New Cabinet Grow - 9'x4'x18" - Complete Build Journal - Lot's of Pics

J

jsgamber

Active Member
:lol: I have your thread opened in it's own tab and I've been working through it between disasters and maintenance. :lol:

Hopefully you treat the beginning through August as ramblings of a Workaholic who finally snapped. October forward has been MUCH better for me and the plants! Now they are the only thing bringing drama to my life! ;)
 
flamdrags420

flamdrags420

Well-Known Member
jsgamber said:
Ok time to seriously attack this humidity issue. I can't be sure what effect 38-44% RH has been doing to the plants but it can't be good. Now how to make it for cheap and still be effective.

It started with a post on another site using a pet water dispenser, sponges and a PC fan. The real issue is the possibility of mold/mildew with the sponges so I hoped to improve on it. So I need a wicking material that resists mold/mildew but has great capillary action. What fits the bill perfectly is 5/16 braided poly rope with nylon core. I cut a 12" piece and hung it up with about 1/2" of one end sitting in the water and within 3 minutes the rope was soaked the entire length. SWEET!

So the rest of the materials:

10" length of 4" PVC
2 pieces of white vent filter
braided poly rope
window screening
Aluminum tape
120mm fan

Using aluminum tape, mount the fan on the end of the 4" PVC so it blows into the PVC.

I cut 3 exhaust holes in the front. I also cut a notch in the bottom that fit's over the lip of the water dish.

Next I cut several lengths of poly rope so that they fit snugly together when laid side by side. I then sandwiched the rope between two sheets of vent filter, then sewed up the sides and across the top. Do not sew anywhere else across the rope or you will disrupt the capillary action by "pinching" it.

Next using Aluminum tape and the window screen, create a "pocket" inside the tube that will hold the rope assembly against the exhaust holes making sure all air passes through the wet rope. Not shown is how I sealed up the bottom of the tube letting only the ends of the rope come through the bottom and into the water. Note in the final picture that the tape isn't on the bottom yet. All the air was leaking out at first and bypassed the moisture.

Tube and wicking material
View attachment 921789

Fan
View attachment 921791

The inside "pocket" (this is an earlier pic). I've adjusted the screen even closer to the exhaust holes causing a tighter seal.
View attachment 921790

The result? Before 44% RH. After one hour 58% RH.
View attachment 921788

The downside. The cats needs a new water dish for vacations. :)
Click to expand...
Mad props on this. I'm going to look into this article here for a solution to my room. I can't find a good one to buy that I would like for my space. Double reps and a smack on the ass if I could. That is sick my man
 
J

jsgamber

Active Member
flamdrags420 said:
Mad props on this. I'm going to look into this article here for a solution to my room. I can't find a good one to buy that I would like for my space. Double reps and a smack on the ass if I could. That is sick my man
Click to expand...
Hey flamdrags420. I'll be honest with you. Even though this did work at raising humidity in the cab, and it was a ton of fun building and playing with it, I abandoned it. After reading through many threads, I've learned that a bath towel can hold roughly 1 gallon of water and 4 towels hung around the cabinet effectively raise humidity in my cab anywhere from 15% to 20% which reduce temps by about 5*.

If you check out the pic from above, you'll notice how I created hanging loops to place soaking wet towels. The circulating fans spread humidity throughout and actually keep up with the extra ventilation in the cabs. As the towels dry out, I'll put them in the microwave for 90 seconds to sterilize them before re-wetting them and putting them back in. I have a huge supply of old bath towels and I've been taught how to wash them without ruining the washing machine!! :lol:
 
MediMary

MediMary

Well-Known Member
i really like the towel idea, I am always try to cut electric and make my grows as energy efficient as possible might try this out see if I can skip the humidifier I have been using. thanks for stopping by my thread, I have already learned something from you, great info I was unaware of,~ cheers*
 
C

cruzer101

Well-Known Member
Good idea, its tough to keep humidity in a small space like that. I use a towel too, but just one small hand towel hung above a container of water with the tip of the towel in the water, then a small 4" fan to blow air by the rag and this creates the humidity, as the rag drys out the water wicks back up. without a fan it wicks up like about 10 inches with the fan on it stays damp about 4 inches up the towel. I get about 20 to 25% increase in RH in a 2x4 cab as long as i remember to keep water in the container.
 
J

jsgamber

Active Member
MediMary said:
i really like the towel idea, I am always try to cut electric and make my grows as energy efficient as possible might try this out see if I can skip the humidifier I have been using. thanks for stopping by my thread, I have already learned something from you, great info I was unaware of,~ cheers*
Click to expand...
cruzer101 said:
Good idea, its tough to keep humidity in a small space like that. I use a towel too, but just one small hand towel hung above a container of water with the tip of the towel in the water, then a small 4" fan to blow air by the rag and this creates the humidity, as the rag drys out the water wicks back up. without a fan it wicks up like about 10 inches with the fan on it stays damp about 4 inches up the towel. I get about 20 to 25% increase in RH in a 2x4 cab as long as i remember to keep water in the container.
Click to expand...
You guys make great "straight men". I'm dealing with this issue again and just posted a whole deal on this topic in my other thread. :lol: Oh the ways of the weed. :weed:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top