Keeping your grow tent warm during our Canadian winters

[The Hippy]

It is a possibility, I have an existing duct about 4ft from my tent and still have some extra 6" duct. I would just need to grab a rectangle to round adapter, remove the grill and splice off of it sealing it with some hvac tape. I would have to consider an inline duct filter with that setup though, or maybe just one of the hydrofarm carbon bug filters for the end to catch any crap that may come from my existing ducting.

Do you run your furnace fan on continuous? If yes then Meds idea is a good choice if you can use the existing vent. Remember though the vent will also be charged during lights on as well.
This could affect your light on temps possibly...just a thought.

 

[dienowk]

Do you run your furnace fan on continuous? If yes then Meds idea is a good choice if you can use the existing vent. Remember though the vent will also be charged during lights on as well.
This could affect your light on temps possibly...just a thought.

The furnace fan only runs when the temp upstairs determines it needs to be on, lowering inside temp is easier than raising it currently as I could just open another intake of the cold basement air to counteract the increase during the lights on phase. I may alternatively look to better insulate my basement, maybe fill the window in with styrofoam and then plastic over it instead of just using the plastic that is currently there.

 

[The Hippy]

The furnace fan only runs when the temp upstairs determines it needs to be on, lowering inside temp is easier than raising it currently as I could just open another intake of the cold basement air to counteract the increase during the lights on phase. I may alternatively look to better insulate my basement, maybe fill the window in with styrofoam and then plastic over it instead of just using the plastic that is currently there.

Well I'd forget that vent idea then...just get a small safety heater with a tip over and thermostat....should be fine. Buy a low wattage unit. In other words buy a smaller unit. After all you're only heating a small area.
This would be fine.
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/honeywell-200-250-watt-personal-heater-0435100p.html#srp
How the humidity in the off time in there?
Don't get an infrared heater...you want to heat the air..not the surfaces.

 

[mojoganjaman]

I dunno....if it was me I'd buy some reptile mats for under the pots...or a brood lamp on a timer...just a thought...)




mojo


edit: crap....dark cycle...I'm outdoors so I had a brainfart...it happens...mats may work tho

 

[dienowk]

I dunno....if it was me I'd buy some reptile mats for under the pots...or a brood lamp on a timer...just a thought...)




mojo

Would those work for 5gal hempy buckets on saucers ?

Well I'd forget that vent idea then...just get a small safety heater with a tip over and thermostat....should be fine. Buy a low wattage unit. In other words buy a smaller unit. After all you're only heating a small area.
This would be fine.
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/honeywell-200-250-watt-personal-heater-0435100p.html#srp
How the humidity in the off time in there?
Don't get an infrared heater...you want to heat the air..not the surfaces.

Humidity is solid, even during off it never drops lower than 39%, during lights on it is usually mid to high 50%'s and is easily increased just by adding a bucket of water in the room which boosts it up to mid 60%'s should it dip too low. Come flowering time the exhaust will be increased to keep it about 40%.

I figured the infrared would be problematic, we have a fan shaped one kicking around that made much larger rooms unbearably hot.

 

[The Hippy]

Would those work for 5gal hempy buckets on saucers ?




Humidity is solid, even during off it never drops lower than 39%, during lights on it is usually mid to high 50%'s and is easily increased just by adding a bucket of water in the room which boosts it up to mid 60%'s should it dip too low. Come flowering time the exhaust will be increased to keep it about 40%.

I figured the infrared would be problematic, we have a fan shaped one kicking around that made much larger rooms unbearably hot.

You want a little heater with a fan that blow warm air. Infrared only heats surfaces...not a good choice in your case. You just wanna heat the air up a little bit. If your exhaust fan runs a lot during this off cycle it will suck the heat out of there of course. Your kinda fighting one against the other....can be fixed though. In a number of ways.

 

[dienowk]

You want a little heater with a fan that blow warm air. Infrared only heats surfaces...not a good choice in your case. You just wanna heat the air up a little bit. If your exhaust fan runs a lot during this off cycle it will suck the heat out of there of course. Your kinda fighting one against the other....can be fixed though. In a number of ways.

The exhaust is off during the night cycle, I was told until flowering that is fine. I will likely go with the heater you suggested or a similar one.

 

[texasjack]

Oil heater works just fine.

 

[The Hippy]

Oil heater works just fine.

I think he's better off with the fan style...quick to heat up the air...oil ones are slow and don't cool off very fast either. Unless it can be put on a timer and turned low enough it may be okay. I don't have a oil heater so not sure. At least the oil heater would be constant heat...so maybe.

 

[mojoganjaman]

Would those work for 5gal hempy buckets on saucers ?




