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Designing a trailer mounted grow room. IDEAS WANTED

Bennyweed1

Active member
Veteran
So I want to have my grow room located in a 12' x 6' enclosed trailer to give me the stealth I desire and the ability to quickly move shop if land lords need to gain access to my work shop.

my idea plan is simple but the setup will be some what complex with the wiring and fabrication, but I want this to be a pro setup so I plan on spending the coin to do everything right.

Here is the proposed plan, but I decided to re arrange the RDWC setup so there are only two rows of plants and having the control bucket connected with by two bulks heads oppose to one.

I have also decided to use only 3 - 600w oppose to 4 of them. This is necessary to keep my power profile out of the radar

Anyway, here it is:

picture.php


The forward veg room will hold the mini split A/C and water cooled co2 gen and the separation wall will have two 300 cfm fans recirculating the air in and out of each room. Each fan will be attached to a carbon filter.

As far has as powering the trailer, I'll wire a 50a sub panel inside and wire receptacles. I will install a 240v R/V shore power connector so I can quickly unplug and move.

Inside on the sub panel I will wire a dedicated 240v 30amp for the bloom lights (so I can add more if I want too) and a dedicated 240v 20amp breaker for the mini split A/C. The veg area will get two 20a 120v breakers for the veg lighting and the circulation fans and whatever else requires 120v.

aside from the RDWC arrangement, how does it look and sound? The back of the trailer has a draw gate style door.

Here is what I will get when the time comes http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-6x12-6-.../400734774181?pt=Trailers&hash=item5d4da763a5

As far as condenser location goes...Ill either mount it either side of the V nose (suggestions wanted)
 

coldcanna

Active member
Veteran
The first thing that came to mind is where are you going to put the compressor for the mini? If your going for stealth thats gonna look a little odd to have a unit sitting outside the trailer, and if you need to move locations you'll have to break the lines and go through the process of setting it up again somewhere else. I like the idea a lot, would you consider purchasing an old RV instead of the trailer? A lot of them have AC already in them, are setup for power and also have water holding and waste capabilities...
 

McKush

Éirinn go Brách
ICMag Donor
Veteran
yup, me three... plus i read your diagram as 1800 BTU which I take to be 18K BTU. That is alot of cooling for three 600W. But I realized that you wont be doing any added insulation or will you? I imagine you are going to have the trailer where it can't be easily walked up to? It will put out both heat and sound signatures so factor that in to your plan.
 

paladin420

FACILITATOR
Veteran
Start looking at portable office trailers.Like for big job sites.

They hav most of the basics we need already in place. Huge AC's, power, water etc.
And raises few questions.
 

Granger2

Active member
Veteran
I would insulate the crap out of it [roof and sides incl door] with multiple layers of Prodex.
http://www.insulation4less.com/
Use their mylar tape w/ staples and 1x2, or better 1x1 between layers. Overlap seams. Only 1/4" thick [1 1/4" with 1" spacer wood between] Three layers w/air space gives you at least R-30 something, 2 3/4" thick. Good luck. -granger

Edit: Actually, don't overlap the seams. I meant to stagger the seams, layer over layer. Also, don't insulate the roof, insulate the ceiling. Prodex will save you money year after year. Mine's been up for 8 or 9 years with no repairs needed even on the ceiling. It's a good sound barrier and stops RF from leaving the room. Your room will have no heat signature. -granger
 

the gnome

Active member
Veteran
:yeahthats:

2nd that on the prodex.
stuff is most excellent to work with,
lite weight and offers more than superb insulation value such as sound deadening qualities:joint:
 

whadeezlrg

Just Say Grow
Veteran
taggin this one, I'm loving the thought of a mobile room after tearing down and rebuilding almost non-stop over the last couple years...I'm thinking about grabbin an 8 x 20 enclosed and running 3-4 1kw gavitas(also giving myself the option of up to 6 - 600w gavitas to account for the lower than ideal head height on most of the trailers I've seen so far, 6'7")

I'm also curious about your plans for the a/c compressor location...I imagine it could be mounted to the tongue of the trailer fairly easily and eliminate the need to break the system open in case of a move.
 

GrowerGoneWild

Active member
Veteran
Question: Is is necessary to have a clone/veg/mom area within the trailer? If so that needs to be stacked in a vertical arrangement to make more room for the bloom area.

Thought: Need to draw to scale. also you need to make room for walking room. 24 in path should be ok.

Experience: I hate working in a non insulated structure, this is a problem as far as climate control, hot or cold.. whatever I literally laugh at people having problems with a closet grow or indoor tent grow. So much easier to correct. You can do it.. its just more tweaking especially if your trailer is going to be outside.. And it makes it more challenging with running a co2 burner.

Cool setup.. hope it works for ya.
 

Bennyweed1

Active member
Veteran
Sorry for the delay in getting back. I have been stacked with work these days.

Anyways, to try and answer some of the questions asked or pointed out up above.

