insulated a grow tent to combat summer heat with AC as efficiently as possible

[Durdy]

Hello! Its been awhile since I have logged onto ICMAG. Almost 9 months I think.

Anyhoo getting to the point..........

I want to start my grow up again.

Planning on doing a summer indoor grow in my garage. The garage is completely uninsulated and gets very very hot in the summer.

I'll be using a 2'x4' grow tent. and one 400w HPS bulb. I have the option to aircool the light. and I'm planning on buying a standalone AC unit.

other then the above mentioned details (grow tent in the garage) it's pretty up in the air ATM. I'll need to combat temps up to 110 degrees and low humidity.

I was thinking about insulating the grow tent with rigid insulation then a layer of the fluffy stuff then pulling the canvas tent cover over that. My goal is to make the tent like a cooler that isn't as greatly affected by the high temperatures outside the tent. I don't want the AC unit running all day long.

Suggestions?

 

[Guest 88950]

combat temps........no insulation will offset 110 F ambient temps.

if you cant get any cooler air for the intake then i suggest you find a secluded place to gorilla grow.

peace

 

[budleydoright]

I built a box in simular conditions. dumping that 110 heat in every time I opened it up caused me problems. Might be easier to just build a wood box and insulate it.

 

[Durdy]

Why would the wood box be better then the tent?

I'm not to familiar with stand alone AC units, can it be set up so that its part of your intake and cools the incoming air? or can it only be used to offset the hot air coming in?

I've got a little outdoor thing going on, but I'm itching to do a little indoor asap.

Would making it a sealed system be the way to go?

and 110 is the extreme end of the scale. I'd say if I started by june 1st the temps june through the end of july would be more like 80 - 90 its August through september that tends to be the hottest.

 

[Durdy]

Also I'd be willing to use a 250watt instead. Probably going to throw them right into flower once the system is set up

 

[TribalSeeds]

I wouldnt even try to grow in 110. I dont think a small tent grow will be worth the cooling costs.

 

[Don Treadonme]

I suggest you figure something else out.

 

[unclefishstick]

my grow room is in my uninsulated garage as well and it is built of 1 inch foam board and 2x4 and wrapped in a layer of reflectix.i am pulling my fresh air from inside the house,and all the hot air from the grow room filters/reflectors gets dumped into the attic but it still gets over 100 in the garage area but im not having any trouble keeping 3000w cool,all the lights are shut off during the hottest part of the day,but even on the hottest day so far,94 degrees it never got over 82 in the grow area..

 

[MacGyver420]

if you have a nice little ac unit running during the day i dont see why you couldnt grow indoors.

i dont know if insulation around a tent would work because i havent tried that or seen that; i have seen people build a "room within a room" so to speak... as long as you control your climate in the small room its all good; run that ac

now getting the proper air intakes and exhausts might be tricky because of the heat; you would not want to intake 95 degree air; but you would want to get fresh air in there to keep co2 levels up.... so if you are lacking in the air intake department you could think about adding co2 to your system but things get complicated fast with a sealed room;

i think it would be worth it to try if you have the equipment you need; i bet that it could be done. maybe you could insulate the garage itself while you are at it? dont the guys who own high end cars out in the desert keep them in air conditioned garages? its definetly possible but is it reasonable to do for just 400watts? that i dont know.. good luck to you

 

[Durdy]

I did something similiar last summer, and had temps around 78 - 88 in the tent, and that was with no insulation and no AC. But i did start about a month earlier than I would if i get something going this year

unclefishstick - what do you do for cooling? Ac? aircooled lights? or is the air from inside the house cool enough to keep those temps in the garage?

 

[Durdy]

Thanks macgayver - yeah the cost of the cooling is what worries me. and insulating the garage itself isn't really an option at the moment unfortunately. I have all the equipment I would need except an AC unit and I don't have a set up for Co2

 

[BrnCow]

Might insulate with foam board on three sides bottom and whatever will fit on top - non itch roll or what ever. A friend cut a rectangle in his tent for the business end of one of those refrigerated room acs ($150 or so) and vented it out the window. Be sure and get one that has a thermostat on it so it will maintain the temp 24/7 for you. Somewhere between 8k and 12k btu will do nicely. 240 volt unit will be cheaper to run if you can wire it in easily or better yet, have it professionally wired. As far as those that will exhaust into the garage, it will get hotter than hell in there if you do that.