Humidity is solid, even during off it never drops lower than 39%, during lights on it is usually mid to high 50%'s and is easily increased just by adding a bucket of water in the room which boosts it up to mid 60%'s should it dip too low. Come flowering time the exhaust will be increased to keep it about 40%.

I figured the infrared would be problematic, we have a fan shaped one kicking around that made much larger rooms unbearably hot.

dunno why not if they are under the saucer...works great for mushroom cultivation.....hth

edit: it will keep the soil warm...your room temps are easily handled by the plant...just keep the soil warm...

mojo

 

[dienowk]

dunno why not if they are under the saucer...works great for mushroom cultivation.....hth

edit: it will keep the soil warm...your room temps are easily handled by the plant...just keep the soil warm...

mojo

I think I have a few laying around from when the wife thought she needed 7 different snakes, I also have a decent seedling mat and temp controller.

 

[torontomeds]

I think I have a few laying around from when the wife thought she needed 7 different snakes, I also have a decent seedling mat and temp controller.

if you have left over duct why not just try it first, I think it is safer then the space heater, I almost burned down a house with one, and they are always over heating in my garage when I use them. 4ft away, just jam that hose in there, and set your thermostat to come on during lights off. Super easy. even if you gas bill goes up a little, your power bill will as well if you run a space heater.....

 

[torontomeds]

You will not even need a extra fan, just run the duct. That is what I do in my cold basement, it would be in the 50's I just run duct and crank the heat up during lights off.

 

[mojoganjaman]

I think I have a few laying around from when the wife thought she needed 7 different snakes, I also have a decent seedling mat and temp controller.

there ya go...these plants are weeds...very hardy and resilient...I've gone thru multiple mornings of heavy frost outdoors...just makes the plant horny, so it grows more vigorous...hth



mojo

 

[CalyxCrusher]

I bought a 4'X8'X2" sheet of styrofoam insulation and cut it into squares to place under my pots to keep them off the concrete floor. Doesnt help ambient, but keeps the floor from making the roots too cold during winter

 

[cannadan]

plus 1 on styrofoam

 

[dienowk]

I bought a 4'X8'X2" sheet of styrofoam insulation and cut it into squares to place under my pots to keep them off the concrete floor. Doesnt help ambient, but keeps the floor from making the roots too cold during winter

I have mine on a 1 level plastic shelf about 4" off the ground, I could try styrofoam since I am planning on grabbing some for the windows anyways.

 

[nwfir]

I'm chiming in here real late but if anyone is interested in a far infrared source that you can put under your plants to simply heat the soil and use less energy in the process because you don't have the heat energy losses before it get's to the roots I can provide a solution. I can provide a 13 watt or 21 watt or even 34 watt per square foot source that's in a film 40" wide using either 120/240 Volt power. 34 watt is probably a bit hot. It can be put on top of a relatively cheap 1/4" reflective insulation layer and then protected by relatively inexpensive concrete board for protection of the film. Or we can encase it in Poly Urea and make it damn near bullet proof for the ruffian. If need be because of a cement floor thicker insulation would be better. It can also be buried in concrete if your set up big and like to move dirt around with equipment. On a cheaper scale it could be tied to a cheap Hydrofarm thermostat and set to a setpoint temperature with a soil sensor or you could go big with a control source that allows 50 amps feed supply in and gives your up to 250 amps of 240 volt rotational loads using a single sensor buried representatively. Then you can put your light sources in as selected spectrum LED cost effectively. Just a thought. Options are always available.

 

[The Hippy]

I'm chiming in here real late but if anyone is interested in a far infrared source that you can put under your plants to simply heat the soil and use less energy in the process because you don't have the heat energy losses before it get's to the roots I can provide a solution. I can provide a 13 watt or 21 watt or even 34 watt per square foot source that's in a film 40" wide using either 120/240 Volt power. 34 watt is probably a bit hot. It can be put on top of a relatively cheap 1/4" reflective insulation layer and then protected by relatively inexpensive concrete board for protection of the film. Or we can encase it in Poly Urea and make it damn near bullet proof for the ruffian. If need be because of a cement floor thicker insulation would be better. It can also be buried in concrete if your set up big and like to move dirt around with equipment. On a cheaper scale it could be tied to a cheap Hydrofarm thermostat and set to a setpoint temperature with a soil sensor or you could go big with a control source that allows 50 amps feed supply in and gives your up to 250 amps of 240 volt rotational loads using a single sensor buried representatively. Then you can put your light sources in as selected spectrum LED cost effectively. Just a thought. Options are always available.

They will delete this for selling stuff...not ok here...tick...tick..tick

 

[nwfir]

They will delete this for selling stuff...not ok here...tick...tick..tick

OK Thanks Hippy got it!