AC Boxes Made Easy (to understand and build)

[Keyz]

Hoosier,

A plus to you my friend for this tutorial. I'm running an 8x4x7 grow tent. The tent sits inside a hot and muggy garage, and KILLED me this summer. I bought a single hose portable AC which did great for bringing my temps down, but completely worked against me by sucking all my CO2 out after my CO2 cycles.

So I took my Portable (8000btu) out (which by the way cooled the room almost INSTANTLY, but as stated worked against my setup in other ways), and bought a 5000btu window AC and built a box.

I tried using 4 inch ducting, but the unit started blowing hot air, and my tent rose back up to about 95. Then I switched to 6 inch, but the same thing happened. I read through as many pages of this post as I possibly could, and that led me to adding a 6 inch duct booster fan (rated at 250 cfm). It's blowing a lot cooler now, but doesn't really seem to be getting my temps down much. Currently I have a 6 inch with the duct fan on the exhaust (pulling from the end of the exhaust ducting), and have both a 6 inch and a 4 inch duct on the intake.

Like I said, it's blowing cooler than before now, but doesn't really seem to be battling the heat enough. Is a 5000btu to small for a 32sq ft area? I know the 8000 btu was supposed to be able to cool like 400sq ft or something like that, so I thought the 5000 would suffice. Is there something wrong with the setup I have, or do you think I need a bigger AC?

Sorry, I know that this thread is years old, but I'm hoping that you're still responding the the posts... Hopefully you can help!

 

[AOD2012]

hey hoosier, tried to PM you, but i guess you must have turned it off. quick question. i noticed the ac wasnt really blowing that cold of air. so i went to the other side, and i noticed that one of the intake vents on the side is actually blowing out hot air! do you think this is because i dont have enough draw on the back end? im only using one of those 6" duct fans, but i also am only running less then a foot of duct before it gets to the exhaust hole. i have a four inch 157cfm fan, so im wondering if that would be better. thanks for any input

 

[Relentless]

ok, i just went through all pages and didnt see much on what I want to do..
Im about to flower in a 3.7x6.1x8 closet with two 600s on a light rail, lights side by side..
Ill be running a 5k btu window unit in a window in the room the closet is in.. I plan to box in the front of the ac and put a 6" hole/ducting/duct fan running to a 6" hole in the closet door for intake..
Anyone have any pics of something like this?
Anyone see any problems with this?

BTW for exhaust I have coolhoods with a 6" 424cfm fan sucking the heat off the bulbs and exhausting through a 6" hole in ceiling..

Thanks!

 

[Gold123]

ok, i just went through all pages and didnt see much on what I want to do..
Im about to flower in a 3.7x6.1x8 closet with two 600s on a light rail, lights side by side..
Ill be running a 5k btu window unit in a window in the room the closet is in.. I plan to box in the front of the ac and put a 6" hole/ducting/duct fan running to a 6" hole in the closet door for intake..
Anyone have any pics of something like this?
Anyone see any problems with this?

BTW for exhaust I have coolhoods with a 6" 424cfm fan sucking the heat off the bulbs and exhausting through a 6" hole in ceiling..

Thanks!

hood fans for exhaust work better blowing in rather than sucking out.

 

[blazeoneup]

Hoosier,

A plus to you my friend for this tutorial. I'm running an 8x4x7 grow tent. The tent sits inside a hot and muggy garage, and KILLED me this summer. I bought a single hose portable AC which did great for bringing my temps down, but completely worked against me by sucking all my CO2 out after my CO2 cycles.

So I took my Portable (8000btu) out (which by the way cooled the room almost INSTANTLY, but as stated worked against my setup in other ways), and bought a 5000btu window AC and built a box.

I tried using 4 inch ducting, but the unit started blowing hot air, and my tent rose back up to about 95. Then I switched to 6 inch, but the same thing happened. I read through as many pages of this post as I possibly could, and that led me to adding a 6 inch duct booster fan (rated at 250 cfm). It's blowing a lot cooler now, but doesn't really seem to be getting my temps down much. Currently I have a 6 inch with the duct fan on the exhaust (pulling from the end of the exhaust ducting), and have both a 6 inch and a 4 inch duct on the intake.

