Newbie with a heat problem

[DannyGreenEyes]

I'm getting ready to start my first grow, hopefully tommorow. I got three 400w bulbs (1 MH & 2 HPSs), hoods, & ballast, but had a problem with them so I just got the lights hung a few hours ago. I also bought 2 UVB bulbs and will be growing 8 plants. It's set up in a walk in closet that's attatched to the bed room which is where the wall unit A/C is. The closet it approx 56" wide and 84" long with 8 ft ceilings.

I turned on the lights to check temp with the lights hung at 32" from the ground and put the probe from my Thermometer under the lights on the ground. No fans & no AC just to do a first test. The temp was 101 degrees.

I then turned on the A/C and set up 2 fans at the closet door, one stationary floor fan and one oscilating at about 4 ft from the ground, both pointing into the closet. I also closed off the bedroom to the rest of the house and put a towel under the door. It's now 88 degrees in the closet, I have to get it down a little more.

Outdoor temp is 39 degrees and temp in the rest of the apartment is 74 degrees. The heat isn't on, I get radiant heat from my neighbors. (apartment)

First thought was to open the sliding glass door that leads from the bedroom to outside, but then I thought about it and decided it was a bad idea. I don't want to get robbed and if I leave the door open eveyone's gonna know that I'm growing.

Another idea I had was to move the grow room out into the bedroom and cover the sliding glass doors with a comforter. This would provide a more wide open space and it would move the set up closer to the a/c. I'm sleeping in the living room anyway because the lights shine too brightly, the whole bedroom lights up. But moving it closer to the sliding glass doors is something I want to avoid. Again, don't want anyone knowing I grow.

The final idea I had was to raise the lights, but I don't know if 32" is too far away already. Can someone give me more info on light distance from plants for 400w bulbs.

Also if three 400w set ups are too much for 8 plants let me know so I can try turning one of them off. I'll be moving the MH to a veg area when these are ready to flower anyway, I just wanted to give them as much light as possible because I'm going to have to force flowering about a month into the veg. on this grow and I want to get the plants as big as possible.

If there are any other ideas that I haven't thought of please let me know.

 

[capecodkid]

You need to get some sort of exaust in that closet.

 

[DannyGreenEyes]

You need to get some sort of exaust in that closet.

The boiler room is on the other side of a make shift wall (plywood & drywall), I guess I could drill a hole big enough for a duct and use a duct with an inline fan to piggy back into the boiler rooms exhaust, but I don't know how much carbon dioxide/monoxide that I'll be eposing the plants to.

But if this sounds like a good idea despite the carbon dioxide/monoxide, do you think I can just vent the room or do I have to hook the exhaust vent up to the lights? I haven't put the ends on the hoods yet, I figured it might help keep the temp down.

 

[DannyGreenEyes]

actually forget that last message. If I run an exhaust duct into the boilers room exhaust duct I will block part of the boilers exhaust and cause carbon dioxide/monoxide to back up into the house. I love my babies, but when it comes to my life, fuck em. lol

 

[capecodkid]

tie all the hoods to gether with duct and exaust it with atleast a 6in inline. i wouldnt tie it into the exaust of the boiler room. Just exaust it right into the boiler room itself. You are gonna have smell issues if that is a problem(its gonna stink). Do you have any pics??

 

[DannyGreenEyes]

tie all the hoods to gether with duct and exaust it with atleast a 6in inline. i wouldnt tie it into the exaust of the boiler room. Just exaust it right into the boiler room itself. You are gonna have smell issues if that is a problem(its gonna stink). Do you have any pics??

As long as the cannibus smell is kept in the apartment it's no problem. I'll have to use a charcoal filter on the exhaust so it don't stink outside because of the exhaust, I remember seeing a thread somewhere on making a home made one.

What if carbon dioxide/monoxide backtracks from the boiler into the closet? That wont hurt the plants?

I can take a pic if you need to see the closet, but I have to break down my computer and take it into the bedroom so I can use the cam. I'll be keeping a daily journal once I start. But let me know if you need to see pic to help come up with ideas & I'll get er done.

