What AC Unit to use??

If you have a 12x12 room with 6 1000w 8" air cooled lights with co2. And either a harvest master environment controller or an Intelliclimate controller and you want to hook up an ac unit which one should you get? I know its gonna have to have two hoses but, all the two hose ones wont work with env. conrollers! Also, how many btus will I need? Somebody please point me too a brand that will work with Env controllers! Also, which Env controller do you prefer the Intelliclimate or Harvest Master?

Research mini-split a/c unit... pricey but if you can afford all that other shit you have going on in that room then you should def invest in one of these... that way your room is totally sealed, no intake, no exhaust. Just the Co2 and the mini-split a/c working.

i dont think you'll find a portable that will cool that... i use a dual hose 12,000 BTU 1 ton to cool an 8x8 room with 2KW...

i'd say you need about 3 ton to do it right... and as murtymaker says, look at the mini split system... they should come with everything you need to install yourself... the inside unit is probably about a 4 ft long fan with ac coils in them... then you have to drill 2 holes in the house to get the hoses to the outdoor unit... once its hooked up, you release the refrigerant from the outdoor unit somehow to fill the system...

they are pretty pricey... but worth it if you need one... it will be slightly more expensive up front (compared to buying 3x dual hose portables) but they are really efficient (way better than portable)...

good luck

BloodShot420 said:

i dont think you'll find a portable that will cool that... i use a dual hose 12,000 BTU 1 ton to cool an 8x8 room with 2KW...

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How do you have your venting for the A/C configured? Where does your intake come from and your exhaust go?

I just talked to the folks at Sunpentown about their dual hose and they told me that I wouldn't be able to use it in the winter because the intake from outside the house would be too cold.

Thanks.

i have it the hoses hoooked up directly to the window... i put Y adapters on the window mounting kit, so it would let me have 2 intakes, and 2 exhausts going out of 2 holes under the window - if you know what i mean...


the outdoor air is really just supposed to cool the AC compressor... so the colder the air it takes in the more efficient it gets... i'm not exactly sure what problems will arise from running in the winter... and it depends on how cold your winter is... this will be my first winter AC grow

Math, math, math, math. HID light put out lighting where approximattely 85% is heat producing wavelength. A typical air cooled light removes about 50% of the lights heat. (6 lights * 1000 watts/light * 0.85 <heat percentage> * 0.50 <percent removed> * 3.41 btu per watt) = 8695 btu's of heat. Window air conditioners are typically rated at 12000 btu per hp. If you do not have a window in your grow area your talking about $750 and up for a fair two hose 1200 btu portable unit or $275 for a standard 12000 btu window unit. Single hose units are about $100 less but then your also exhausting your odors and your CO2. I use window units that are modified so that I can use them down to 40 degrees below zero. It requires a head pressure controller for $50 off eBay and a compressor crank case heater to keep the oil warm. They run about $35 new or about $7.50 to $10 on ebay. I have been using them as such for over 15 years and no one has ever said a thing or asked why they run during the winter. I also use two water chillers made from window air conditioners that have their compressors and condensors out side and they are also used all year round.

Either should also handle your dehumidification as a 12000 btu will dehumify about 50 pints per day if run constantly. My self I in addition also use a cheap $100 Sears 5200 btu window air conditioner also set completely inside the grow room hooked up to a humidistat to assure low humidity when the airconditioner is not running. The fully inside airconditioner exhausts into the grow room so there is no real temperature change just dehumification. It is much cheaper than buy a dehumidifier, and has a much longer life span than a dehumifier of the same capacity. It uses 19 watts more than the comparable size dehumidifier as it has an extra fan. For a third less cost I can live with that.

