Heat problem! EXPERTS NEEDED!

[Guest]

Hey all, I just finally got done getting my whole cab together today. I turned on the HPS and let it run with all cab doors and closet doors shut and temps were 91 F after about 30 minutes. I have a 265cfm fan pulling air in and a vortex 6 inline fan as exhaust out the top(Don't know how many cfms they are). I'm only running a 250watt HPS with the ballast all together(econogrow). My room is generally hott but temps shouldnt be that high with the good in/out fans. I might pickup a 100$ portable AC, but if theres any other options for me please let me know experts! heres a pic for you to all look at!

 

[Guest]

Drop that exaust duct right by the light(or just drill a hole in the reflector and air cool the hood).

 

[Guest]

you really think that would help that much? I'll play around with it tommorow thank you for the info! More suggestions would be mucho appreciated guys!

 

[HiKing808]

man i can't tell you enough how much of a difference an air cooled hood makes! i can run a 600 in a 34"x26"x58"tall box and not suffer from heat problems. of course you still can't get the tops too close to the glass or they will burn i don't have a fan blowing on the glass yet, but thats because as long as i keep stretch under control its fine.

i know this may suck cause from the looks of it you don't have an air cooled hood, but trust me spend the buck and buy a good air cooled hood and your fan should be fine.

it is 10x better than just exausting from the top, if you exaust throught the reflector, trust me i was exausting without the reflector connected to the fan cause i was waiting for the ducting, and i was worried about heat, but as soon as i got the ducting i couldn't believe how much it helped my ac hood is bearly warm

GET AN AC REFLECTOR!!!

 

[bostrom155]

You got it made, first thing in room temp, the temp of the room the cab is in. Get that to low 70's, and you already have the fans to do more that a 250, you can run a 400 easy. use one fan to exhaust the cab, and one for the light. I think if yopu have a 6" vortex, your good, just get the room cooled down. Does that hood have glass?

 

[irie-i]

or even just a piece of glass installed like a shelf between the lamp and the plants

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all the replies guys! I will be heading to the local hydro store tommorow to switch in my 250 econo grow enclosed balast system to a 250 thats not enclosed that I can put the balast outside the box and an air cooled hood. From there I will hook ducting up from the in fan to the hood and the out fan too the hood. I might also go buy a portable AC unit for my room. Let me know if you guys think this will help more!

 

[Blunt_69]

Yeah that^^(vented hood) Thats the best thing. You could also vent directly above your lamp in a cab as well with a piec of glass(as metioned).Apply this and you will be stylin.

Double your exhaust power, scrap the intake fan, have the intake air come from the floor(suck from the coolest point you can get the hose to).Seal the cab extreamly well(including door).

Depending on the coolest point ambeint temps you may need AC.

 

[blackfin]

where are you exausting your heat.... attic, room? if it's the room then that's your prob....

also were can you get a portable AC unit for a $100...

 

[enahs]

where are you exausting your heat.... attic, room? if it's the room then that's your prob....

also were can you get a portable AC unit for a $100...

I was thinkin the same thing you said the cab and closet doors were shut if that closet is not vented i would imagine it would heat up pretty quick

 

[Suby]

I agree, you need a hole or something near the bottom of the door or closet floor for passive intake.
You can have a huge fan in there if you don't have an unobstructed source of fresh air your not moving that much air.
You need twice as much intake area as exhaust area, ie: if you vent through a 4"hole then you need 2 x 4" holes in the lower part of the door.
Again if you have no SOURCE of fresh air, ie: you close the door to a small room with no window etc. then again your not moving much air.
To exhaust air you need a source of air to replace it or your creating a vacuum that won't help heat.
Also hang that exhaust tube at bulb height, cooltubes are overated, they restrict air in such a small environment, i tape a ventilation elbow to the end and screw it to the reflector.

 

[Suby]

If you decide to use an AC then recirculate the air in the room as not to waste the AC also this will bypass the need for a constant source of fresh air in.
I have 2 holes at the top of my door where i house the scrubber and fan that let the hot air recircute to the room to get cooled by the AC.
In the winter you can just close the heating ducks and heat your room with the closet heat...pretty cool.

