Grow room help!

[venge]

Here are some of my specs on my room that is available to be used. It is a workshop that has a separate room that is 12'W x 5'D x 7'H.

There is only a small access to enter the room. It does have access to the attic but note shop is a single car garage in residential area.

I have 3 x 1000W HPS lights all sealed and air cooled., all have a fan in them to move air along. Also a large can 100 filter with 12" inline fan for venting air out. I also have various timers and plan to use the krypo bucket setup.

I do have access to a a/c and a room heater if needed.

My major obstacle i have is in venting the air. As we are heading into cooler temps (winter) when the exhaust fan is running will it not be sending up a huge stream of exhaust that everyone will wonder wtf? Can i vent it some how in my other room but that is where i was planning to get my intake from. Can i vent into the same room that i get my intake from. If i leave the window open margianlly or wil that cause condensation in the room and so on.

Looking for some advise here please.

thanks
venge

 

[Albert Hofmann]

Why can't you vent into the attic? The air will be scrubbed right?

 

[venge]

The shop is 14 x 22. The attic has your typical pink insulation above the drywalled sealing. I was told not to directly vent the air into the attic as it would create condensation and cause it to freeze up and so on within the attice, leading to other issues. Also it was mentioned that it would look obvious as the roof would be really warm and no snow would stay on it either?

Plus with the roof attic vent I think steam will still be quite visible billowing out.
Does any of this make sense to anyone, over paranoid or just making sure there is no mistakes?

Thanks
venge

 

[Albert Hofmann]

If you are worried about smell at all and are using a carbon scrubber you will need to keep your RH fairly low (40%) to prevent the carbon from loosing it's ability to absorb smell. If that is the case, then you won't have a condensation problem at 40% RH. I am talking about venting into the attic not through to the roof. Most garage attic spaces have eve vents. Vent into the attic chamber alowing the warm growroom air to mix with the cool attic air and work it's way out through the eve vents and/or ridge vents.

 

[venge]

Thanks Albert H.,

I will try and lay the exhaust hose in the attic and give it a try. There is just one roof vent on this shop.

Thx.

venge

 

[Guest]

You could build a large box like structure attached to the outside wall of the garage and exhaust into it. Being outside in the cold it will pre cool the air. Install a Gable Attic Vent on the side not facing the neighbors for final exhausting.

Anyone asks whazzat? just tell them your air compressor is in it, to noisy running it in the garage.

 

[legalizekindtok]

why vent out???? scrub your air and recirculate within the room

 

[venge]

why vent out???? scrub your air and recirculate within the room

Would I need to use CO2 for sure then? Would i not need a fresh source of air coming in from somewhere?

Thx for the input as i would like to go that route. Its not like anyone goes in the room.

Gonna look into this idea.

cheers

venge

 

[Albert Hofmann]

without fresh air you will need CO2

 

[Guest]

When you vent out, fresh air is pulled in ( CO2 ). Why chance a heat problem as well. My scrubber recirculates the air............BUT there is a 10" F/A intake with a 10" Elicient pulling the exhaust from the hoods and the room at the other end of the duct work.

Powdery Mildew and a host of other problems CAN occur with stagnant, depleted air in a grow area. While you can't duplicate nature entirely you can surely give the girls the best they deserve. Always treat the Ladies with respect and they will pay you back in spades.

Hey Albert, I noticed he was thinking of laying his exhaust ducting up and across the attic insulation. He will surely lose fan efficiency. Out the wall will allow almost 100% fan efficiency providing his interior ducts are sized right and are short runs. Your thoughts on this issue?

Ty-Stik

 

[Guest]

My first grow was in a closet in an unused bedroom. 26" deep X 7.5' wide X 8' ceiling. Window a/c to cool bedroom. 1000w hps in closet grow. I had my filter and fan inside the closet so I was drawing air from the bedroom and returning it to the bedroom. I used a can 33 and a 275 cfm fan to exhaust. You couldn't smell anything in the bedroom. Two plants and I got about a pound of cured weed from each plant. Didn't use any co2. The window a/c unit pulls in enough outside air that the co2 level inside the room is pretty close to ambient levels.

If you use the window a/c - and you'll need it with that much heat being generated by the lights - your co2 won't stay in the room anyway. If you've got a dog or a cat that sleep in a crate, put the crate in the shop and let them generate your co2 for you. Don't laugh, we and they generate a lot of co2. If you spend a lot of time in the shop, better still. I was also using the bedroom for my office so I was giving off a lot of co2. Save your money till after you see how you do without co2. Just one more thing to worry about imho.

Peace

Edited:
One of the things that caused me to not want to vent to the outside was the fact that I'd be venting air that had already been adjusted for climate. Made little sense to pay to cool air and then just pump it outside only to have outside air come in to take its place and then have to cool that. Scrub it and put it back into the room. Works like a charm for me.