You do not need the absurdly expensive controllers such as you mention. Just rip out the wiring to the digital controllers in the airconditioner(s) and wire them to run 100% of the time and then supply power to them by a line voltage thermo stat and a line voltage dehumiditsat. You can likely get both for less than $75 (with shipping) off ebay. That is for both and for brand new not used. Neither of the controllers you mention are worth what they cost. They are really designed more for fan exhausting systems and CO2 control. Seperate thermostas for cooling, heating, dehumidification and CO2 ppm controla are much cheao per and safer as all you chickens are not in one basket as with the combined controllers. A good ppm CO2 controller is only about $350 on ebay. http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m38.l1313&_nkw=CO2+ppm+controller&_sacat=See-All-Categories

mihjaro said:

How do you have your venting for the A/C configured? Where does your intake come from and your exhaust go?

I just talked to the folks at Sunpentown about their dual hose and they told me that I wouldn't be able to use it in the winter because the intake from outside the house would be too cold.

Thanks.

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Tell them they are dumb *hits. All you need to do is install a head pressure controller. They cost about $50 on ebay or $150 brand new. With the typical unit that uses R22 refrigerant that will allow usage down to -40 degrees F. All the head pressure device really does is control whether or not the condensor fan(s) should run and controls the speed in which it runs. It also controls hard starting of the condensor fan motor(s) based upon the motor bearing type and the temperature of the freon entering the condensor. It is a very simple electronic control about the size of two packs of cigarettes side by side, with about three wires needing to be connected and a simple two wire temperature probe. About a 15 minute job total. People use thenm here because it gets to 35 below every winter, some times colder. An air conditioner without a head pressure controller is only suppose to be used down to an ambient temperature of 60 degrees. Head pressure controllers were initially designed for large commercial regrigeration units. Now they are made to be used with nearly all refrigeration and air conditioning units. Some are only designed for use down to 20 below zero. There are a few type of fan motors that do not work well with the controllers but you can buy motors that will work well for $20 to $50 if you have one of the cheap condensor fan motors that do not work well with speed controllers. Money, money, money, everything costs money. Gotta pay extra to cool during the winter. Go figure.

fatman7574 said:

Math, math, math, math. HID light put out lighting where approximattely 85% is heat producing wavelength. A typical air cooled light removes about 50% of the lights heat. (6 lights * 1000 watts/light * 0.85 <heat percentage> * 0.50 <percent removed> * 3.41 btu per watt) = 8695 btu's of heat. Window air conditioners are typically rated at 12000 btu per hp. If you do not have a window in your grow area your talking about $750 and up for a fair two hose 1200 btu portable unit or $275 for a standard 12000 btu window unit. Single hose units are about $100 less but then your also exhausting your odors and your CO2. I use window units that are modified so that I can use them down to 40 degrees below zero. It requires a head pressure controller for $50 off eBay and a compressor crank case heater to keep the oil warm. They run about $35 new or about $7.50 to $10 on ebay. I have been using them as such for over 15 years and no one has ever said a thing or asked why they run during the winter. I also use two water chillers made from window air conditioners that have their compressors and condensors out side and they are also used all year round.

Either should also handle your dehumidification as a 12000 btu will dehumify about 50 pints per day if run constantly. My self I in addition also use a cheap $100 Sears 5200 btu window air conditioner also set completely inside the grow room hooked up to a humidistat to assure low humidity when the airconditioner is not running. The fully inside airconditioner exhausts into the grow room so there is no real temperature change just dehumification. It is much cheaper than buy a dehumidifier, and has a much longer life span than a dehumifier of the same capacity. It uses 19 watts more than the comparable size dehumidifier as it has an extra fan. For a third less cost I can live with that.

