first grow space overheating. Help!

[california bud]

Hi guys

Setting up and testing my first grow tent (no plants yet). Planning to do SOG. 8x4, 2x 1000w cooltubes with reflectors. lights are hooked up in series with aluminum ducting with one 6" 500cfm rated inline fan pulling through them and out of the tent. two 12" oscillating fans on opposite (far) ends of the tent both blowing towards the middle of the tent, pulling air from outside the tent from small flaps directly behind each fan.

Temps are 90+ both underneath the lights and on the floor according to thermometers I bought today. They're supposed to be <80 degrees, correct?

How should I solve this while keeping the wattage the same? Trying to avoid A/C at the moment... Winter is coming so ambient temps won't be above 70 for much longer.

Thanks

 

[jsomhintdh]

Where are you exhausting, into the same room as the tent or outside. And where are you drawing in air, from same room as tent or outside

 

[california bud]

the exhaust side of the tent is inches away from an open window. Intake is passive, air is drawn in from the room the tent is in through several openings in the tent.

 

[jsomhintdh]

Does the draw from your fan force air into the window while you are trying to blow out it? What is temp inside the room by intakes outside tent

 

[jsomhintdh]

If you can post pics or a mockup of the area of the room and tent would probably help. But if room is decent ambient and not getting overheated from lights,the maybe a flow design is faulty

 

[stoney917]

Shoulda got 8in hoods 2k is tight in a tent especially without ac or strong exhaust....but u got what ya got. . First thing id do is actually vent the heat out not inches from the window but out... N i suggest a 8in fan but if u vent them correctly the 6 may do the job.... Insulated duct is cheap n worth it to makes a big difference... Or u could switch to 600s n be fine ... If u dead set runnin 2k the only other options other then what i said is ac ... Proper ventillation is a very important key to growin the finest dank... Learn that lesson early dont cut corners...

 

[Granger2]

Are you running your lights during days or nights? Stoney's right about taking the exhaust OUT not near the window. What's the temp in the room the intake's coming from? You won't need 1000wX2 till the plants get some size on them, so you can downwatt the ballasts to 600 till about the 3rd week of 12/12. Are you exhausting the tent or just the lights. You need more exhaust. Good luck. -granger

 

[california bud]

Was planning to veg during the day, but I guess I can do that at night instead and switch over to day when going to 12/12. Won't the plants not grow as tall and have smaller colas if I veg with reduced wattage? I agree, gotta get the temp control figured out ASAP. So excited to begin this journey

The ambient temps are in the low 70s these days but they're going to keep going down. When I ran the system last night the tent was much warmer than the room it was in, suggesting an issue with the tent air evacuation as jsomhintdh said.

From reading your guys' posts and other threads I'm starting to think a single 6" inline fan isn't sufficient for removing 2000w of lighting. Would you guys suggest adding 900 CFM dedicated hot air evacuation or would a 500 CFM dedicated for evacuation be enough? either way will likely be running through a carbon filter during flower depending on how good I want the apartment complex to smell.

 

[Ph-patrol]

When I set up a temp tent near a window.I ripe a piece of azek/wood 10" tall and the same with as the sash.Then pop to holes on the right and the left of my plank.
Then pipe it and close in in the window.

Good luck

 

[mowood3479]

a 900 cfm fan would go a long ways to remedy ur overheating issue... N maybe take the 500 cfm ur currently using as exhaust and use it for intake.

 

[stoney917]

Slower growth smaller yield is better then heat stressed garbage ne day.... High temps r probably the number1 reason for crappy weed..

 

[california bud]

a 900 cfm fan would go a long ways to remedy ur overheating issue... N maybe take the 500 cfm ur currently using as exhaust and use it for intake.

Thanks. wasn't planning on doing an active intake, my view being if the exhaust is done properly the intake will take care of itself

Slower growth smaller yield is better then heat stressed garbage ne day.... High temps r probably the number1 reason for crappy weed..

I won't start growing until the heat issues are sorted out, period. Just trying to get there one step at a time.

 

[mowood3479]

Slower growth smaller yield is better then heat stressed garbage ne day.... High temps r probably the number1 reason for crappy weed..

Yup, this exactly

 

[jsomhintdh]

2k is a good amount of power.

What's gonna be your stock of plants, are you starting from seeds/clones.
If starting from seed, hell even clones, you'll have a good amount of time before needing those 2ks.

Are you utilizing any other tents or areas for (seedling|rooting|veg)?

Gonna be scrubbing your air at all?
Last ? have you given a read to the Ventilation 101 thread, or any other places about running 2 fans for bigger lights? One strictly for passing cooler,low humidity,outside air over your bulbs and straight out of the building, or atleast room. Then another fan for scrubbing the tent and creating a negative pressure that pulls in cool passive air and exhausting out of the room?

 

[california bud]

I've read my eyes out but didn't want to spend the money on a second fan until I saw things get too hot with my own eyes, lol. I'll try adding ducting to the cooltube intake so that fan is on its own circuit and add a second fan to scrub the air and create negative pressure in the tent.

Plan is to SOG many plants, starting from clone, veg until 12 - 18" tall then flip. Just haven't decided on the size of the second inline fan.

 

[packerfan79]

Filter is going to be a big deal in flower

 

[california bud]

ordered the 8" fan + scrubber + muffler tonight. That thing's gonna be loud..

I tested out the tent tonight at reduced voltages -- 500W / light -- temps held steady at 82. this is doable.. happy weekend everybody

 

[EastCoast710]

Shoulda got 8in hoods 2k is tight in a tent especially without ac or strong exhaust....but u got what ya got. . First thing id do is actually vent the heat out not inches from the window but out... N i suggest a 8in fan but if u vent them correctly the 6 may do the job.... Insulated duct is cheap n worth it to makes a big difference... Or u could switch to 600s n be fine ... If u dead set runnin 2k the only other options other then what i said is ac ... Proper ventillation is a very important key to growin the finest dank... Learn that lesson early dont cut corners...

over on the east coast.. its not even cold outside.. I'm pulling 70degree passive air into my tents.. and have 2 1000s in each tent.. and I'm maxing out at 82.. lol with 6 inch fans. also.. and a few osc fans in the tent.. make sure to put the exhaust/carbon filter at the top of the tent.. to get the hottest air out asap..

ill be adding a cold air intake from outdoors soon . to make sure it stays cool enough but that's a whole entire new thing.

 

[Ph-patrol]

Another strategy besides venting tents with larger inline fans for inlets and outlets is to use a Dimmable Electronic Fan Cooling Ballast so you can turn down the light to 500 watts on hotter days.
It will give you that much more flexibility to keep plants happy.

 

[california bud]

got the new filter + fan + muffler set up this evening. Good thing I bought the 8" fan-- I'm still having temp problems!

So after 1 hour of running I came back to check on temps. The room is warmer than it was before-- up one degree to 74* -- but the temperature level at the canopy is still 88*. Much better than it was before when I tried running both lights at 1000w but still too hot

Anyone have any thoughts on this?