Please critique setup!

[BennyHogan]

I've got everything in place right now.....the dimensions are 52in tall, 21 inch wide, 20 inch deep.
I have a 150HPS in a cooltube with one side open that I'm sucking my light heat and exhaust through with a 90 cfm Active Air and then pushing this all into a Can 2600 carbon scrubber. Temps are good and the amount of suction on the cooltube is pretty wild. Only thing that concerns me is the sound of the air being moved out.....I've yet to hook the scrubber up to 4inch exhaust, but right now its all I really hear.....hoping the scrubber will decrease the noise some?? If not, could I put carbon scrubber up in the attic or will the length of ducting needed (5-6 feet) decrease from its effectiveness??

I've sketched a horrible drawing of what I have going to give you a visual (but ICmag won't let me post it now for some reason)......my main concern in the design is that I always hear of people "pulling" air through the carbon scrubber instead of "pushing" it.....the way my cab is constructed there is really no way to have both the 90 cfm fan and the carbon scrubber both in the cab.

Let me know your thoughts

Cheers

 

[FreezerBoy]

If the attic's available, put the fan in the attic and leave the scrubber in the cab. That way you're pulling air and moving the woosh out of your room altogether. The scrubber needs more maintenance. The more easily you can get to it the easier to maintain.

 

[GrowerGoneWild]

I always hear of people "pulling" air through the carbon scrubber instead of "pushing" it.....the way my cab is constructed there is really no way to have both the 90 cfm fan and the carbon scrubber both in the cab.

Let me know your thoughts

Cheers

Well this is how I understand it.. correct me if I'm wrong..

-Odor filtration using carbon needs to be done at lower air velocities. The intake side has the lower velocity.

-Restriction on the exhaust tends to "load" up the fan, I tried a carbon filter on the exhaust side of my fan and it did terrible things to it.. for starters it made the fan louder, and I could literally hear the fan load up and it sounded like the motor was working harder.

 

[BennyHogan]

Here's a terrible drawing of my design:




I only have the one 4 inch exhaust and since I'm pulling through my Cooltube first there really is no way to pull through the Can 2600 without a complete rebuild.

Anyone out there have experience of pushing your exhausted air into the Can 2600??

THanks

 

[seebobski]

well no experiance with can 2600 but I built a 36" high 12" od and 10" id c-scrubber with 550 dayton 10 fan, r6 10" ducting 10-12 feet from grow split from 10"dia to 2 x 6"dia and 6" to 2 hoods and it works with no smell and landlord lives next door and share atic space!!!!

 

[FreezerBoy]

Hey! That's a great drawing and don't let anyone say different.

Consider this


While you'll have to move parts, and drill a hole to the attic, there should be no reconstruction of the cab. Added bonus: This way sucks the hot air out from the top, cooling the whole cab. Your's sucks out cold air as it enters leaving the hot air up top to heat the entire cab.

Even if you leave the fan inside, run some ducting from the tubes intake to the top of the cab. Also consider another intake hole. 2X intake maintains negative pressure while increasing airflow and reducing fan stress.

 

[wishbone420]

freezerboy knows his stuff. thats the best way. peace

 

[Guest]

Why not mount the scrubber between the light and the exhaust fan, that would reduce duct length as well as the extra bulk devices in the grow closet. With the shorter ducting run the cfm capacity would be better realized.

TyStik

 

[FreezerBoy]

Actually, that's the way I did my first drawing. It does reduce ducting and increase airflow but, my concern is heat buildup by sucking out the cold air from the bottom rather than hot air from the top.

If Ty's way doesn't overheat, great. If it does, try mine.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

That sort of scrubber will need to be in front of the light tube, or at the exit of the fan. Inline (in/out) takes a whole new animal.
Be more efficient to close up the side exit hole, and go straight out the top into the attic. Get rid of the bends.

 

[FreezerBoy]

D'oh! What were we thinking? Placing the scrubber between tube and fan greatly reduces, if not eliminates, airflow through the tube

 

[Sammet]

I have to echo what freezer boy says, in fact it's exactly how I have my tent setup.


Here's a full shot - Basically all the hot air is sucked in the filter at the top, goes through the cooltube, out through the fan and up into the roof.



