Heat issues

[monkeyman]

I posted this over in the grow room design forum too but that gets very little traffic it seems.

So I finally got my grow closet going and doing decently, but I am having a persistent heat issue. I can not seem to reduce the temp in the closet, no mater what I do. I bought a bathroom fan from Home Depot and installed it into the wall above the closet doorway and put a Honeywell fan on the floor blowing up, but its still reading anywhere between 81 - 85 degrees.

On top of that its raising the temp of the room a fair amount too I think. It's like 50 degrees outside but my room was reading like 75 derees earlier. I know I can't expect miracles given the temp of the room, but it feels like it should be cooler in there/here. Any ideas/suggestions on what I should do?

The biggest difficulty is that this is an apartment, so I can't destory too much.

 

[AbaZabba]

How many CFM is that bathroom fan, and is that a 1000Watter or a 400Watter?

I would say you need a more powerful exhaust; your ducting is also quite long to properly ventilate but a higher powered blower/inline fan should do the charm. Ive had my lights-on temps around the mid 82s with little affect on the plants, but the lower temps do help with trich production.

 

[Wrecked]

DO you have a actual intake blower fan or is it just natural from the vents? Pull the air in from the coolest place you can into the room.... what kind of light are you using at this point your plants could easily be under floros and it will save on your power bill..... Have you ever thought of aircooling your light. Also if you plan to flower in that closet you have some light leaks to work on... Just trying to help... PeAcE

 

[monkeyman]

It's a 400 watt HPS light. Unfortunitly I don't have money for an air cooled light (i assume air cooling it would require buying either a new light or at least a new hood). The strangest thing to me is the temp actually goes down when I turn the fan off! Like a full degree and a half.

There is a lot of air blowing out the other end of the vent hose. I'm wondering if theh closet just isn't air tight enough? Could it just be pulling the air from the random cracks in the door torwards the top and by pass the rest of the hot air in the closet?

I'm thinking about getting some plywood and building a sub closet within my closet. That'll make it air tight and completely light tight too.

 

[LavenderCowboy]

monkeyman,

What kind of humidity is in the room???? The 85 degrees won't kill your plants or anything, but it would be best to drop it down lower....

The sub-closet won't do anything but make the plants hotter unless you're planning to go to a smaller light....Good luck....LC

 

[monkeyman]

The room is 20% hummidity. Not sure what the closet humidity level is.

 

[Patch7]

Hey Monkeyman,

81-85f isn't a problem at all. It is actually pretty fine up to 89F and higher. I know all the books and faq etc say ideal indoor temps are 75f but they are fine and I mean fine (not stressed) to about 89f and above and above that temp they will still live, but begin to show signs of stress. Let the plants tell you it's too hot. Until then, STOP stressing!!!! I have grown many grows just like your pic without a fan built in like you. I only cracked the door during lights on and had a fan blowin on them. My temps were between 80-89f and did fine on all grows as long as all the other variables were met ie: light, food and medium. Skip the humidity too and watch em.Hell, you at least have a nice little built in extractor fan now, leave it alone and watch the plants for signs of issues with the heat. Grow on dude, looks Great!!

Patch7

 

[NiteTiger]

The strangest thing to me is the temp actually goes down when I turn the fan off! Like a full degree and a half.

This is interesting... you turn off the fan and your temps decrease? Where is your fans intake? Sounds like your pulling warm air into the room, instead of out of it.

Also, you don't have to buy a new hood or a new light to aircool it. Just make a cool tube or and air cooled hood. My cool tubes cost me about $15 for parts and take about 5 minutes to put together.

 

[monkeyman]

My fan is only 50 cfm btw

 

[Wrecked]

50 cfm isnt much of a blower and a upgrade to a higher cfm will help cool the room down some i have a single blower that runs close to 800 cfm and it does one room... PeAcE

 

[LavenderCowboy]

monkeyman,

Yeah, the 50CFM blower ain't gonna get it....What's the measurments on the room???? Multiply height x width x depth to get the cubic feet..... Are you venting out into the same room you are intaking from???? You need to increase your humidity in the room, 20% is too low....LC

 

[Guest]

if you have passive intakes they need to be 3 times the size of your outtake..

also you cab doesn`t loke to be airtigth..if you want "suction" you have to tigth it withsomething..(!)

also hot air is ligther than cold air so you would want your intakes lower than your outtakes..

i also have a bathroom fan but i live in a northern european country so its pretty cold outside this time of year but when spring and summer comes i will prolly get a bigger fan.

good luck