Cool Tubes Cracking ?

[Smurf]

I went into my local hydro to buy a couple of Cool Tubes last week and was told not to waste my money because they crack !!
I've always thought that the tubes were tempered glass and of good quality.....much confusion as I don't know anyone using them, I cant decide whether its a myth or not.......or should I just go for the old vented hoods?
Has anyone had this problem with them cracking?
Any imput could save me heart ache and $$$

 

[Sauce]

The guy who told you that is an idiot.

Yes, they are made of tempered glass and usually built strong. I, and many others, actually used a thin glass candle tube which I could probably break with my hands. I'm not even sure if it's tempered. I've been using it 6+ months with no problems.

The only way I think you could break a cool tube is to either drop it or do something to make large a temperature differential between the sides. There are a lot of people on this site who use cool tubes and I've never heard of one breaking without dropping it or something stupid like that.

 

[Smurf]

Sweet....thanks mate

 

[Ncogneato]

I don't suppose the hydro guy was trying to sell a fancy hood was he? Cool tubes are quite sturdy. I think the only way it would crack is if your fan crapped out and it over heats. But even so, most are made of tempered glass. Hell, mine was cracked during shipping and I still use it with no problems what so ever.

 

[trichster]

seen a 1000hps bulb get broken in shipment by bouncing around inside a cool tube, didnt even scratch it. idiot ebayer didnt take bulb out and rap it up. by the way the cool tube works great, can get at least 6 inches closer with it.

 

[Smurf]

Thanks...Sauce, Ncogneato, trichster

Thanks...Sauce, Ncogneato, trichster

Last night I went back to the same hydro shop owner and stated my findings.... he said that he has seen
"a pile of cracked cool tubes in another shop" and then he stated
"you don't know how people treat them".
When I quizzed him again he said
"4 out of 10 had been returned, all from the same grower"
bottom line is....one idiot has given them a bad rap and now this guy doesn't want to sell them at all !!!
Oh well....his loss

 

[fuzygrowth]

I don't suppose the hydro guy was trying to sell a fancy hood was he? Cool tubes are quite sturdy. I think the only way it would crack is if your fan crapped out and it over heats. But even so, most are made of tempered glass. Hell, mine was cracked during shipping and I still use it with no problems what so ever.

FYI : tempered glass doesn't crack, it shatters. if anyone needs a custom hood made please pm me, i have them for $148 special right now, here's a pic





g'luck

 

[Sauce]

Sweet hood, I'll take 3! :wink:

 

[Big Bud Bear]

[/B]


FYI : tempered glass doesn't crack, it shatters. if anyone needs a custom hood made please pm me, i have them for $148 special right now, here's a pic





g'luck

$150 for some tin and wood

 

[Smurf]

fuzygrowth : "tempered glass doesn't crack, it shatters".......

I think that all depends on the manufacturing process & temperature the glass was tempered to........a long costly process maybe.......a short cheaper process definately not.
Toughened safety glass breaks differently to regular tempered glass. It breaks into little pebble-like pieces, without sharp edges, eg front, side & rear windows of a car, glass oven doors etc.

 

[Piffington]

Just recieved my cooltube.....cracked

Just recieved my cooltube.....cracked

Hey fuzygrowth! you ripped me off! I bought the same hood off you a couple weeks back for $200....no but seriously I just recieved my new hydrofarm cooltube in the mail (UPS) and it was unfortunately cracked right down the middle .
I can push it together and it's fine so is there anyway I can do to keep it that way? I don't think just using some duct tape on the top side would hold too long.... anyway I did email back the seller from ebay that I got it from and hopefully I'll get a replacement but If I can get it to stay in place without any openings then that would be fine with me unless my 6" vortex breaks on me too.....

 

[Sauce]

I wouldn't try to use a cracked cool tube no matter what. That's trash it came cracked, make sure you get a new one or your $ back.

 

[Piffington]

Hey Sauce , thanks for the advice. They're sending me another one hopefully this time the delivery guy does his job right and it has no cracks whatsoever.

 

[Grass_Lover]

The cooltube won't crack cuz of heat.. maybe because of poor construction.

if you have air flow thru the tube you will never be in trouble of the glass getting too hot and your tape or something else that is touching it burning. just keep the air flow.

 

[marx2k]

Actually, thats an interesting use for those damn turkey pans. Pie pans would work well too, methinks

 

[BenitoCereno]

My Hydroshop guy told me not to bother with cool tubes either...He said they look nice and do cool the grow area but they "don't reflect worth shit" then he tried to sell me a AC Daystar.

Common sense tells me that the Daystar probably does reflect better but I still don't like the hard sell.

 

[clowntown]

Yes it's true that the Cool Tubes with the built-in reflectors aren't very good at throwing out an even footprint. I'm not sure who came out with the name Cool Tube first and what product it was applied to, but when people say Cool Tube I assume they mean a 6" glass tube with a built-in reflector like this:



But there are many different versions / variations of the Cool Tube, including virtually identical ones to each other going by different names. Some that are larger in diameter (8", 10", etc), longer (24", 48", 60", etc), external batwing reflectors, and plain tubes that run through a "standard hood reflector". Here are a few variations on the Cool Tube.









The ones with external reflectors will, I'm sure, put out a much more even light footprint than the internal reflector versions (which IMO are especially good for cabinet or small space grows).

Only real (possible) fault I see with the external batwing design is that the reflected light must first go through one glass lens (top portion of the tube), get reflected, and some of that light will then go through that same piece of glass again and through more glass (bottom portion of the tube) resulting in a lot of lumen loss.

Apologies for the crappy drawing, but I think it illustrates my theory:



That's just my theory. A "V crease" in the center of the batwing should theorhetically avoid some of that double- and triple-glass problem, I think. I'd love to see a light meter test done with these external batwing Cool Tubes (vs internal reflector and "hood" reflectors).

 

[Guest]

the daystar AC is actually very good, it comes with a 25 year warranty so you know it will last and the fact that it was originally designed and available for commercial green houses.

 

[clowntown]

the daystar AC is actually very good, it comes with a 25 year warranty so you know it will last and the fact that it was originally designed and available for commercial green houses.

As far as I'm concerned, warranties on reflectors really don't mean a whole lot. It's the performance light pattern, cooling capability, ease of use/maintenance, etc) that counts, IMHO. The 25 year warranty basically means that it won't fall apart. I really can't imagine any reflector just breaking after some years without abuse, which I'm sure they won't cover anyways. It's like putting a (meaningless) 50 year warranty on a nail or a brick.

To see what a quality reflector really means, check out my review of the Hydrotek Silver Star reflector. Now that is a serious reflector!

 

[Ganico]

I just want a SunGro