Help with air-cooling hoods. Need brainstorming! Thanks.

[MacAztek]

Hey guys. Here's the situation. I live in an area where the temperatures in late April start to hit 100 degrees, and increase to a steady 110 in May through August.

Currently, I am growing under 6x600s (air cooled). I have a 10" Vortex fan with a CAN filter hooked up, and pushing air through the lights, and outside. The air is coming from the inside of the grow room. I also have an air conditioning running to cool the room and the lights as well.

In the summer time, I can't have my A/C running 24/7 like it would if I keep the current setup. Right now, it's on quite often, and I would like to close this system so that hte A/C is a closed loop, and the Air-Cooled hoods are on their own loop.

The problem lies when I start to pull from the outside to air-cool my hoods, when the air outside is 110 degrees.

What could I do to solve this? I've heard of in-line aquarium air-chillers that can be used. Any advice?

 

[strydr]

Are you running lights-on during the daytime or nighttime? If temps @ night are better, you could run lights-on then. Plumb your lights so they pull air from outside, seal the room up, and add Co2. Have your carbon scrubber just cleaning the air (scrubber with fan attached, no ducting). Temps could run up to 90 without any problems. @ lights-off, keep your AC until temps drop, then shut it off (or run on a thermostat).

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Closing the ac loop will also close the heat loop if I understand correctly. Have you considered a dedicated light intake/exhaust. This way you wouldn't exhaust your ac and lamp heat isn't recycled.

 

[MacAztek]

Well right now they are vegging.

The A/C loop is closed. It's built into the house. It's a closed system always, no matter what.

Currently, the 10" fan (that is cooling the hoods) is sucking air from the grow room, and pushing it through the hoods, and venting it outside. The problem is that it is taking a lot of the A/C air, and the A/C is always running just to keep the room a decent temperature.

I would draw air from the outside, but in the summer, the outside temperature will be 110 to 120 degrees, so I think that is too hot to run through the lights.

What to do?

 

[clide]

Currently, the 10" fan (that is cooling the hoods) is sucking air from the grow room, and pushing it through the hoods, and venting it outside. The problem is that it is taking a lot of the A/C air, and the A/C is always running just to keep the room a decent temperature.

there is your problem! your loop is NOT closed.

you should buy another fan. get another intake from outside the house, and push that through the hoods back outside. your temps will drop dramatically because the a/c air will stay in the room instead of being pulled through the filter and pushed outside.

now take the other fan you had and put it on your can filter. put the filter near the output of the a/c, run some duct to the plants or to the top of the room/above the lights and let the cool air fall down.

just be wary you wont have a negative pressure in your room anymore so you gotta make sure its ACTUALLY sealed and done well or you risk leaking some odor.

if lingering odor is still a problem consider a small 80$-100$ mini ozone generator, mount it near an oscillating fan and your good to go.

 

[pugnacious]

Well right now they are vegging.

The A/C loop is closed. It's built into the house. It's a closed system always, no matter what.

Currently, the 10" fan (that is cooling the hoods) is sucking air from the grow room, and pushing it through the hoods, and venting it outside. The problem is that it is taking a lot of the A/C air, and the A/C is always running just to keep the room a decent temperature.

I would draw air from the outside, but in the summer, the outside temperature will be 110 to 120 degrees, so I think that is too hot to run through the lights.

What to do?

I ran into a similar problem. I used to run a grow where we had a window ac and that solved all our problems. Right now im in the same shoes as you when it comes to figuring out a way to cool the room. The summers here get brutal when the heat waves hit. 90s-105+. I have no place to put a quality ac (non portable) with out spending some serious money and pulling allot more electricity.

Im in the process of researching a way to air cool the hoods during those hot days but im turning up empty.

 

[smurfin'herb]

Fellas fellas...ever heard of a basement/cellar? If u have one, they stay much cooler than the upper levels of the homes. In fact, i put my ez cloners in the basement in the hot summer time so water temp stays below 72F, and it works great. Just make a closed loop for the hoods and pull from the basement. Do the same for your intake for the room! OR... If u dont have a basement and the residence has central a/c, just pull cool air from other parts of the house.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I would draw air from the outside, but in the summer, the outside temperature will be 110 to 120 degrees, so I think that is too hot to run through the lights.

What to do?

Have you checked any of the seal room threads? I agree, 120 degree air is not optimal to pull through your lights but it would keep from wasting the ac. The trade off might still be in your favor. Get a thermometer and measure the temps running through the light exhaust w/o the ac running. I'll bet the temps are higher than 120. The fan will remove more heat the closer it is to the light(s) imo. good luck. I tried the crawl space (through the floor) intake thing and it only works until the cool air has cycled. It doesn't take very long to get the crawl space as warm as outside.