ways to cool down a grow room?

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Firsttimer87

Active Member
Ive been struggling with this problem since day one, my grow room is too hot. I finally put an air conditioner with a pipe going to it (you can see the pic), and this solved the problem mostly. Recently however, the air conditioner has been freezing up almost every day, and blows no cold air out, freezing my plants growth.... What is a good way to get around this problem (if there are any ways to do it without draining the AC, which ive tried a few times), or alternate ways to cool a closet. Its not the temp of the attic, but the heat given off by the light...

Thanks
 
ViRedd

ViRedd

New Member
First off ... you didn't mention how hot the room gets. Also, post your method of growing. Are you in soil, DWC, Aero, Flood & Drain ... ???

Vi
 
potroast

potroast

Uses the Rollitup profile
You must remove the hot air from the room. An exhaust fan in the room blowing out of a closed hole will do. Or many growers air-cool the light hood, and exhaust the hot air from the lamp directly out of the room.

HTH :mrgreen:
 
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Firsttimer87

Active Member
To ViRedd, you can see my set up in the pics, it hasent changed... The room gets to about 90-95 degrees sometimes

What you can also see is that i have no fixture for my bulb, its just dangling there....

Does an exaust fan make that much of a difference? I guess ill get one then...
 
skunkushybrid

skunkushybrid

New Member
you're going to have to open the grow room door. get a light hood to help the lossage of light, you could also bring a couple of more plants in just outside the soon-to-be-opened door.
 
ViRedd

ViRedd

New Member
OK, after looking at your pics, you need a good reflector hood. For one thing, you are wasting the energy of your light by lighting up the walls and not the plants. A good reflector will concentrate the light energy down onto the plants.

Next, buy a good exhaust fan and some dryer ducting. The reflector hood will have two large 4" holes in it. One is for sucking the hot air of the grow room into the hood and across the light bulb (don't hook up any dryer ducting to that hole). The other hole is for exhausting the hot air out of the reflector, through the dryer ducting, into the exhaust fan, then out of the grow room. I use a Hurricane fan and draw the air through the reflector with that. Then where the ducting exits the grow room, I have hooked up a carbon filter to that, outside the grow room. This way, all the air that is vented out of the grow room is cleaned and has no odor. No odor is stealth! By the way ... this sounds a lot more complicated that it really is. :)

Here's a picture and prices for Hurricane fans. You'll need the 4" model. http://www.gchydro.com/detail.asp?product_id=xhurricane

Here's pictures of some hoods. You'll need to buy the glass to seal the bottom of the unit as well. The place where you buy the hood will also have the glass. And they will have the dryer ducting and clamps as well.
http://www.gchydro.com/hydrofarm/lig_hydrofarm.asp

Here's pictures of the carbon filter. You'll need the one with the 4" flange.
Carbonaire Carbon Filters

You can shop around on the Net, or try Ebay for better prices. But remember the old adage ... you get what you pay for. And there is no substitute for quality. :)

Vi
 
F

Firsttimer87

Active Member
Wow dude thanks alot... Ive been looking for where to find a reflector without a bulb and ballast forever!

BUT, after looking at the sight i see they have no reflectors that fit 1500 watt metal halides... Do you know of any other sites with perhaps a bigger selection?

Thank you so much
 
ViRedd

ViRedd

New Member
Firsttimer87 said:
Wow dude thanks alot... Ive been looking for where to find a reflector without a bulb and ballast forever!

BUT, after looking at the sight i see they have no reflectors that fit 1500 watt metal halides... Do you know of any other sites with perhaps a bigger selection?

Thank you so much
Click to expand...
If I were you, I'd convert over to a 1000 watt HPS for your entire grow ... both vegging and bloom. The hoods will fit a 1000 watter just fine and the bulb is more fitting for growing MJ. Once the initial investment is made, its pretty much home free from there. Remember ... spend the extra to buy quality. It keeps the problems down as well as the fire danger.

Vi
 
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spearingflame

Active Member
Try flipping the lighting to where the lights are on at night, n come on later in day..Like my lighting is 18/6 where it cuts off at 1:00 in afternoon n cuts on at 7:00 pm,It cooler now..But I have a good ventilation.Lol..A hole in my wall..Leading to the attic..I get a brease early in the morning so theirfor my lights kinda warm my children at the same time..Lol..Lucky me..
 
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The Lorax

Active Member
thats a good idea spearing flame. im having the same problem with heat in my grow box. i dont want to buy an exhaust fan intake and output or w/e thats way too much money and i only have 1 plant. my temps are around 80. anyone know where to get some cfl lights? the grow shop by my house didnt even have any
 
WhiteWidowBandit

WhiteWidowBandit

Member
The Lorax said:
thats a good idea spearing flame. im having the same problem with heat in my grow box. i dont want to buy an exhaust fan intake and output or w/e thats way too much money and i only have 1 plant. my temps are around 80. anyone know where to get some cfl lights? the grow shop by my house didnt even have any
Click to expand...
Your local hardware store should carry some CFL lights.
 
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theloanranger

Member
i have a 4x6x6 wooden shed outside running 600w HPS. i have an 8 inch booster fan blowing in outside air, and a vortex fan running through my hood for cooling and exhaust. ive been checking the temp in there and its getting like 86-87 deg at the hottest point (always 2-4 deg cooler outside temp) in the day. down to 65-70 at its coolest. how hot is too hot for these girls? because its not summer yet and it will get in the 90s 100s as well? any stealth tips on how to cool the room down besides what i have mentioned above? note, Ive only done outdoor and my girls did fine in the hot weather outside, just curious if its a problem indoors. thx sorry for the essay
 
D

Dohc120

Member
theloanranger said:
i have a 4x6x6 wooden shed outside running 600w HPS. i have an 8 inch booster fan blowing in outside air, and a vortex fan running through my hood for cooling and exhaust. ive been checking the temp in there and its getting like 86-87 deg at the hottest point (always 2-4 deg cooler outside temp) in the day. down to 65-70 at its coolest. how hot is too hot for these girls? because its not summer yet and it will get in the 90s 100s as well? any stealth tips on how to cool the room down besides what i have mentioned above? note, Ive only done outdoor and my girls did fine in the hot weather outside, just curious if its a problem indoors. thx sorry for the essay
Click to expand...

You definitely want to pull the hot air out of the room. If you add cool air to hot air, it will only make the cold air warm. Also, a small ac unit would for sure do the trick. How are your temps now that it's summer?
 
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mydixiewrecked

New Member
the a/c is freezing up because you have a leak in the system and the refrigerant is leaking out. you need to fix the leak and recharge the a/c, the it will remove heat again
 
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HighdroGrower12

New Member
i've had same problem... i opened my doors with an exhaust fan blowing out.. granted its not the bet fan in the world.. will it cool down my groom with an intake fan once i get it in? dimensions are 3x2x6.... my plants seem to be doing quite well though
 
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