Diary PCBuds mini-grow

[PCBuds]

Circulating fans also keep air moving more, which helps keep the temperatures more manageable.
.... Just keep air moving.

Okay, you've convinced me to get another fan.

They're about $20 at Walmart.


I was hesitating because of the laziness thing and didn't wanna bother but I also didn't want to end with a grow cab where if you have some sort of failure, your plant is dead by morning or even a possible fire.

But a circulation fan shouldn't be any real problem if it fails unless I'm using it to help cool my strips so I've got the strips turned up??

I think I worry too much. Lol

A fan would help circulate the CO2 from my wine throughout the closet too.

 

[q3corn]

Okay, you've convinced me to get another fan.

They're about $20 at Walmart.

You'll notice a difference and your plant will LOVE the breeze once it gets big enough to need it.


Also you're really good at fixing equipment, so a failed fan shouldn't concern you too much. You're checking on this space a few times a day, you'll know in time.

 

[PCBuds]

So, ... As a test, I just unplugged my fan to see what happens with the temperatures of the closet and the strips.

I set an egg timer to check them every 25 minutes.

I wanna get an idea of how fast everything goes to crap or if it does all ?

 

[PCBuds]

I just checked the temps after 25 minutes and the ceiling of the closet has hit 94°F and the ceiling strips are at 72°C (162°F).

The strips are rated 85°C max. (185°F)

 

[q3corn]

Hmm do you think it would get hotter if you wait longer than 25 minutes?

 

[PCBuds]

Well, ... I had to cut the test short because I was getting nervous.

The temperature test point in the middle of the ceiling strips where it is about 1/2" from touching the ceiling hit 95°C (203°F) after about an hour and the thermometer hit 98°F.

I don't think it was a fire danger at that point but who knows what would have happened with another hour or two without the door being opened.


My biggest concern is fire, followed by burning out my strips and then losing a plant.


I kinda think things would have stabilized without burning out my strips or worse but I wasn't going to find out for the sake of a test.

 

[q3corn]

Fair enough! I misread and saw you had 72 next to the strips and didn't know that was in celsius! D'oh

 

[PCBuds]

Fair enough! I misread and saw you had 72 next to the strips and didn't know that was in celsius! D'oh

But even that is okay.

The next time I got 80 then the next time I thought I should test the middle of the strip and got 95.



Testing the strip was a PITA.
I was stretched right out to the ceiling pointing the thermometer trying to hit the temperature test point which is a circle about 2 mm across.

The laser pointer wasn't much help because it aims about two centimeters above the input for the sensor.
I had to keep moving around trying to find the highest temperature reading coming from that tiny spot.

Meanwhile, I had half a million Lumens beaming me in the face while I'm trying to read the screen which was almost impossible to see.

I'm still seeing dots. Lol


The ratings on the strips are really conservative though.
I had my underwater light cranked to 2,400 milliamps.
They are rated 700 milliamps Max.


The strip is fine.
I just have to coat it better and stick it back in the water. LOL

 

[PCBuds]

So I've decided to cut a hole through the ceiling and into the attic.

I'll lower my ceiling strips about 5 inches to give clearance and install the fan the same way only blowing straight up.

I figure if it fails, convection should take care of airflow naturally and blow right past a dead fan.

It does get pretty hot up there in the summer but I don't think as hot as my closet got.




So I think I'm going to be rebuilding.

 

[f-e]

Damn. Very eventful. You seem to be surviving though

You should think about a proper extractor. A cooker hood contains a 4" RVK and 3 speed controller. 180-250 thingies an hour. Find an old Neff if you can, they have a real nice fan. A crappy daewoo extractor will have a blade set cast in one, with so much clearance from the case it's rendered useless. But you will see that and fix it.

Axial fans just don't work against any amount of resistance. If you flour your hands and clap by the intake, the dust probably isn't going that way. While a cooker hood from a skip, will make flesh on your fingers ripple. As they are an actual RVK you can use filters. Put it away in the loft and run a 6" hose from the fans inlet to the top of your box. Then you can just chop a 5.75" hole in the roof. The ducting has a helical wire that will screw in the 5.75" hole. You can make it work, if you can find one. Often I find a bathroom extractor on auction sites, that has a centrifugal fan inside. One some sparky walked off site with, as it wasn't fitted. At all costs, avoid the tube fans that cost about as much as a desk fan, and look like one inside. I got one once, and give it my local shop to explain to folks why they shouldn't. Nothing beats an RVK and now you know where to look...

