ICE BOX Heat Exchanger without Chiller?

Hey Everyone. I have a 600W light, +270CFM inline fan, 4x3ft Grow Space (closet) with no ventilation. I am currently sucking hot air from the light and blowing it out of the room with the door open and a fan blowing cold air in. This is keeping the temp between 80-85 degrees.

Ive read several old and new forums about the ICE BOX heat exchanger. Does anyone use it WITHOUT a chiller? I do not have deep well water or anything like that. I was thinking about trying it without the chiller and instead use a rubbermaid reservoir and frozen water bottles, ice packs, etc.. to cool the temps. Ill change ice packs 2-3 times a day depending on light cycle to keep res temps consistent and cold.

Am I on to something that may work or am I just pissing into the wind? Id really like to keep the room sealed and and the door shut! Please help!!!

You dont have to use a chiller. You can use just a rez of water. I forget the exact specs but its somethinng like if you water is 65 degrees then the temp coming from the chiller would be 75. Im pretty sure this is correct, so its your rez has to be 10degrees colder then you want the temp of the room/closet. My buddy had one setup like this and the rez was actually outside hope this helps.

well it be a pain in your ass big time but if you bought a pump it could work. Is the hot air just being exhausted into your house? or like into your attic?

Thanks. Do you know what size pump he was using? I built an aeroponic sprayer and have a 400 gph pump for it but I was thinking about getting another one or just doing DWC and using the current pump for the ICE BOX.

its being exhausted into the bathroom and the cool air comes from my bed room/sliding glass door

I think you are REALLY gonna be surprised how many frozen bottles of water you are going to need. I would say a few 1 gallon jugs every couple hours and get at least a 30 gallon reservoir. Good luck man. I've seen people try it but I've yet to see it work out. Keep me posted.

xsavier said:

You dont have to use a chiller. You can use just a rez of water. I forget the exact specs but its somethinng like if you water is 65 degrees then the temp coming from the chiller would be 75. Im pretty sure this is correct, so its your rez has to be 10degrees colder then you want the temp of the room/closet. My buddy had one setup like this and the rez was actually outside hope this helps.

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This is wrong actually. You have to look at the ambient temp of the room as that is the air being pulled through your hood.

So if I do change the Ice in the reservoir several times a day this should work to remove heat from my light? Im not looking for it to air condition the room. But Id like to have the door closed and have the room temp no higher than 84. Anyone have any experience with the heat exchangers in a small set up?

check out my journal. doubt it will work though. i have a little experience with water cooling. you'd be surprised as to the load that light can put on a reservoir. not that it won't help. just kinda sucks having to drop $250-$400 for an ice box, pump, reservoir, fan, and tubing all so you can carry frozen blocks of ice to your reservoir 5 times a cycle. why not just buy a 9,000btu portable a/c for the same price?

I have the inline fan, pump, and reservoir already, this is a large reason why Im considering the Ice Box, which I found for $99 shipped. Ive also thought about getting a portable ac unit but I dont want to spend more than 150

try it out then man. can't hurt. just cost you a little tubing. get the reinforced kind though. the other stuff is crap. i just think you are going to be surprised how fast the ice melts.