Like I said, it's blowing cooler than before now, but doesn't really seem to be battling the heat enough. Is a 5000btu to small for a 32sq ft area? I know the 8000 btu was supposed to be able to cool like 400sq ft or something like that, so I thought the 5000 would suffice. Is there something wrong with the setup I have, or do you think I need a bigger AC?

Sorry, I know that this thread is years old, but I'm hoping that you're still responding the the posts... Hopefully you can help!

Well I am not 100% sure but I think hoosierdaddy has been banned from icmag, If you look under his handle it says banned, So perhaps he's not gonna be able to reply to your post!

 

[AOD2012]

yea and he isnt accepting PMs so i guess thats the case. damn. oh well, gonna have to figure this out myself.

 

[Keyz]

It's alright, I actually figured it out!! Seems as if my intake/outtake wasn't supplying or pushing out enough air. I had a booster fan exhausting my box, and also had a 6 inch fan that i use only to cool my 1000w reflector. The 6 inch fan pulls from outside my grow tent, through my reflector, and out the other side. So instead of pulling the air from (technically) outside the tent and then through the lights, I insted hooked the exhaust from the box through my 6 inch, through the lights and then out the tent. I also connected the booster fan to run into my intake (into the box).

Now my box is getting enough air into it to cool those coils, and waaaah lah, no more blowing room temperature air, and it's cooled my tent down considerably....

Now for the fuck head part of things..... Seeing as how two weeks ago my temps were up in the high 90s, now I barely need the damn box.... Now with the winter, I have to start deciding what I'm going to do to HEAT the room....

But either way, it was still a great tutorial, and that's one less headache I'll have to have next spring/summer. Too bad he got banned, seems like he could have offered some really good advice.... but I guess there's a reason behind the madness.

 

[Lone Wolf]

haha i think hoosierdaddy got heated up from all the PM's everyone was sending him about how to make an AC box when the answers all lie within this thread... just have to read...

 

[zenoonez]

haha i think hoosierdaddy got heated up from all the PM's everyone was sending him about how to make an AC box when the answers all lie within this thread... just have to read...

Was just going to say when did he get banned? Jeeze.

 

[LiLWaynE]

idk.. for all we know he could be on a two week ban... if hes not on a two week ban he must have bitch smacked kharma girl or pistol whipped JJScorpion and got a permanent ban...

 

[Inkster]

Hello, great thread sir! I have a few questions...

i am thinking about getting a smaller unit like you suggested around 5500 btu... i was thinking of mounting the Ac on the wall of my flower room with the heat and ambient vents sticking out. Outside my flower room i have two 6'' fans for the intake and exhaust for my veg room. Do you suppose it would be okay to hook a Y connector to each of those and run my intake to the ambient air port and my exhaust with the heat port? I am running co2 would this method suck out the co2? also were do i need to prepare for the moisture run off... underneath? and i would just need to put a bucket under...

Thanks again... if this pans out... its going to be a life SAVER!

 

[hoosierdaddy]

I'm still here. I will have to read up and absorb the questions before I attempt any answers.

 

[dubdi3mond]

hoosier quick question for you..

first heres what ive got, a 25k btu unit in a sealed 13x13x8 room and will be running open bulb 3600w all together plus ballasts in room, etc ..

i have a 6" vent opening that used to be from the old stove heater that goes into the floor and into some sort of square duct between the floor boards which im actually not sure how big the square duct is as i cant get to it unless i want to do some serious damage to the floor/ceiling

i was originally going to use that opening as my intake with a 10" inline fan (780 cfm) and just disconnect the pipe at the heater and add a booster fan to help bring in additional air then blow my exhaust into the attic with a second 10" fan..

now that ive re read the thread a couple of times i think my best option may be to exhaust into the square duct and bring my intake in from the attic but i wanted to see what your opinion on the situation was.. thanks!

