I built a small oven!

[Bowl.Flowith.Over]

I had some atlas board left over from a project. It's a reflective insulated vapor barrier and goes for almost $20 a sheet. I built a 2' x 2' x 30" cabinet from it and put a 150W HPS to start plants in before putting them into the vegetation room. Right now it's about 110* F with four 4x6 exhaust holes on the top and a small fan pushing air in. Once I receive the power cable I ordered capable of running enough juice to my new fan I will be able to push 38 cfm minus whatever restriction I have from the home made carbon filters. I worried that it won't cool the cabinet enough. Is there anything I could try to bring the temperature down further? I've heard you can run slightly higher temperatures with CO2 but I think I'll have too much air flow for that to be feasible. What makes it possible to grow plants outdoors in such high heat?

 

[iwantchipz]

you need exhaust and and an intake fan. you could make a DIY cool tube out of a Pyrex bake A round (or buy one) and make a separate exhaust for the light. If your ballast is attached to your light i know their are some threads on here about how to remove the ballast so you can have it outside of your grow area....which will drop temps a little.

 

[Nullis]

Well outdoors plants have an open atmosphere of carbon dioxide, for one thing.

You might try sucking air out of your cabinet, instead of pushing air in. A small booster fan should by plenty to ventilate a small space like that.

 

[bunnyface]

HeyJonathan, just a word on co2 supplementation, yes you can run your temps alittle higher than normal but you will have to deal with the increased use of water and such, also maybe run a 250watt cfl in such a small space and that would drastically reduce the run temperature, as opposed to the powerful heat making hps,,also means you are not dealing with a ballest, so thats not making heat, and as its just for starting the plants it may be more effective, i wont go into what i use but i cfl for clones and seedling and hps for the rest,,
like every one above says,try sucking the air out as opposed to pushing it in, its alot more efficient, but back to your co2 question, you could also just get a milk jug and add dried yeast to warm sugar water, 1 part yeast to 2 parts sugar and 4 parts water....roughly, that would easily increase co2,
and if you think it would be a waste your not really spending loads of cash on co2 canisters and working out fuel burn and co2 ppm in the air,,, starting to ramble now, take it easy,,

 

[stevegrows]

HeyJonathan, just a word on co2 supplementation, yes you can run your temps alittle higher than normal but you will have to deal with the increased use of water and such, also maybe run a 250watt cfl in such a small space and that would drastically reduce the run temperature, as opposed to the powerful heat making hps,,also means you are not dealing with a ballest, so thats not making heat, and as its just for starting the plants it may be more effective, i wont go into what i use but i cfl for clones and seedling and hps for the rest,,
like every one above says,try sucking the air out as opposed to pushing it in, its alot more efficient, but back to your co2 question, you could also just get a milk jug and add dried yeast to warm sugar water, 1 part yeast to 2 parts sugar and 4 parts water....roughly, that would easily increase co2,
and if you think it would be a waste your not really spending loads of cash on co2 canisters and working out fuel burn and co2 ppm in the air,,, starting to ramble now, take it easy,,

Is this really an effective means of introducing extra CO2 to your grow space?

 

[bunnyface]

Is this really an effective means of introducing extra CO2 to your grow space?

Well it would depend, personally i found that it dose speed up growth, especially for the lucky plant that is next to the frothing jug, and cost wise it is cheap. Problems i found with it are there is no way to measure it, it isnt the most consistent, cause the mixture is changing as it goes along. Also you have to replace the mixture or top it up a at least 2 times a day, And if you are trying to be precise then no, go buy all the co2 gear. Its like building your own vinegar baking soda machine, that would be more precise but would cost more for the initial setup. And i would argue that a drop of vinegar onto baking soda would take along time to add enough co2 to get to effective levels, if i remeber its about 1200ppm optium level,dont quote me on that figure as i dont have my book to hand,
There are plenty of other ways, but the cost of solenoid valves, canister, meters etc is quite alot especially if you only have a small number of plants. And when you are dealing with gas under pressure it always adds extra worries to your grow,,,,

Also i saw these tablets you can buy but then you have to drop a new tablet into the vat evry few hours, and unless you setup delivery tubes etc it probly isnt to effective. I guess you could rent all the stuff but each is to there own you know...
o and so you know i add three jugs to my 1m squared veg room and it dose help. Smells like a brewery in there, and thats another way to make co2 cheap. If you make beer pipe the gas to the grow room, but then thats adding more cost, so i guess it comes down to if you want to throw money after something you can make for free.

sorry OP for the hijack, and sorry if im abit long winded,,,,

 

[bunnyface]

Also you could burn lp nd natural gas to produce co2. Green air is a company that makes burners for grow rooms but thats not very environmentally sound, sorry just wanted to add that aswell, take it easy.

 

[tusseltussel]

Why do you need a 150 watt GPS to stay plants before they go to veg? Put a couple day light cross in there and call out a day. Come to start seedlings sure is a waste come is for flower

 

[tusseltussel]

Why do you need a 150 watt cfl to stay plants before they go to veg? Put a couple day light cross in there and call out a day. Come to start seedlings sure is a waste come is for flower

26w CFl is all you need to start a plant