As the hot air rises to the top of the tent it's exhausted out, drawing in cool air from a smaller inlet at the bottom. This also creates negative pressure and ensures that no smell escapes your grow room.

Hope this helps

 

[BennyHogan]

Thanks so much for the info.....Freezerboy, I really appreciate you taking the time to sketch that up for me....seeing how you've laid it out makes so much sense. I wasn't even thinking about how I was exhausting from the bottom (my only thought was getting the heat from the bulb out of the box, didn't even really think about how I was getting the heat from my ballast, which is at the top of the box, and the squirrel cage out) You think I should have one of my PVC intakes going up to the top of the cab??? Never seen that before?? Right now I have a total of 6in of intake (three 2in holes) and one 4in exhaust.....is one more 2in hole gonna make that big of a difference?? How I have things setup now I don't have a heat issue.

I attempted to put the Can 2600 in my cab but how I have everything right now doesn't really afford me the space. It's a really simple design in the corner of a room....using the existing walls to form 2 of the sides. Right now, its 52in tall, 21in wide, 20in deep.....though I'm thinking of expanding it just a bit to accommodate everything in there....but I don't want to have to rebuild it again after this so I want to have everything laid out so I can finally complete this thing.

My biggest problem in my design is fitting the bulking ass Can 2600 in there with the flange (that I'm yet to figure out how to correctly attach with the provided foam strip....posted another thread hoping to be enlightened).

I've decided that I would really like to have everything housed inside the box, in hopes of keeping it rather stealth. Like I said before, 2 of my walls are walls inside of a closet, so they are made up of drywall. I really don't want to exhaust to the attic as the only stealth way I've seen someone conceal it is with cardboard boxes that if moved would eliminate the stealthness pretty quick. I'm thinking about adding 6 more inches to the height (to give the Can Fan a place to reside)....but I still don't know where I want to exhaust. Could I cut a hole in the drywall and just blow it in there?? Or should I just exhaust it into the room like I am now??

How can I safely post of picture of this?? I want to get this design nailed down before I go out for my supplies.

How much noise will be decreased in terms of air moving through the exhaust once I'm pulling through the Can filter?? Do you think I will still have a noise issue??

Thanks again everyone.....all your help is very much appreciated!!!

 

[BennyHogan]

Update

Update

I'm amped up to finish this cab, so I went out got all the wood to increase its height from 52in to 60in.....I don't really have any space to expand the width or depth so I figure the added height will no give me room for my Can 2600.

I have a pretty limited width so I'm thinking the Can2600 will go right at the top of the cab and squirrel cage will hang below.....sound good??

I currently have my Cooltube designed with the cord and socket on the end I pulling air through and the mounting I used wont allow ducting to go over it. What are you guys using to mount the Cooltube inside the ducting.....I need some sort of flexible metal.

As for exhaust, I still think it most stealth to have it coming out the upper back side instead of the top......I figure if I follow FreeezerBoy's design and mount my Can 2600 at the top I'm pulling from the top of the cab regardless of where I disperse the exhaust at. IS this correct thinking??

Thanks.....once I figure out how I can safely post a pic I'll show u guys what Im working with.

Cheers

 

[FreezerBoy]

I wasn't even thinking about how I was exhausting from the bottom (my only thought was getting the heat from the bulb out of the box, didn't even really think about how I was getting the heat from my ballast, which is at the top of the box, and the squirrel cage out) You think I should have one of my PVC intakes going up to the top of the cab??? Never seen that before?? Right now I have a total of 6in of intake (three 2in holes) and one 4in exhaust.....is one more 2in hole gonna make that big of a difference?? How I have things setup now I don't have a heat issue.

Interesting thought. An intake that exhausted into the cab at the top could create circulation. It might cool overall temps but will it cool better than pushing all the hot air up to the top where a top feed exhaust can draw it all out at once?

I don't know that your cab NEEDS 2X exhaust but your fan would appreciate it. I have 2X and my fan breathes a sigh of relief when I open the door and cranks up a notch or three when it's closed.

