Got kicked to the shed.

alforra

alforra

Member
Well guys, I'm not going to lie.. My wife finally kicked the grow box out of the house. So now my only option is the shed in the dead of winter. I'm in the mid-west so it gets extremely cold. I realize there are plenty of negative aspects to a shed grow, but it's my only option at this point.. and I'm on 2 acres in the middle of the country so that helps with privacy a bit. So here's the million dollar question: How the hell am I going to keep my grow box within temp range? The first step is obviously to insulate it in anyway I can.. It's already sealed really well with silicone and I'm planning on covering it with blankets the best I can.

Here's the specs..

I have a 20 amp breaker dedicated to my 2 outside sheds. The non-grow shed won't be pulling anything, so I don't believe power will be any problem.

My grow box is 3 feet wide X 3 feet long X 3 feet tall.

PC fan intake and outtake.

I typically run 10-15 23w cfls.

I realize the cfls will put off a bit of heat, but not nearly enough.. especially when I'm flowering. I've read up on a lot of "grow shed in winter" threads and also browsed the internet for greenhouse heaters.. I know there are a lot of options, but has anyone personally had any experience with something like this?

If I go with a heat mat would that possibly warm the box enough?

Do I still need to run intake/outtake fans regardless of temperature situation?

Any help is much appreciated! +rep anybody? :bigjoint:
 
heathaa

heathaa

Well-Known Member
well first things first. insulate the whole shed. second find a heater that fits your needs. i would buy a heater that turns off if tipped over or whatever so it will shut off on its own if your not present. i would hook an oscolating fan in front of the heater that should keep your temps up at least high enough that you dont kill your plants. depending on the size of your shed you might have to get two heaters. and during the day if it warms up enough you can turn a heater or two off
 
alforra

alforra

Member
I guess it does make more sense to condition the air outside the grow box rather than inside. Man.. that thing is going to be running constantly. Would all of that be pushing the limits on my 20 amp breaker?
 
d r0cK

d r0cK

Well-Known Member
take the total wattage of all your powered components and divide by 110 ( assuming youre running on a standard 110v household outlet ), this will give you an approximate amperage rating. dont exceed 16 amps on a 20 amp breaker just to be safe. anything you plug in will tell you on the box or the unit itself how much power it draws. your light bulbs draw { (23w / 110v) x 15lightbulbs = 3.13 amps } 3.13 amps so you have 12+ amps to work with and should be fine, if you are running pc fans they probably draw around .2 amps and the oscillating fan probably draws around 1.5 amps. i think as long as you get a heater or two that draw under 11 amps you will be fine. remember though heaters are dangerous when left unattended, so make sure you safe proof your heater from falling over!! I woke up to a fire in my bedroom years ago cause my fucking cat knocked over a floor heater while i was sleeping. you will definately want to run your ventilating fans ( plants need fresh co2 ).

i would keep the box completely sealed ( except for ventilation ) to hold in as much heat as possible from the cfl's. and then direct the heater towards the intake. if the heat isnt enough disconnect your exhaust fan and let it be passive so its not pulling more heat away from the plants but you'll still have fresh co2. a heating pad my be necessary to keep your soil at a good temp, frozen ground wont allow anything to grow. when you water make sure the water is between 70-80.
 
tamjam69

tamjam69

Well-Known Member
yeah that stuff would be perfect but first completly cover the box in thick polystyrene and then cover in loft insulasion.

thats what i have done to my box which got moved up in my loft and believe me it gets cold up there, since doing that to it my plants are loving it and are doing fine now without any extra heating.

im sure they will be fine without a heater just wrap those girls up nice!!!
 
alforra

alforra

Member
That sounds like a plan guys thanks a lot for the input! My main worry is lights off period during flowering.. but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. For now I'll go with poly and lots of insulation! I'll probably end up tossing an oil filled electric heater in there if I need supplemental heat.. pretty safe and efficient.. I'm pretty sure almost every space heater has a tip over switch off now. Thanks again.. you guys are awesome! +rep to the whole crew.
 
Medshed

Medshed

Well-Known Member
Hey Alforra - I'm a shed grower myself. I'm in Colorado where it gets hot in summer and cold in winter. Haven't had to deal with summer yet but I can tell you what is working for winter.

First off, insulate, insulate, insulate. I made a box inside my Tuff shed. The box is 3.5' x 7' x 5.5' high. I insulated the box with fiberglass "pink panther-type" insulation on the walls. Then I insulated the floor and ceiling of the box with a double layer of foam insulation board. Then I insulated the walls and ceiling of the whole shed with the fiberglass insulation.

The grow box has a vent fan on the ceiling that vents into the shed. I'm running a 400 watt HPS on a light mover, which puts out some heat. The vent fan is on a thermostat control to kick in if the temp gets above 80F. For heat I use a 400 watt oil filled heater. I have a 16" oscillating fan mounted above the heater. The heater is on a thermostat control too. It took a week or so to dial in the two thermostats to keep the temp range where I want it. We've had temps in the single digits over the last week and the grow box temps have been consistently around 75 during the day and 65 at night.

My reservoir is outside the grow box for space reasons. It is a 35 gallon rubbermaid container that is wrapped in insulation. I've got a fish tank heater in it.

This whole setup is on a 15 amp circuit and I've had no problems.

Good luck in the shed...
 
svchop889

svchop889

Well-Known Member
containers of water hold heat if you fill the space between your plant with jugs of water they will help regulate temperature with the lights off, wont keep things warm enough by themselves but it will reduce the cost buy reducing the amount of time you have to run your heaters.
 
hunt4pot1

hunt4pot1

Well-Known Member
svchop889 said:
containers of water hold heat if you fill the space between your plant with jugs of water they will help regulate temperature with the lights off, wont keep things warm enough by themselves but it will reduce the cost buy reducing the amount of time you have to run your heaters.
Click to expand...

That is a good idea. You could also put a aquarium heater in the jugs if you need to keep them warmer...:bigjoint:
 
W

Waynes

Active Member
Have you thought about replacing 2 or 3 CFLs with just old fashioned incandescent bulbs? They put out quite a bit of heat and the same amount of light as a CFL.
 
alforra

alforra

Member
Man.. you guys are awesome! Thanks for all the input. After reading all of your replies I'm pretty confident this is going to work. Medshed, your setup sound pretty sweet man. I'm definately looking into those oil filled heaters, if I could get a 400W to suit my needs that would be amazing! I didn't even know the ceramic heat bulbs existed hunt.. those things look pretty promising as well! Everybody that posted, great ideas! I'll definately try as many of them as I can to find what works best for me. I'm pretty low on cash right now because I've been laid off from work for about 6 months, so I'm going to have to take it slow and nickel and dime it, but I'll try to keep my thread updated. Thanks again everyone!
 
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