3' 6" ScrOG 250w Grow Box--FEEDBACK Wanted :)

[EmeraldHaze]

Hey everyone,

I am planning a two-plant screen of green cabinet under a 250w MH/HPS solution. I have not yet built the box, but I have sketched up a rough design in Google Sketchup. I was inspired by some other plans done in Sketchup that I saw on this forum, and thought that doing it myself was a great course of action.

Here's a picture, followed by some explaination that you might not necessarily see from just my crappy image:

So the idea is that I'm going to have 2 clones (strawberry cough and g13 haze, both feminized) in two or three gallon pots, which will make the soil about 6"-8" off the ground.

Another 6" above the soil, I will have a 2'x1' wire screen, with a frame made out of PVC pipe. There will be small notches for the screen to slide into.

The side that you do not see in this drawing will be a hinged (and locked) "door." It will also have a vent in the middle of it, identical to the two other vents on the box. There will be no fan on this vent, but it will help with circulation.

I'm leaving 18" or so between the screen and the light, plus a few inches for overhead and extra space.

The inside (and outside) of the box will all be painted white to reflect light.

My goal is to use a 250w, but I have a couple questions that I was hoping you could all help me with:

1.) Is this box just too small for a 250w? Will I be unable to keep temps down? I'm used to growing with a 400w lamp, and I know that 250w are cooler, but don't know if this will work.

2.) The apartment I'm living in next year covers my electric bill. Is 250w 18/6 then 12/12 going to make my bill significantly spike? Enough to draw a lot of attention? I think that 250w is small enough that I can do this without drawing too much attention, but if you guys think that downgrading to a 175w light will really make a big difference in this regard, I am open to suggestion.

Looking forward to hearing from you guys

 

[ScrubNinja]

I'm in a similar position with the power bill. I have no idea really, but I capped my usage at 170w of light and a 110w fan (fan runs 24/7). I just ordered a 40w fan which will replace the old one. I also have 2 lil computer fans running. I'd be very interested to see what people think is a safe level. I did unplug a bar fridge and generally tried to lower my usage.

About the box, looks good, but you need the exhaust fan way up high at the roof level, and the intakes way down low under the scrog screen. Heat rises so don't fight it, and you will get better air circulation. Also the ballast is a heat producer so going by the same rule, it'd be best to have it up high, close to your exhaust. Hope that helps and good luck!

 

[igrowwitmatches]

i think you guys are paranoid .. a computer use's more power then that ^^

 

[cork144]

i think you guys are paranoid .. a computer use's more power then that ^^

correct, and mine runs on longer hours than my cab does lol, most of that time spent here.

btw id mount your ballast elsewhere, not inside the grow area.

 

[ScrubNinja]

i think you guys are paranoid .. a computer use's more power then that ^^

You are right - I AM paranoid!

But you do make a good point.

 

[EmeraldHaze]

i think you guys are paranoid .. a computer use's more power then that ^^

Yeah, I have a computer with a 450w power supply, but I don't think that the power supply consistently pulls that much power. I think it fluxes based on what the PC hardware is doing. But I guess that's neither here nor there...

correct, and mine runs on longer hours than my cab does lol, most of that time spent here.

btw id mount your ballast elsewhere, not inside the grow area.

I want to mount my ballast elsewhere, but the problem that I seem to be having is that it defeats the stealthiness of the cab if instead of just one discrete wire coming out, it's a wire... to a very suspicious looking ballast... on to the electrical outlet.

If you guys have any ideas for that, let me know...