CFL's get alot hotter than I thought!

Morriston55

Morriston55

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, learning curve realization I suppose. My clones finally seemed to have rooted and starting growing a bit so I figured it was time to put them under the CFL's I have aquired for the veg cabinet. I installed 6 23w 6500k's in a 18X18X20" tall box.

I have a 4" pc fan sucking air in/blowing in the middle of the cabinet, and a 3"tall X 14" wide soffit style vent on the top (no fan up there) Well after about an hour I came back to check temps/humidity after everything leveled off, and it was 96* in there!

Mind you ambient temps in the upper level of the house were a little hot today as it was almost 90* outside, but only 82* inside. I put the cabinet in the basement as soon as I saw that and temps are atleast in the 80s now but shiiiit, I dont know what im going to do when they are big enough to be transferred to my flower tent which has to stay upstairs, and will have over 450 watts of cfls... the tent will have a passive intake and a 6" fan pulling hot air from the top and an oscilating fan for the canopy, but I dont know if the temps are going to be controllable in the summer...

Little nervous now
 
Walterwhiter

Walterwhiter

Well-Known Member
Colo MMJ said:
Make a cheap DIY air conditioner with a ice chest.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=video+diy+air+conditioner&qpvt=video+diy+air+conditioner&FORM=VDRE

Fill a 1 gallon milk or water jug with water and freeze it in the freezer.
Click to expand...
Right? And just refreeze them and restart. I might just have to do this! Four jugs on rotation. This would work well for your exaust air kill smell and heat so simple though that's what I like. Your freezer and fan are gonna regardless. Oh ya put in dry ice heat reduction and co2 enrichment plus it would probably keep your jugs frozen longer
 
Morriston55

Morriston55

Well-Known Member
Wife definetely wouldnt allow for that contraption in the house. I will likely have a/c in the next few years with a child somewhere on the horizon, just not this season or next I hope... Winter spring and fall temps probably wont be a problem, but fuccck me I just didnt know they heat up so much

Ive gotta get the T5 fixtures plugged in soon with the fans running and exhausted so I can get a ballpark of what these plants are in for, atleast summers almost over
 
Givemefire

Givemefire

Member
My got so hot that I build a housing so I can keep the heat contained and dumped out. You can see how the heat can't get in. The flower grow got up to 115 durning testing. Once I trapped the air it is running at 85 in full light. There are 9 150w, 45w. The veg grow has 12 100w, 23w and same thing. This is my crazy Frankiestien setup
 

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Morriston55

Morriston55

Well-Known Member
That looks good, I found 2 decent 3" pc fans in my electrical parts cabinet and a few spare 12v power adaptors, I think I will wire them to push air out of the exhaust vent which is currently passive, easy enough to solder them together and ziptie to the exhaust vent and monitor the before and after results

Here I was trying to keep this small veg/clone cabinet small, stealthy, quiet and easy. Silly me..
 
It's not oregano

It's not oregano

Well-Known Member
Can you alter it so the 4" fan is extracting and the 2x pc fans are blowing air about inside & have a passive intake. Even try the 4" and a 3" pc fan as extract and 1x fan as blowing.
Also, stating the obvious. Have you made sure the extract fans are blowing OUT rather than back inside. I've done that before, it's easy to flip a pc fan round while handling them and not notice straight away.
 
Walterwhiter

Walterwhiter

Well-Known Member
Morriston55 said:
Wife definetely wouldnt allow for that contraption in the house. I will likely have a/c in the next few years with a child somewhere on the horizon, just not this season or next I hope... Winter spring and fall temps probably wont be a problem, but fuccck me I just didnt know they heat up so much

Ive gotta get the T5 fixtures plugged in soon with the fans running and exhausted so I can get a ballpark of what these plants are in for, atleast summers almost over
Click to expand...
If you start soon enough Thanksgiving Christmas season. Get grandma a half of your bud. Tell her it makes this exotic butter lol
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
A passive extraction is never going to work in any situation. Put all your effort into using as many fans as you can to suck air out. Stealth is a great idea but the practice is very hard to achieve.
Noise is always a problem, correct air exchange is often a problem.
You could put everything into extraction at the highest point and have passive intake, put some of those plastic ice packs near your intake to attempt to cool the air coming in. Have lots of them in the freezer and replace as often as needed.
If your temps were only 82 inside on a 90 degree day then honestly you don't need to worry.
As for your flower tent don't underestimate what a proper 6" inline fan will achieve. Worst case you have to remove some wattage during the hottest parts of the year.
GL with it.

Sorry just re read your post, it was 96 degrees in the cab. Take out a bulb. That wattage is crazy for such a small space.
Take a photo of your box and see if any of us can make any suggestions to help
 
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B166ER420

B166ER420

Well-Known Member
I didn't see any pics.How many plants?..Are all six bulbs necessary for veg?You know add more bulbs as the plant grows.
Use some led bulbs instead of cfl.Use more fans or stronger fans.Make sure your intake is on the floor or low as possible.Exhaust near the height of the bulbs.I know your already setup but just thought I might help...or put in my 2 cents:eyesmoke:
 
Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member
Grab a few bottles of water. Put them in the freezer till they freeze.

Place a couple of them in the grow room right by the air intake. Change them for fresh ones every day. Just keep rotating them everyday.

Its simple and should take your temps down by a fair margin.

Another tip is to have the lights on at night (when going 12/12) as its the coolest part of the 24 hr period.

These two together will help allot. Will it be enough? Only you and your environment will know!

Passive extraction wont work, need a fan. Passive intake is fine.

GL
 
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