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Help needed, my cab is too hot

T

twowordz

Hi everyone,

This is my first thread but I have been around for some time looking at all your designs. Thank you all for sharing your experience.

So, this is my cab:



And the electric/mecanic room:



My cab consist of the following:

400w HPS ballast and light
Dayton 146 CFM squirrel cage fan
DIY carbon scrubber
2x 38w CFLs for veg/mother room
120mm computer fan to move air around.

As you can see, I tried isolate the light from the flo room with a glass. The glass doesn't go all the way to the front of the cab, I left around an inch to pull air from the flo room.

I did two test runs before bringing my clones in. With the glass the temperature inside de flo room was 98 and without it, 100.

This is not good.

My guess is that my intakes are not big enough or that there is too much restriction on my fan intake. What do you think?

TW
 
G

Guest

add a light proofed passive intake to take some restriction off the airflow

maybe another fan somewhere


or you could completely seal your cool chamber and then add a seperate airflow through the cab.

think it over and then decide whats most feasible.

:joint:
 
G

Guest

id go with sealing the light chamber..and making a passive hole with a light trap on it...youd cool the light down alot. only problem is that youd need a seperate fan for the part where the plants are...or somehow redirect your scrubber hose around to the bottom part
 
T

twowordz

I like the idea of the cool chamber individually cooled.

The problem is that one of my goal is to have nothing apparent outside. That's why I put my scrubber in a separated chamber. I still need to vent it though.

Another solution I might try is to take the squirrel cage fan and put it right in the flo room with no glass, then push the hot air in the scrubber in the other room.

This is a 146 CFM fan and the room is around 10 CF... It should be all right? Either the fan does not work well with the scrubber (I can feel the air moving around it though) or the elbow on it's intake is too bent or my intakes are not big enough.



TW
 
T

twowordz

Here is more pictures:

This is the elbow, I just put my hand in it and I can feel a fair amount of air going in:


This is the out elbow with the fan specs:


The picture hasn't been turned by you can see the suction from the intake (outside).


This is the two intake (2x 1,5 inch)



TW
 
G

Guest

What are the dimensions of your cab?

50 watts per sqft is the standard light intensity that everyone sets their cabs up for. I hope your light isn't too big for the cab.



It looks to me like you're only getting 40 CFM of airflow right now.

Can you cut an intake 5" x 5" in the floor of the cab?
 
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T

twowordz

19 x 17 x 36h

I was going for a 150 at first but I had a killer deal on the my 400w. Ballast + 400w Hortilux Eye and a batwing reflector for 160$. I tought I would go for it and add a badass fan to take all the heat out. Guess I was wrong...

First grow will be sensi's white widow, I also have some hashberry seeds in the mail. I'll try LST to max the yield, we'll see...


TW
 
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T

twowordz

More pictures:

My veg/mother room below the flo room:


You see the veg is under the flo room:


the whole thing:


Thanks for your help!

TW
 
G

Guest

I figure 178 w/sqft in your cab. It's the same size as mine and I'm running a 150. That's way out of range. Even if you can remove the heat, the light intensity will bleach your plants to a crisp.

Most of the filters cut the rated air flow down by 1/2 so you'd be getting about 75 CFM max with that fan/filter combo. It would work great for 150 - 250 W setup.
 
T

twowordz

Red: haha I tought I would grow monster colas with my light...

Ok then, I'll wait for the specials at canadian tire and build a new cab...

TW
 
G

Guest

I picked up a 150HPS yard light at Rona Home hardware for $120. You could get it installed in about 1/2 hour. It would work great in your cab with that fan/filter combo.
 
T

twowordz

red: could you please link me on some documentation regarding the light intensity?

I always thought the more the better.

TW
 
G

Guest

Argh, this place has no fucking grow faq like Overgrow.

50 w/sqft for HPS
75 w/sqft for CFL

30 w/sqft CFL/MH for veg.

That's all I can give you. If anyone can find a better source of info, please speak up.

More light to a point can give you bigger buds, but it pushes and stresses the plant too. Bad things happen faster and more severe.
 
