CFL closet heat problem.

ObiJwon

ObiJwon

Well-Known Member
How can I keep my closet cool without spending too much money? I am doing my grow in a roughly 2x4 foot closet. I just started to flower my girls and I am running into a HUGE heat problem. Didnt have this problem while vegging because I was able to keep the closet open, and was only running one light, to help with the heat. Now I am running two (200w CFL) lights, and have to keep the doors closed during the 12 off cycle of course. I also have a curtain up to make sure no light leaks in. I do have a fan in the room, but I think it is an exhaust issue and not an intake problem. I am on a budget so I can not spend more than $50 to remedy this problem.

Can someone please help?
 
justparanoid

justparanoid

Well-Known Member
Do you have any exhaust at all at the moment? what about intake fans? You could build a DIY light trap. I've been fighting heat issues in my small cabinet and getting a larger exhaust fan helped some.
 
thizz13

thizz13

Well-Known Member
When I grew in my closet I had problems of temps in mid 90s so,

I used a fresh air induct by my cfls.
I used two cage fans circulating air inside.

Just by bringing in colder air above the lights it brought the temp down to the right range.
 
ObiJwon

ObiJwon

Well-Known Member
justparanoid said:
Do you have any exhaust at all at the moment? what about intake fans? You could build a DIY light trap. I've been fighting heat issues in my small cabinet and getting a larger exhaust fan helped some.
Click to expand...
No, I do not have exhaust at the moment. All I have is a fan down low on one side pointed up slightly to bring in the cool air and it is just exhausting through the other side of the closet. DIY light trap??? Can you explain? That is new to me. I dont really have a location to exhaust my heat, besides straight into my bedroom. Any ideas?
 
justparanoid

justparanoid

Well-Known Member
You will have to have an exhaust to vent that heat. I used three 105 watt bulbs and temps were crazy with no vent fans.

A light trap is basically a box or ducting that allows air to come and or go while not letting light escape.

What is your current situation? Do you own or rent? live with parents or alone? i ask because you will need to worry about the smell as well as with the venting issues.
 
W

wiseguy316

Well-Known Member
if i couldn't exhuast it i would sure have good circulation in the closet, if it's in dirt you will probably be fine
 
ObiJwon

ObiJwon

Well-Known Member
justparanoid said:
You will have to have an exhaust to vent that heat. I used three 105 watt bulbs and temps were crazy with no vent fans.

A light trap is basically a box or ducting that allows air to come and or go while not letting light escape.

What is your current situation? Do you own or rent? live with parents or alone? i ask because you will need to worry about the smell as well as with the venting issues.
Click to expand...
Can you send me a link or picture of the light trap that you are referring too? I live alone and I rent. Not too worried about the smell yet. Will have to cross that road next month. Working on a budget right now unfortunately, and I only have about $50 extra per month to dedicate to my grow.

Would it be an option to exhaust into the crawl space in between my walls? I live on the bottom floor so I cant exhaust into the attic area.
 
Mr. Blue

Mr. Blue

Active Member
I use a 4x2 closet for my veg/clone space. I used to use a strong bathroom fan cut into the ceiling for ventilation but they aren't that great (just cheap). The temps stayed under 100* but were still full of problems. Now I switched to 4' floros with NO ventilation (1 plant and equarium 40w bulb and (1) 25w cool white bulb in each ballast). CFL light always generate alot of heat. The floros in my closed closet stay under 90* without an exaust vent. However flowering with floros is not very recommended, they're great for vegging though and stay very cool. I've been known to grow my plants right up into the bulbs, they can touch these lights without burning and it keeps my plants pretty stubby and short. Check it out..
https://www.rollitup.org/members/mr-blue-234111/albums/floro-veg-closet-11897/
 
P

plaguedog

Active Member
He probably means to place an oscillating fan blowing softly on the lights, and not directly on the plants. A cheap bathroom fan would probably help vent some of the heat out of the top of the closet too.
 
Pipe Dream

Pipe Dream

Well-Known Member
yeah man I am currently facing heat issues in my new growing enclosure. Being a closet gardener forever I have always been battling heat really but now that I have a small box it's even worse CFLs emit a lot more heat than I expected. Without ventilation it is impossible to contain heat and the only option is to increase outtake or to cool the intake air but even than proper outake is needed.

How tall is the closet? Is there any heighth that you aren't really using? I was just thinking if your closet is tall you could maybe build like a table in the closet like a makeshift grow box where the air could vent out through the top of the table or box or whatever and you could leave the door open and vent the air out that way. Probably the same concept as the light trap IDK. Here's a little illustration of what I'm thinking.
 

