Water cooled lamp fixtures

Water-cooled and air cooled lamp fixtures are continuing to grow in popularity especially in hot climates. Lamps run cooler and can be moved closer to plants. Water-cooled bulbs are difficult for thermal imaging equipment to detect (fawkin feds) Air cooled fixtures are inexpensive to operate and easy to set up. The plastic shield around the bulb also lowers light output by as much as ten percent.
By using a cooled lamp marijuana growers will decrease heat by 80 percent with a properly set up watter cooled bulb. The water and outer jacket account for a 10 percent lumens loss. Growers make up for the loss by moving the bulbs closer to the weed plants. On an average day, a 1000 watt bulb uses about 95 gallons to keep cool, if the water runs to waste. To re-circulate the water requires a big, big reservoir. The water in the reservoir must also be re-cooled. Reservoir coolers can cost $1000 upwards. Cooling the reservoir can also solve many of your heat related problems when living in a hot climate.

an idea for cooling the water.keep the water in a tolit tank that is water sealed. to help cool the water put big ice cubes in the tank. either fill the holes with ruber plugs or silacone. make sure to check for water leaks.

That´s what i was thinking Rollitup, these systems (wter cooled ones) are extremely expensive....

sweet technology though. ive been running a liquid cooled gaming pc for about a year and it never overheats.

water-cooled system runs about $200.00 more than a air cooled system. Remember no venting /exhausting the room. it is self contained.

Just inches from the bulb ,my temp 77 degrees. So my plants are 6 inches from the bulb. (problaby they will get even closer). More growth= more yield at harvest.

I use RO water in my system. I installed a window air conditioner to maintain temp, plus takes care of co2

During the veg cycle, 18/6 I freeze 2 and 3 liter plastic bottles and place them in water reservior to cool it. In flower cycle 12/12 no need because light goes out at 12 hours, and cools it self..,. Remember leave water cooling system running, even when light is out.

I would love a DIY liquid lumens tutorial. They recently introduced a "No flow-No go" device (around $70-$80) that allows the grower to sleep at night For all of us who have a huge issue with heat and stealth liquid lumens offers the solution. But damn, $399 for the device + reflector and that doesn't include the bulb, ballast or chiller! Toss in the "No flow-No go" device and that's one expensive setup. Not to mention if you want to run 2 or 3 of them.

I would love to see a genius DIY water cooled lamp. I checked out the PDF for liquid lumens and the damn thing has to be assembled, hot glue gun, the works. Hell why not find the parts and build one ourselves? I'll do my best to do some homework... I'm sure *someone* out there already has one in the works

justgrowit said:

I would love a DIY liquid lumens tutorial. They recently introduced a "No flow-No go" device (around $70-$80) that allows the grower to sleep at night For all of us who have a huge issue with heat and stealth liquid lumens offers the solution. But damn, $399 for the device + reflector and that doesn't include the bulb, ballast or chiller! Toss in the "No flow-No go" device and that's one expensive setup. Not to mention if you want to run 2 or 3 of them.

I would love to see a genius DIY water cooled lamp. I checked out the PDF for liquid lumens and the damn thing has to be assembled, hot glue gun, the works. Hell why not find the parts and build one ourselves? I'll do my best to do some homework... I'm sure *someone* out there already has one in the works

Click to expand...

just wondering what the costis, and if they are available in canada

I found a company making liquid cooled led- complete system- and these guys look like they actually know what they are doing- unlike evryone else in the led market

Yeah cool where's your DIY for it now?

I uses liquid cooled because where I live the police have one of the most advanced FLIR infared cameras mounted to a helocopter. I constantly see them shutting their flying lights off and turning a red light on scanning for grow ops. I just laugh at them as they pass very low over my neighborhood. Im all legal anyways but they wouldnt care about my ladies in bloom. I have used the toilet tank as my res and it works amazing at keeping the temp down, but you must use RO filtered water in the liquid cooleds, bacteria, moss grows in the light and cleaning the older fresca sol liquid cooled are a pain in the ass. I use my liquid cooled on light mover tracks and I can put my 1000w HPS directly on top of the plants and no heat burn. I dont use anthing for cooling except a 50 gallon trash can full of RO water.. its gets warm by the end of the day but still the light is barely warm to the touch. I cant afford a water chiller big enough to handle all three liquid cooled lights that I have, but ive tried freezing two liter coke bottles and dropping them in the tank but they melt so fast even when I put 10 in, it still melts in 20 minutes and only drops the temp about 5 degrees F. I was thinking of retrofiting an extra fridge/freezer I have sitting around to house my reservoir. one thing that sucks about the liquid cooled if the pump fails the bulb will blow up and destroy the inside glass. sadly this happened to me after the damn cat pulled my return line out of the reservoir so all my water drained on the floor and busted my 350 $ light fixture! never the less that cat got his balls chopped off!!by the Vet, not me and I strap my lines in now. I love my liquid cooleds and would never go back to air cooled, definetly worth the investment.

