A/C in a sealed envrionment?

[Cork144]

Howdy IC, hope your well,

Call me stupid, but I am having a hard time of wrapping my head around AC's in sealed rooms.

A portable AC I have has an exhaust hose to push hot air out of the area its trying to cool, so that would break the seal, am I just being stupid and comparing all ACs to this portable one?

And if I am not wrong, if people have them mounted to only push the cool air in while it sucks in and cools air from out of the sealed envrionment, is this not creating positive pressure? and therefore smell leaks and pushing out the co2?

I want to do 3 runs of 3 lights, each run with its own fan for ventede hoods, dehumidifier is easy enough to wrap my head around, as is a co2 burner, but the AC is melting my mind, help?

 

[expealadocious]

Get some piping and pipe the hot air out... dryer ducting works... window ones work best tho from what ive tried.
Cut a hole in your wall!

 

[Cork144]

Cheers for chiming in, but if its pulling hot air from the grow envrionment, and pushing it out of the envrionment, I'm losing the seal and its pushing unfiltered air out? causing smell issues?

So would it be better to create the sealed envrionment, inside of a larger room that has its own scrubbing like a conventional grow? so anything that is pushed out, is filtered?

 

[ruan99]

The portable ac has vents in one side or the back. Seal off half of the unit making the vents and exhaust hose both outside of the room with the cool air still blowing into the room. Or get a dual hose or a window unit.

 

[Cork144]

Thank you Ruan, wont this create positive pressure though?

 

[ruan99]

Might be a problem. Only thing else I can think of is a carbon filter on the intake to help with smell but sealing it is tough with a single hose as some of the grow air will be exhaust when the unit is on.

 

[Cork144]

Thank you again, I'm ignorant on window ACs and the likes, does a dual hose mean it brings its own intake air from elsewhere then vents that out?

Positive pressure can be dealt with by creating a negative pressure environment around the sealed environment, with all air from the non grow environment passing through a filter

 

[ruan99]

Window acs have a vent you can close off to help keep it sealed up. Portable units might not be able to keep the co2 in efficiently.

Yes, a dual hose intakes and exhausts from outside the room.

 

[Cork144]

you beauty, cleared up everything, thank you

 

[Cork144]

ACs at the highest point possible in the grow should help prevent some co2 escape since its a heavy gas, what sort of BTU am I looking for in say 35-38 cubmic meters?

 

[DoubleTripleOG]

I ran a portable AC in a sealed room for a long time. The exhaust on the AC was run into a six inch fan, and then out of the room thru a filter. I was using a Co2 generator, and had a ppm monitor. The AC had no ill effect on the co2 levels staying where they needed to be. A common 20lb tank of propane lasted a week, sometimes longer, while keeping co2 levels between 1000-1400.

 

[Obsidian]

there is a thread in here somewhere that teaches how to make a portable recyclable a/c

you can not run a portable inside without redirecting the hot air back inside the a/c
otherwise your room will overheat.
so you need to make a self enclosed box with a drain for the water produced by the a/c
it's easy and works great
your other choice os to spend about $2500US for a splt a/c this is your best bet if you own your home, if you rent well good luck
those portable self enclosed a/c last about 6 months of continual use for a gorw op.
I went through 15 - 12,000btu a/c's in less than 3yrs on a 30x40 12000watt room.

 

[Mikell]

ACs at the highest point possible in the grow should help prevent some co2 escape since its a heavy gas, what sort of BTU am I looking for in say 35-38 cubmic meters?

That's a load of malarkey, CO2 doesn't settle (not entirely true, but for our purposes, it doesn't). Even with zero air movement the difference in a confined room would be negligible/ almost unmeasurable.

BTU's of cooling depends upon light/heat produced. A rough rule of thumb is 3-5k BTU per 1000w, leaning towards 5 for inefficient window bangers.

 

[Cork144]

Youre all doing gods work, thank you lol, I had a 8000btu portable AC I picked up for about 55$ just wondered how far the bugger would go, isnt as greater range of air cons in the UK as we dont see temps like you yanks lol,

want to do 9 x 600w, with rolling 3x3 scrogs under each light for maintenance, not in a house and not really looking to do anymore than 2/3 runs

 

[McKush]

Im running a 12k portable with a diy snorkle. It can be done. Youll not have a true sealed room doing that. Best practice is minisplit. Also 8k is not enough btu for that amount of wattage.
Read up on minis. My portable is out asap next year

 

[Cork144]

I knew the 8000 wasn't going to cover what I'm planning, I bought it more to learn the principles from, I'm a hands on guy unless there is the physical object infront of me I don't know what people are talking about lol, thought I could somehow use it with my 1000W grow but it would of required as someone said above an additional fan and filter

plus it was £25(55$), I couldnt say no lol

 

[Ziggaro]

You gotta spend more to get what you need my man. If you are going the portable route instead of a mini split you need a dual ducted portable ac.
The single tube ones use room air to cool the capacitor which is released into the duct.
The dual tube ones use outside air to cool the capacitor which is then ducted. The room air is not exhausted.

 

[McKush]

Check my McPpk album for a pic of my diy snorkle. check quick cause I may not leave that pic up there for long... its not pretty looking but it does work

 

[Cork144]

Check my McPpk album for a pic of my diy snorkle. check quick cause I may not leave that pic up there for long... its not pretty looking but it does work

cheers man, is the clear hose the air inlet or the outlet?

 

[Cork144]

You gotta spend more to get what you need my man. If you are going the portable route instead of a mini split you need a dual ducted portable ac.
The single tube ones use room air to cool the capacitor which is released into the duct.
The dual tube ones use outside air to cool the capacitor which is then ducted. The room air is not exhausted.

yea man opting for a 12,000 BTU minisplit AC, 9 x 600w in vented hoods, should put my BTU upto about 9800, so theres a little wiggle room for the dehumidifier and fans running, should be able to keep the temps to a reasonable level