Cheap heat for small room at night?

[TedNugget]

I'm looking for a way to add a little heat to a small (4x4) room at night.
The only thing I've been able to come up with are these 2 things -

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-marine--air-dryer-with-fan-dehumidifier--P007867518

http://www.go2marine.com/product/78...ogleshopping&gclid=CPW4re-xl8ICFSEV7AodzkAAPg

Both are cheap dehumidifiers. They both work by gently heating the air. I have no idea how much actual heat either one would add to the room. I don't need to lower the humidity but besides adding a small space heater that uses a lot of power, I can't come up with another idea. I guess I could run the lights 24/7 but I don't want to shock the plants in there and I'd rather come up with another solution because I'd prefer to keep a dark period each night.
Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[aridbud]

Why not use your light cycle during the night...heat(from LED or MH)/light= good thing.

Or get a small space heater...ceramic.

 

[spunion]

You won't need to run the space heater much to heat a 16 sq foot space. Guessing 5 minutes every 20-30 minutes.

 

[BOMBAYCAT]

If you are just popping seeds or starting clones, an electric seed starter warming mat should be enough. I keep a few mothers in the basement bathroom (which I never use) and that works good enough for that.

 

[johndoe123]

Built a lil room for my males to bloom. That room runs oppisite of my bloom room. Put one of my 1000 magnetic ballasts in that room to heat it with lights off. I like free heat

 

[prune]

Yes, running a dehuey at night as a heat source can be a useful synergy as it's needed anyway to flush away the plants night sweat. You just need to size it correctly so that it neither overheats or over drys your plants, and watch out for those record low temps that it just can't compensate for on winter nights.

 

[jd4083]

I love winter because when it's cold you can just add another light...but I have lights on during the evening and early morning, seems like you have it reversed. I've used dehueys in the past with good success, killing two birds with one stone...that may be a good bet.

 

[wildgrow]

Those are pricey options. Either run your lights at night, go with the small ceramic heater mentioned above or get an oil filled heater.

 

[Jhhnn]

Another way is to increase the thermal mass in the space using something like 5 gal buckets full of water, painted black. They'll gather heat when the light is on, give it up slowly when it's not. They need to be insulated from a concrete floor or they'll lose their heat into that. Add a small thermostatically controlled electric space heater to that.

 

[dreams4dreamin]

I also have an 4x4 grow tent. I also use humidifiers and dehumidifiers. Dehumidifiers only pulls moisture from air so it adds no heat and jus drys the air which is perfent during flowering stage. Humidifiers adds moisture to air and depending what kind u have such steam or mist, they can add a lil warmth too ur air but in some cases its not substantial. I have 2 ocillatin fans, 1 small desktop fan mini & a kenmore fan/heater. At night I use the kenmore heater fan at 50% power from the bottom because heat rises up and 1 oscillating fan up top because cool air sinks down n I meets perfectly in the middle. Dependin on what stage ur plants are in should determine if u use a humidifier or dehumidifier.. thats how I set mines up. Good luck to how ever u choose to do urs

 

[Mr Heechops]

Actually, dehumidifiers do add some heat. The avg dehuey is basically a window ac unit but without it exhausting heat to the outdoors. Like many electric appliances, a substantial portion of the wattage makes heat instead of its intended function due to inefficiency. Humidifiers do not make heat - excpet for the ultrasonic kind. Humidifiers during the dark cycle might not be a good idea anyway since humidity usually rises anyway when the lights go out - depends on your setup, env. and venting scheme of course.
Electric space heaters work but they sure use alot of watts. Even on the lowest setting, most of them still run at a 1000watts. If you look around, there are a few space heaters that run at 500Watts at the lowest setting. It'd be nice to devote those extra watts to another light instead of heaters - you could build two small rooms adjacent to each other and do a flip flop. One room light will always be on and oughta heat the other dark adjacent one - I havent tried it though.

Space heaters scare me - the ceramic ones seem safer but still. The oil filled ones seem safer but they dont distribute heat around as well due to there being no fan. But other fans can take care of that limitation. The bucket full of water does provide thermal mass method but dont expect much unless its a really big bucket. You could also put an aquarium heater into a bucket of water. Whatever method, dont forget to tape over any on/off indicator lights so that you dont screw up the darkness.

 

[flameninja]

Tube heaters are low wattage and provide a gentle heat,i place it below my passive intake so the air gets warmed as its pulled in.

 

[coldcanna]

I had a similar problem, cold basement which is even colder at night. I ran a fan with some ducting up to a discrete louver on the first floor. Pulls in that nice mid- 60's room temperature from your homes occupied space. Run your lights at night like these boys already said and I think that'd take care of ya.

 

[trichrider]

i liked jhnnns suggestion of filling buckets of water as that works...but, i'd go one step further and add an aquarium heater to the bucket. very low energy consumption.

https://www.google.com/search?q=aqu...:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb

good luck

 

[dreams4dreamin]

Maybe true in sum cases but in my case I use a mini portable dehumidifier that has to be charged and runs for 12 hours and does not contribute to any heat. My humidifier has different settings that actually contributes heat. So u kan use these specifically as I have, & they are not big energy users.

 

[TedNugget]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! There were some good ideas there. Much appreciated. I'm still open to more suggestions too.

 

[chefbudz]

i have switched my 250w mh to 24/7 in veg for the added heat and also put the ballast in front of the flowering passive intake its a little more electric but if it will keep a 1500w space heater off for a few hours its a very nice exchange

 

[flameninja]

I invented a little heater last winter cos i was struggling with low temps and was on a tight budget and it worked a treat.
I took an old biscuit tin put a hole in the side and threaded a small lamp socket through. Put some small holes in the bottom,fitted a small incandescent cooker hood bulb 25w, put the lid on and placed on a ceramic tile just outside my grow box.
Bulbs needed replacing every few week due to the high temps but 2 bulbs for £1 didn't brake the bank

 

[GreenhouseGrown]

This is what I use for that.

Electric Foot Warmer mat

 

[stoned-trout]

along with what was mentioned..may I suggest a seeding heat mat..wires ect...heating the rootzone and keeping it warm works wonders in low temps...whats cheap tho..think I paid 200$ to do a 4x4 with mats