Sub's

 

[Guest]

Hey guys thanks for all the great replies! I'm going in a few minutes to switch out my HPS for a MH/HPS with a air cooled hood. Also you can get a portable AC on ebay for about 90$. Heres the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ARCTIC-Portable...448634465QQcategoryZ71240QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I really have no way to get the hot air out of the room, cant drill into walls or ceiling. During the day when lights are on I will be able to keep closet doors open so that should work pretty fine I'm thinking. Also I do have a intake at the bottom of the cab a 265 fan pulling air in! I appreciate all the great replies you all dont really know!

 

[Jnugg]

From there I will hook ducting up from the in fan to the hood and the out fan too the hood. I might also go buy a portable AC unit for my room. Let me know if you guys think this will help more!

well if you do that how are you going to ventilate the cab?I mean if both the intake fan and the exhuast fan are connected to the hood thats great you're aircooling your hood,but one thing is missing....you're not ventilating your grow cab!!!!!!!!


All you really need is one fan.Take the 6" vortex run some ducting from the A/C hood to the vortex.

This way cool air is sucked in through the intakes into the grow cab up through the open reflector and out through ducting and the exhuast fan.

Either that or use the 6" vortex to cool the hood by connecting ducting from the A/c hood to the vortex.Now from the side of the reflector you would run another length of ducting through the wall of your cab,this will be your A/C/ light hoods intake ducting.

Now remove the 265cfm fan from the intake and place it at the top of the cab to ventilate your grow area using passive intakes.

Note:TRhe second option is hpow a A/C hood was meant to work but option 1 works for me and many others.

 

[IronLung OG]

Don't just put a piece of glass like a shelf ..... It will shatter in about 20 mins You must use heat tempered glass or be ready to start picking glass out of your plants...... i've made the mistake once.... lol sucked

 

[Guest]

Hey guys! Just got done setting everything up and whatnot! Went to the store they dont have 250's there for what I needed so I switched up to a 400watt remote balast with a air cooled hood with heat glass on it. I hooked up the vortex 6 to the exhaust flange from the light and into my can33 filter(thats right, right?). Now I have just my 265cfm fan blowing air into the bottom of the cab my therm. is saying 91F but its not hot in there AT ALL. I can put my hand on the glass of the light and its only a little hot. I must have a bad therm. but ill be replacing that soon. Heres some pics guys please tell me what you think, and thank you for all the great info!

 

[Suby]

Things are looking good man, those pics just cleared my ? up.
I grow in almost the same type of space and I find that in a small space it is best to keep the light higher in the room. You are averaging 50W/sq. ft + with Mylar, try the light maybe 10" up and you will notice a diff. in temps but not in the plants.
Also is there a way you can lower the intake to the very bottom?
First off if light leaks in it will be buried below thw canopy ans 2nd the coolest air is by the floor and 3rd it will give the cool air time to mix with the stale air as opposed to just getting sucked out.

Setups are my favorite part of the whole thing.
I give you 3 x MacGuivers and good luck with the grow.

 

[stinger_489]

I have a similiar problem...solved by placing my inlet fan pipe at the socket end of the bulb and the outlet pipe at the other...i use 1000wt lamps and can keep the tops of plant at around 10inches using this setup..thus both aeriation in the room and cooling for the heat..

Hope this helps.

 

[Guest]

Suby- Thank you! I might possibly move that inlet but no light will be getting in as the closet itself is weatherstripped and none of my timers/lights/fans have any little lights on them at all! Thanks for the advice to stinger you all are great!

 

[bostrom155]

Hey guys thanks for all the great replies! I'm going in a few minutes to switch out my HPS for a MH/HPS with a air cooled hood. Also you can get a portable AC on ebay for about 90$. Heres the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ARCTIC-Portable...448634465QQcategoryZ71240QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

You might want to check that unit, I don't think it's an A/C.

Also, use passive intakes like everyone is saying. 91 is too hot, I'm sure you know. The next thing I would get is an A/C, no matter what you do from here on out, it will not get temps much lower if the room the cab is in is too hot.
Keep the inline on the hood, and use the blower to move air in the cab, if it has spped settings. Is that sqaure hole your only intake? If it is it needs to be bigger, three times the size of your exhaust.