Another DIY cooltube temp reference

Okay, I built the neat-o bake-a-round cooltube. Its not quite 4" around, but it will fit a 400 watt hps with some room to spare. Here's the lowdown on what Ive found about the temps.

1 150watt cooltube vented with 4" hose and a vacuum drawn by a small computer fan = room teperature glass!

1 400 watt hps in the cooltube is a little warmer, but I can maintain a 4" distance and dont get any burns. Again, Im running that 4" flex pipe, w/a used cheap ass cpu fan pulling air from my 80deg room, thru the tube and out. The picture is of me holding my hand on the glass, after the 400 had been on all day. Its warm, but NO WAY does it burn or hurt! I didnt get a temp read, sry.

I have been running the 400hps on as long as a 20hr cycle, and havent seeen any issues. Perfect for vertical lighting i bet!! Anyhow, heres a pic of my 400 in action. Ive been using Harbor Frieghts $10 battery maintainer to power the fans (2). Hope this helps some of you cheap ass smokerz!!


oh yea, you know im fishin for rep!kiss-ass

+ rep im making one as we speak

what is a bake around . and were do you get one (or 3 hehe). thanx

sorry im a dummy , went to ebay . bake a round cool tube , cheap and easy . that a damn good idea . i will be buying some of these for my lighting . thanx for the great idea . +rep

ha , i just got back from over at the ebay , got me a bake a round so i to build one of them sweet ass cool tubes . thanx man, finding this thread kicked major ass.

I can't take any of the credit on this, I got the bake-around idea from another thread here. You'll know it when you find it. Just be sure to keep the glass clean, and know that you are suffering some light losses. I got a new yieldmaster for my 400w, and it seems a TON brighter than the cooltube was. Mayhaps a reflector would've helped. Also, DO NOT let your leaves touch the glass. Though its only warm, It gave my leaves burn with the 400 going.

Im now using the cooltubes for my baby plants. Got a 150 burnin in it, and had to turn off the cpu fan and remove the hose. The space was getting too COLD!!

Ive included a pic of my next project, using the 150hps to slow veg and gimme time for some lst! I found a cooking aluminum pan on the counter in the kitchen. Dont know what she was planning to cook, but its a new light hood now. Aint worried about focal burns, 150watts folks. Oh my girlfriends groing thyme/sage/basil too.

wheres the ventilation. i thought the purpose of a cool tube was to cool it. you said it got too cold? man i wish i was where you live. lol. good job, building one right now.

Ahh, the joy of growing in a basement! The little 150W i got unvented could probably be just hanging in there w/o the tube at all. I just feel better about shielding bulbs. The 150 puts out barely enough light for me babies, but im in no rush w/veg and gna do some lst. Gna put the 400 in there soon, and have to vent it at that time. Once I put the 400 vented in that tiny space, I'll lay out open lids w/water to help maintain the humdity. I doubt I'll have any temp issues. The basement stays in the upper 60's this time of year anyhow.

I used muffler heat tape on the ends of my bake around. When I made this, I had no idea how hot a 400 would get, so I over-did it. I will say this.. I dont worry too much about the clamps breaking the glass. I just wish the tube was a tad bigger, so the 4" hose would fit better.

That friggin bake around dosen't fit the big bulbs. You have to work harder to diy those.