Converting shed to grow room

TJ_BASS

Well-Known Member
Nice size.
Before plants. I would double bug bomb inside and spray outside, under and around the shed.

Outside.
Thats your first source of potential nightmares. Thrips, mites and other pests clinging to everyone (clothes, shoes, hair) who enters the grow. That assumes you have insects where you live. Lol
I will keep this in mind for sure the bugs get crazy during this time of year for me.
 

TJ_BASS

Well-Known Member
I used to have a grow shed, built it for 3 grand, it was 8 by 8. You gotta insulate everything even the floor, since you're doing all new electrical use the red heater wire and I believe I had 2 40 amp breakers running 2 600w HIDs. I decided not to put a baseboard heater in and it was a mistake, I would definitely suggest a baseboard heater it cost way less than any other heater. An dual port air conditioner will be needed, I picked mine up on Ebay for $220 otherwise you're looking at $600 new, get one that does heat to so that in the winter you can heat the outside air before it enters the shed, it cost me $250 a month in the winter but I was using an electric oil heater it was a dinosaur.
I have this plastic wrap that I can line the whole grow space with to help keep it water resistant I also got done caulking all the cracks and crevices I could find. All this was done with all the junk I found in that shed lol, save money live better.

I seen a air conditioner for about 200 at a near by pawn shop Dual port too I will invest in that asap.

Will a regular space heater do? I got one that can heat up my room pretty quick and it’s bigger than the shed oh and how would I go about heating the air up before it hits the growing space.

Took me almost a whole day and a half to clean the sheds, got of em 2 lol. Moved stuff to the other and sorted out all the god damn tools we got. By myself :wall: It was fun.
 

TJ_BASS

Well-Known Member
I am all for pulling extra power but thats a lot of power for that space. We should do a load calculation to see what you really need and if you want extra keep it within reason. We also want to balance loads that are 120 volt when we run the circuits. So you have your 240 volt loads and then you try to divide the other 120v loads into circuits that are evenly balanced between legs.

If you had 4kW of lights that would be around 17 amps on 240 volt or 34 amps on 120 volt. The AC and dehumidifier are the other big loads. Then you have fans, pumps and other lights loads.

Remember that you can only use 80% of a breakers ampacity before it will trip. So if you are running a 40 amp subpanel you can only draw 32 amps, if either leg exceeds that you will trip the breaker. A 50 amp panel would give 40 amps. A 60 amp would give 48.

Unless it's a really big shed and you are gonna run 4+ kW of lights, it's very likely that you can run a 40 amp subpanel since you probably won't exceed 32 amps if you load balance and run the lighting at 240 volts.
Ahh so many things I didn’t know about yet..............

Just did a little homework, I understand now. Im gonna have to make up a diagram of some sort to see what type of equipment I’m gonna use I have a multi meter I can use to test all my equipment.
I do live in the US so I will have to run my equipment at 120v or 110volts I’m pretty sure or can I run it at 240? What type of things would I have to lookout for, different plugs etc?.... or are you describing something else that I’m not getting ? Lol cause I think I know what you mean but school me if you have to.

I’ll try to get an average of what the amperage would be then I’ll work from there.
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Ahh so many things I didn’t know about yet..............

Just did a little homework, I understand now. Im gonna have to make up a diagram of some sort to see what type of equipment I’m gonna use I have a multi meter I can use to test all my equipment.
I do live in the US so I will have to run my equipment at 120v or 110volts I’m pretty sure or can I run it at 240? What type of things would I have to lookout for, different plugs etc?.... or are you describing something else that I’m not getting ? Lol cause I think I know what you mean but school me if you have to.

I’ll try to get an average of what the amperage would be then I’ll work from there.
Most of the lighting we like to use can run at 240 volt and it's really the way to do it. Lighting controllers work with that as well. The type of plug end on the cord can be changed with a different cord if required but many controllers use univeresal receptacles, just don't accidentally plug something that won't take 240 volts into the lighting controller lol.

Air conditioning 1.5 tons (18,000 btu/hr) and up is 240volt.

You want to go by name plate ratings to get the amperage for a load calc. No need for a meter and it could be wrong as many devices have a high startup current then fall off.

When you know how many lights you will run and what they need for amperage you can determine the lighting controller size and the size breaker in the subpanel / gauge of wire that is required to feed the controller. The good lighting controllers have trigger cords that you plug into a reliable 120 volt timer. I don't like the controllers with integrated timers because if the timer breaks youre fucked.
 

New Age United

Well-Known Member
I have this plastic wrap that I can line the whole grow space with to help keep it water resistant I also got done caulking all the cracks and crevices I could find. All this was done with all the junk I found in that shed lol, save money live better.

I seen a air conditioner for about 200 at a near by pawn shop Dual port too I will invest in that asap.

Will a regular space heater do? I got one that can heat up my room pretty quick and it’s bigger than the shed oh and how would I go about heating the air up before it hits the growing space.

Took me almost a whole day and a half to clean the sheds, got of em 2 lol. Moved stuff to the other and sorted out all the god damn tools we got. By myself :wall: It was fun.
A space heater is gonna be costly but on top of that it will be hard to maintain the right temps, a baseboard with a thermostat would be much better, and like I said get an ac that has heat too, it will heat up the air from outside before it enters the shed, the ac should be your only intake.
 

Rob Roy

Well-Known Member
It makes sense to try to use your light schedule efficiently so any heat needed in cold periods is coming from your lights rather than "wasting" electricity on a heater, when a light could serve a dual purpose.

Also, don't wait for a power outage to get a heater. Buy a small propane heater which can run for several days off a 20 pound bottle in the event you lose power, at least your plants won't freeze.