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ObiJwon

ObiJwon

Well-Known Member
Pipe Dream said:
yeah man I am currently facing heat issues in my new growing enclosure. Being a closet gardener forever I have always been battling heat really but now that I have a small box it's even worse CFLs emit a lot more heat than I expected. Without ventilation it is impossible to contain heat and the only option is to increase outtake or to cool the intake air but even than proper outake is needed.

How tall is the closet? Is there any heighth that you aren't really using? I was just thinking if your closet is tall you could maybe build like a table in the closet like a makeshift grow box where the air could vent out through the top of the table or box or whatever and you could leave the door open and vent the air out that way. Probably the same concept as the light trap IDK. Here's a little illustration of what I'm thinking.
Click to expand...
So are you talking about like putting a shelf in that extends from front to back? And then cutting out a whole, with a fan on top of the shelving? If so, why would that help? Or are you talking more enclosed? I like your idea. Can you elaborate more? The reason I ask about the shelving is because I do have a shelf already in there, but it only comes out half way from the back wall. My closet is roughly 2x4x8' high. I have to keep my closet open on both ends, with a fan blowing from the bottom of one side, in order to keep the heat to 85 deg max. When I have the closet closed, for lights out, and the drapes covering the closet for added light protection... Cant keep the temp under 90. Humidity stays around 35-50%.

What do you think?
 
WvMade

WvMade

Well-Known Member
my gals are sleeping right now or i would take pics but i rigged my cfls into a box fixture and cut holes in the top like popcan holes put a small fan flowing across all the cfls and one under to push the warm air out the top then a fan in the corner pushing the warm air out the door but soon ima rig it up like pipedreams and a diff fixture so it doesn't look so getto but it works for now 80 is as high as it gets
 
ObiJwon

ObiJwon

Well-Known Member
WvMade said:
my gals are sleeping right now or i would take pics but i rigged my cfls into a box fixture and cut holes in the top like popcan holes put a small fan flowing across all the cfls and one under to push the warm air out the top then a fan in the corner pushing the warm air out the door but soon ima rig it up like pipedreams and a diff fixture so it doesn't look so getto but it works for now 80 is as high as it gets
Click to expand...
If you could send me a pic of your setup, that would be great. Right now I am trying to vent things with just a couple fans. Its helping but I need something more reliable for when Im at work or out of town ya know.

I only have the heat issue when I am running BOTH lights with the doors closed and draped. If I run one... no problem at all. Two's better than one though right?

Thanks for your input. Hope to see those pix.
 
WvMade

WvMade

Well-Known Member
i got shitloads of albums check the most recent ones and without intake/exaust theres no way your gonna be able to keep it cool with the door closed your just moveing old warm air around
 
ObiJwon

ObiJwon

Well-Known Member
WvMade said:
i got shitloads of albums check the most recent ones and without intake/exaust theres no way your gonna be able to keep it cool with the door closed your just moveing old warm air around
Click to expand...
Thanks bro. I will check out your setup.
 
themullet

themullet

Active Member
this log is just what i needed to read. ive got a box fan in my closet, the closet is about 4ft wide 3ft deep and about 7ft tall. with the fan going on the low setting it stays about 75 - 80. i also have a small desk fan on a top shelf pushing air down to the lights. bit today ive done a few things, i added a 4th 23 watt cfl
and during the day i had the box fan on medium. this afternoon when i turned the lights out i noticed that the top of the main stalk was wilting and not looking her perky self. could the higher air speed have caused the wilting? also gave her a healthy drink because the soil was a might dry. not to bad but moisture dont stick around real well when the winds be blowing.
 
BuddhaBud

BuddhaBud

Well-Known Member
themullet said:
this log is just what i needed to read. ive got a box fan in my closet, the closet is about 4ft wide 3ft deep and about 7ft tall. with the fan going on the low setting it stays about 75 - 80. i also have a small desk fan on a top shelf pushing air down to the lights. bit today ive done a few things, i added a 4th 23 watt cfl
and during the day i had the box fan on medium. this afternoon when i turned the lights out i noticed that the top of the main stalk was wilting and not looking her perky self. could the higher air speed have caused the wilting? also gave her a healthy drink because the soil was a might dry. not to bad but moisture dont stick around real well when the winds be blowing.
Click to expand...
doubt it, the extra cfl probably just raised the overall temperature, so it burned near the lights
when i added my 4th cfl it burnt all over the sides of one of my plants cus the cfl's were straddling it - check the link in my sig if u wanna check it out
higher air speed wouldnt expose more heat, its just more air molecules heated to the same temperature - the same as if those air molecules were sitting there still, it is the time of exposure not the amount of medium over one spot

hope that helps/makes sense
:peace:
 
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