Anyone growing in an RV?

Cynister

Well-Known Member
Very cool. Based on the first photograph it appears you have 4 seasons. What sort of temperature extremes do you see outdoors and do you have to supplement the indoor temp with heat or a/c? Just looking for a general idea as to the weather to put into perspective. Keep updating, please.
 

HighLowGrow

Well-Known Member
@Cynister I only run fans for circulation. The only heat is heat produced by the hps lights. Does it get hot in there? Hell ya. Can you imagine 110 outside? Inside only fans are running and a 600 and 400 hps are on. It gets really hot in there. These two pics were taken at the same time. July 17,2022 @ 9:27pm. The high temp around 4:00 pm was 110 this day. I keep the rv door open as much as possible. It has hit 113 in the rv. It is what it is and just deal with it the best I can.

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Right now highs are in the high 50s and lows are around 35. Temp inside the rv is 65-77.
 

Drop That Sound

Well-Known Member
I pulled the refrigerator out of my 5th wheel, and use the pre existing roof top vent as my main flower rooms exhaust. Also, the wall vent inside the same fridge cabinet just happens to be the same size as a small 6000 btu window AC, and they match right up. In other words, just pull out the fridge of most travel trailer RVs, and right above it you got 6+ inch rooftop exhaust, and or a hole for an AC that will vent it to the outside, without it actually hanging outside, to be stealthier. Unless you got a rooftop AC.. Mine didn't :P
 

Drop That Sound

Well-Known Member
I'm back to working on my RGV (recreational grow vehicle) again. Had to rip out half of one of the brand new floors I had installed a year or so ago, because the trailer developed a hidden leak in one of the corners.. It really bummed me out after all the work, to keep having problems like that. Made me lose interest in the project the last few years.

The truth is, most RVs and travel trailers are POS, even new ones that aren't from the 80's. Even brand spanking new 2023 ones fresh off the lot will be going in for repairs soon, after someone took out a second mortgage to buy it last week.

They aren't even designed well enough to hold up for everyday recreational use, let alone trying to grow in. When you start adding big inline fans inside, it pulls vacuum and can suck rain water in through little cracks you never knew existed. You might as well just take a trailer frame, and build a new tiny grow house from the frame up with a real roof, and skip all the nightmares you'll encounter trying to convert a travel trailer into a mobile grow room, lol

Or not, and have fun like I do practically rebuilding an entire trailer from the inside out, a never ending process.

I got smart and started building a full RV carport over it now so no water will ever touch the sides, not just the roof.

 

HighLowGrow

Well-Known Member
Wow it’s been a year or so since I last wrote in here. I needed to add another grow in the rv so I added my Mars Hydro.

3 gallon bags
Shit soil bottom half/ FFOF top half
20/4

Under the Mars are Skywalker.xxl f1 x 6 (Skywalker x BKRF4)
I made this cross a few years back. A little f1 variety as you can see. Can’t wait to see how these end up.

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Under the 600 are
Sour Stomper x Purple Gorilla x 3
Northern Cheese Haze x Purple Gorilla x 3

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Skywalker bud

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Drop That Sound

Well-Known Member
Very cool. Based on the first photograph it appears you have 4 seasons. What sort of temperature extremes do you see outdoors and do you have to supplement the indoor temp with heat or a/c? Just looking for a general idea as to the weather to put into perspective. Keep updating, please.
Most RVs only have 1 inch thick foam insulation sandwiched between thin paneling for the walls, so yeah it can get extreme as to the amount of energy you need to supplement depending on the seasons. I have to keep mine heated\dehumidified 75% the year even if I'm not growing anything, or all my interior remodeling work would get wrecked by the moisture here in the PNW.

Probably the best thing you could do to any RV is add another inch of rigid foam throughout, and double the R-value no matter where your at or the environment your in. Most RVs are equipped with a built in propane furnace (helps to offset the electric heating cost), and some even come with roof top AC units already. However, the on board electrical system isn't good enough to run all that on top of all the added grow equipment, so you definitely need to bring in more power. Having a box on wheels sitting outside of the house does use extra energy at a cost, but well worth it IMO for the security and too many other reasons to list.

Some good ideas for winter grows, is to divide the RV into 2 flower rooms & run a flip flop with HIDs, so one set of lights are always on 24 hours a day keeping it warm. Rig up 2 motorized duct dampers to switch the exhaust flow every 12 hours, so its always pulling warm filtered air through the dark side of the trailer that is exhausted from the lighted side. Heaters don't grow weed, but extra HPS bulbs do!

I finally picked up another powered damper, and going to zone out the different grow areas in my 5th wheel, so its all all automated with digital controls that actually work together to help to dial in VPDs\etc. Or even close off the rooms when certain thresholds are met, putting them into c02 injection sealed mode, while other areas are still vented.. all depending on the weather and other factors, but mostly the plants that will be rigged up to sensors.

Still designing my own DIY multi core heat recovery ventilator, so I can capture upwards of 90% of the heat that would otherwise shoot out of the roof vents into the atmosphere outside, and mixing it right back into the fresh incoming cold air. HRVs are the way!
 
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