The A/C is going to be a 18,000btu mini split unit. It has an external condenser and a internal evaporator coil. Everything pertaining to powering the mini split will be hard wired to the 40a 240v/120v sub panel box. The size of the external condenser is only 2.7'w X 1'D X 2.2'H. That is actually fairly small when considering the cooling potential of 18,000btu and the system only drawing 6.8a peak @ 240v.
It will leave me with enough cooling capacity to spare, which is a good thing.

As far as insulation goes, I plan on doing an R-10 2" Rmax insulation board. Easy to hang and it will also provide decent sounding deadening capability.

As far as making the drawing to scale. I plan on splitting the trailer right in half to make two 6' rooms.

It will be enough space to do everything i need to do. And it is necessary to have everything contained in this trailer (moms, clones, veg) as I need to be able to move everything with short notice.

The trailer itself will always be in my shop so no one will every be near it, but it will look normal, beside the small condenser coil attached to the front of the trailer. But at the rate society is growing stupid at, people will probably assume its the spare tire.

I need the ability to move everything fast and easily with short notice. The trailer will have two batteries inside which will run the air pumps and carbon filters for about 4 hours which is more then enough time I will need in the event I have to move and park somewhere else.

What better then a trailer I figured.
 

OvergrowDaWorld

$$ ALONE $$
Veteran
Sounds like a plan! Cool idea. You dont want to use an RV so you can drive around with your mobile garden?
My buddys friend uses the "Pods" storage units they drop off and pick up when your done with it. Dont know how he goes about cooling or heating but I guess hes successfull at it.
 

whadeezlrg

Just Say Grow
Veteran
the main downfall of shipping containers is you have to call a semi to move it for ya, but they are taller than most trailers (up to 9'6") and secure as all hell...they are cheaper for a 20ft unit that a 20ft trailer...but the not mobile aspect really kills it for me.
 
Ive done this using a 32 ft toy hauler. 12x6 is going to be tight. Price isnt much more for a 16x8. Good points. Insulate as best as you can. Seal it tight for smell. If you have a slope coming off the back build a sub floor. I ran a 30 pot system with 6-1ks and did very well. Ixnay the veg if possible and keep your scrubber, materials electrical and ballasts etc up front. That way you could dedicate a little bit more space to your bloom and possibly run a fourth 6. Regarding the ac split. I ran fresh air through my lights by building a filter box through the floor into my hoods and back out up top through vents. Then i bought a regular stand alone 15000 btu from home depot and it worked just fine. As long as you insulate well and parking it under a nice shade tree works great too
 

FlowerFarmer

Well-known member
Veteran
Been wanting to build out a trailer proper for a while now. Soon..

I've been thinking about going with a motorcycle enclosed trailer as they are a bit shorter in height. A standard trailer is normally too tall to fit in an attached residential garage so unless a commercial space is available to park I personally would find it's use/mobility limited.

Been on the hunt for a 14x8. I'm finding V nose 14' in this variety, but really want 8' to allow a 2' walkway with 3x3 trays against the walls. I'd like to do 8 600w lamps (4800w total). Keep it strictly bloom with low tide tables and SOG/elevated plant counts.

Definitely spent a lot of time building this in my mind. Sick of taking down and rebuilding as well. I want pro-style professionalism without have the tear it down when the gas man wants in, etc.

My only hang-up with the Split AC sitting on the tongue of the trailer. If this was in a say a closed 2 attached car garage wouldn't the surrounding space ultimately heat up and cause the compressor to cycle/not cool. Would this work if the garage had some fans hooked up to that it recycle it's air " ? " times per minute.

Still figuring on how to stay mobile while having a functional split AC.



oldnewfarmer, that's pretty impressive that you were able to stay cool with the air-cooled lights and only 15k window unit. Definately a cheaper option, but how obvious was that thing. Noisy? I imagine in addition the window AC that thing had some fan noise.. since you were drawing and exhausting outside of the trailer.

My plan is a well insulated enclose trailer with split ac and a fan/filter combo scrubbing inside. Definitely a pricey build w/ the trailer + split, but I'd imagine it'd be damn quiet. I just installed a 2ton Gree and blown away how quiet the outdoor unit is. It's quiet as hell and makes my 3ton Mr. Slim seem loud.
 

Granger2

Active member
Veteran
There are millions of sources for custom built trailors. Lot of competition=reasonable prices. Shop it. You could maybe have a compartment built in the front for the outdoor unit with ass kicking exhaust going out the top, intake on bottom. Make the trailor the height you need. Good luck. Check farm supply stores and their bulletin board for guys with low costs who do that custom work. Use other name, pay cash. -granger
 

GrowerGoneWild

Active member
Veteran
Is it more economical to convert an old RV into a growop?.. It already has tanks, hookup for shore power, compartments, ac, propane for co2 generation. etc. And even a generator?..

Just a thought.
 
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