Potty Time! Bathroom to Growroom

[NiteTiger]

Ok, midweek update, as promised.

The influx of the paycheck has brought with it coverings for my walls! I couldn't find white poly anywhere, except for the Black/white at the local hydro store for $80/roll, and that wasn't happening. They had Mylar, at $45, but that still was more than I was wanting to spend.

The answer? Emergency Survival Blankets from Walmart. $1.84 each in the camping section. It took 2 to cover the majority of the room. I also got a entry knob for the room, plus various air stones, chains, and pulleys.

Next stop - Home Depot for my fans and ducting.

 

[Guest]

NiteTiger-

I usually double the space blankets because a single layer still lets a lot of light through. They're cheap enough!

If you want a powerful blower for a good price, check out the Stanley blower. Lowes & Home Depot carry it (Walmart carries it during the spring/summer, but they got rid of all their fans and have heaters and fireplace stuff out now). I show it in my build thread and how I hooked it up to ducting. You need to use pretty good-size ducting with it; 4" ducting will cause it to make more noise because of the air flow resistance. Since the vent opening I used is 7" and 7" ducting fit around the outlet of the blower quite well, I stuck with that and it worked great.

Most of the in-line fans HD & Lowes carry are just booster fans intended to help already-moving air along; they aren't powerful enough to pull/blow air through a carbon filter & get it out of the room. A good in-line blower will probably run $150-200; the Stanley is only about $40.

 

[NiteTiger]

I'll have to look into that Ambre. Certainly sounds like it's worth the money.

The duct fans I was looking at are rated at 250cfm, 500cfm, and 800 cfm. I was planning on going with a 500cfm on the light going into the filter area, and the 800 at the base of the filter, pulling the air through in a push pull effect. I thought for certain that would be enough for my little space, if not overkill.

But then again, I was wondering why I hadn't heard much about those duct fans. For the price, it seems like everyone would be using them. I was wondering what the catch was

Here's a link to the fans. Hopefully they'll work, because that's what I have budgeted

I'll definately take a look at that Stanley blower though, that's right in line with my budget.

 

[NiteTiger]

bah, don't think that link is gonna work, damn jsp pages!

If you run a search for 'duct fans' on the HD website though, you'll see them, they are catalog/internet only.

 

[Guest]

the vent will allow the exhausted air to flow up and not down the drain as you are anticipating. Warm air rises, just like wasted gases do. grin.

Perhaps a dryer vent may serve your purpose better, with a carbon scrubber and all. you could vent the dryer vent under the eave or tie the new dryer vent into the old o0ne and no one is the wiser. warm air comming from a dryer vent, what new news is in that? grin.

I use large dwc style aeroponic systems and have no problems with my roots geting tangled beyond repair. Plants sem to like a trim every now and again. grin.

Good luck.

 

[NiteTiger]

Thanks for the input Avid!

Now, I'm aware that I could not passively vent through the sewer, but under pressure, you can tell the air where to go. I'm planning on using fans and ducting to force the air into the drain pipe, and out to the sewer. I haven't actually done it myself, but there's a very clear right up about it on OG. Lemme see if I can find a link...

I actually thought about tying into the dryer duct, but that would require a damper, and so on and so forth. plus, that would create the potential of some of the dryer exhaust coming back in to the growroom, some of the growroom exhaust not exiting the house, but going into the dryer, or some combination of the two that merely reduces my exhaust effeciency.

Well, nothing is installed yet as far as ventilation, so I've got time to think on it. Maybe the solution is the get under the house and disconnect the toilet pipe from the floor of the bathroom, and exhaust through the hole into the crawlspace under the house. I dunno, gonna have to think on it a bit.

 

[NiteTiger]

Ah, found the link!
http://www.overgrow.com/growfaq/1457

 

[Guest]

I try to vent odors above ground so people can not easily find the source of the offensive odor. Perhaps a vent is a better way to exhaust your hot air. They make a one-way baffle for dryer vents so no warm air returns. Good luck with your conversion. I am just siting back and watching.

