It’s cold and dry in the basement where my grow tent is located. The tent has a small oil filled electric heater inside to help with the cold part, but I haven’t had much luck with the dry part.
Tried a redneck approach the last grow with buckets, towels, water and fan. Worked pretty good but only controllable by fan speed and direction. Plus the unsealed tent’s exhaust fan always worked against both the extra humidity and the added heat.
Had an idea to help with both problems by adding a bypass humidifier like the kind used on a furnace and recirculating part of the exhaust from the tent back into the humidifier intake.
Got a used bypass humidifier, mounted it on a plywood frame with a cutout that matches that of the humidifier outlet, leveled it with some adjustable feet on the frame and installed it with velcro taped on the back side of the frame to match the velcro of the screen vent opening that came on the SJ tent. The included humidistat was wired inside the tent and the humidifier plumbed to the water supply line for the yard irrigation system which happened to be right by the tent.
Also added some ducts. The one on the left is the air intake for the humidifier. The one on the right is for more air that doesn’t go through the humidifier and has a damper inside the tent. I call this one the “fresh air duct”. I can draw air from the top of the room for warmer air or the bottom for cooler on either or both ducts as time and needs change.
The top of the duct that feeds into the bypass humidifier is receiving recirculated air from the tent since the basement is so cold and dry now. The airflow is 4” duct out from top of the tent to 4” exhaust fan, exhaust fan to 4x4x6 wye fitting, 6” wye outlet going to filter and 4” wye outlet recirculating air back to the bypass humidifier intake duct. The amount of air that gets exhausted through the filter vs. the amount recirculated through the humidifier is controlled by manual dampers on both of the wye’s outlets. As it gets warmer and warmer, I’ll cut back on the recirculation. Eventually, no added humidity will be needed. Indeed, I’ll be turning on the basement’s dehumidifier.
For the past month, I have been maintaining the tent at 55-60% humidity and 72-78 degrees by recycling what I think is about 75% of the exhaust air (have no real means to measure…based on the damper position). The CO2 monitor in the tent shows same levels as outside the tent with the fresh air damper open about 10%. During this time, the basement has been at 25-35% humidity and around 60 degrees.
I use D9's fabulous PPK growing system that is perfect for my frequent travel needs. Since the new humidifier is self-filling and humidistat controlled, this also suits being away from the grow for days at a time. All in all pretty happy. Might work for you, too.
Tried a redneck approach the last grow with buckets, towels, water and fan. Worked pretty good but only controllable by fan speed and direction. Plus the unsealed tent’s exhaust fan always worked against both the extra humidity and the added heat.
Had an idea to help with both problems by adding a bypass humidifier like the kind used on a furnace and recirculating part of the exhaust from the tent back into the humidifier intake.
Got a used bypass humidifier, mounted it on a plywood frame with a cutout that matches that of the humidifier outlet, leveled it with some adjustable feet on the frame and installed it with velcro taped on the back side of the frame to match the velcro of the screen vent opening that came on the SJ tent. The included humidistat was wired inside the tent and the humidifier plumbed to the water supply line for the yard irrigation system which happened to be right by the tent.
Also added some ducts. The one on the left is the air intake for the humidifier. The one on the right is for more air that doesn’t go through the humidifier and has a damper inside the tent. I call this one the “fresh air duct”. I can draw air from the top of the room for warmer air or the bottom for cooler on either or both ducts as time and needs change.
The top of the duct that feeds into the bypass humidifier is receiving recirculated air from the tent since the basement is so cold and dry now. The airflow is 4” duct out from top of the tent to 4” exhaust fan, exhaust fan to 4x4x6 wye fitting, 6” wye outlet going to filter and 4” wye outlet recirculating air back to the bypass humidifier intake duct. The amount of air that gets exhausted through the filter vs. the amount recirculated through the humidifier is controlled by manual dampers on both of the wye’s outlets. As it gets warmer and warmer, I’ll cut back on the recirculation. Eventually, no added humidity will be needed. Indeed, I’ll be turning on the basement’s dehumidifier.
For the past month, I have been maintaining the tent at 55-60% humidity and 72-78 degrees by recycling what I think is about 75% of the exhaust air (have no real means to measure…based on the damper position). The CO2 monitor in the tent shows same levels as outside the tent with the fresh air damper open about 10%. During this time, the basement has been at 25-35% humidity and around 60 degrees.
I use D9's fabulous PPK growing system that is perfect for my frequent travel needs. Since the new humidifier is self-filling and humidistat controlled, this also suits being away from the grow for days at a time. All in all pretty happy. Might work for you, too.
