Please Help Me Cool My Room (pics)

Whatsup guys,

I am having trouble cooling my 2400 watt room with a portable AC unit. I have a 10X11 sealed room with 4 600w AIR COOLED hoods with a 705 CFM fan connected to a carbon filter. The portable AC that I got is a 14,000 BTU Active Air (dual hose). That should be more than enough to cool this room. I have the heat EXHAUST going down and out a hole in the wall into an attic above the garage (room on 2nd story). The INTAKE is taking air in from a vent in the ceiling. I have tried many different ways with this but something is wrong. This is only cooling my room to 84+ AT NIGHT in California. Way too hot. Should I make another hole in the wall for the intake? How can I get this to work? I have 18 Critical Jack monsters that I vegged for 3 months, I don't want to stress them out. This room is sealed and connecting the hoses to the window is not an option.

This is my first time using a portable and I don't like it at all. Is it even worth it or should I do everything I can to get a $1,000 mini split? Thanks the the replies in a advance, appreciate any help.

Portables suck. The are inefficient as shit. If you can afford the mini split. Get it. In the mean time, your exhaust should be the one raising straight up to the ceiling. Heat rises, so to try to push it down and out makes the inefficient machine work even harder. Keep your ducting as short as you can.

I run an 8k portable a/c (currently, swapping to a 14k this weekend). im in a 8x12x7 sealed room with 3x600w air cooled big kahuna hoods. I have 2x 8" 720cfm fans for the hoods at 100% power, 8" 440 cfm intake fan (on speed controller) with the a/c "intake/blower" taped to the top of the intake fan. the fan sucks the cold air in vs the a/c blowing it into my room. I can control the neg pressure better this way. I have a massive carbon scrubber on an 8" 720 cfm fan on 100%. I also have 3x 18" oscillating fans running 24/7, plus 3x10" personal adjustable fans to get the incoming a/c air circulating better. I grow underground in a commercial building. the yearly ambient temp is always 72*. my a/c says the air by the ac is 74-76*, incoming a/c air temp is 64-66*, floor temp is 70-72*, scrubber exhaust air temp is 73*. temp gauges 12" from directly under the light bulb is 77-79* hood 1, 81* hood 2, 81-82* hood 3. I exhaust my flower and veg rooms directly back into the 1200sq' underground room I grow in. my a/c I have an external exhaust fan added to the system. its a 6" 440 cfm fan (on speed controller at 80%). I run about 20' of 6" a/c exhaust ducting outside my building. I also have 15' of R6 value insulation "sleeves" from the a/c unit up 15' of the exhaust ducting. this helps keep the hot exhaust air in the ducting and not radiating out into my room.

my intake fan is 2' from the floor. I was going to make another 8" hole at the top of my flower room, but I see no need for it at this time. ill keep it this way, as ive been running it this way for 3.5 yrs at my previous location, and .5yrs since I moved and built my new room(s).

I run a 600w mh, 2x 4bulb t8's, and 2x 2bulb t8's in veg. NO ac.

you need 1 or 2 more hood fans. and step your fans up to an 8" or larger, if your running 6" currently.

pic is of old setup. new 14k being installed this weekend. r6 insulation not pictured, nor the 2x8" green hood fans.

you also should have a secondary exhaust fan soley dedicated to pull your air out of the top of your room... and I'm not talking about using the light fan to pull air your losing CFM through all those lights..

also those mini AC units tend to leak around the fittings and it will blow HOT ASS air in your room.. also your exhaust pipe alone for the unit should be insulated basic pipe will get so hot it leeches heat from the pipe like a water boiler for the old heat pipes.. it works the same that line alone will get so hot it will act as a heater.. feel it one time a few minutes after its been pulling the air out.

i dont air cool my lights i have a 8" air intake in one wall with a horti dust filter for my intake a 6" exhaust that pulls the air and shoots it directly outside soley to cycle my room. i run mini splits to cool..

wheres all your hot air going is it being vented outside your house? or are you just blowing it into your bigger room your grow rooms built in?

Thank you for the replies! Sounds like you guys have some pretty solid setups. I have a carbon filter hanging about 7ft off the ground. This has a the CFM fan connected to it and that is directly connected to the first hood. The hot air that is cooking the lights is going into the attic above the room. The heat exhaust from the AC is going to another room downstairs and that room is really hot (that room is empty). I'm gonna try and switch the tubing. Have the exhaust blowing out the ceiling and the intake coming from that hole. But see the vent in the ceiling is has a duct that is going to the Central AC in the attic. Should I get in the attic and disconnect that duct so hot air is not going thru the duct straight to the central AC unit?

PassinGrass.com said:

Thank you for the replies! Sounds like you guys have some pretty solid setups. I have a carbon filter hanging about 7ft off the ground. This has a the CFM fan connected to it and that is directly connected to the first hood. The hot air that is cooking the lights is going into the attic above the room. The heat exhaust from the AC is going to another room downstairs and that room is really hot (that room is empty). I'm gonna try and switch the tubing. Have the exhaust blowing out the ceiling and the intake coming from that hole. But see the vent in the ceiling is has a duct that is going to the Central AC in the attic. Should I get in the attic and disconnect that duct so hot air is not going thru the duct straight to the central AC unit?

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yeah having your exhaust hooked up to even one light cuts the CFM down.. theres exhausts for lighting if you use air cooled lights and theres a straight 6" soley dedicated to pull air out.. nothing attached to it other than carbon filter... you need both. but the ac units pipes are adding to the heat..

also how far is that run from base to ceiling for the exhaust .... it shouldnt be more than like 5ft i think thats the max length you can run with those ...

phil k said:

you also should have a secondary exhaust fan soley dedicated to pull your air out of the top of your room... and I'm not talking about using the light fan to pull air your losing CFM through all those lights..

also those mini AC units tend to leak around the fittings and it will blow HOT ASS air in your room.. also your exhaust pipe alone for the unit should be insulated basic pipe will get so hot it leeches heat from the pipe like a water boiler for the old heat pipes.. it works the same that line alone will get so hot it will act as a heater.. feel it one time a few minutes after its been pulling the air out.

