Basement Growers Unite

[HYDROJUNKIE]

I thought that people who are growing in basements should have a thread to share info amongst eachother as growing in basements have there own set of challeges/rules as ive recently found out...
Things like mold,fungus,humidity,height issues,duct work,water supply/drainage,etc.

 

[TGT]

I just wanted to let you all know what I discovered this past week and it pertains to basement grows so should be okay for this thread. I was fooling around with a squirrel cage fan and ducting. I noticed the basement water drain in the floor and wondered if it would be possible to exhaust into it. I hooked up the vent, turned on the fan and it worked great! The air flowed down this small five inch sewer with no problem at all. This would be great to do if you wanted to get rid of your carbon scrubbed air without having to vent outside. Much more stealthy and in the winter you won't cause a bunch of steam by releasing hot air into a cold environment.

Keep in mind you will have to be careful what kind of sewer system you have in your area. In my area the drains vent out under the street, and the sewers there are too small for people to enter. They use camera's to clean and repair them. This is a good thing because a worker can't discover any smell or air being desposed of. Down town I know the sewers are large, so I don't think it would be a good idea as a worker might be able to pin-point exactly where the vented air is coming from.

I just thought I would mention it as it has to do with basement grows and sometimes it is hard to dispose of air when you have neibours living on either side of you and very close. I don't know if it has been mentioned or is common knowledge, but even so it's good to report as I am wondering myself if there are any other drawbacks to this?

Nice thread Hydrojunky, I'll be following this one as I prefer to grow in basements and that is pretty much all I have ever done. Hope Ican get some good info to soak up and use at a lter date.

TGT

 

[BUDDY BOY]

Just vent into another part of the house. You have to be resilent and innovative when doing these things....

 

[TGT]

You could do that but I have found when venting back into the house you recirculate your humidity and heat. Down the sewer is a good way to remove the heat from air cooled hoods. But ya, it still is a feasible idea and much easier. Just another way of doing it I guess.

TGT

 

[Sad247summer]

A huge problem with venting into the sewer is that built up pressure can "hicup" and then all that nice pressurised Poo and sludge can end up in your room.
WE prefer just to use carbon and 265cfm in the basement near the grow, another filter upstairs and some of those time release arsosol smelly things.

 

[HYDROJUNKIE]

Great info guys!,..I thought about that but im yet to figure out where my basement drain flows too.
all I see is dirt in there but I know it works because ive had a water hose burst on me and it all went down nicely.
for venting my hoods I cut a 8'' hole in the back corner of my bedroom closet and run the ductwork straight up into the attic and out of one of the roof vents.
so I have my basement exhaust and hood venting in the same run.
I thought about bringing in some of the exhaust into the house to use as a heater during winter months but the air quality down there is horrible with dust,mold,fungus,radon,etc.
Im yet to figure out where to pull in air for an intake. My house had roses around the perimeter with a ton of powdery mildew when I moved here so im sure there's a ton of spores around my house.But plants seem to do ok without an intake so far,..possibly because my water heater pilot providing a little co2 down there.
also a good way to lower humidity in the basement is to keep the soil around your house dry as possible.
I ripped out all the plants and covered the dirt with thick plastic and put a good layer of lava rock on top to soak up the rain water.
when the soil got moist so did my basement walls,..you cant feel it but I noticed it raises humidity a bit so I covered my concrete walls with plastic as well.
I suppose I could of painted them with a waterproof paint and achieved the same results.
But I covered the whole wall up to the ceiling(house floor) so to create a colder climate behind the plastic incase of ir detection or incase there's a light leak that goes unnoticed.
I always have this weird paranoia that law enforcement will drill a hole into the side of my house to peek into my basement when im not home..lol

 

[NPK]

Excellent thread! Added to my subscriptions.

Im yet to figure out where to pull in air for an intake. My house had roses around the perimeter with a ton of powdery mildew when I moved here so im sure there's a ton of spores around my house.

Yeah, this was exactly my problem, too--though I didn't know it until I lost two consecutive crops to severe powdery mildew. The spores got in through my air-cooled lights: just imagine my delight when I discovered f*ckin' DRIFTS of the stuff in my six hoods. The intakes pulled in air from the crawl space beneath the house--and yeah, I've noticed PM on plants outside, so that's where it must've come from.

So I removed and cleaned everything in the room with bleach solution, tore down and replaced the old ducting, and put multiple filters over the intakes. It's still too soon in my new grow to be sure all is well, but no signs of trouble just yet. I've got the sulphur burner going for three hours during the dark period daily.

When I can afford to, I'm going to get an air conditioner down there and shit-can the air-cooling. I think the only way to keep my particular basement environment clean is to seal it.

 

[HYDROJUNKIE]

yeah NPK, I was thinking of sealing mine as well and just air cooling the hoods in a loop.
then adding a co2 generator as ive already got the natural gas line down there but im worried that the gas will seep through my hardwood floors into my house.
I had an idea to seal the bottom of my floor(basement ceiling) with some type of thick gooey paint or tar to seal it all up...but the pm hasnt been that bad to make me do all this.
I will be installing an ozone generator in the room just because ive delt with pm,mold,pests and a host of other weird shit since growing down there.
I noticed my clones get infected real easy down there and ive never had a problem with clones at all my other locations.
so I bought a couple of those plastic boxes from wallmart and mounted 2 t5's to the lids and they dont get infected anymore.

I also have seen fungus in my coco grown mothers and fungus gnats and had to get rid of all my mothers and start new ones.
I now add sm-90 to all my resorvoirs and problem solved.

 

[NPK]

Hydrojunkie, I have a CO2 generator and hardwood floors, too. Isn't CO2 too heavy to seep upward? It was always my understanding that it sinks downward, not upward. As for the ceiling, if you really wanted to seal the room well maybe you could tape panda plastic up there. Would be a PITA for sure, but way easier than dealing with some nasty, gooey substance like paint or tar.

Hope the ozone generator takes care of some of your pest/environmental problems. I have a second-hand one lying around, but it never seemed to work--or if it did, that fresh-water odor escaped me. Maybe I should give it another look-see.

I've gotten really anal about cleanliness in the basement. Like, I used to go from the outdoor garden to the indoor one without a second thought. Now I change into fresh things, take off my shoes, and wash my hands before going in. Hope it isn't for nothing. I read that once you've got powdery mildew spores, it's nearly impossible to get rid of all of 'em. I spent DAYS tearing everything apart, cleaning it all, re-assembling it, and then firing up another grow. After my losses I'm definitely freaked out and kinda OCD about cleanliness.

 

[TGT]

Sad247, you just have to make sure it isn't a poo sewer - which is pretty easy to tell the diff. I would never have suggested to vent down there. Not only poo is a danger, but the gases that can burp back up like you have already stated. They could even burp back up hydrogen. Also I understand carbon is a must, but I was suggesting venting just to hide the exhaust from outside incase you have neibours living very close. But thank you for pointing out the danger of venting down a sewer that is not a drain for water. It was a very important point that I should have included. But venting down the waste water drain should be fine. Ours is seperate from the regular poo sewer, so I imagine everyone's is, but I could be wrong. Thanks again.

TGT