Attic Grow... dealing with cold

[donutsandwich]

So im constructing 3 grow chambers from closetmaid 30" wide wardrobes, approx. 6' tall (you can find them on homedepot.com most likely). One mothering chamber, one veg, one flower. Strains to start will be C+ (chimera), AK (serious), Ice Cream(paradise f), White Berry(paradise f). since its the summer now the 4" windtunnel fans i got from htgsupply will be more than enough to cool each one of these cabs to around 77-85, ill know once its set up. Im gonna weather strip the openings for light leakage and a better air seal.

My question is, I know the heat is no issue in the summertime for these cabs since they are all cooled enough. But the problem is where i live the winters can get to ~20 F, which means reallly cold temps upstairs in the attic. Would I need to put some sort of space heater outside the cabs and have the air intake into them? If so, do they make any sort of space heater that would effectively and efficiently heat up one or all 3 of these cabs at once? Links to any particular products with prices would be most helpful, or any alternative solutions to combating the cold weather are welcome as well.

 

[treble]

hey DS, nice cabs. question though. What size/type lamps you are using in there?

are you growing in soil/medium or in DWC/ebbflow/aero?

Answers to these will help others give you the benefit of their wisdom...

peace
treb

 

[Albert Hofmann]

can you stub a new duct off of your furnace?

 

[Guest]

Maybe you can partition off the space around your cabinets using cheap studs and plastic...and use the "waste heat" from your 3 grow lamps to heat the partitioned off space. You then vent the partitioned off space into the attic. You could do that with flaps you could open close in the plastic.

Is odor and issue? and how many watt lights are you using? Might not be enough waste heat, but I bet there will be. Make it so you can exhaust the heat some other way in case it doesnt get too cold.

I would be VERY careful about putting any sort of space heater up there. Any heater big enough to warm the attic would be a power hungry thing and be a fire hazard. If you do put one up there, make sure it is thermostatically controlled. Those electric ones with no visible heating element would be a possibility. They look like old fashioned steam radiators. Exposed heating element heaters are great for catching surrounding flammable material on fire. Ask a fireman

Good luck
obli

 

[donutsandwich]

hey treble, I will be using 600w hps hortilux bulbs in cool tube reflectors. ill use the same setup in all 3 cabs, if i want to i can always switch to mh for veg later. For the meantime, in the warmer weather, i will be using an LED light system which i am moving into my basement for a clever little stealth grow i have planned for the cold weather in case i cant find a viable heating solution for teh attic.

albert, im not sure exactly where the ducitng for my central heating is in the attic, i was thinking about this before... ill ahve to find plans for the house, but thats a plan i want to do sometime in the future, it seems a bit more complicated and time consuming than the kind of solution id want for maybe just this first winter.

I was thinking id eventually get a mulitflow hydro system , try to get 6 plants in each cab. I wanted to SCROG it, I figure this would maximize yields ina cabinet grow. Im thinking, Oblidio, 1800 watts exhausted from cool tubes might be enough heat with the outdoor enclosure idea. It would also bea good way to completely hide all the cabs. Odor shoudlnt bea problem, I attached fairly large carbon filters to the 4" exhaust fans for each cab. I want to get an ozonator for when I grow teh Chemdog Double D seeds i ordered.

As for the space heater Oblidio, do you ahve a link to the electric kind? If there is one that I could just hook up a duct and an inline fan to intake into the cabs, it could be simple, as long as its safe. A fire int he attic is not somethin anyone could risk, lol.

 

[Guest]

Personally, I believe the hardest time you're going to have is with your mother chamber. The chambers which hold the HPS/MH lights will stay warm enough regardless of the 20F ambient temp outside the chamber. The key will obviously be to not vent 24hrs a day while the lights are on. Last winter I just set the fans to vent for 15mins every hour. This worked to keep temps nice n warm, without having to exchange too much air.

My grow space is about the same as yours so I'll save ya the disappointment. Doing the above allowed my ladies to grow, but they werent as happy as they will be this year with CO2!!!! Now you throw some co2 into the mix and you wont have to vent at all - if your temps are sitting around 80-85.

