Heat problem - please help

Need some advice

I have a 400 watt mh lamp and it has a fairly large reflector. I am having heat issues so I am wondering if it is recommended to basically just have the light hang without a reflector. My feelings with taking them out will be then the heat then can have more room to go up or just circulate and my exhaust fan can work better.

I might be in a cabinet that is a little small for that light as it’s a 2x2x7 so the reflector is basically that size.

Please look at this light I bought and any advice is appreciated. taking out the reflector i would have to take out the rivets so once its done it might never go back the way it was.


http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Switchable-Ballast-Reflector-GYO-2002/dp/B003810CVA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294596828&sr=8-1

you could have no reflector just make sure its horizontal or verticl witch ever iit should bee, should say it on the ballast or box atleast

get some form of extract to suck hot air out put small holes in bottom of the cabinet an
the extract will draw fresh air in from the bottom shud be enought to keep temp down
and give them sum fresh air

If you're reflector has holes in the side you can rum small ducting through with a small fan to cool the lamp or even have a small computer fan aimed at the bold for a temporary solution. Hope you get it worked out!

Tucsonlongbuds said:

Need some advice

I have a 400 watt mh lamp and it has a fairly large reflector. I am having heat issues so I am wondering if it is recommended to basically just have the light hang without a reflector. My feelings with taking them out will be then the heat then can have more room to go up or just circulate and my exhaust fan can work better.

I might be in a cabinet that is a little small for that light as it’s a 2x2x7 so the reflector is basically that size.

Please look at this light I bought and any advice is appreciated. taking out the reflector i would have to take out the rivets so once its done it might never go back the way it was.


http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Switchable-Ballast-Reflector-GYO-2002/dp/B003810CVA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294596828&sr=8-1

Click to expand...

sounds like your not exhausting any air from the tent outside or to another room.....which means you arent going to fix the problem tell you do......going from hood to no hood is just going to give you less light penetration its not going to help with heat.......gota fix the core problem with your flaud grow.......and the flau is that your not exhausting out old ot air to eather outside , attic or very least another room in the house........

Thanks for the comments- I do have a 4" fan + carbon filter on it to exhaust. Just some small holes to bring in air so maybe a good intake fan will help.
I will add some pictures tomorrow to show my exhaust and set up. it’s a white cabinet inside and out and we added a Mylar type film on the inside. Would it help my heat issue a little if we didn’t have the Mylar? I am getting temps of 100+ degrees near the light and 90+ degrees 1 or 2 feet up. ( light is 5' high. )

eather im confused or you are confused.....When i say exhaust i mean you take air from your grow box and you direct it to someplace else other then the room your grow box is in....If you are just blowing the hot air back into the room that the box is in then you are not exhausting anyting you are just blowing it around in your room....you must exhaust the hot air OUT your box then OUT the room the box is in....If your arent then you are just recycling hot air and in doing so heating up the ambient temps in your house........

FootClan is right, a good and proper exhaust system would alleviate your concerns. But as a quick fix, yes, taking your reflector out will lower temps by a couple degrees. Source: Medical Grower's Bible (Chapter about Light, Lamps, and Electricity)

ok, good point Footclan. while I do have my heat exhaust going into the same room as my cabinet I didn't think it was much of an issue since i have my little A/c running in that room but its not efficiently cooling that room as i just checked and the room temp was just above 80. SO now I think we need to do it right.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious as I should have noticed that.

Tucsonlongbuds said:

ok, good point Footclan. while I do have my heat exhaust going into the same room as my cabinet I didn't think it was much of an issue since i have my little A/c running in that room but its not efficiently cooling that room as i just checked and the room temp was just above 80. SO now I think we need to do it right.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious as I should have noticed that.

Click to expand...

no worry's im glad you get it.. for every 10 people i tell this two ony about 1 o 2 actually do it lol...........you are right about one thing if you have an A/c in the room and its cooling down the air that you are exhausting back into your room then yes you can get away with out exhausting it outside....however like you pointed out if the A/c isnt big enough or if the room is too big for the A/c then you are only left with the choice of eather buying a bigger better A/c or start exhuastin all your hot air outside.......

I have a similar amount of space (2x2x4ft) and have issues with heat with just 250w of CFLs.

If I were you I'd get busy making a cool tube. Especially if you're in the US as the glass is much cheaper there.