 

[Albert Hofmann]

Hey Ty-
Been watching your posts...helpfull as hell...
I have to agree that running the ducting across the insulation is not going to be very efficient. I was picturing the exhaust blowing freely into the attic. Straight out the wall would be the best, that box you are talking about would work nice for cooling the air a bit. I'm also a huge fan of a chimney if there is one available...plus there is nothing quite like using a small angle grinder with a 7" masonry masonry bit...I call it the knucklebuster

 

[TGT]

This summer I had a set up much like yours and the way I had it worked great, but now that its colder I had to change things slightly. I think things are going good now so I will outline it for you to give you a few idea's. I believe this set up will work in your situation also.

Make it so you have two rooms side by side in the garage about equal sizes if you don't already. It's easy to build a wall if you need too. Scrub your air and exaust it into the next room beside the grow. Put a smaller fan pulling air in from outside through ducting and exaust it up high over your plants. It is important to use a much smaller fan than the scrubber is using. Also make sure you seal the room as best you can with B&W plastic. The plastic is important so that not too much air is pulled in through structural leaks there-by diminishing your vacuum. In the grow room should be a strong dehumidifier to keep your carbon scrubber working well. With the scrubber letting out more air than the passive intake, it will cause a vacuum allowing no smell to leave unless through the scrubber. The vaccum should be strong enough so that with the door closed the B&W plastic on the walls should be seen sucking inward with the intake fan and carbon scrubber running.

The air being pulled in will not cause any noise to the outside if you use long ducting to pull the air in and place the fan close to the extracted air end. The grow room should be cooled sufficiently enough with the intake fan and the cold air will mix with the heat from the lamps. If you want the room to stay a consistant temperature it would not be hard to plug the fan into a plug that is controlled by a thermostat. This way it will turn off the fan when a certain temperature is reached and turn it on automatically when needed. This is great for when the lights go out. Without it it will have to manually be turned off or else your plants will freeze to death. That is what I have to do to my room next.

My room is in a house, but the setup should work all the same. Just a few idea's to ponder. Hope it helps and good luck. Be sure to post how the room looks when she is all set up. Should be interesting indeed.

TGT

 

[venge]

Thanks, awesome advice from everyone.

Afterthinking it out some more, i will vent back into my other room. As for putting an A/C in, that will work greatly for the summer months. As i am north of the border and winter is coming up soon it will be real cold. Now would it make sense for me to leave a window partially open, or do i try to install a fan that draws in fresh air from the putside every now and again. The other room is quite a bit larger. Could I draw air from my attic as it would be cool air, maybe to cold?

Thnx again

venge

 

[GrassRoots]

I think that air from your attic will be too cold and then you'll also end up paying money to heat that air in the winter and cool that air in the summer. I'd just keep the door open to that room you have air coming in and out of and put an oscilating (sp?) fan in the doorway to help circulate air throughout the house. I'm not an experienced grower so take my advice with a grain of salt but I'm on my first grow now and I decided to recirculate air like you're saying you'll do and things have been just fine for me.

 

[venge]

My plan is to keep the door shut, out of site out of mind rationalle...

But I will work on venting inot the larger room. Now I do have a construction heater that heat the shop anyways. So I will just keep it turned down marginally (thermostat controlled) as the shop would need its normal heating anyways, but with the other room venting in/out all the time (or as thermostat dictates) and the added heat from lights it will will help heat the other side. I do plan to use co2 down the road but maybe sooner as to help in the fresh air supply department.

Will I need a fan still to add air into the room even when i will be venting it out to that same room with a 12" can fan, on can 100 filter. The lights have there own fan that will already be venting to the same room.

thx

venge

 

[Guest]

Well then, never mind...

hehe

 

[legalizekindtok]

yes venge!!!!! if you have the power in lumens... it is a hell of a waste if you r not usin co2. if there is any garden out there with more than 400 watts of light put the gas to it baby!!! 2/3 to double what your pullin out of your show. i have grown a cross bred bagseed x white widow for a while and beginning of the year i started gassin and i feel so dumb for not doing so sooner!!! but the learning behind it all is the true reward!! but remember to totally seal the grow heavy mil panda plastic is great for this!!!

 

[legalizekindtok]

man soo much techno stuff like ionizers, carbon scrubbers surely you can find a way to vent.

 

[TGT]

venge, I would try leaving a window opened in the grow room (passive intake) and with the power of the carbon scrubber creating a vaccum it should pull in enough cold air to cool the room. Make sure you don't open it too much so that you loose your vacuum. As I explained above the vacuum is very important to keep the smell at bay. I personally like the idea of the intake fan as you can use a thermostate with it to turn the fan on and off when needed maintaining a consistant temperature. Also, when the fan is not on it won't pull in too much air if you use a six inch vent.

Try the window first and see how it goes. If it is not sufficient, use an intake fan with a thermostat. Hope this helps, let us know how it works out for you.

TGT