DIY Trailer Park Cooltube

[steve green]

Well i decided to take pics of me putting together a cooltube for 400 hps with reflector.

Heres what u need to start..

Pyrex bake a round,ductape(never do anything without),2"inch hose clamp,bungi's (to help support tube with ducting) 4"inch ducting (u could easily do it with 6inch too) and a couple of Slip hole hooks**commenly used to hold up curtains.**

heres the light with reflector...


Ok now step #1 hold the clamp and hooks like this..


STep #2
you can add more if u like ,space them out..now put that over the bulb and tighten it around the socket..thats the annoying part ,,take your time and get it spaced and tight...


you should stand it up while you tighten
and work with.

Step #3 take the Pyrex tube and put it over the bulb and into the newly placed hooks that should be tightly on the socket with the clamp.




Step #4
grab your ducting and your Duct tape and attach it to the endof the pyrex tube,make sure not to use too much space on the glass,but enough tape to connect them both..like this



keep in mind u can use other ways to connect it, electrical tape works too.
I just grabbed what was close,and theres not many problems duct tape cant fix lol.
Step#5
Now just put the ducting through an exhaust hole and attach it to your exaust fan,(preferbly in line with your light,and hang your light evenly..(take your time and try to keep every thing leveled out...use one bunji or chain to wrap around the ducting and hold it up with another one. Supporting the ducting,will inturn support the cooltube..your bulb shouldnt even touch the glass.


and

so there you have it ,i saw something similar a while ago online and had to make some pics doing it and contribute to this great forum..well i hope it helps anyone.,,
granted its ultra Ghetto but it works! just need a good fan to suck the air out .Believe me i tried with cpu fans(good ones)and just not enough power.
So use a good fan if u wanna keep it cool.

 

[jarff]

Neat..I got about 20 of those bake-rounds in my garage gathering dust..Got them at a flea market and didn,t know how to make something outta them....I guess I,ll take a run out to the garage and do some tinkering.
be safe
jarff

 

[steve green]

go for it jarff its free to try...smoke a fatty get to it!

 

[Mr.Kade]

NICE!
Looks simple 2, i want one.

I saw that idea 2 awile back, but had no instructions how 2 build it, just some pics.





Thanks 4 the instructions Mr.Green.

 

[steve green]

no prob Kade thanx for the adding those pics,,glad to help
stay safe

 

[210 x 2]

Amend those Cool Tube DIY Instructions!!

Amend those Cool Tube DIY Instructions!!

Hey Steve I commend you on your effort to pass on your knowledge, but I have a suggestion. As I was looking over your directions and pics I immediately noticed something, which you later confirmed in your "Power Plant thread". You mentioned that the cool tube wasn't cooling off as well as you had hoped for. This might be the reason: The way you constructed it doesn't allow for proper air flow.It looks like you butted the Bake a Round right up to the lighting socket holder, essentially plugging the hole that allows for the incomming air that actually does the cooling. If you could re-assemble that end so that there is space, about 1/4" between the edge of the Bake a Round and the socket holder so that the fan attached to the ducting has someplace to pull air in from. It's the same principle that is applied when building a grow room, if you provide a discharge opening, then you also need to add an intake!! Give it some thought, try my theory out and see if it works for you!
Good luck with the rest of your grow!!

 

[avgjoe]

This method with the slip hole hooks looks like a much better option for holding the socket than fabricating something out metal strap as other people have done. Thanks for posting this!

Do you happen to have an online link for purchasing those slip hole hooks that will fit correctly?

thanks again!

 

[Jnugg]

no i would have to disagree and say the metal straps are better as they have less surface area so theres better airflow.

or cutdown the socket holder to reasonable size and connect another piece of ducting to the socket side and then hang the reflector over the cool tube.

 

[avgjoe]

FYI - hidhut.com has the ceramic mogul sockets for $3 ea. Not bad.

 

[steve green]

2210- thnkx for stopping in Thnk You. and for the tip,,but In my Power Plant thread (lol i only got 2 threads) i said the reason i wasnt using it was cause i didnt have a better fan hooked up for proper exhaust. I was only using a shity cpu fan..i dont know why i even bothered..i knew it wasnt gonna be enough. THe design will work with a better fan. well it will bring down temps.... if the duct tape holds
Dont get me wrong there are all kinds of methods...THis ONE is ghetto and i didnt want to mess around with construction. ,,i wanted to do as little as possible. I should have made it clear that i just wanted to pull air from one side.
I do understand there are other ways Like LEMONS cooltube thread..
that looks pro . i generally suck at putting things together,im surprised i actually put this thread up. and i did all this without rewiring anything or taking of the reflector or socket... But point is this will work if u have a good fan for exhaust.

AVGJOE-- if u have any curtains u might find them holding it up, if not just go to home depot,or anywhere that sell curtains . I think there called
"slip-in heading hooks"(thats what it says on the package cost 1$) but they could have other names,,they come in diff sizes..go for a large size.
Check google images to get a good look and desciption if still needed. Mine are 3"x1/8. u might want to get a bit bigger.

