Balancing heat and air exchange with night-time temperatures...

[Chip Green]

My room is very well insulated from top to bottom

This is what I'm working toward, I have a good base layer working, but I have to get ALL of the leaks sorted out.

thermal battery releasing gathered heat

I've considered this notion as well. Wonder how big of a res I would need, to liquid cool enough overdriven LED, to maintain the temps???? HA!!!
Then I considered a vertical grow, with the panels on the frozen wall, running at ridiculous current levels. Probably work for awhile!!!!

I have plenty of time to get everything dialed in, just enough time for the thaw to begin, and have to start rebalancing again.

 

[whitebb2727]

Also i think my 2 rdwc setups act as a thermal battery releasing gathered heat during lights out

That would be easy. A drum of water, water pump and radiator.

Check out passive green houses. It would be a similar setup.

 

[ShLUbY]

Why not treat it like a passive green house? If the grow area has a good seal you can turn the exhaust off or turn it as low as you can. Put some jugs or small barrels of water in the grow room. They will draw heat when the lights are on and release it at night.

Water, stones or anything of the sort will store heat and release at night.

Hey white! thanks for the input. I like these ideas!

 

[SchmoeJoe]

It's Michigan winter... and it's cold AF out! When my HPS lights are off for the dark photo period, its gets chilly in the flower room. So I'm looking for a solution to put a heater in there for night time and have some sort of temp controller for my exhaust so it does not get too hot, and so it shuts off at a certain coolness, all while making sure that my heater is not running the entire 12 hours!

I just want to eliminate these temp swings between night and day. Looking for a more stable environment, and warmer nights, because I can tell that metabolism has slowed down during these chilly night temps.

my room is in a Michigan basement (not well contained basement, drafty), 14x6x7, i run passive intake and i have an 8" can max exhaust fan that runs 24/7 currently. my fan controller has stopped working, and either runs 100% or 0% haha. I should probably pick up a new one, but i'm starting to dislike these cheap ones, as they seem to make the motor of my fan hum when i dim it down.

Any and all input is welcome. I'm looking for gear, controllers, methods, whatever. I just want more environmental control this year! Thanks in advance and happy growing.

Do you have a separate veg space in the basement?

 

[ShLUbY]

Do you have a separate veg space in the basement?

yeah i have a separate veg tent.

 

[whitebb2727]

yeah i have a separate veg tent.

Use some heat from it?

 

[ShLUbY]

Use some heat from it?

that's what i think he was getting at . I'd just be concerned with cross contamination. say i get PM in my veg side for whatever reason, i don't want to be dumping that air into my flower room too... know what i mean?

 

[Cold$moke]

Lol the water jug thing will work great but i have another option i came up with

Hang on ill get a pic

 

[Cold$moke]

This is a passive solar heat i built to harness wasted light energy on the wall

I used this and it raised my room temp by five degrees on super cold days to where i needed to remove it on the warm days.
Mine isnt even that great if i remade it to where the duct was a single duct that weaved back and forth it would get very hot lol
All for the wasted light and about 40 bucks

Now that im completely sourronded in 6inches of fiberglass on top of 2 inches of foam im all gravy

Hopefully it helps keep it cooloer this summer as well

 

[Cold$moke]

This produces heat from light.

The jugs will be good for slowly releasing heat at night though

 

[Cold$moke]

That would be easy. A drum of water, water pump and radiator.

Check out passive green houses. It would be a similar setup.

Correct

 

[whitebb2727]

that's what i think he was getting at . I'd just be concerned with cross contamination. say i get PM in my veg side for whatever reason, i don't want to be dumping that air into my flower room too... know what i mean?

A good filter would stop cross contamination.

 

[ShLUbY]

This is a passive solar heat i built to harness wasted light energy on the wall

I used this and it raised my room temp by five degrees on super cold days to where i needed to remove it on the warm days.
Mine isnt even that great if i remade it to where the duct was a single duct that weaved back and forth it would get very hot lol
All for the wasted light and about 40 bucks

Now that im completely sourronded in 6inches of fiberglass on top of 2 inches of foam im all gravy

Hopefully it helps keep it cooloer this summer as well

View attachment 4088873

sweet! does that thing just radiate heat, or is there a vent in the top for the heat to be released?

 

[ShLUbY]

ok, so after some quick looking around, i think i'm just gonna spend the coin and get an infrared heater, and put it on a timer. they're supposed to be really efficient and spread the heat quickly, and they have a good warrenty and an 80,000 hour life expectancy. Get the temp controller for the fan. Plug in my dehuey just incase the humidity climbs while the fan is off (and if it turns on it will heat the room!). This seems like the route to go for my setup. Appreciate all the ideas and help everyone!

 

[Cold$moke]

sweet! does that thing just radiate heat, or is there a vent in the top for the heat to be released?

Yep it takes cold from the bottom and heats it as it goes up. It creates it own up draft.

But i would make it better by using a single duct and wrapping it around so it gathers more heat on the way out.

Going straight makes it too slow

But it still heated my room and i had to pull it out on warm days
.

But again if you can insulate well you might not need a heater

 

[Cold$moke]

ok, so after some quick looking around, i think i'm just gonna spend the coin and get an infrared heater, and put it on a timer. they're supposed to be really efficient and spread the heat quickly, and they have a good warrenty and an 80,000 hour life expectancy. Get the temp controller for the fan. Plug in my dehuey just incase the humidity climbs while the fan is off (and if it turns on it will heat the room!). This seems like the route to go for my setup. Appreciate all the ideas and help everyone!

Oil radiant heater if you go that route

But with no insulation your trying to heat Michigan lmao

Adding jugs painted black will work excellent as well as being super cheap

 

[HydroRed]

Now that im completely sourronded in 6inches of fiberglass on top of 2 inches of foam im all gravy

Hopefully it helps keep it cooloer this summer as well

View attachment 4088873

Youre probably going to see a huge reduction in usage for hvac. After insulating fully, I went from 12K btu AC unit running hard almost constantly, to 5K btu on med during the hottest summer days and never getting above 80*F. Big difference.

 

[ShLUbY]

Oil radiant heater if you go that route

But with no insulation your trying to heat Michigan lmao

Adding jugs painted black will work excellent as well as being super cheap

regarding the oil radiant heater, watts are watts, so it's not gonna make a difference. But i do see an advantage with the oil heater radiating heat once it's shut off, whereas the infrared will not... so maybe i'll go the oil route . thanks again.

 

[Cold$moke]

Youre probably going to see a huge reduction in usage for hvac. After insulating fully, I went from 12K btu AC unit running hard almost constantly, to 5K btu on med during the hottest summer days and never getting above 80*F. Big difference.

Yea dude last year i didnt have my roof insulated and i lost my crop on a stint of minus 30 for a week lol

Even with a heater didnt do any good

I walked in to 2 plus pounds of frozen plants lol
The rootballs had ice on them

That was just the roof and floor uninsulated i had done the walls already but didnt do a bit of good cuase as you know that heat rises lol


My suggestion would be to spend the heater money on 2 inch foam insulation and get your lid and wall done
Then heat as necessary

 

[Cold$moke]

regarding the oil radiant heater, watts are watts, so it's not gonna make a difference. But i do see an advantage with the oil heater radiating heat once it's shut off, whereas the infrared will not... so maybe i'll go the oil route . thanks again.

The infa red will glow red which is a no no.plus its more of a fire hazard