G

Guest

damn and that was a killer deal for a 400 watter.

i found an all in one 150 for under 100$. htggardensupply.com i believe is the place i got it. doubel boxed and very stealthy...plus it had tons of foam so i know it wasnt gonna break. ive got less cfm than your 1 fan and i keep it at about 80 degrees
 
T

twowordz

darren: I have seen your avatar a lots of times. Could you please post the full size version? Is she hot or what? :D

Yeah the 400 was a killer deal.

Red&Green: Man I think I will try it and we'll see. I'm gonna build something to cool down the lamp and I will rethink the design. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Maybe the specs are minimums? We see people in the forums run 400 and 600 watters in cabs no?

TW
 
Maj.PotHead

Maj.PotHead

End Cannibis Prohibition Now Realize Legalize !!
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Veteran
C25 style cab just like mine really cant consider this micro though :).

heres a few hints and tips for your cab i have a 400w hps in my cab its dem are 47,3/4 W x 20,1/2 D x 70, 3/8 T
my lighting is a 400w hps remote ballast light is in a 6 inch suncool air cooled hood. i extract my 400w hps heat by 6x4 inch reducer at each end of hood for 4 inch dryer ducting. i bring fresh cool air from outside cab through hood and exhausted into the attick. i use a modded stanely blower fan to extract the 400w heat :) http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=29341 best 40$ you'll spend lol. above my air cooled hood is a 4 inch carbon scrubber this1 http://www.nationalgardenwholesale.com/detail.php?id=04_AIR&prod=613 hooked upto it's own exhaust fan this takes care of odor and the embient heat my temps right below the glass are 82-83 i can touch the glass on hood back of hand isnt hot or even warm. i use a 4inch black ABS 90 degree elbow in bottom of 1 side of my cab top other side is where my scrubber sucks from. my only problem is anything closer then 6 inch experinces light bleaching but hasnt hurt the yield's :) but ifn ya really want fancy fresh air intake thats light proofed http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...104&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

you need to buy or build a cool tube or air cooled hood, expell hot air from cab and not into room fresh air is being supplied from or you'll battle heat problems during summer. i run my whole cab as a flower chamber i removed the top shelf i run my cab at night 6pm - 6am my veg is the rest of closet the cab is in powered by cfl's the veg dept run's 6am - 12 am midnight :)
 
7

70s_PotHead

^^First MajPothead advice is sound as a rock,^^

I grow in a 2x4 cab with 2 400w hortilux, 100 wpsf. been growing in cabs since I started growing.
2 recomendations take them or leave them.

1, you need a much larger intake with a light trap built in. I run a 250cfm inline and have a 6x12 inch opening into the cab and 12x20 A/C filter on the other side of the trap.

2, Get a much bigger fan or get that scrubber off the discharge side and onto the suction side of your fan. I know what your saying, lots of people have them on the discharge but I want you to do a little test. Make a fist and blow into it, you will feel resistance and its hard to blow thru, now do it again but open your fingers half way thru the blow and you will see what I'm talking about. Most all fans are designed to suck not blow, when you put filters on the exhust there efficiency goes way down.
The thing you have to remember is at best you will only cool a grow cab down to about 5-10 degrees above whatever the ambient is outside the cab unless you add a A/C directly to the cab

Heres my cab











70s :joint:
 
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T

twowordz

Maj.PotHead: Thanks for the advice, I'll try to figure out a cooltube for the light. I am sure this is the way to go.

70s_PotHead: I like your intake and I think I'll copy it for my cab. I agree with you on the use of fans, I am pretty certain mine too would perform better pulling air through the can filter.

As you can see, I've made a great effort to design a self-contained cab. I wanted nothing showing outside. I think I will have to do this concession... It's not that bad since the cab is in my walk-in closed.

I use a cabinet I already had but now I am thinking about a getting a bigger one. I have 3 feet of lateral space and the cab could be 2 feet deep.

I'll keep all of you updated, thanks for taking the time to review my setup.

TW
 
Maj.PotHead

Maj.PotHead

End Cannibis Prohibition Now Realize Legalize !!
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Veteran
thx 70's love your A/C :) didnt you tap into a/c ducting in attick then run it down through the wall ???.




notice how close them tops are to the bottom of lighting
 
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