dew-b said:

an idea for cooling the water.keep the water in a tolit tank that is water sealed. to help cool the water put big ice cubes in the tank. either fill the holes with ruber plugs or silacone. make sure to check for water leaks.

Click to expand...

couldn't you just drill 2 holes in the side of a freezer then run sy 20' of water line around the inside then to your light and bingo CHILLER all you need is a biger pump to push the water

yea I was going to sacrifice the extra fridge and probabably use coiled up copper tubing that drains into a 50 gal res down below. I have 3 liquid cooled lights it has to be 3 seperate pumps. I also need to invest in 3 no-flow no-go safety switches in case a pump fails or cat wants to lose another life over messin with a hose. Its always something to throw money into or upgrade.

Just build a manifold out of pvc pipe to feed your lamps. One pump, one no flo switch. I built a chiller for under 200 bucks. I think I have a post on this site with some details about it.

UrbanAerO, I just had a question since you seem to have experience with the water cooled light fixtures... You say you just use a 50 gallon reservoir to cool one 1000w HPS? You can run it for 18 hour days without it really heating up at all? I am trying to build a rotating wheel based garden to conserve space and to just have an awesome hydro set-up But I just wanted to maybe get your opinion for how well the water cooled light will work. I'm hoping that I will be able to place a 600 or 1000w hps as close as 4 inches without burn... what are your thoughts?

If your ambiant air is about 40 degrees where the rez is, you can do 50 gallons per 1k. If it's 60 degree water, your 1k will heat that up to 100 in less than 18 hours, I couldn't get away with 100 gallons and 1k. Room will still run cool but most pumps are not made for that heat. I would say an 18/6 with a 1k your going to need some type of cooling system. chiller, radiator, undergound lines..... Build an el cheapo chiller out of a window AC. Guys are starting to install the ac in their window to exhaust the heat outside and dropping the coil in a rez under the window. I think that's the best chiller setup DIY or purchased. You can cool a huge watercooled room with one window AC. You will be amazed at how silent it is.

Here's a picture of my 2 frescas being feed off of one 3/4" pvc manifold, returning through a 1" pvc. The filter and the return line, my no flow is just to the right of the filter. You can also see I have an extra water outlet that is available should I decide to try 3 x 600 or need to cool anything else in the room.

budleydoright said:

If your ambiant air is about 40 degrees where the rez is, you can do 50 gallons per 1k. If it's 60 degree water, your 1k will heat that up to 100 in less than 18 hours, I couldn't get away with 100 gallons and 1k. Room will still run cool but most pumps are not made for that heat. I would say an 18/6 with a 1k your going to need some type of cooling system. chiller, radiator, undergound lines..... Build an el cheapo chiller out of a window AC. Guys are starting to install the ac in their window to exhaust the heat outside and dropping the coil in a rez under the window. I think that's the best chiller setup DIY or purchased. You can cool a huge watercooled room with one window AC. You will be amazed at how silent it is.

Click to expand...

So do you have a diy for it or maybe some pictures?

i dont get why the bulbs damage if the water is not there? dose that mean if the air cooled lights air supply go out the mess up 2? i no water cannot touch the bulb. wouldn't the plants damage not the lights?


just some thaughts tho

im making a diy water cooled jacket. would a water jacket that has open sides be better? as in its air cooled but with water cooled as well. that way i can use the lights closer ( 2 150w hps ) and ill still vent from the box( pc grow). im thinking of a way to cool the water also. if u get a auto rad and run the water tru? anyways ill post pictures when done.

i think the freezer works best

The bulb probally and the fixture probally break due to expansion when the water quits recirculating, making it stagnate in the fixture, boil, and crack the inside glass. Then water on the bulb and boom there it goes.

If you can afford water cooled fixtures then you think you would be able to afford a temp. shutoff to cut off power to the ballast if the temps rise to fast.