any dangers to air cooling

[robotwithdreams]

Ive never used air cooled lights but was just wondering and had a question.

If one was to cool a couple thousand watters with air from outside where its around 15f-30f, Could there be any problems with condensation and such through the ducts and then the moisture ending up in the hood and possibly coming in contact with the bulb, which cant be good? i have no experiance and was just wondering. Thanks

 

[Babbabud]

Use insulated HVAC line for your intake. I had the same problem and the outside of my intake would actually rain. I added an insulated line and problem solved.

 

[holla@yoboy]

no i doubt it, cool air is usally dry air, and grow lights are built knowing they will be in humid grow rooms

condensation on the outside of your ducting is drawing humidity from the growroom not the outside air

 

[Guest]

You've definately never lived in the subtropics bro, are mornings are cool and almost always 100% humidity!Babbabud has the answer

 

[BowlPacks]

Filter your incoming air!!!

 

[Budweiser13]

Filter your incoming air!!!

Hey bowlpacks what kind of filter do ya use.............

 

[Guest]

BabbaBud is correct on this one. You DEFINATELY need to use insulated ducting....at least to the lights. Trust me, ive had years of HVAC experience and can tell you with out a doubt that it will condensate on the warmer side(your grow room). The extreme temp difference will make it condensate everytime....after the air passes through the lights, the temp will be raised and it most likely wont condensate. Filtering the air wont do shit.

 

[Budweiser13]

BabbaBud is correct on this one. You DEFINATELY need to use insulated ducting....at least to the lights. Trust me, ive had years of HVAC experience and can tell you with out a doubt that it will condensate on the warmer side(your grow room). The extreme temp difference will make it condensate everytime....after the air passes through the lights, the temp will be raised and it most likely wont condensate. Filtering the air wont do shit.

Sonshine hey on a house what are good ways to hook up your intake. Like the roof the walls on the outside of the house.

 

[Guest]

Pulling air from the soffets inside your attic is a good way to descretely pull outside air into a grow. It really depends on the situation....renting?? your house?? wood exterior, vinyl, or stucco?? I've seen it done through dryer vents.....hidden behind bushes. Just to clarify....you NEED to filter if the air is actually going into your grow, not just cooling light to prevent nasties ruining your crop.

 

[BowlPacks]

Hey bowlpacks what kind of filter do ya use.............

I dont pull air from outside, but i have considered it. I invision a small length of hard ducting with a few (cut to fit) furnace filters. Good luck! Keep security your #1 concern....
:edit: Where I live, it gets -15f(last night) up to 105f in the summer. So pulling air from the outside is not an option for me.

 

[hazeywonder]

i pull air for the inside of my house, and i was reaching humidity around 75% at some points and around my non insulated ducting it would collect and drop down on the leaves.. i believe the water of the the foil of the duct stressed the plants(as i have heard that foil, aluminum, tin is no good for plants) anyways under there you can see the three leave plants stems. back to the point it actually rained from the ducting coming in to the lights... i got a dehumidifier which took care of it but it does get to that point.. I never thought of just switching to insulated i use that in the attic.. does any water accumulate in the inside of the insulation? i run 5ft cool tubes...

 

[fuzygrowth]

i was having this very same problem recently, never even considered it during the design of the room. pulling air in from the living room which is about 65 degrees and putting it back into the other side of the living room for winter time. anyway, got the grow room at 85 degrees and about 60-70 RH atm . dude... i would have HUGE puddles where i thought there was a leak somewhere but nothing was leaking.. i changed out the first run of ducting to insulated ducting but now my first two cool tubes look like this








not really sure what i can do about it other then heat the incoming air from the living room but really don't want to do that... maybe slowing down the airflow with a fan controller??? i dunno.

 

[Guest]

I use smooth metal duct and sometimes draw in sub zero air into my vented hood, i use 6" metal duct,covered in 8" insulated flex duct, you have to tape the ends of the insulated duct ,I use foil tape.

I dont have a problem with the actual hood "sweating" and it uses up to 1200 watts.

If you want to filter the air, build a box , attach you duct to one end and use a furnace filter on the other end, you can make the box out of foil lined foam board, so IT doesnt sweat too.

Find the size of filter you want first,so you now what you working with, the large area of the furnace filter will allow unresticted air flow.

 

[Budweiser13]

Good info guys I will be setting up 4 sunsystem 6 inch hoods 1000watters soon and I want to do it right. would it be good to pull air from attic and then exhaust back to attic only thing I am afraid is in summer attics get hotter then hell thus defeating the purpose of trying to cool the hoods. Damn There has got to be a good way to do these......

 

[Guest]

Depends on your buildint and if you own it...

and where the grow area is at, I would not vent into a attic if you have cold weather ,condesation will build up in most attics and your ceiling will start dripping.

you need to explain your building ,does it have a basement ,do you own the place,etc ..etc

 

[willbeHigh]

I had a heat problem pulling air from outside the grow area.I unhooked the intake from the hood and just pulled the air out of the grow area and exhaust it in the attic.My exhaust fan is in a foil foam box with the intake from the hood going into the box and the box is up on the ceiling and the wall.A 6" duct straight up through the ceiling.It droped the temps and no condesation.I dont know if this helps you but pulling air out of the grow area you are pulling the heat and stale air and the temps of the air is the same,no condesation. Peace

 

[Budweiser13]

Depends on your buildint and if you own it...

and where the grow area is at, I would not vent into a attic if you have cold weather ,condesation will build up in most attics and your ceiling will start dripping.

you need to explain your building ,does it have a basement ,do you own the place,etc ..etc

No I dont have a basement no open space underhouse it is on a solid slab I do have an attic though thanks for the input..

 

[Guest]

if normal room air isnt cool enough,then suck air from the attic or soffit,I advise against blowing hot air into a cold attic,some people get away with it,but it can cause huge amounts of water build it sometimes. I would vent out a high wall ,like a clothes dryier does, or out through the roof.

 

[Hereward]

Wow, great info, but still as many questions are arising as are being answered....
I have basically the same question as Budweiser:
The room is 2nd floor of a house (owned), 5'x6.5'x7.5'
Above is the attic, and to one side is an attic-like crawl space(with an attic-type vent to the outdoors). Crawl space and attic are not connected.
I wanted to run a co2 enriched sealed room with a window AC unit sticking in a hole in the wall, with hot end in vented crawl space(about 7'x7'x7'). Then, ventilated sealed reflector with both intake and outake running into the attic,(or possibly one end into crawl space). I know this would basically recirculate hot air in the summer, but I figure the constant air movement over the bulb would help, while relying more on the AC for room temp in summer. However, in winter the attic air would be awfully cold.
So...
1. I sure don't want the HID bulb getting wet, would I run into condensation problems? What should I do?
2. Would the AC drip water all over the insulation in the crawl space? Would the AC function properly if the hot end of it is sticking out into real cold air? Would the AC deplete the carbon dioxide?
3. Could I just use AC and not even ventilate the light?

 

[Guest]

a through the wall vent is not hard to install, for security I wouldnt put it near another wall vent if you already have one, wall vents are good for second story houses, since the odor will be up high.

Through the roof ,with a flue pipe will take about 2 to 4 hours to install,depending on the condition of your shingles and your carpenter skills.Instead of a flue pipe you can use a vent thats actually made for attic ventilation,and also fart fans.

I have all the directions for installing a roof vent at another forum...if enough people want it,I can move it here.

its also possible to suck air out of an interior wall right from the crawl space even on a send story house...but it will take alot of work...