I would also agree - putting a space heater in your attic is insane IMHO. Something goes wrong, that thing falls over, etc etc - I just know I would be seriously paranoid about such a setup.

Bottom line - you have fans to keep the area cool. If you turn off the fans, the area will heat up. Seems pretty basic in what ya need to do in order to keep the chamber warm....

 

[donutsandwich]

Alright, That seems viable. I think Ill want to have it set up so tthat the fans will vent for 15 min / hour, ad during the 45 minutes there ooff itd be nice to have 15 minutes of CO2. I doubt ill have the resources for CO2 for this winter but after that I definitely want to invest.

 

[donutsandwich]

Thanks for all the help to all the ic maggers here on this forum, although this is teh first real question im askin on the forum ivebeen browsing and reading for months now and find the information here to be relatively unbiased and full of good information. After gathering info on growing and potential ideas I finally decided to do this 3 cab grow, after seeing many people do similar cab grows.

 

[tarzan of thc]

The lights won't be on 24 hours in the flower chamber. The flower cab will get too cold won't it?

Those oil filled electric radiators are perfectly safe. Especially if you have it plugged into a power strip with a fuse in it. No fire hazzard there.

 

[TGT]

I have a space heater (ceramic heater) that has an auto shutoff if it gets unlevel or falls over. It also occilates. At full power it uses 1500 watts!, but you can turn it down quite a lot so it should be okay. Also, it was only 50 bucks at Home Depot. If your interested I'll look the model number up for you. This is one of the safest units you can buy, that's why I purchased it in the first place. I have used it for a year now and had no problems at all. You could put a piece of paper right against the vent for the heat and it would not catch fire. It's a ceramic heater, and this is the only way to go. But, like stated above, I think your bulbs will heat all you need. Just turn the fans off at the dark period and only this time you might need a little heat from the space heater. Just thought I'd let you know of my purchase and hope it gives you a few idea's. Good luck!

TGT

 

[Guest]

Those oil filled electric radiators are perfectly safe.

Last winter I had a brand new one catch fire while I was sleeping. Luckily it was right next to my bed and the three foot flames coming from the front of the heater woke me up before the house caught on fire. NOT SAFE.

the company replaced it with another one and said it had never happened before, but it's not worth the risk to me.

 

[TGT]

I had a an air conditioner catch fire before too. It was due to an electrical fault, as can happen with anything that uses electricity. The problem you describled above I bet was due to an electrical fault of some sort and not due to the heat produced by the unit. I could be wrong but that is my guess.

TGT

 

[tarzan of thc]

Last winter I had a brand new one catch fire while I was sleeping. Luckily it was right next to my bed and the three foot flames coming from the front of the heater woke me up before the house caught on fire. NOT SAFE.

the company replaced it with another one and said it had never happened before, but it's not worth the risk to me.

Then it was defective. People die from clothes dryer fires too. Are clothes driers safe?

People have had their home furnaces burn the house down. Are those safe? Just because you had a bad experience doesn't mean it wasn't a safe piece of equipment.

The new ceramic heaters are safe too if used correctly. Those oil filled, electric radiator heaters that are UL approved and sold in the USA are the safest free standing space heaters you can buy. They can be left on 24/7/365.

They are as safe as an electric alarm clock.

There was a fire started last year in an apartment building from a faulty alarm clock. Are those safe?

They can't burn. The oil isn't flammable and the entire unit is fire restistant plastic and metal. It might melt and stink but it isn't going to burst into flames. That is why you need to place it away from combustable materials. I mean aside from putting it next to a stack of newspapers or cotton window curtains I can't think of anything more dangerous than putting something next to a bed. Covers get tossed in the night, stumble out of bed, wharever.

It's Ironic that you think the heater was dangerous but your actions were not.

NEVER stick something like that right next to the bed.

 

[yts farmer]

http://www.greenfinger-hydroponics.co.uk/articles.php?ArticleGroupID=17
heres a link to a gas powered model and a electic option.

the gas powered option can also be hooked up to a thermostat