White semi-gloss paint is a good reflective material for walls also. I also use cardboard panels with mylar attached or painted for additional light controls hung from ceiling. cheap but effective. grinning.

Avid

 

[NiteTiger]

I'm in total agreement with you in the not being able to locate the source of any odors. We just choose different methods I'm planning on venting into the sewer because I'm in a municipality, so if by some odd chance a sewer worker does detect an odor, which of the 300 houses the sewer main serves is it coming from? Also, the chances of an odor being noticeable amid the unique bouqet of fragrances found in a sewer are very small Not to mention the cooling properties on the hot exhaust that being run through 100+ feet of buried pipe has.

Although, I'll definately look into the dryer vent baffle. Never hurts to have a back up, on the odd chance they're going to be working on my homes connection to the main

Yeah, I was going to do semi-gloss white paint, but didn't want the hassle of prepping the walls properly, and it was less expensive to go the Survival blanket route. $8 covered everything, and I've still got one blanket in reserve I'm absolutely with you on the 'cheap but effective' program

 

[NiteTiger]

Today was the in the attic and in the crawlspace day. What I found altered my plans a bit.

First, it looks like venting into the sewer is out. The plumbing in that bathroom was done with haste, and very shoddily. I'm not one hundred percent convinced that venting into either drain is going to go straight out to the sewer without backflowing through the sewer vent on the roof.

So, I'm left with a couple of options. My first idea is to remove the exhaust fan/light fixture that is currently in the roof of the bathroom, and vent into the attic.

The problem there is that I then potentially have a 'hotroof'. The question is - would it be hot enough to notice? I'm guessing probably not, and the benefits gained could potentially outweigh the slight risk. I'd be able to mount my ballasts and filtration system in the attic, freeing up lots of space, and removing a heat source from the grow room.

Another option is to cap the sewer pipe under the house, and vent into the crawlspace. The benefit there is that heat signature would be almost nil, as it would be insulated by the entire house. The air filter could also be placed in the crawlspace, again, leaving me more space.

The other option is to go ahead and cut into the wall, and vent via the window in the laundry room, or the dryer vent. The problem there is the potential for dryer exhaust to wreak havoc with my airflow, either by backflowing and actually ADDING heat to my room, or just mucking up the exhaust effeciency.

I think what I'm leaning towards is a combo approach. Vent into the attic, and cap the sewer pipe and pull fresh air in from the crawlspace. The benefit here is that the Crawlspace air is always going to be cool, summer or winter, which will help to reduce ambient temps in the growroom, and therefore, with enough airflow (I'm planning on using an 800cfm exhaust fan which should change out the room air about 8 times per minute), significantly reduce the heat signature in the attic. It would also give me easy access to tap into the central air ducting come summer, should the need arise.

Whatta you guys think?

 

[immortal]

I think that last idea is your best bet. Now hurry up and get us some flower pics. Thats all we really wanna see. JK. Good Luck setting everything up.

 

[NiteTiger]

Fear not, at the latest, the Canaries will start 12/12 Haloween.

 

[Guest]

I wonder about capping off the sewer vent pipe. It was put in the system for a reason and if you block of the flow of air, wonder if you will start to have sewer problems or toilets that do not drain properly.

I have tapped into these vent pipes before for exhaust outlet, never noticed any odor problem's, but I never capped the pipe off either.

Sounds like all will grow just fine for you.

stay safe and grow the same way.

realhigh.

 

[immortal]

Hey Nitetiger i was planning on starting MY SBBX3's in 12/12 on Halloween also. IM not sure if thats how it will turn out however, bt I would like a nice harvest before the end of the year. So i hope I can get them in flower by then.