Also, the hoods don't have glass & are lined up side to side instead of end to end. I think I can figure out how to link them, but would I need an inline fan on each hood since there's no glass?

Another thought, do you think it would help if I ran the exhaust vent into the bedroom (where the A/C is) through the closet door instead of through the boiler room? I'd rather not screw with the boiler room if I can avoid it. Plus I smoke cigs and rightnow I have the whole bed room area closed off. If I drill that hole the cig smoke will have a way to get to the plants. I understand cig smoke causes either resin or THC to break down.

It's now 89 degrees in the clost, 67 degrees just outside the door of the closet, and about 61 degrees in the center of the bed room. What do you think of the idea of running the exhaust into the 61 degree bedroom?

 

[DannyGreenEyes]

Dam, bad news. The hoods aren't vented anyway. The hoods are pretty ghetto. What about raising the lights? The probe is on the floor so it's actually measuring the temp of the floor I think. So I think the 89 degrees represents what the plant's temp would be, not neccessarily the air temp. So raising the lights should lower the temp. But is it better to move the lights farther than 32" away, or is it better to turn off one of the lights?

 

[DannyGreenEyes]

forgot to mention, the two HPSs has 55,000 lumens and the one HP has 38,000 lumens

 

[capecodkid]

I would def get a carbon scruber its gonna stink more than you think.

The carbonmonoxide wont be able to fight its way up a duct that is blowing air out of it.That should be fine.

The only way to hook the hoods to gether and exaust them would be with the glass and having them end to end. You are gonna have to get the glass inserts and just 1 6in inline.

CARBON FILTER=====LIGHT==LIGHT==LIGHT===INLINE FAN

I think the whole cig smoke thing is just a myth(but i may be wrong).

You are gonna want that temp to be at about 72-78 (ideal). you can vent into your room no prob you are gonna need a passive intake for constant air flow. just rember when you flower that 12 hrs of dark has to be completly dark no light leaks at all.

The wall need to have white paint or mylar or you can go to walmart and get some emergency blankets for a cheap alternitive to mylar.

Id like to see some pics of your closet if its not gonna be a problem.

Check out my grow in my sig(bottom of page)

 

[capecodkid]

You dont have to vent the hoods but you are gonna need a inline fan with a passive intake. I think you need to change out the air in the closet evry 4-5 min.

 

[capecodkid]

Mh for vegitative growth and hps for flowering. The 400 wat will have a thumb print of about 3x3 9 sq feet of coverage. You could get veg with the 1 mh and flower with the 2 hps.

 

[DannyGreenEyes]

I would def get a carbon scruber its gonna stink more than you think.

The carbonmonoxide wont be able to fight its way up a duct that is blowing air out of it.That should be fine.

The only way to hook the hoods to gether and exaust them would be with the glass and having them end to end. You are gonna have to get the glass inserts and just 1 6in inline.

CARBON FILTER=====LIGHT==LIGHT==LIGHT===INLINE FAN

I think the whole cig smoke thing is just a myth(but i may be wrong).

You are gonna want that temp to be at about 72-78 (ideal). you can vent into your room no prob you are gonna need a passive intake for constant air flow. just rember when you flower that 12 hrs of dark has to be completly dark no light leaks at all.

The wall need to have white paint or mylar or you can go to walmart and get some emergency blankets for a cheap alternitive to mylar.

Id like to see some pics of your closet if its not gonna be a problem.

Check out my grow in my sig(bottom of page)

I figured I would run one vent from each hood and use a splitter to bring them together into one duct which is where I'd put the inline fan, but the hoods arent' vented. There's nothing to hook the duct up to. I can cut a hole but there would be no lip to use to connect the duct.

I think my only options might be raising the lights or turning one off.

 

[DannyGreenEyes]

Sorry, I misread your last message. What's a passive intake, just an intake left in the open air near the plants?

I know MH is better for veg, but I'm sure the HPSs will also help. If I have to turn one off I'll try one of the HPS first of course, both if it's still too hot after turning one off. But if it's possible to vent to the bed room I'd rather try that. I gotta get my babies as big as I can in a month without spending too much.