 

[Guest 88950]

i run 1200w in a 4x4 tent indoors and ive been looking at portable ac units that dont sit in a window and i found them for ~$300. it has an intake and exhaust that mounts in the window but the ac can be positioned to make it ez to duct the cool air into my tent.

just run the drain tube into a rez and your good to go.

 

[Chunkypigs]

I've done something like this... I put in a big attic fan in the gable of the roof and ran it all day while the sun was beating on the roof, that kept the temps during the day the same as the outside temps. I ran the lights from 9 pm to 9am. I had some heat stress and stretch issues but was able to crop usable meds. I was running 600's and 1000's bare and aircooled in different sized tents. when you have extra money to insulate the garage start with the places the midday sun shines on. you can do it without ac. I was moving lots of air thru the room nonstop so I had a filter on each tent. also i found out the hard way that pink insulation stuck to buds = hash run.
be careful if you do wrap your tent in fluffy stuff.

much simpler to find a basement if possible, but I had to make do with the safe place I had so I would say give it a try. my spring and fall crops in there looked great, summer and winter were both lacking but growers gotta grow. best luck!

 

[Durdy]

Might insulate with foam board on three sides bottom and whatever will fit on top - non itch roll or what ever. A friend cut a rectangle in his tent for the business end of one of those refrigerated room acs ($150 or so) and vented it out the window. Be sure and get one that has a thermostat on it so it will maintain the temp 24/7 for you. Somewhere between 8k and 12k btu will do nicely. 240 volt unit will be cheaper to run if you can wire it in easily or better yet, have it professionally wired. As far as those that will exhaust into the garage, it will get hotter than hell in there if you do that.

Done something similiar with a window mount AC unit in the past. There's no windows that would work for that in my garage. 240 volt is also a none option ATM. I did forget about how AC units produce a shit ton of heat! I sleep in the garage so, exhausting would definitely be a must.

 

[Durdy]

i run 1200w in a 4x4 tent indoors and ive been looking at portable ac units that dont sit in a window and i found them for ~$300. it has an intake and exhaust that mounts in the window but the ac can be positioned to make it ez to duct the cool air into my tent.

just run the drain tube into a rez and your good to go.

Yea that would be what I need!

 

[Durdy]

I've done something like this... I put in a big attic fan in the gable of the roof and ran it all day while the sun was beating on the roof, that kept the temps during the day the same as the outside temps. I ran the lights from 9 pm to 9am. I had some heat stress and stretch issues but was able to crop usable meds. I was running 600's and 1000's bare and aircooled in different sized tents. when you have extra money to insulate the garage start with the places the midday sun shines on. you can do it without ac. I was moving lots of air thru the room nonstop so I had a filter on each tent. also i found out the hard way that pink insulation stuck to buds = hash run.
be careful if you do wrap your tent in fluffy stuff.

much simpler to find a basement if possible, but I had to make do with the safe place I had so I would say give it a try. my spring and fall crops in there looked great, summer and winter were both lacking but growers gotta grow. best luck!

Creating more airflow in the surrounding area to the grow is a good idea. Last summer I would just open the big doors to let air in. I did 8pm to 8am with a vert 400 no AC.

Thanks for the tip on the fluffy stuff being a hassle.

I'm honestly just thinking about using the money I'd put into the grow to go to Hawaii to surf in August, but at the same time its been months since I had a grow and I really miss it (and my supplies are getting low!)

 

[HAPPYTREE]

if you grow in a 2x4 tent where is the stand alone ac going to fit. are you going to rig some kind of duct setup into a vent hole? then insulate the hell out of the tent. I am in a similiar scenario and would love to see how you do this?

 

[Hammerhead]

I think Unc forgot to tell ya he has AC unless he stopped using it.. If im talking out the side of my neck just kick me Unc lol...

 

[Durdy]

if you grow in a 2x4 tent where is the stand alone ac going to fit. are you going to rig some kind of duct setup into a vent hole? then insulate the hell out of the tent. I am in a similiar scenario and would love to see how you do this?

The AC units I've seen generally have a footprint of about 1.5' x 1.5'
I figured it would fit snuggly in the corner pulling air in from a bottom vent hole and pushing it out the vent whole in the ceiling.

Then yes insulation would be crucial. I'm not to familiar with the different types of insulation, I need to take a trip to the local hardware store and see whats around.

Does anyone think it would be possible to insulate the tent well enough so that the AC unit wouldn't need to run 24/7?