Choosing CFL, Will heat be a major factor as with HPS bulbs?

I started researching color temps and lumen output of compacts and decided to try an entire grow using only the cheap bulbs you can pick up at your local walmart or lowes. As of right now I have six GE Helical 26 watt compacts. These are running at 6500K. (Blue Spectrum for veg.) They are actually too bright for my home and are too "cool" so I have decided to use these for my grow. Each bulb has a lumen output of 1600. Multiply that by six and you have 9600 lumens. I am also going to add 6 compacts in the orange spectrum somewhere at 2700K. Same wattage, same lumen output. Add it all up and I'm looking at around 20000 lumens. Assuming that a 250w HPS is brand new your only looking at roughly 25K lumens and thats only in the red spectrum. I've seen entire grows done using only a HPS bulb. I am planning to build my own reflector with a total of 12 sockets. As I can add or remove compacts of different wattages or color temps. Lets see you do that with a HPS setup and do it "cheap".

Hard to find the color temps on the packaging but I noticed sylvania has their color temp located on the bulbs ballast (not the packaging). You can also take note of the manufacturers, go home and get all the information needed on their website.

I will be looking at roughly 300w of power. Should I be as concerned with heat as I would be with a 250 watt HPS bulb? I have not assembled the reflector yet so I have yet to test it.

I plan on building a reflector with a total of 12 light sockets, 4 on sides and 4 in the middle. Each strip of lights will have the ability to be turned on or off independently. Meaning I can start with 4 in the middle of the reflector for seedlings and switch on the other two "strips" on when the plants can handle more intense light.

I will be growing in a cabinet thats roughly 48"H x 36"W x 24" D. 6 square feet of growing space. 50 watts a square foot. Seems I will have that covered with the compacts.

I've never grown with compacts but it seems their easy and cheap to obtain, low heat, self ballasted, and you can mix and match color temps. I am concerned about the heat factor of running 12 20-25w compacts. If anyone has any input please do so....

Your grow area is just a little bit bigger than mine and i am using 8 cfls and I had to put a exhaust fan in the ceiling and an intake fan at the bottom. But i usually leave the door open while the lights are on. I don't have a small enough fan to fit in the room to blow on the plants so i just use a oscillating fan on them while the lights are on and the door is open. I don't use a fan on them while the door is closed and the lights are off. You will most definitely need to vent the room to regulate the heat.

They will cause heat, don't misunderstand. And you will need fans to keep the area cool.

If you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to ask..

the cfls get hot mainly because the amount of them you will need,they wont get as hot as a hps you will still need good ventilation!
peace

happy growing

I've got 4 42 watt 6500K CFLs in a very small space and the temp shot up from 72 (with 2 bulbs) to 82 (with 4 bulbs) in a night. Opening the window (on cool days) in the room of the closet and/or adding a small oscillating fan remedied the problem. Placing the fan in such a way that the fan blows up at the lights dropped the temperature back to 72 degrees (the temp with only 2 42 watt 6500K cfls). I'm a total noob, but this is my experience with 2 - 4 cfls in a small space.

As the plants progress and more bulbs are required, it may be neccessary to provide a more elaborate ventilation solution. However, in my studies of others' CFL grows complex ventilation was never required.

with even 8 bulbs it took alot of work for me to bring the temp down below 30... and I live in the frigid north! IF your doing it enclosed you need proper venting no matter what kinda light you use!

Thanks for the input. I figured their would be some heat issues but I hope not as major as with a hps of the same wattage.

No it wont be the same heat as an HPS but too much heat is too much heat. Just make sure to keep the temps in range and you should be fine.

Ventilation is beneficial no matter the lighting, but the heat issue not raised by fluoros is the threat of being pinpointed via fly-over.

they need a warrant to do that... and trust me if they are getting a warrant... they know what you are doing and your already a sitting duck.

anyone on the forums will tell you, its been covered extensively haha.

Katilah said:

they need a warrant to do that... and trust me if they are getting a warrant... they know what you are doing and your already a sitting duck.

anyone on the forums will tell you, its been covered extensively haha.

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Well I know that in Pennsylvania they don't need a warrant to do a thermal fly-over because they did two sweeps of my area every year, one thermal and one visual. The trick is having a friend who's a cop's kid

All i can say is you cannot go wrong with an HPS Lamp !