 

[BennyHogan]

Freezerboy,
I was asking whether you thought I should run on my PVC intakes up to the top after reading your comment "Even if you leave the fan inside, run some ducting from the tubes intake to the top of the cab." Right now I have 3 intake holes attached to pvc piping bent at different angles to prevent light from escaping and they release the air right near the base of the plants.

Still curious where you guys think I should put the exhaust hole on my new build......it seems easiest to make it stealth by putting it in the upper back corner.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Benny, you say you have this working now in that cab? What are the dimensions of your cool tube setup? I'll help you some too if you can give me some measurements. And also, you should be able to post pics now if you have some.

Btw...this stuff is what you want for ducting


I'm fairly certain the 2600 is ~6" x 18" ...do you have this mounted now horizontally?

 

[BennyHogan]

Hoosier, right now I have everything set up according to the drawing I posted earlier....but I don't have the Can 2600 attached.

I just bought the materials to increase my cab's height to 60inches.

The Can 2600 with Flange attached is just under 20inches long X 6inches. So the only way I foresee getting the beast in there is diagonally horizontal right at the top.....then having the fan located underneath it in some fashion where the motor doesn't come in contact with the Can Filter. Does that seem alright??

The Cooltube I'm using is one of those Hurricane things and is 11.5 inches long x 4.75 inches wide. I need to find something to allow me to mount it inside the ducting and get the power cord out with a good seal still intact. I've seen some clean pictures of this done but no one has ever explained what lil rubber thing you use to make the cord exit the cooltube cleanly.

So my new dimensions are going to be 60in tall x 20 in wide x 21 in deep.

I really don't wanna have to exhaust to my attic as I took a look up there a few minutes ago and it would be a pain in the ass. I figure if my Can 2600 is doing its job I shouldn't have to worry about the smell being exhausted into the room. (I still haven't heard anything about exhausting directly into the dry wall behind the cab, but I assume that there is 2x4 at the top of the drywall frame that would prevent air from escaping into the attic, so I think I basically would be just blowing it into a thin stud enclosed area with no where for it to really go)

In terms of posting pictures....is there a way to make sure its not embedded with some info linking it to me??

Thanks,
PEace and Love

 

[petemoss]

Benny, I believe you need more intakes. Remember from school that area of circle = Pi times r squared?
Your 4" exhaust is 12.6 square inches but your intakes total only 9.4 sq in. I think you'll notice a big difference in air movement and noise after increasing your intake.

FreezerBoy's drawing is how I used to have my 8x8 growroom set up. It worked great. kept my lights cool and no smell came out of the room.

BTW, FreezerBoy. how did you do that drawing? Did you draw it on a piece of paper and then scan it? Looks nice!

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Like pete is saying, you want to have plenty of intake air coming in. The more the better. Bring it in from the bottom or close to bottom from the sides.
Add more PVC elbows.

When you plan a cab, everything must be looked at to scale as you have very little room to begin with.
IMO you simply don't have adequate room in the cab for that big filter.
And it is usually best to pull through a filter, but you will be fine pushing into it.

I'm not sure about what sort of rubber grommet they provided you with for the cord, but you can punch a hole in the ducting (use the flexible stuff I showed previously) and insert the grommet. This gives you a hole to go through. I never use them, and simply patch up what I did with aluminum tape. Btw..never use duct tape for anything in your cab. It can and will come loose, and it can also have some nasty glue and potentially bad fumes. Buy and use aluminum tape religiously...it is your friend.

I have drawn up a couple of options that I would suggest for you. I highly suggest trying the vertical option or similar. It gives you much more versatility.
Note in both I have added a seperate duct fan to pull from your tube. They can be had at Home De Pot for $28. Reducer is ~$5.
The drawings are to scale with what you have provided.
The top ballast/fan box is built with your additional materials.

Pushing the air into your new space above with the new fan, and the additional hole for the rest of the air will all be sucked out and pushed into the external filter. That setup will quiet the fan down considerably as well, or at least what you hear outside with doors closed.

Beside airflow being your most important thing...light sealing is next.
Use weatherstrip to get it sealed up nicely. Test your work in the dark.
It will all be for naught if you don't have good light seal.
It may not be as important if you can actually close the closet door that this is in...(shrug)