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who are you talking to phil k?

DemonTrich said:

who are you talking to phil k?

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passion the guy who started the post..

Sorry for the late reply. The portable AC is not working still. I switched the hoses, heat exhausting thru the ceiling, intake coming from a hole and It just make it worse. I'm investing in a mini split.

Dude i can see ur problem u dont have glass on ur hoods u might as well not be venting them, go get somw cool tube hoods and hook those up U will be just fine

Imo I would just get a mini split. You will never look back. Portables are junk. You will be so happy with a mini split. Best way to run a sealed room, they don't exchange any air with the outside and are really efficient. I have a mitsubishis and love them. Ive heard back things about all the mini splits that the grow stores sell so I just went with one that has been around in the HVAC world for a long time and have all the kinks worked out.

Forsure. My buddy is and HVAC tech so he can install it and get it going. Thanks!

some people cant run mini splits (like myself).

OP, I was running into cooling issues even with my new 14k unit. it was recommended to me by cannabis john over at the farm to lower my scrubber fan speed. I was exhausting too much air than what was needed for my room (8" 720cfm at 100%). problem solved, now running at 75* 12" directly under the bulb (I am running a/c hood though). in winter ill remove the glass and see what happens with the temps. just a thought before you drop some coin on a mini split. ill do a bit more dialing in, and im sure I can get 73* for the 12/12 cycle.

PassinGrass.com said:

Sorry for the late reply. The portable AC is not working still. I switched the hoses, heat exhausting thru the ceiling, intake coming from a hole and It just make it worse. I'm investing in a mini split.

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WOAH...i hope you know what mini splits require for installing.. i have them in all my rooms... but I'm also a contractor that has all the equipment to install the fuckers... you need to have a vacuum pump to bleed the line properly. flare tools to cut and flare for fittings... equipment pad... 4" hole saw to drill though your house siding and wall to run lines outside.. your going to have to either install a secondary electrical outlets to handle the load... all this has to be done within 20ft from your grow or you need to extended all the piping.. theres ALOT you might not be thinking about that goes into installing them.... drain lines have to be installed as well.. i mean i support mini splits like i said i have them.. but something isn't properly hooked up with your AC unit i see that happen a lot where it will turn on and then shut off... it almost always has to do with your fresh air coming in.. they require air exchange so... the back of the unit is 6" diameter vent piping.. that pipe cannot exceed 6ft in length.. it also cannot ever be taken from 6" down to a 4" hole... the exhaust line must be the exact same 6" size from start to finish.... any smaller will create back pressure and flip a back pressure switch that turns the cooling off and kicks out heat to prevent the system from catching on fire.
the other thing is that 6" line is exactly like your exhaust fans... it sucks air from the room and blows out the hot air through that exhaust line....in order for your AC unit to work properly you have to have a 6" incoming air port... so if you don't have the fresh air coming into the room for the AC unit to exchange and kick out .. it will lock the cooler from turning on as well.. ... i always tell people try turning the system on and leave your door open for a hour come back and see if the AC unit is working properly.. if it is you know that your air exchange isn't enough and you need more fresh air coming in... if its still not working make sure the piping your using on the back isn't smaller than the exit hole/port on the back of the unit.. ..... but what your saying seems like a air exchange problem it happens a lot in grow rooms like that

Thank you for the advice! I have another fan with a lower CFM I can try out. With the portablle, I had the exhaust going through a hole with the tubing about a foot and a half long. The intake was coming from a vent in the ceiling and that tubing was about 4ft. The portable is blowing COLD but not cooling a 2400w room. Maybe the CFM van cooling the lights was taking out air in the room too fast.

If I do get a mini split my buddy will install it he does it for a living. Another reason I want to get one is I want to get C02 in there. Still thinking....

PassinGrass.com said:

Thank you for the advice! I have another fan with a lower CFM I can try out. With the portablle, I had the exhaust going through a hole with the tubing about a foot and a half long. The intake was coming from a vent in the ceiling and that tubing was about 4ft. The portable is blowing COLD but not cooling a 2400w room. Maybe the CFM van cooling the lights was taking out air in the room too fast.

If I do get a mini split my buddy will install it he does it for a living. Another reason I want to get one is I want to get C02 in there. Still thinking....

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If you do get one you won't regret it. So easy, just set thermostat to what ever day/night temps you want and thats what they will be! No exchanging air with the outside is another huge plus for running co2 like you said

Totally. I think I found a good one on eBay. Next step: get a warehouse.

PassinGrass.com said:

Thank you for the advice! I have another fan with a lower CFM I can try out. With the portablle, I had the exhaust going through a hole with the tubing about a foot and a half long. The intake was coming from a vent in the ceiling and that tubing was about 4ft. The portable is blowing COLD but not cooling a 2400w room. Maybe the CFM van cooling the lights was taking out air in the room too fast.

If I do get a mini split my buddy will install it he does it for a living. Another reason I want to get one is I want to get C02 in there. Still thinking....

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yeah i mean if you know what your doing it took me about 5 hours to fully install the whole system so its not like AGHH STAY AWAY FROM SPLITS.. its just all more than most anyone knows to install them.

you could be pulling the air out too fast but i doubt it i ran the same style setup years ago with a much lower BTU unit and i cooled properly. i don't know though.. i don't see why the stupid thing isn't working well enough for you it should..