 

[q3corn]

Meanwhile, I had half a million Lumens beaming me in the face while I'm trying to read the screen which was almost impossible to see.

You got sunglasses? lol

So I think I'm going to be rebuilding.

That is very PCBuds of you

 

[PCBuds]

I got some more numbers...

The entire grow closet is drawing 310 Watts from the outlet which turns out to be exactly the same as my last set up with the 4-foot fluorescent fixture and all the SILs.
(except my numbers now also include the fan drawing 10.5 Watts)

The strips themselves work out to be 208.6 Watts.

My current is very close to the test current, so I'm assuming 175 lumens per Watt.

So I should be at about 36,500 lumens total.

 

[PCBuds]

Damn. Very eventful. You seem to be surviving though

Yeah, and I've got a smoke alarm, a fire extinguisher and a cat that would go bananas if there was ever a fire, so I shouldn't sleep through such an event. Lol

You should think about a proper extractor. A cooker hood...

So I guess I'm the one who's gonna end up with the range hood instead if q3corn. Lol





I will wait before cutting any holes in my ceiling and assess my options...



Your contactor suggestion was a great idea but the damn thing still scares the hell outta me when it slams on. Lol

 

[PCBuds]

I've actually got an old school 3- speed extracting fan in my kitchen...
(I've plugged it for the winter... I vents right into the attic... no tubing)








It's been in service since 1942 when my house was built.
Still works fine...


Maybe I'll repurpose it into my grow closet as long as it doesn't suck the leaves right off my plant ? Lol

 

[f-e]

Axial fans like moving air that was free to move. They make good desk fans. A mixed flow fan does better and can manage a tube, if its easy. If you want to pull air from all the gaps around your houses perimeter, and send it up your loft, you need a centrifugal fan. Something that can set up some negative pressure, building wide.

That's a fans job. It must pull the air into the house through tiny gaps round doors and windows and through the boards of your floor. To do so, it must pull on every surface of the house. Then when it's in the loft, it needs pushing out of the gaps to outside.

You need a real extractor. The one pictured is most likely fine, but not the best shaped box to be flipping on it's back. You want something from the 80s. 600x600x100

 

[PCBuds]

I've also got two of these too...





While I'm thinking about my options...

f-e, I wanted to ask you about this...

Andyo posted a link to a light bulb.









What's going on with the lumens per Watt rating?

 

[PCBuds]

I've found yet another partial bathroom fan.

It's old and dirty so I plugged it in to see if it worked, and it did for about 2 minutes.

Now it's seized, buzzing and humming and its turned into another experiment.

I'm just going to leave it to see if it gets warm or explodes or something...

I'm setting my egg timer again.









It's drawing at 22.5 Watts.
(I don't think it's a big deal.
22 Watts of heat dissipated across a pretty big metal heat sink and it's winter.
It does kinda stink though.)

 

[Bobby Boucher]

I know.. It's another hundred bucks and change.. but personally.. I'm never buying another fan that isn't an acinfinity. I don't mean to be a shill, but.. you simply can't hear them, at all. It's genuinely concerning until you get used to it. People are walking past my running grow in "day" mode and have no f'n clue.

The onboard program that automates the dimming function based on temp or humidity is sharper than a whip.

Very cool. Very.. very cool.

 

[Mr. J]

I can also recommend AC Infinity fans. They're almost silent, even cranked up to 10, and they blow pretty hard. They don't make the pressure that a proper centrifugal fan makes but unless you have a bunch of bends or a really long run they work fine. I have one sucking through a carbon filter and it is working well. I have the T4 and also an S4 and I really like them both.

 

[PCBuds]

Ya know, one thing I didn't do when everything got hot, was to simply turn the ceiling strips down a bit.
They were a little past test current at the start anyway.


I turned them down.
I will redo the test again.

I don't want fail-proof at any cost.
I want fail safe.