Closet Grow - Need ideas to keep closet cool

I'm looking for some ideas on how to cool my closet.

Right now I am running a 150Watt HPS light with some CFL's and am not having heat issues in my closet (5.5 feet x 2.5 feet).

However, with my next grow, I would like to man up and get either a 400Watt or 600Watt HPS light and grow more than one plant.

I'm currently living in an apartment, so I can't cut into my walls for ventilation. Also, I don't have a window in my room, but rather a sliding glass door that leads to my patio. I do have an AC vent right above my closet that does keep my room quite cool.

Anyone in here have any affordable ways to keep a closet cool without the need for cutting into the walls?

Thanks

If you need to find a way to run a vent outside the closet, I would consider the door itself. You could even take the original off by the hinges and put something cheap in there that you can cut. Just a thought.

Im not sure where your from but im from cold old England and 400w was just too much for my big wardrobe/closet. With door shut on wardrobe was like 130. with door open, bedroom window open and fan and portable a/c got it in the temp levels. it is a lot to handle.

The 150Watt HPS didn't heat up my closet one bit... I wanted a light that covered more area, that's why I was thinking 400 or 600Watt. Having never grown with a light of that wattage, I'm ignorant of the actual heat it will produce.

The closet is a pretty decent size, so I don't think I would be overdoing it with the wattage.

this is going to be maybe not ideal, try 2x 150w hps. I personally think 400w too much without proper decent ventalation. just my 2 cents...

There is a DIY thread in the Do It Yourself forum that uses ice in a Styrofoam cooler, ducting and a fan by Youngling if I recall. Cheap & easy but takes a little work to keep up with the ice. I also posted an "experimental" solid state cooler in a similar thread that's effective but not particularly cheap, pm me if you have any questions about it. Finally there is a another thread here somewhere (can't recall the op) that uses a mini-fridge to construct a chiller. Hope that helps!

If your central AC going to the room is even half-decent and you have a decent exhaust fan in your tent (like an inline fan)... you can run your exhaust ducting to the top of the door frame (in the corner of the side the door opens on), thumb-tack it up there blowing out. You can leave the door cracked open only a few inches and the hot air will still be efficiently blown out the top without it being really visible from the room. Cooler air along the floor of the room will passively flow in to the bottom of the closet. However, you may want to add an active intake fan + duct near the bottom of the closet door. A cheap way to do this is to buy a bathroom exhaust fan and just set it on the floor near the door opening. Run the ducting into the bottom of the tent.

BTW, I do this with up to a 600w HPS 2'x4' tent in a small closet (~6'x4'). I only use the active intake when it's hot outside and the house AC isn't really keeping up - if that helps.

Seminole21 said:

The 150Watt HPS didn't heat up my closet one bit... I wanted a light that covered more area, that's why I was thinking 400 or 600Watt. Having never grown with a light of that wattage, I'm ignorant of the actual heat it will produce.

The closet is a pretty decent size, so I don't think I would be overdoing it with the wattage.

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Hey man, I'm in the same boat. I live in an apartment and use a 5x5x8 walk-in closet. I have a regular reflector (not air cooled). I have a 400w switchable MH/HPS lamp in there with just one 10' fan blowing across the plant canopy. Light sits 16-18" off my plants. I padlock the room while I'm at work and the temp never gets over 83 degrees max, when I'm home I open the closet door and temps run a comfortable 75 degrees. Also HPS runs slightly cooler than MH. a high ceiling helps with heat. The hot air rises then falls as it cools which makes a small room with a high ceiling a little more temperature efficient if you don't have an exhaust setup. I also have a 4" hole in the drywall for my 4" inline fan to scrub air with an active carbon filter and push it into the wall crawlspace. I don't use it now, I'll use it when I begin to flower and smell is an issue. Exhausting air into your wall will create negative pressure in the room. Negative pressure will cause anything to become an intake, such as the gap under a door as air is pushed out, it HAS to come in somehow and it will come in through any opening it can thus helping cool the room. =) Hot air goes out the scrubber into the wall and cool air comes in from under and around the closet door, thus assisting with temps and allowing C02 rich air to be sucked in. I keep the ambient temperature at 70 degrees in my apartment year round. (Outgoing 80-83 degree air and incoming 70 degree air should keep it a pretty stable 75-78ish degrees which is great for MJ)

Edit note. I wouldn't push air into your wall with anything over a 4" inline fan/w a carbon filter, which will reduce the speed in which air is pushed into the hole (don't want a cyclone of air going into a wall obviously), and make sure the air in your room is a bit on the dry side, humidity wise. Moist air over time will cause harmful mold in drywall. (My room stays between 45-50% humidity which isn't bad

Hope this helps

Thanks for all the suggestions......