Setting up new tent, ?'s about cooling and need general advice.

Putting a 4x8 tent in a detached 2-car garage. Going to veg and flower in same tent(not at the same time obviously). I know this is not ideal but it's what I have to work with.

I have various equipment from an old grow, wondering if I should try to use the A/C and/or swamp cooler I have.

And if so should I put them inside the tent itself or just try to cool the garage?

And how does this effect my intake/exhaust setup?

The garage is approximately 20'x22'. The walls are finished but there is no ceiling and the inside roof was previously lined with insulation but no longer.The garage has 2 large windows on adjacent walls.
13k BTU Portable AC: http://www.lowes.com/pd_416711-37374-416711_0__?productId=4574784
Swamp Cooler: http://www.lumacomfort.com/evaporative-coolers/ec220w/

Exhaust - Goes out top of tent and out roof of garage. 400CFM inline fan w/speed control and a Phresh carbon filter.
Intake - Comes from inside garage. 300CFM inline booster fan with a Phresh intake filter.

• Was planning on using a temperature controller on these fans to turn them on and off when needed.
• Originally planned just to use these to control the heat but it's getting hotter than I thought in the garage so not sure if that will cut it.

2x 600w MH/HPS in Radiant reflectors. These have their own 8" inline fan pushing air from inside garage though both reflectors and out the garage window. Only using a bug net on the intake of the fan, no fancy filter. Might get a dust shroom down the line, depends on how dirty reflectors get.

Considerations:

• If I put the A/C inside the tent, I can exhaust it outside the tent into the garage, but will be difficult to then properly exhaust it out a window.
• If I put it in the garage only I can exhaust it out the window.
  
• Swamp coolers are designed to be used in open air or with the windows open. With active intake and exhaust inside the tent, would it be ok to use the swamp cooler in the tent itself? Assuming the cooler is only on when the intake/exhaust fans are.
  
• I think to use it in the garage itself, I'd need to put it near an open window. This would not be great if also using the A/C inside the garage vs inside the tent. I'm not sure this approach would even cool the plants either.
  
• It's Colorado and usually on the dry side, even in summer when it rains and is more humid. ACs remove humidity, ECs add it.

Ok so....

I've got the AC inside the tent and it's exhaust is going out the window. This should be plenty of cooling power and also serves as a 9k BTU heater for the winter.

I think I'm gonna put the intake and exhaust on a timer where it runs 15 min every hour or so just to exchange the air and scrub the smell. It doesn't make sense for me to put them on a temp controller anymore as it will be pulling in hotter air than what is inside the tent and exhausting the cool air from the A/C.

With the AC in there I almost wanna run CO2 and set the filter up for scrubbing. I may do that next grow but currently way over budget and don't wanna do my first run on this setup with something I've never tried before.

help tomorrow to stoned now

When my tents get to hot I use a 5 all on bucket AC.

Keeps the temps nice and helps humidity to. Also chuck a piece of dried ice in there and it is CO2 as well.

Well. Ran the AC out there for several hours yesterday, only the AC, while setting up everything else. It started smelling like burning plastic in the garage. Pretty sure the outlet wiring was melting the insulation inside the wall.

So now I gotta fucking tear everything down and call and electrician.

YAY!

AlGore said:

Well. Ran the AC out there for several hours yesterday, only the AC, while setting up everything else. It started smelling like burning plastic in the garage. Pretty sure the outlet wiring was melting the insulation inside the wall.

So now I gotta fucking tare everything down and call and electrician.

YAY!

Click to expand...

Welcome to a "growers" life

AlGore said:

Well. Ran the AC out there for several hours yesterday, only the AC, while setting up everything else. It started smelling like burning plastic in the garage. Pretty sure the outlet wiring was melting the insulation inside the wall.

So now I gotta fucking tear everything down and call and electrician.

YAY!

Click to expand...

nothing burnt down u count that as a win

when u get the guy out to do the work u might as well get it done right
1 have him set up your panel with a break just for AC/heating a 15 amp breaker with 20 gauge line ( summer use a AC winter fall use a heater) ....that is the only thing on that breaker
2 your lights u might be good now ....but if u are going to go bigger later on this would be the time to think about adding another breaker or 2 for lights fans and pumps
3 a side note depending where u live and the humidity u might need a dehumidifier to keep your RH intake under 60%(i had to buy one this year first time needing it in 2 years)

justugh said:

nothing burnt down u count that as a win

when u get the guy out to do the work u might as well get it done right
1 have him set up your panel with a break just for AC/heating a 15 amp breaker with 20 gauge line ( summer use a AC winter fall use a heater) ....that is the only thing on that breaker
2 your lights u might be good now ....but if u are going to go bigger later on this would be the time to think about adding another breaker or 2 for lights fans and pumps
3 a side note depending where u live and the humidity u might need a dehumidifier to keep your RH intake under 60%(i had to buy one this year first time needing it in 2 years)

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. In Co btw so I may need a dehumidifier in late flower but doubtful.

The garage was previously cropped out, and the electric is crazy in there. There is plenty of 14ga and some 12ga running around in there but none of it is where I need it or doesn't have a box, etc.

Depending on the cost, I'm gonna try to get three or four 15-20amp circuits near my grow area. 1 for the AC, 1 for the lights(2x600W), and 1 for the fans.

And yea, thank god I didn't just hook everything up and let it run for 12 hours overnight or something, lol.

AlGore said:

Thanks for the input. In Co btw so I may need a dehumidifier in late flower but doubtful.

The garage was previously cropped out, and the electric is crazy in there. There is plenty of 14ga and some 12ga running around in there but none of it is where I need it or doesn't have a box, etc.

Depending on the cost, I'm gonna try to get three or four 15-20amp circuits near my grow area. 1 for the AC, 1 for the lights(2x600W), and 1 for the fans.

And yea, thank god I didn't just hook everything up and let it run for 12 hours overnight or something, lol.

Click to expand...

just to let u know the fans and stuff are barely anything .......u can keep them on same breaker as the light

have u thought about doing a 240 volt it would lower the amp drawl on everything