fan, and my space got way too hot.

I plan to use some 2" PVC pipe to run from below the C13 through the HPS, up to level two where the MH will be, through a metal security light that I'm planning on drilling out exhausts on, and finally up out the top of the cabinet.

Carrying the load will be a small (estimating about 45~60 cfm, but not sure) 110v squirrel cage. To cool down the box I'm going to run some more PVC between the chambers and hook them all up to a ~150 CFM squirrel cage. If the noise is a little much, I'm going to try to build a stealth carbon scrubber in a flattish rubber-maid up on the top.

In theory it will work. In practice I will tweak.


Looking forward to some pictures.

SuperBonBon