If you're really into precautions, consider keeping a couple of charged 12 volt batteries handy, with a cheap inverter and some small low draw led or fluoro lights. Using these you can keep your plants on their light schedule until power is restored.
 

New Age United

Well-Known Member
you need major insulation,if u vent u cant drag in air below freezing need lung room.if u run sealed that shed will drip inside without insulation an heavy vapor blocker.
It can be done without a lung, I thought and thought for weeks about making a lung room on my shed but decided not to, dual port ac with heat exchanges the air very efficiently and will heat up the air to above 15 celcius as it comes out the vent, I live on the 45th parallel we get temps as low as -30 Celsius and I ran my shed for 2 winters never had an issue.
 

NYFlowerpower631

Active Member
This is gonna be long but 100% worth it. So here’s my lay out. I have a 15x12x10 shed. I have a landscaping business so it’s why nobody has a clue what goes on inside cause I’m constantly taking out my mowers and equipment every day and the section I use for my landscaping I also work on my equipment in shed as well. So I had a family friend who owns a electric business came and installed 100 amp breakers and box on inside of my shed added the extra line from house’s box which had more then enough room for what he did. Dig a trench from back of the house and had wire run through insulated piping to shed under the shed and up through floor. Now inside back 7ft I had a wall built cut 2 6” holes for exhaust and intake 2 multi spot outlets one on each side of door separating rooms. I have a 10000 btu window fan cut into wall on left side of door. I built my own light proof and bug proof intake for bottom of door(like the Darkflo boxes) I also have a 200 cfm intake fan with a hepa filter on outside of shed. My exhaust runs out through rooms by duct an out bottom of shed and heat gets dispursed throughout whole bottom so good luck with the infrared I have a 4x4 also with darkflo boxes around the tent bottom intake flaps and an AC Infinity Cloudline 6” with temp/humidity control on other side of room I have a 17”x3x3 with my 8 lamp 2’ t5 light for veg with a little space heater and clip fan and a little 4” exhaust fan set on temp controller so way I have it keeps tent at 78-80 degrees perfect and heater and exhaust go every 2 or so min so always good air exchange my 4x4 I got the SF 4000 want the HLG 550 v2 RSPEC. Ow and last I used insulation in the walls of the shed. Just around my grow room I also have a layer of 7ml panda film then sheet rocked all cracks used spray foam to seal cracks and then insulation sheets all around. I’m able to do a completely sealed room w/co2 but I don’t bother cause I’m in and out all the time even if I’m not going in room. I also only have 8’ high ceiling for the grow room. When I enter my grow room you have no clue I’m even doing this in there. And I’m in a not friendly state YET I’ll take pics when I get the chance. It cost money but so worth it. And I have the best plug in adapters that repel bugs like I watch them run out my ramp of shed if they get near my door. They hate whatever the devices put out they work. I have a mat outside my room and I have flip flops and I spray bleach on the ground and step my feet on it and it works. But I also use pest perventitive maintenance just cause
 

NYFlowerpower631

Active Member
This is gonna be long but 100% worth it. So here’s my lay out. I have a 15x12x10 shed. I have a landscaping business so it’s why nobody has a clue what goes on inside cause I’m constantly taking out my mowers and equipment every day and the section I use for my landscaping I also work on my equipment in shed as well. So I had a family friend who owns a electric business came and installed 100 amp breakers and box on inside of my shed added the extra line from house’s box which had more then enough room for what he did. Dig a trench from back of the house and had wire run through insulated piping to shed under the shed and up through floor. Now inside back 7ft I had a wall built cut 2 6” holes for exhaust and intake 2 multi spot outlets one on each side of door separating rooms. I have a 10000 btu window fan cut into wall on left side of door. I built my own light proof and bug proof intake for bottom of door(like the Darkflo boxes) I also have a 200 cfm intake fan with a hepa filter on outside of shed. My exhaust runs out through rooms by duct an out bottom of shed and heat gets dispursed throughout whole bottom so good luck with the infrared I have a 4x4 also with darkflo boxes around the tent bottom intake flaps and an AC Infinity Cloudline 6” with temp/humidity control on other side of room I have a 17”x3x3 with my 8 lamp 2’ t5 light for veg with a little space heater and clip fan and a little 4” exhaust fan set on temp controller so way I have it keeps tent at 78-80 degrees perfect and heater and exhaust go every 2 or so min so always good air exchange my 4x4 I got the SF 4000 want the HLG 550 v2 RSPEC. Ow and last I used insulation in the walls of the shed. Just around my grow room I also have a layer of 7ml panda film then sheet rocked all cracks used spray foam to seal cracks and then insulation sheets all around. I’m able to do a completely sealed room w/co2 but I don’t bother cause I’m in and out all the time even if I’m not going in room. I also only have 8’ high ceiling for the grow room. When I enter my grow room you have no clue I’m even doing this in there. And I’m in a not friendly state YET I’ll take pics when I get the chance. It cost money but so worth it. And I have the best plug in adapters that repel bugs like I watch them run out my ramp of shed if they get near my door. They hate whatever the devices put out they work. I have a mat outside my room and I have flip flops and I spray bleach on the ground and step my feet on it and it works. But I also use pest perventitive maintenance just cause
Just realized I ment I had a 10000 window ac unit not 10000 btu window fan lol. I also run my lights 7pm to 7am my electrician worked for the electric company pseg now by me and said it cost less to run the electric on non peak times like the day time so find out the peak times by you. Ask an electrician or even a cool looking power line worker you see they should tell you for your area
 
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