Can an AC unit cover all my venting, dehumidification and cooling needs?

[njayjay]

Like the title says, can a recirculating type AC unit cover all these needs in a 7x6x7 growtent? Is the venting provided by these AC units good enough to substitute for venting fans in the room? Can the same unit be relied on to provide adequate levels of dehumidification and cooling, if the air is being recirculated out of the growtent? Peace

 

[BlindDate]

I would say "Yes". Only problem I see is that you cannot scrub the air comming out of a venting AC unit. At least not without a whole lot of hassle.

 

[Ipsissimus]

i've seen some crafty setups where they've put a window unit inside the room and caught the drip. or get a portable AC, but that is more $$. other option is with a grow tent in an air-conditioned room (window unit or central), scrub the tent exhaust before it gets to the AC. i once had a big smell problem with a window unit in an actual window, directly blowing into the grow space. wind blowing outside would create negative pressure and suck uncleaned air out.

 

[njayjay]

IF i run AC in the room the tent is in will it lower the humidity significantly inside the tent??

Peace

 

[Ipsissimus]

if you're exchanging air with the room. which you have to, if the ac isn't in the tent.

try air cooling your light (cool tube) - push the air out of the tent through a carbon filter. have passive air intakes in your tent. with this setup and your average decent window unit you could handle 1000w no problem. many people have done similar setups on here - check out the threads for further info.

 

[njayjay]

How can I CO2 enrich a vented room?

Peace

 

[Ipsissimus]

utse

 

[masterKahn]

How can I CO2 enrich a vented room?

Peace

Your plants will need fresh CO2 no matter what and a sealed room with only AC will have no source of fresh CO2. Most people get fresh CO2 by fan ventilation. Old stale air out new fresh CO2 loaded air in. Sealed rooms are almost exclusively CO2 enriched via a CO2 bottle.

 

[grow nerd]

I would say "it depends".

masterKahn, where is it always 4:20? I thought all time zones had a 30-minute LCD, maybe I'm wrong.

 

[masterKahn]

I think I confused myself in this thread but I don't think you can vent a rooms air and enrich it with CO2 you would be pumping all your CO2 enrichment right out with the air. Any good exhaust system will turn over the air in a grow space ever few minutes. You would have to refill your CO2 bottle every day. Most grows with CO2 work by sealing an aircooled hood and venting the hood with non CO2 enriched air from outside the grow. The grow area is sealed to prevent the CO2 from escaping. Then an AC unit would be used to control temperature and humidity.

And it's always 4:20 at my house

 

[jugdishe]

I just installed a window ac in an attempt to get rh down and i still need to use a dehumidifier to lower rh.
I installed the ac based on the idea that cooler air cant hold as much water vapor, so lower temp lower =water vapor=less humidity. this has not been my experience as i still have rh issues

 

[Ipsissimus]

your theory is correct, but your humidity problem is too big for your AC. all that water dripping outside is water condensing from the cooled air, removed from your room. I've had a big window unit handle a 3K room. I forget the btu's, but it is quite possible. I've also had fine results without c02 in a ac cooled room, with little air exchange (not zero).

 

[sparkjumper]

I use a 12,000BTU window AC in an 8 by 8 room with 3 1K's and I still need a dehumidifier,especially during lights out theres no way around it

 

[Johnny Rotten]

If you lower your lights off temp, you can get away with no dehumid. if your A/C is properly sized. You may need a programmable therm. and some D.I.Y skills if your A/C is not programmable.

 

[lysol]

There are controllers that can alternate between co2 and exhaust, you program in a desired temperature and humidity and it regulates c02 while the exhaust is resting only

 

[grow nerd]

lysol, that type of system would exhaust only when the room reached a certain temperature, but would otherwise be a "sealed" system? I'm curious what type of system uses this (besides for emergency heat relief). In a typical setup I would imagine the CO2 generator or bottle would fill the room up, only to be sucked out soon afterwards by the extraction fan. Does it really help much to have a few minutes of partial CO2 enrichment followed by cycles of outside air, etc?