Cooling a closet?

Hello everyone,

I recently decided to give a T5HO 4ft long 8 bulb fixture a try in my closet, and boy that thing can kick out some heat. I have only run LED's before now, so this is a new challenge. Previously I would just leave my closet door open and only close it when needed. I had the door open last night and a fan pointed on the light, but heat still built up pretty bad. I have no way of measuring the temp, but it felt like high 80s, low 90s. This is no good for me or my girls.

I want to bounce ideas off a few of you for cooling my closet, if anyone has the time. The T5HO 8 bulb sunblaze is the only source of heat, my LED has its own fans and never raised the temperature. My closet is a closed room when the door is shut, no ventilation.

Im thinking my best option would be to pull the carpet back in a corner and cut a hole in the floor to exhaust out. Im just trying to avoid that since ill be selling the home in the near future if I get my way. Apart from drilling a hole in the floor, does anyone have any ideas on how I can cool the room? Im a new DIY'er, so please keep that in mind.

Drill a hole in the floor, when finished place the cut hole piece back over and fix in place, place carpet back over - no one knows!

Simplest and the best option.

Thanks East Coast, im thinking thats my best option too. Will exhausting the air from the room really make that big of a difference? My home stays around 78-80 degrees in the day with our central air, so I guess exhausting the hot air would mean cool air would be pulled in from the rest of my house. Is that how it works?

I have a four inch Active Air fan rated for 165 CFM that I dont use currently. If I do this, im thinking of running the air through a carbon filter on its way out to remove heat and odor at the same time. Would that be a viable plan?

I use the 2x5x9 closet in my room and exhaust the heat from my three diy cfl fixtures(40bulbs) up and out into the attic using a standard 9" floor fan with no issues.I run my lights at night and temps are 84 at light level or top of the plants.
Just save the piece of sheetrock you cut out for an easy repair when you need it

Passive intake under the doors....lol

3 speed 9" floor fan in the ceiling...exhaust

Excellent, thanks a ton everyone Ill be cutting a hole in my floor and putting that inline fan of mine to use I guess. Still early on so theres no odor, but eventually ill add that carbon filter to it so it scrubs and whatnot on the way out.

Didnt expect the T5 to be this hot! My LED puts out pretty much no heat, but im interested to see if the yield is different this time. I only averaged about .65g/w on my 100w LED last grow, so it will be a fun experiment.

Thanks again everyone!

You need to be measuring the temperature. You can buy a gauge anywhere for $10 preferably one with a maximum and minimum memory. Guessing the temperature is not accurate. You can always position a fan inside the room and blow hot air out. Inline fans work best but that is only if they are used correctly.

Hot air rises above the lamp so if the inline is place on the floor it will pull air from the floor and out. Best option would be to mount the fan higher up and use flexible ducting to run through the hole in the floor and out. With decent ducting you could potentially keep the closet door closed at all times. That should be your goal because otherwise the smell will permeate regardless of what the carbon filter and fan are doing.

T5 fixtures don't produce that much heat, but if there is ever an emergency you can always unscrew a couple of the bulbs until you control the heat issue.

Hope that helps.

It does, spiral everyone heres been great.

The fan I have has mounting brackets, so I plan on mounting it to the underside of the top shelf in my closet. From there ill run the ducting from the fan to the exhaust hole. From there im hoping to leave the door shut unless I need in, should help me to tell if I am getting enough of an intake from under the door to keep the room cool.

And I plan on getting a digital thermometer while im out today

Ok got it. 4' 8 bulb fixture does probably produce a lot of heat. You've got it right from your post above. Hopefully there is still room to mount a filter next to the fan.

I am sure this goes without saying but make sure to have an oscillating fan or a couple of small clip fans blowing air on and around the plants.

Is exhausting through the floor the only option?

If I was forced to use a floor exhaust, I'd mount the fan right at the hole and run ducting up to the top of the room. Fans do best pulling air, not pushing it.

yea glaucoma, the floors the only real choice I have D: this is a manufactured home, not much of an attic. There may be a layer of insulation up there, but no real space to vent.

Also, running just four of the eight lamps (theres a switch for that option) and the heats cut down dramatically. Going to keep the four bulbs going until I have time to make that modification to my floor. Funny thing is, im going to have to order four inch rigid ducting online >.> nobody in my town (a relatively big town) has four inch ducting of any kind. Crazy.