Easiest way to keep your grow COOL.

Vapemasta!

Member
I have come to the obvious conclusion, that the easiest way to keep heat down would be the electricity. So if anyone has some experiance on the subject, what bulb puts off least heat. Hps, Cfls, or Mh?
 

raw225

Active Member
my 400watt hps gets pretty hot :) i use a fan at the same level as the light to blow the heat out :)

works like a charm
 

gobbly

Well-Known Member
watt for watt, they are actually very close to each other. CFL's are typically not pulling the power that HID's are, so they stay slightly cooler (they often work at a lower power factor, so their draw is oftentimes less than they are rated at). Another thing is that CFL's are spreading this heat over a relatively large surface area. HID's are a point source, so the same heat is concentrated into a very small area (oftentimes .5"^3 or less). Because of this HID's will create a lot more heat directly under the source than a CFL would...
 

JREZZY

Member
Just remember cfls produce way less than hps or mh way less and the buds get kinda airy and fluffy if you want the good stuff get a small 150 hps they produce small amounts of heat compared to their big brothers if you have correct air circulation small fan would do fine. Then youll get a couple ozs of dense beautiful buds.
 

Howard Stern

Well-Known Member
Go with an air cooled hood if you have the $/space for it. If not CFL's are your way to go. Just get daylight bulbs 100W + a peice for veg and Soft white 100w+ a peice bulbs for veg. With CFL's you want to keep you plants no farther than 5 in away or you are fucked. And the more the better!
 

Howard Stern

Well-Known Member
Yeah and one that is worth a shit it over $2500! Untill Led's come down in price it isn't worth it. And I said a good one! Not some shit one!
 

Babs34

Well-Known Member
My understanding has been that a watt is a watt is a watt......all put off as much energy as the next.
 

Serapis

Well-Known Member
You can put your hand right up to them, you won't discern any heat. The vents and fans are for the electrical components inside the panel, not for the bulbs.
 

NLXSK1

Well-Known Member
You can put your hand right up to them, you won't discern any heat. The vents and fans are for the electrical components inside the panel, not for the bulbs.
But those components give off heat right? I mean, if they didnt there would be no reason for vents.
 

iscrog4food

Active Member
Ok lets not get all technical. Yes LEDs put off head but the amount is so minimal that it is neglegent..... A watt is a watt is a watt yes but lumens/watts is a different story. Cfls are a great place to start but it is like a girl and her first time. THere is magic... love...lust but the bottom line is she doesnt marry her first because THERE SIMPLY IS NOT ENOUGH PENETRATION!
 

gobbly

Well-Known Member
You can put your hand right up to them, you won't discern any heat. The vents and fans are for the electrical components inside the panel, not for the bulbs.
I would have to call bs on that. with remote drivers, nothing but solder on a drilled heat sync with diodes and optics, they will still put off heat. It's just not much. For a 1.5 ft^2 unit 2 cpu fans were able to keep the heatsync surface temp to within 1 degree of room temp, so it's not a lot of heat, but they do put off heat.
 

gobbly

Well-Known Member
How would you explain 2 150w cfls heat vs a 300w MH?
to start, a 150w CFL is probably drawing ~75 watts at a power factor of .5 (this power factor was pulled from a search on google for 'CFL power factors'). So to properly compare heat, you would need to compare 2 300w rated CFL's (drawing around 300w total, testable with a kill-a-watt meter), and a 300w MH. Both produce roughly the same heat (MH ballasts consume energy as well, and will radiate heat...). As I said before, the reason you can grab your CFL and not your MH is because your CFL spreads that heat energy out over a large surface area. They are a diffused light source. MH's are a point source, the same amount of heat energy in the CFL's broad surface is concentrated in the MH into a small space.
 

JREZZY

Member
I agree with spanish fly its noe about watts its about usable lumens. And just because a hid lamp has more initial lumens your not getting all of them because you have to mount the lights hugher due to the extreme heat they produce so they arent as efffecient as leds cfls of other floresents.
 
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