 

[SmokeAndBeKind]

Every drain in your house has one pipe going down to the sewer that drains the water, and a vent pipe that connects to a vent on your roof, without which the water wouldn't drain properly (imagine how you can take a glass held upside down underwater, and lift it up, the water won't drain without air to replace it)

The only way the air will flow out to the sewer is if the run to the sewer is completely without a vent, considering a lot of plumbing is T'd together, and the vent pipes being the same way, it could be quite difficult to isolate this certain "circuit" of your plumbing system.

Also as was mentioned before, all drains have what is called a "P trap" which is the section of pipe that stays full of water at all time which prevents sewer gas from backflowing into your house.

It takes a good deal of thought and design in order to make an exhaust system such as this work properly.

I really wish I had an unused room in my house I could grow in, I could really use the extra space.

I think you are going to end up with a setup that will make you very happy.
Peace

 

[NiteTiger]

Realhigh - From looking at the system, I should be able to cap this spur without any problems. Will just be one less water inlet in the plumbing, won't affect the venting of the plumbing. In this case, it being an addition really helped, as it's isolated from the rest of the house, for the most part.

Immortal - Yep, I'm going 12/12 on haloween at the latest - i'm planning on having one hell of a New year's Eve party

SmokeAndBeKind - Yeah, looks like the sewer venting is out, for just the reason you said. Thanks for the kind words!

 

[NiteTiger]

Well here's where the line between Grow Diary and Growroom Build gets a bit blurry.

First, the room - My 1k watter arrived yesterday, WOOHOO! Hooked it up for a test, and couldn't make it past the 15 minute warm up, was too damn bright! And this light is a definate no no in my room until the ventilation is hooked up, unless I'm wanting to bake cookies in the growroom

So, today after work I'll be going to HD to pick up my fan. I'll be going with the 8inch 500 cfm model. After researching the effeciency loss fo reducing that down to fit a 4in drier hose, I'm going to make my own ducting using half inch wide peices of 8" PVC pipe for ribs. We'll see how that works out with some pictures later tonight.

As far as the Canary babys go, well, they're not doing so hot. They're in an intensive care h2o2 bath after discovering my airhose had become kinked, and painfully slow drowning began. One of the risks of living in a construction zone

They spent thier night in h2o2, and they'll be going back into thier bubbler before I leave for work this morning. That is to say thier new and improved non-kinked bubbler

I tihnk they'll all make it, except for one little baby that's really taking it hard. I'm afraid it's not gonna pull out, but we'll see.

Not too heartbroken though, after all, that's what they are there for, to die so that the good genetics can live happily later

 

[NiteTiger]

Well, after some first hand accounts of problems ventilating with this fan, I did a little research and...

Damn damn damn.

Further research on the manufacturer website tells the tale of the missing CFMs-

Model DB208

In Line Duct Fan™
Duct Diameter................. 8"
Unit Weight..................... 3.00 Lbs.
Max Boosted CFM:.......... 500
Free Air CFM:.................. 210
Amps:............................. 0.75
Housing Length:............... 8"
dBA:............................... 54
Blade Type:..................... Polycarbonate

Fairly sure I've figured out a way to get a good fan (747cfm). I'll know for sure tomorrow

 

[NiteTiger]

Little problem came up -

My comp at home got zapped with a power surge, so updates will be erratic.

Main update to the room is that it's almost completely poly/blanketed. Going to try to swap out my 250w HPS for a 500-800 CFM inline fan, shouldn't be a problem.

There's also been a problem with the seeds not arriving as planned, so I've been torturing my little canaries with experiments and extremes. Only managed to kill off two of them so far, but the other three are looking fairly sick

I'm germing some more Canaries tonight that will actually be allowed to have a normal life cycle.

So, until the fan arrives, we're pretty much in a holding pattern here.

 

[Guest]

NiteTiger-

I've had a problem with the Post Offal not getting seeds here as quick as planned, too. I need to get the seeds for the next crop germed so they will be ready to go when the garden is empty.

Just what are you doing to those poor Canaries, anyway?