can I blow freezing air in my 1000wcooltubes?

[Redrooster]

High all, living in the deep freez, I wonder if I can cool my air cooled lights(cool tubes)with the -20c air from outside? will it b low my lights?I see lights on the street and they are ok.
Thanks, RR

 

[Bozo]

I use outside air but -10 is as cold as it gets here .I would guess yes you can .Might condensate like crazy thou inside the tube my air cooled reflector drips on cold nights......................I was confused it gets -10 F here and I have nop trouble -20 C is only 4 F so yer fine

 

[Redrooster]

Thanks Bozo ,I had not thought of the condensation. I guess that depends on the inside humidity. Is it best to use out or in air? RR

 

[Bozo]

Outside air cools my 2 ! K light great I just insulated the ducting before the first light ,once it goes through light its alittle warmer wont condensate.I set my fan before the hoods so it blows through and doesnt suck stinky air into hoods (not very airtight )
Nice feeling when you put yer hand on top of a 1 K hood and its cold

 

[Stay Puft]

Another thing you may want to consider:
Thermal Shock-To prevent this you should ensure the fan always turns on with the lamp.
It is probably not a big concern, but something to consider with extreme low temps.

 

[samba]

Do you need to vent the room if your running that cold air in the cooltubes?

 

[Bozo]

Yes or run A/C that is with 2K in 6x8 room , but using outside air really helps lighten the load on the A/C .

 

[samba]

Yes or run A/C that is with 2K in 6x8 room , but using outside air really helps lighten the load on the A/C .

Is it a significant help on the load?

 

[L~B]

huge I run as cold as it gets 30- f this year I find that running insulated duckting the first length cuts out condensation and yes only run your cooling fans during the light cycle or you will get condensation on your lights too and they themselves turn into cooling units at night

I also cool them in the summer when I have the ac going I'd say the load is cut in half cooling them also lets you place the lights much closer to the canopy

 

[badugi]

You mean condense on the outside of the tube, not inside, right?

 

[Bozo]

I have been wiping drops of water away from the first hood inline all night ,its a Super Sun the old syyle 4 inch vents on the side ,there is condensation inside glass right below inlet side .The entire inlet side on outside of hood is wet .A/C is new to me I have always vented through scrubber to fan into lights and out into house for heat or up and out when its warmer ,never gets hot enough to actualy need ac I could always keep up with air exchange ,I have another 6 inch fan and filter on a anolog controler that kicked on if the one cooling lights lagged behind .It sounds to me you wont be that lucky and summer heat will make A/C a nessesity for you .Set room up test see how cool you can get it with ventilation you have on full snot .Lets say that temp was 60 degrees and it was 55 degrees outside .That is perfect ventilation if you can get 5 degrees over ambient temp .Only way to find out is to set the lights up set up ventilation and try.If you find problems it is only a problem because you havent found a solution yet there always is a solution .I can tell you understand it odor control and all get after it !

 

[vaprpig]

You can use an interval timer on your fan/fans to get rid of the condensation. just set it for around 5 mins. on and then 5 mins. off, you have to fine tune it to your setup and the temps. This allows cooling but also allows the lights to heat back up and thus keep the condensation down. My room used to turn into a rain forest in the winter until I added the interval timer.

 

[L~B]

you will get no condensation on you lights if you only run the fan cooling the light when there on My fan turns on 5 min after the last light turns on and 5 min before the first light shuts off....yes the condensation is on the outside of the lights not the inside badugi

 

[badugi]

you will get no condensation on you lights if you only run the fan cooling the light when there on My fan turns on 5 min after the last light turns on and 5 min before the first light shuts off....yes the condensation is on the outside of the lights not the inside badugi

I get more condensation when the lights are on, but I think it has more to do with my light-cooling fans being turned off when they're not on. (My room stays "warm", same temperatures throughout, regardless of light cycle.)

Condensation will build up any time there's a cold/warm that meets... the humidity in the air (typically warm side) will condense on surfaces...

Pretty much a principle of how a dehumidifier, etc, works.

 

[Redrooster]

Cold air on hot lights

Cold air on hot lights

Good morning all, thanks for the info! I will put some insulated ducking to the first cooltube.
How many cooltubes can I put in line? 2 lines of 7?
Thank you all for the info. RR

 

[smurfin'herb]

I get cond. on my first hood of each row. I turn fans off when lights go out, cuz if i dont, i get puddles building up (and sometimes freezing) on the lenses of my hoods, because the room temp is like 70F and the air temp of the light chain is like -10F. If i dont pull cold air thru lights when they are off, this doesnt happen. During lights on, the first bulb in the chain is like, well idk but its hot as balls, and the incoming air is like -10F, so what i think happens is that the heat emitted from the bulb evaporates the condensation that usually occurs on the lens when the light is off. I still get a little "dew" on the outside of my first hood when lights are on, but nothing even close to as much as when they are off with the fans running.

 

[SKUNK420]

I once had a system two 1000's set up like this: blocked off window with 6" ducting that was 2 feet long hooked to two 1000's to 10" vortex ( yes over kill but run what you brung) then out the ceiling. the whole ducting run with lights was like 10 feet long. system ran at night. i had condensation all over my running bulbs it was crazy to see running lights with water dripping off them. i fixed the problem by keeping the fan on longer after the lights went off and cycling the fan during the night with the timer. oh yeah i had to switch to insulated ducting cuz condensation was forming on the ducting and dripping on my plants.

 

[samba]

Could I fix the condensation problem by pushing warm air from the room trough the hoods at lights of?
Like:
Light on,
outside---FAN(on)>>>hood---hood<<<FAN(off)---room

Light off,
outside---FAN(off)>>>hood---hood<<<FAN(on)---room

I'm thinking I will get the temps down even if I blow the hot air in to the room, as it comes in so cold that it shouldn't be THAT hot after hood...