 

[Keyz]

I'm still here. I will have to read up and absorb the questions before I attempt any answers.

Dont worry bout mine hoosier.... Got everything working out great.... wonderful thread, and the information provided is much appreciated it. My plants and I thank you!

 

[Marshall]

hoosier quick question for you..

first heres what ive got, a 25k btu unit in a sealed 13x13x8 room and will be running open bulb 3600w all together plus ballasts in room, etc ..

i have a 6" vent opening that used to be from the old stove heater that goes into the floor and into some sort of square duct between the floor boards which im actually not sure how big the square duct is as i cant get to it unless i want to do some serious damage to the floor/ceiling

i was originally going to use that opening as my intake with a 10" inline fan (780 cfm) and just disconnect the pipe at the heater and add a booster fan to help bring in additional air then blow my exhaust into the attic with a second 10" fan..

now that ive re read the thread a couple of times i think my best option may be to exhaust into the square duct and bring my intake in from the attic but i wanted to see what your opinion on the situation was.. thanks!

The hole in the floor, where does that go? A crawl space? Basement? Living area?

I think you would be better to pull from the bottom and exhaust into the attic. The attic will always be warmer. I have been in attics when it was 40 F outside and was sweating my balls off in the attic. No air movement, heat from the house raises, etc. Plus you are prepared for the summer

I am confused on the intake. Where is the booster fan going to go? If the intake comes from the attic or floor, and you have a 10" fan, where is the booster fan going?

The fan is big enough IMO, but the 6" duct may cause a blockage. maybe not

 

[Marshall]

Hello, great thread sir! I have a few questions...

i am thinking about getting a smaller unit like you suggested around 5500 btu... i was thinking of mounting the Ac on the wall of my flower room with the heat and ambient vents sticking out. Outside my flower room i have two 6'' fans for the intake and exhaust for my veg room. Do you suppose it would be okay to hook a Y connector to each of those and run my intake to the ambient air port and my exhaust with the heat port? I am running co2 would this method suck out the co2? also were do i need to prepare for the moisture run off... underneath? and i would just need to put a bucket under...

Thanks again... if this pans out... its going to be a life SAVER!

In theory if the unit is in a wall like a normal install with just the very front of the unit in the grow room or just on the lip, the unit should not leak Co2 and whatever you do to the exhaust and intake of the rear will not affect the flower room.

But some users report their wall units leak smell in this kind of install. I think it just comes from some open areas in the unit, and can be fixed with some insulation or spray foam. There are some threads on this.

Of course if you pulling veg room air and exhausting it, you need to be aware of smell

 

[milehighmedical]

.

 

[Smoking Now]

Well written, very informative, useful tutorial. Thanks!

 

[dubdi3mond]

The hole in the floor, where does that go? A crawl space? Basement? Living area?

I think you would be better to pull from the bottom and exhaust into the attic. The attic will always be warmer. I have been in attics when it was 40 F outside and was sweating my balls off in the attic. No air movement, heat from the house raises, etc. Plus you are prepared for the summer

I am confused on the intake. Where is the booster fan going to go? If the intake comes from the attic or floor, and you have a 10" fan, where is the booster fan going?

The fan is big enough IMO, but the 6" duct may cause a blockage. maybe not

The hole in the floor goes to the basement, the room is on the second floor. Picture a heater in the basement, there is like 4 or 5 different vents that come from that heater, one goes to my room.

i would disconnect the pipe that goes to my room from the heater and leave it free hanging just pulling air from the basement, thats where the booster fan comes in at that start of the pipe in the basement and it would either be pushing to help with air flow up to the room or pulling to pull the heat into the basement

does that make more sense? a little stoned right now but this should help with the understanding lol

 

[Marshall]

yeah that makes more sense.

I am not sure if you need the booster fan. Hoosierdaddy may be better equipped to answer this but I think if you put a big fan like a 10" and a small fan like a booster fan, the booster fan will slow down the big fan