 

[DannyGreenEyes]

P.S. Let me get this problem settled and I'll take my first pics and post them. I'll post them to this thread too so you can find it easy. Just give me an hour or two and it'll be here.

BTW, thanks for all your help

 

[capecodkid]

A passive intake is just a hole/vent so when the inline pulls the air out there is fresh air(possibly cooler) being pulled in at the same time. When you exaust into your room its goona raise the temp. You have no other possibilitys to vent anywhere else. what about up or a window? Dont worry about the pics bro no biggie.

 

[DannyGreenEyes]

A passive intake is just a hole/vent so when the inline pulls the air out there is fresh air(possibly cooler) being pulled in at the same time. When you exaust into your room its goona raise the temp. You have no other possibilitys to vent anywhere else. what about up or a window? Dont worry about the pics bro no biggie.

I think I got you, the passive intake I might position in the middle of my plants carefull that it's not casting a shadow. That will remove some hot air while the fans blow more cooler air back into the closet.

I'm sure it will raise the temp in the bed room, but it's 61 degrees, probably a few degrees colder right in front of the AC which is where I'll run the duct so the hot air can immediately mix with the coldest air available.

The only other thing I can think of is to put the passive intake right at the A/C so I can bring cold air into the room via ducts. I'd probably also have to move the fans into the room and point them out into the bedroom to move the hot air out. But then I'd have no air flow on the plants so the other way is probably better.

No other ways to vent. No windows in house, just sliding glass doors. And I'm on the first floor so I have someone living above me. Only vent available would be boiler room or dryer, but the stackable washer & dryer is in a closet that's soo tight, I'd never be able to get the exhaust duct to the dryers duct without cutting a hole in the wall. Even if I could cut the hole without cutting into power lines or a stud, I couldn't get the washer/dryer out without a special made dolly which I don't have. And I really don't want to use the boiler rooms, too dangerous.

 

[capecodkid]

when the inline fan is sucking the hot air out of the room it creates the pasive to draw air in like a cycle. Yes that is a good idea you could make some sort of ghetto duct off the ac and run it to the closet and that would be your intake(not passive anymore). cooler air brought in on the bottom and hotter air exausted from the top.

 

[capecodkid]

If you are only doing 8 plants( i saw your other post) you only need 400 watts to veg espcially if your gonna only veg for one month. You really only need 400 wat to flowerin this case to but more wouldnt hurt.

 

[DannyGreenEyes]

when the inline fan is sucking the hot air out of the room it creates the pasive to draw air in like a cycle. Yes that is a good idea you could make some sort of ghetto duct off the ac and run it to the closet and that would be your intake(not passive anymore). cooler air brought in on the bottom and hotter air exausted from the top.

Ok, you lost me a little. If I use a duct and inline fan to take air out of the closet, the vacume that's created by removing air from the closet will force (or suck) air back into the room without running a second duct (through the open door). Is that what you mean by passive intake?

Wouldn't the best place for the outgoing duct's intake be under the lights? I thought that would be the hottest area in the room because of the radiant heat created by the lights.

As far as the duct back into the closet carrying cold air, I can't actually hook it up to the A/C (atleast I don't see a way). I'd have to put the duct's intake right in front of the A/C but not attatched to it. The duct bringing warm air out of the closet would have to be vented on the other side of the bedroom I guess. On my next grow I'll probably have the money to buy an AC made for venting hoods and just leave it unhooked to ductwork & running in the closet. But till then, does this sound like it will work?

One concern though, the duct bringing cold air into the closet, wouldn't that create a cold spot or uneven temp across my plants (one plant is 78 while on the other end of the row the plants are 65 degrees)?

And if I do it this way, should I leave the fans pointed into the closet, out of the closet, or neither (in the closet just circulating the air)?

 

[DannyGreenEyes]

I was hoping on using the larger number of lights to get better side coverage. But if you think that 2 lights would be enough that will help solve the problem because I only need 2 to get the side coverage that I want. I'll use a MH and a HPS and I'll just have to switch them every day to ensure even coverage.