I should hope everyone knows that im not saying this is THE WAY to make a cooltube...just a way.

heres LEMON's... http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=62161 its AMAZING!!! Great job Lemon

and another.. http://icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=505969

Thanx for stopping by everyone


"No! i need a cheeseburger mr. Lahey"

 

[Mr.Kade]

Hey Steve I commend you on your effort to pass on your knowledge, but I have a suggestion. As I was looking over your directions and pics I immediately noticed something, which you later confirmed in your "Power Plant thread". You mentioned that the cool tube wasn't cooling off as well as you had hoped for. This might be the reason: The way you constructed it doesn't allow for proper air flow.It looks like you butted the Bake a Round right up to the lighting socket holder, essentially plugging the hole that allows for the incomming air that actually does the cooling. If you could re-assemble that end so that there is space, about 1/4" between the edge of the Bake a Round and the socket holder so that the fan attached to the ducting has someplace to pull air in from. It's the same principle that is applied when building a grow room, if you provide a discharge opening, then you also need to add an intake!! Give it some thought, try my theory out and see if it works for you!
Good luck with the rest of your grow!!

The cool tube isnt actualy "butted against the socket holder", if you take a closer look theres actualy about a full inch of space between the bake around and the socket holder, in his pictures and the ones i added.
I do agree with what u said about having an intake duct on the other side of the bake around(probably would be more airflow) but thats the whole point of an "Open Ended" cool tube. Its for people that for some reason dont want to or "cant" have the intake attached, and if youre high and like steve green said are'nt 2 good at constructing, i think thais is a good design. plus, not all lights and light sockets are the same so its good to see somthing different.

Looks great Green! Just get a good fan and.....
BAAAAAAAAM !!!!!!!!LOL

 

[whiteboi420]

does anyone know where i can pick up a bake a round or what a hurricane lamp glass is?

 

[steve green]

whiteboi-- your best bet to get a bake-around is ebay.,thats where i got mine from. If you wanted to try to make one with a Hurricane lamp,you can find those at Walmart(i checked last time i was there) It looks like an open ended Lamp shade,or vase.... Just imagine a Lantern with the glass top,thats it....just google it for pics

 

[whiteboi420]

you da man steve green!!!

 

[rastagrass]

where do you guys get your bake a round tubes from is it online or at some retail outlet?

 

[Guest]

ebay was my destination of choice.......

 

[blueberryfarmer]

Hey there.. just wondering what you guys thought.. what fan would you recommend to use for this type of cooltube application? I have only a 110CFM squirrel cage right now which is already pulling air through a 90cfm carbon scrubber. I would like to hook up a cooltube inline with this fan for my 250w HPS. The fan is already pulling the air through the carbon filter, through some PVC tubing and then out to the exhaust hole in the cab. If i put some vent ducting and thsi cooltube in the middle of all that (after the air is pulled through the carbon scrubber but before the fan) will my fan be powerful enough? Should i get a separate fan for it? What size would you recommend? I cannot afford anything big right now, i was thinking if i had to use another fan that i could maybe use one of those cheaper inline duct fans for helping to move air through vents in houses and stuff. What do you guys think? Thanks

 

[steve green]

hi blueberryfarmer,,havent checked this thread in awhile.lets see..u got a 250watt...so the fan u got already is pulling air through your scrubber-and is that working? so i think your110cfm should be able to cool a 250,best to test it though..you might not even need to go buy another fan..test yours..see if it can get the job done-until u want to upgrade.
with 110cfm I bet it would work alot better without pulling everything through your scrubber at the end..but it is all about odor control-and your smart to do that. I just worry it will greatly reduce your cfm's so that will reduce the amount of heat you remove. I eally dont have much experience with scrubbers-so hopefuly im not giving u bad advice--hopefuly some pro's drop there 2cents about scrubbers and cfm/// in the meantime you can do some searches.
sorry for rambling,

and rasta,,just likeIrish/soco said..Ebay is agreat place to order them.

 

[blueberryfarmer]

yeah i'm debating whether or not i want to take the chance and just use my existing fan. I've got 4 weeks left in flower, and my girls are getting close to the light. They're gonna get burned soon if I dont do something, but if i hook up this cooltube to my existing ventilation and the fan doesn't cut it, then I'm really gonna be screwed right at a critical time for my buds. The fan is working well enough right now to kill the smell with the scrubber and adequately vent the area... i'm surprised the buds can get as close to the light as they can already. Anyway, hopefully someone with experience with this stuff chimes in soon! Thanks for the quick reply, steve green. This is my project for today. I hope I can get things finalized and moving along soon. Thanks!

 

[drelow31@yahoo.]

is there an intake and exhaust duct or is the side that holds the bulb open