I Need Some Ventilation Suggestions. . .

[BIG BOY]

Alright i am on my third run in a 5.5x5.5x8' 1/2 bath converted to growroom (FLOWER ONLY)with all fixtures of bathroom removed.

my setup is doing fine temps are fine humidity is a lil high in the summer but tolerable for now.

i am running a 600w digi with a can66 filter and a 6" vortex. room has a register vent for central air/heat(blocked off now), passive intake through door with a light trap.

i want to make some changes to that.

i have a crawlspace below and an attic above, right now i am pulling though the carbon filter through the light from the fan mounted in the attic and blowing out of the house.

my central ac ran constant this summer probably because of the air being sucked out of the house almost as fast as being pumped in. i am running my electric bill up more than i would want. i would like to see more efficiency if i can.

i want to add another 600w digi and draw from the crawlspace and then out of the house, so that i am not wasting any energy cooling the lights.

but. . ., should i treat this setup as a sealed room or just maybe get a smaller carbon scrubber and fan and vent straight to the attic, so that i am not exhausting so much air out of my house?

i would love to run sealed but the ac would be a problem to integrate into the room being small and no windows and i would rather not have to deal with all of the trouble of that.

HELP PLEASE! ANY SUGGESTIONS WELCOME.
THANKS IN ADVANCE.

 

[Mackawber]

cool air coming in from the bottom and hot air exhausts to the top! Get a temp controller to control the cooling air coming in. Set it to low temps like around 70F. If it gets cold get a low wattage space heater to come on at about 60F.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Draw your air for the lights from the crawl space and exhaust to the attic.
Also, open up another intake from the crawl space for the grow room, and use another fan w/thermostat and speed controller and also vent to attic.

The money you save on 6 mos electric bill should pay for the additional fan and controls.

Once you did this, I would seal up the door like a cab using weatherstip.

 

[BIG BOY]

what about the humidity from the crawlspace? and damn it is cold down there in the winter. i dont see being able to exchange any air in the winter if i did this unless i ran a heater and there again, wasteful.
and dont really want to cut more holes in the floor than i have to.

yea the door is sealed light tight all the way around it. basically i used weatherstripping, a door sweep.
on the outside of the door for my intake i have a 6"x16" register vent, on the other side of the door i built a wooden box with a light trap inside of it, with another register/return vent on it for looks.

the intake hole is 6x16 just as big as the vents.
and it is located at the bottom of the door. and the carbon filter for my exhaust is located at the top of the room because. . . hot air rises.

 

[terminalc]

If your attic has vents and you only have 1-2 600s you could probably pull from the attic through the lights and back to the attic, just need to run some ducting part way down the house so the intake and exhaust are far apart.

 

[BIG BOY]

you think the attic would cool the lights well enough in the summer?
it probably gets to 120f+ in the summer up there

i have no problem drawing from the crawlspace to cool the lights but i dont really know what to do for fresh air??

i am kinda torn between going sealed with co2 and not going sealed but either one is presenting its own set of problems

anybody reusing their scrubbed air that is not setup for cooling lights? like putting it back into the house anyway?

 

[BIG BOY]

bump for more ideas and a lil more help

any input appreciated. . . pleeeeeeease.

 

[messn'n'gommin']

Draw air from one room and exhaust into another. If exhausting into the same room as your intakes, it heats up the air being drawn in. But, if the two were separate the temps of the exhausted warmer air is more likely to be evened out and will be a negligible increase by the time it gets back to your intakes. Also it will serve to cut your heating costs, at least some. Good Luck!

Namsate, mess

Edit: You might want to consider a thermostatically controlled or remotely switched attic fan (either powered roof vent or one attached to the gable vent). They are relatively easy to install if you're handy, but, doesn't cost all that much to have someone to do it. It will not only help to dissipate the heat in summer, it will also decrease your cooling costs. Barring that, a couple of turbine roof vents will help more than you may think, and is considerably cheaper, too.

 

[PermaBuzz]

Try a sealed cooltube with both inlet and exhaust hooked to the outdoors.
Don't use the crawlspace for air intake. Doing that in the summer can draw hot humid air into your crawl which then condenses in strange places due to interior AC making for cooler surfaces that hotter outside air contacts.

 

[BIG BOY]

yeah i have the sealed cooltube now and am going to probably draw air for the lights from the crawlspace and vent to the attic.

for the air exchange i am not sure what i want to do i guess that i could vent that back into the house somewhere (different room) and just use a dehumidifier in the house somewhere to help keep humidity down.

sound like a good idea?

 

[messn'n'gommin']

yeah i have the sealed cooltube now and am going to probably draw air for the lights from the crawlspace and vent to the attic.

for the air exchange i am not sure what i want to do i guess that i could vent that back into the house somewhere (different room) and just use a dehumidifier in the house somewhere to help keep humidity down.

sound like a good idea?

As a matter of fact, yeah! But before putting down good money for something you might not use is to check the rh at various times for a good average. You may not need a dehumidifier. Another point to consider is to cut your exhaust hole towards the top of your grow room as per normal, but, in the room you're venting into cut a hole at the bottom of the shared wall and cover with an intake grill. Rarely does anyone question the location of a vent grill.

Namaste, mess

 

[BIG BOY]

well for that matter i could probably just hook into my hvac return air duct and circulate it back through the whole house.

i know there is another thread on that right now, but does anyone have any experience with that?

 

[messn'n'gommin']

well for that matter i could probably just hook into my hvac return air duct and circulate it back through the whole house.

i know there is another thread on that right now, but does anyone have any experience with that?

Technically, no. But, I do know that it isn't all that difficult to do. If you're handy, tin snips, a bit of duct tape, a bit of planning, a bit of common sense...and you're done!

Namaste, mess

 

[Skipload]

Suck air from outside or the attic,through the lights, and send it out of the room, to where ever you do now. Put a 4" fan on the carbon filter and send it into the HVAC duct. Im assuming the duct from the bathroom runs though the adjacent bed room before running to the HVAC. If so open the vent and stuff a pillow in the duct between the room and the HVAC. You will create vaccum in the Bloom room and have a large air resivoir from the bed room. Now control the bedroom temps and u control the bathroom temps.

 

[BIG BOY]

Suck air from outside or the attic,through the lights, and send it out of the room, to where ever you do now. Put a 4" fan on the carbon filter and send it into the HVAC duct. Im assuming the duct from the bathroom runs though the adjacent bed room before running to the HVAC. If so open the vent and stuff a pillow in the duct between the room and the HVAC. You will create vaccum in the Bloom room and have a large air resivoir from the bed room. Now control the bedroom temps and u control the bathroom temps.

yea i have already plugged the register vent off in the bathroom. the duct work for the register vents is under the house. the return air is in the attic.

what size filter in the "can" series would you think i would need because now i am using a can66 which may be a little overkill.