how to cool a sealed 2x4 grow tent

|FCG|Frank

Active Member
My room temp is 70F. Winter is in full force here. All I have to do is keep a window open up to a 2in slit and my room is at an easy and constant 70F. Free AC from the outdoor! In summer I cool my room to 70F with a 10,000 BTU AC window unit.

So the air in the closet is maybe at 72F now. I was thinking about putting the chiller outside the tent but in the same closet so it remains hidden. The closet is actually 2x8 and the tent 2x4 so I have 2ft on either side to put stuff around. I could just have the tubing run in and out of the tent.

I could make two separate loops with 2 chillers (one for res, one for ice box pro) and have the fan on the ice box pro hooked up to my sentinel chhc-4 that way I could control the temperature in the tent to my exact specifications. A simple 1/15HP like this one would be more than sufficient to cool a 6gal DWC res. With a 400GPH pump the whole setup would turn out about 475$ but in exchange you get constant 65F res water.

Then maybe a separate 1/3hp like this hooked up to a ice box pro (say the 8"... size doesn't matter since I'll hang it from the top so the cool air falls down) with extra 10gal res outside the tent. I hook up the fan on the ice box pro to the chhc-4 so it only turns on when needed to keep temp at that optimal 80-85F at CO2.

Yes? No?
 

dbkick

Well-Known Member
just remember to go one size bigger since you're also trying to cool a fairly warm tent, so if I were you I wouldn't go any less than 1/10th horse.
 

|FCG|Frank

Active Member
Ok. Rock solid plan. I like it. Thanks a lot for your help man, I really appreciate it.

So I went ahead and ordered this 1/10th since I need to rush this thing here ASAP. I can't be bothering about temp all the time it's ridiculous and at this point in the initial capital investment... a drop in the bucket. I'm thinking a 30 gal. res with this 1800GPH pump would be enough? I figure if the entire res is refreshed every 1 minute by the chiller it'll be sufficient to keep that 10-15F differential I need.

Now I just need to figure out whether it wouldnt be cheaper to just get my own can-max fan with a 8" ice box (they sell for 129$) and rig it up the ceiling myself. That'd probably save me 200$. (Edit: yup)
 

dbkick

Well-Known Member
look at the manufactures recommendation for the chiller. also an igloo cooler as res would make it much more efficient IF the room is warm at all and it will be if you have nowhere to dump the heat from the chiller.
 
Top