You do not need the absurdly expensive controllers such as you mention. Just rip out the wiring to the digital controllers in the airconditioner(s) and wire them to run 100% of the time and then supply power to them by a line voltage thermo stat and a line voltage dehumiditsat. You can likely get both for less than $75 (with shipping) off ebay. That is for both and for brand new not used. Neither of the controllers you mention are worth what they cost. They are really designed more for fan exhausting systems and CO2 control. Seperate thermostas for cooling, heating, dehumidification and CO2 ppm controla are much cheao per and safer as all you chickens are not in one basket as with the combined controllers. A good ppm CO2 controller is only about $350 on ebay. http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m38.l1313&_nkw=CO2+ppm+controller&_sacat=See-All-Categories

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Yo fatman, A friend gave me a really nice Sharp portable AC unit 13000btu..... can you tell me how to rip my wires out of the portable AC unit so it will run 100% of the time? This model has to be started manually and wont work on my sentinel controller.

thanks hope you see this..

Nearly all window and portable air conditioners are set up so that the fan blowing air through the evaporator the and for the compressor and its condenser fan all run anytime the unit calls for cold. The only deviation from this simplicity is if it has a t multiple speed fan on the evaporator. This mean you will have an inlet line that typically runs to a digital circuit board and wires running from that board to the fan behind the evaporator and to the compressor/condenser fan. Basically all you are needing to due is disconnect or cut the inlet wires where the feed the circuit board and attach them to the wires exiting the circuit board and running to the fan/compressor/fan. The pron problems that might come up is that a relay is used for supplying the power to the compressor. If that is the case there will be only a small diameter wire running from the circuit board to the compressor/condenser fan. This would mean that that wire would run to the relay. These wires would all need to be disconnected. Then there is the chance that if the fan on the evaporator if a two speed would have three wires attached to it with none being colored green. That would mean one wire would be the common wire (typically white) and the other two would be for either low or high speed. This would mean either adding a three way switch or choosing one speed or the other and leaving one wire unconnected.

What this all boils down to is cut the wires where they leave the circuit board and where they enter the circuit board. Use a three wire cord into the air conditioner. The green wire would be attached to a metal part (under a nut etc.) of each fan and the compressor and these would all be wire nutted to the entrance cord green wire. Then a white wire would be attached to each fan and the compressor white wire and all these would be attached to the white wire on the entrance cord with a wire nut. The same goes for the Black wire. The compressor would the run continously as long as it received power.

Thanks man..it seems more complicated then i bet it really is. But to a person who cant even hook up my digital cable right ,,its gonna be a task.
I was hoping i could just pop the face off and somehow depress the power button so it stays on..lol

DIRTHAWKER said:

Thanks man..it seems more complicated then i bet it really is. But to a person who cant even hook up my digital cable right ,,its gonna be a task.
I was hoping i could just pop the face off and somehow depress the power button so it stays on..lol

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It would likely be an easy task for anyone who does work on circuit boards as the switch could just be removed and replaced with a few wires or solder lines unless it also has features like remote controls and timers etc. But still an electronics savvy person could simply alter the board. The by-passing would simply be easier and would negate worrying about timers and remote controls and such. My self the first thing I do is junk the circuit boards. I control the air conditioners with either a humidistat or a thermostat so the digital circuit board is just a hassle that is discarded and replaced with hard wiring.

Window ac's are the most affordable out there. You can have them cool your grow area and mount the majority of the unit outside the grow space.

fatman7574 said:

It would likely be an easy task for anyone who does work on circuit boards as the switch could just be removed and replaced with a few wires or solder lines unless it also has features like remote controls and timers etc. But still an electronics savvy person could simply alter the board. The by-passing would simply be easier and would negate worrying about timers and remote controls and such. My self the first thing I do is junk the circuit boards. I control the air conditioners with either a humidistat or a thermostat so the digital circuit board is just a hassle that is discarded and replaced with hard wiring.

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Thanks again... it actually does have all the timers and remote etc.. amazing!! all that technical stuff, yet it wont power back up after power is cutoff...only manually...lol

unless im mistaken... its a sharp 13000 btu portable AC MODEL # cv-13NH

heres a pdf of the manual.... maybe someboday reads this stuff better then me.

http://dl.owneriq.net/7/729f7e19-ccf5-22d4-65b8-c70d8435c5fa.pdf