Cant vent outside? Dehumidifier ok? Need some help please

I have a question about cabinet design. Lets say you live in a place where venting outside is not an option. You cant drill into the attic or anything like that.


What do you do with the hot air? Especially from a stealth cabinet?

I have been researching this problem for a while now. I am thinking of a dehumidifier? I dont mind emptying the bucket everyday. I will always keep the window open wide with a screen. In hot summer months I'll run an AC.


Now what I am REALLY thinking, is building a seperate chamber inside the cabinet. This is my "exhaust" chamber and a regular old dehumidifier from wal-mart or something would sit in it. I'd pay up to $300 or so for the most powerful one.


Fresh air is taken into the main chamber. Since the bedroom window open. It travels through the growroom. Exhaust fan pulls hot humid air into the chamber next door. Dehumidifier in here is running all the time. I empty the huge bucket everyday. Maybe cut a passive exhaust hole in here as well, but the main idea is do most of the dehumidifying work inside this chamber.

Do I have the right idea?

what is the benefit to dehumidifying your exhaust air?

zer0ed said:

what is the benefit to dehumidifying your exhaust air?

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I can't figure this one out either, dehumidifiers produce a lot of heat too btw.

OK so what happens if you just force exhaust an entire HOT cabinet back into a bedroom? I'm more confused then ever. I thought the air in a small cabinet with heavy lights would get hot and moist, and if you didn't dehumidify that air you would have mold problems in the surrounding bedroom.

You'll likely want to either vent to another room or take your fresh air from another room. You can also set up a normal fan to blow the air in/out of the room.

Basically how mine is set up at the moment is the exhaust is pointed at the door to my room (a couple feet away) it vents at the top of the door and a fan is in the lower part of the door blowing in the cooler air towards the intake.

zer0ed said:

what is the benefit to dehumidifying your exhaust air?

Click to expand...

I figure there is alot of moisture in the cabinet exhaust that must be dealt with. I cannot vent outside. I have to revent back into the bedroom. I know this isnt good and it will raise ambient temps and increase my cooling reqirements. That I can live with since I basically have no choice. This is short term till I can get a proper house and do all the HVAC properly.



For now.. build a cabinet. To keep explanation simple, think of 2 chambers. One is the main chamber, passive intake, forced exhaust (through filter). Exhaust has lots of moisture in it. Send that exhaust into chamber #2, dehumidifier chamber. Remove moisture from that air, then just passively vent it out back into the bedroom.


I dont understand the very first question, does my system have filter? Yes it will have carbon filter. Can you expand on that? I thought carbon filters were only for smell.

Basically I do not want to ruin my rental with moisture damage, that part is very important to me. Excess heat I can deal with by ramping up AC and keeping windows open all (cold) winter, but moisture is a no-no.

Rizzla King said:

Do you have a filter on the exhaust from your cabinet? If you do, why aren't you able to vent. You will, after all, have to vent the dehumidifier. Also what sort of lights are you using? HPS or like? These get real hot, and without a forced exhaust it may become increasingly difficult to maintain ideal temps

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Yes I will have a carbon filter.

Please explain what you mean by "why wont you be able to vent". I literally cant vent outside. I have a bedroom window. Fresh air comes in the window. I also dont want to vent anything outside the window, it just looks way too suspicious for me. I'm trying to look like a normal neighbour here, no exhaust pipes sticking out my window.

I am not 100% settled on light choice yet, but whatever I choose they will light the hell out of the cabinet and it will get incredibly hot in there. The whole thing has to be vented hard to keep the heat down. And I cant throw that air outside like most grows do.


So I was thinking of running window AC like 7 months a year. I know this is wasteful. I literally have to step down my wattage of lights just to deal with excessive cooling requirements of this grow. I figure for 400ish watts of grow light I'll have to use 800 watts of cooling. This is because I'm exhausting hot air into the bedroom (where the cabinet lives in) and forcing the AC to work in overtime around the clock.

That part I can live with, but I cant throw humid air into the bedroom because it will destroy it.

Anyway to vent it to underneath the house?

nah its an apartment building. i rent a room. cant modify it really.

i made an example picture of what im thinking of

i think if i run an AC often, like April to Sept I can keep temps reasonable. then winter will be cold, which is good.

the other thing is, when i stare out my window, i stare right at 5-6 big apartment buildings staring into mine. i dont like the idea of venting running out the window. my landlords always outside doing stuff, he'd notice something like a vent sticking out a window and get suspicious.

what should I do though. i have a tiny window I can open (it has a screen of course). should i vent hot air out towards it? or should i use it to pull in constant fresh air? i figure i cant do both

Also I did some browsing around, what do u guys think of this?

http://www.homecareessentials.co.uk/acatalog/Tumble_Dryer_Condensor.html



Universal Indoor Tumble Dryer Condenser Vent Kit



If your kitchen or utility room seems to turn into a Turkish bath every time you use the Tumble Dryer you should consider our easy-to-fit Tumble Dryer Condenser. Reduce damaging condensation and avoid the risk of leaving windows wide open when in use.

Unlike really expensive Tumble Dryers that have built-in steam converters, most standard models are supplied with a vent hose of 4in* diameter, requiring a similar size hole to be made to your outside wall or a window left wide open.

Our Indoor Tumble Dryer Condenser solves this problem without fuss or mess.

*some dryers have a 3.5in Vent Hose - if you have a 3.5 inch hose you will need an adapter to use this unit.

Please note this product works on science, there are no moving parts - the hot air hits the cold water and condenses. For it to work effectively it needs some ventilation in the room and the water in the unit needs to be as cold possible (ice would help) and may require changing during heavy use. It is recommended to not leave the unit unattended until you have established the effectiveness of the unit on your dryer.












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i was thinking of exhausting my hot air into one of those. problem is i couldnt keep water cold all the time. would these still be an OK way to get rid of hot air if the water was room temp? the way i see it these things are able to withstand the heat of a direct dryer vent while its runnon on full blast. those suckers get HOT

I'm literally in the same situation...wondering if you figured out a solution yet?

frmrboi said:

I can't figure this one out either, dehumidifiers produce a lot of heat too btw.

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Dealing with this issue right now.

Air flow. Lots of it if you vent onto the same room you should look into buying a portable AC for 250-350. They vent out the window. And usually have a dehumidifier built in. You could also split the duct work and Y connect them so it channels both the cab and the AC through the window.

Tell your landlord about the AC so he doesn't question the vented window. Make sure your smell control is premium. And your golden.