should i consider ac?

L

louiedogg

Well-Known Member
hey guys, ill break it down for you guys.

1 room 12x12ish unfinished room in basement.

i got 2 tents in there.

1 4x4 with 600w mh/hps 6" aircooled hood vented outside (carbon filter, light, fan, 15' of ducting to outside)

1 2x4 with 4x t5 ballast atm (i do have a 400w with cool tube) i just have a little oscillating fan in there (just clones)

sooo anyways my room temp (outside the tents) got up 81 today and my 4x4 tent is up to 86 right now really trying to lower it.
i added a booster fan to one of my 6" vents to maybe help push more air thru idk, i hate summer lol

i feel like i shouldnt have heat problems in a basement in canada, my 600w is venting outside. t5s dont get that hot.
the rest of my basement is cool.

i run my 600w from 7pm to 7am to try and minimize hottest hours. anybody have any advice? i got a spare booster fan i could add to my long exhaust duct?

my dehumidifier adds to the heat so i turned it off and added extra fans to the tent for now, gonna monitor rh closely for now

should i consider ac? i feel its overkill but tired of fighting temps, wouldnt mind running my 400w mh also this summer
 
ipeeinpools

ipeeinpools

Well-Known Member
how are you intaking and exhausting the tents themselves? how high does your RH go without the dehumidifier running?
 
Underground Scientist

Underground Scientist

Well-Known Member
What if you dehumidified the whole basement to isolate the heat it generates from the grow area, then intake air from the larger basement into your grow room. Get creative, AC last resort. It's gonna add cost you don't want, then you have to vent the heat from that...pain in the ass.
 
Underground Scientist

Underground Scientist

Well-Known Member
One more idea...take some ductwork from a big box hardware store, or make some shit to create a vent from your dehumidifier exhaust to outside your grow area.
 
TacoMac

TacoMac

Well-Known Member
Question: Are you growing in the tents only to hide the contents?

Because if that's the case, I understand and a window AC unit would be the way to go provided you have a window to stick it out of. You could set it on auto at about 76 degrees and you'd be fine. (And you wouldn't need much of one, either. You'd be amazed at how fast a small, 150 dollar AC unit will drop the temperature in that area. Also, by running the window AC unit you get a decent amount of dehumidification out of it, so your dehumidifier will run even less, which offsets some of the power costs as well as the ambient heat.)

But if stealth isn't necessary for you, don't grow in the tents at all. Use the entire room with a circulation fan. When I do my grows that's what I do and it works like a charm. I have my dehumidifier plumbed into the basement plumbing so it runs constantly and the highest I ever hit is around 82 degrees right under the lights.

Grow without the tents and your overall would probably be about the same as mine, but that's about it.
 
L

louiedogg

Well-Known Member
ipeeinpools said:
how are you intaking and exhausting the tents themselves? how high does your RH go without the dehumidifier running?
Click to expand...
yesterday rh went up to 68% lights off about 54% lights on with no dehumidifier, im in flower so its pretty high

my 4x4 tent sits next to a little window that i have open, and i have my exhaust fan pushing the air to the next room over and out its little window.

last year seemed to work better as i remember feeling a super strong breeze from the window to the tents passive intake. cant feel any fresh air if i put my hand up to that window
 
L

louiedogg

Well-Known Member
TacoMac said:
Question: Are you growing in the tents only to hide the contents?

Because if that's the case, I understand and a window AC unit would be the way to go provided you have a window to stick it out of. You could set it on auto at about 76 degrees and you'd be fine. (And you wouldn't need much of one, either. You'd be amazed at how fast a small, 150 dollar AC unit will drop the temperature in that area. Also, by running the window AC unit you get a decent amount of dehumidification out of it, so your dehumidifier will run even less, which offsets some of the power costs as well as the ambient heat.)

But if stealth isn't necessary for you, don't grow in the tents at all. Use the entire room with a circulation fan. When I do my grows that's what I do and it works like a charm. I have my dehumidifier plumbed into the basement plumbing so it runs constantly and the highest I ever hit is around 82 degrees right under the lights.

Grow without the tents and your overall would probably be about the same as mine, but that's about it.
Click to expand...
the tents are just to keep things neat and help contain the smell. i honestly never thought of growing outside of them, but i feel it would be harder to hide the smell.
 
L

louiedogg

Well-Known Member
if anybody has suggestions to how i can better ventilate this tent it would be awesome.

basement temp is 75, outside temp is 79 and my tent temp is 82.

i switched my hood out for my cool tube also switched from mh to hps since i just started flower, and it seemed as if my temps went up ... figured cool tube would keep things cooler.
 
brewbeer

brewbeer

Well-Known Member
What are you using for exhaust fans, and how long is the ducting? If they are underpowered for your ducting and filter, a bigger fan may help.
 
Underground Scientist

Underground Scientist

Well-Known Member
louiedogg said:
if anybody has suggestions to how i can better ventilate this tent it would be awesome.

basement temp is 75, outside temp is 79 and my tent temp is 82.

i switched my hood out for my cool tube also switched from mh to hps since i just started flower, and it seemed as if my temps went up ... figured cool tube would keep things cooler.
Click to expand...
Personally I wouldn't even sweat 82 degrees. But what is that red thing hanging in your tent? You don't have your ballast in there do you?
 
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