quick question for ya

[smurfin'herb]

i have recently had to put a portable a/c into my flower room. I just set a desired temp and it controls the room. Now i cant change day and night temp on this thing, so im guessin its just gonna keep a constant 75 degrees day and night. now ive read that you should have a 8 to 10 degree temp drop at night, so how will this affect my plants if the room is around the same temp day and night. This seems like it would be a common problem so can anyone tell me what im lookin at please? thanks!

 

[Guest]

The temps will drop 10+ degrees at night because the unit isn't fighting the heat of the lights.Mine does this all summer with 3-4k watts.Sometimes the unit can't keep up with the temps so say in June through August they reach 85 or more but go down to seventy at night.I set mine at 70 degrees but its only 10,000 btu's I need abigger unit but temp control in summertime is real difficult esp if you aren't on site.Chaco.

 

[smurfin'herb]

oh ok sweet. i have 8000 btu portable a/c that cools a 70 sq.ft. area with 2 air cooled 600's in basement on top of all, and my a/c runs constantly for all 12 hrs of lights on and still doesnt reach the preset temp of 70 (it only can get the room to be 74degrees at absolute lowest during the lights on period). Is this normal for your ac to run constantly during lights on in the summer? AND.. is that enough btu's for my square footage (i would imagine its overkill). but keep in mind i do run intake and outake constantly from another part of basement which is usually around 76 degrees during the lights on period of that flower room. I would think this would keep the room cooler than if had set the fans on a timer and let just the a/c and the lights duke it out with no continous air flow. Am i right?

 

[Guest]

Bear with me , I'm on my 1st sip of coffee...My a/c runs 24/7 all summer.My lamps are not air cooled but I have a 150lb scrubber that does alot of the a/c work just by pulling so much air that it keeps the room at this time of year at whatever the outside temp is.The scrubber exhausts into my veg room, which is a bathroom with no floor so its always chilly so the scrubber keeps it warm in the winter.Summertime I open the door of the bathroom and the hot scubbed air gets recirculated through the a/c room back through the flower room(under the door).It's abit screwy but since I added that giant scrubber I can have 4k going in fall through springtime with only a little heat needed when nightime temps outside are below freezing.I for got to mention I have a smaller scubber at the bathroom door so all the air in the whole little house is scrubbed and the a/c exhaust smells clean.My nosy relatives are always in my backyard and they used to think I had a skunk problem.Now I keep my big fukin malamute dog out there and I told them he ate the skunks, and he does, coon, possums amd crackheads too.The whole reason I have an indoor a/c unit is because I was up at 2am as always and some crackhead kid was trying to push the old window unit it in, needless to say I grabbed an oar and spent the night in jail, cause he screamed so loud the neighbors called the cops.In Mass robbers can't legally have the shit beat out of them.COFFEE gets me wound up.Needles to say a giant scubber can do wonders for your a/c.Oh yeah, Mass protects growers too!!!Hope I didn't bore yah!, Chaco.

 

[smurfin'herb]

Thanks chaco! Luckily i dont have to worry bout neighbors or crackheads where im at, (im where the corn grows lol) so im thinkin i should pick up a 20,000 btu just to be safe, and i wont need to upgrade it if i add to my 4000 watts. Wow, so what did the law have to say about your garden when they arrived?! I take it ur ligit, so what did u tell them? That a crackhead was trying to break into your grow?!!! lol! I would love to see their reaction to that!

 

[Guest]

Luckily my lamps were off at the time and the cops were more worried about me beating the cracker than anything else.There is little if any mj enforcement in my area, this real liberal state has other thinhgs to do even if they act tough about it.My friend was pc'ed for being drunk last year and he had 6 joints in his ash tray.The cops left the joints in the ashtray and he smoked them on the way home the next morning.they said they do not enforce mj laws in this area because it takes up too much time!!!I'll take that and 2k more watts please.You would have to work to get into jail for a non-violent crime in Mass.Chaco. I just told the cops that little shit was breaking into my house.He was trying to break in, he didn't know what was inside.The wall unit was mounted on plywood and wired to it with 50lb stainles steel wire he couldn't push it in!HAHA.Actually though I'm lucky he didn't press charges.Really!

 

[smurfin'herb]

So what if i had an a/c unit that could keep the temps at 72 during the lights on period? then when the lights went out, it would still stay 72 dgrees cuz thats the setting its set to adjust the room to. there would be no drop in day and night temp? what happens if there is no differential between day and night temps and humidity?

 

[Guest]

I believe you would have an ideal situation.I bet my flower room is down to 55 degrees right now because I've been leaving the scrubber on 24/7 .My neighbors got a house where a lot of high school dropouts hangout and the cops are constantly over there.I let the dog do the hard work but sometimes those kids run through the yard at night and I can't be everywhere and I dont need them smelling anything.I wish I had 72 degrees and 30% round the clock but I really can't manage it.Chaco.

 

[yamaha_1fan]

My flower room used to flucuate and I had alot of problems actually maintaining proper temps. All because of poor air circulation. I used to have swings from 60-85. Added a couple oscilatting fans and now the room stays at 75ish all night while lights are on.

Depending on your AC to run 12 hours straight and overworking while lights are on, then cooling the room down as the heat dissipates, sounds like a bad plan.

I am sure if you wanted to, you could find a way to control day and night temps.

Get a 2nd AC unit for lights off and put on a timer. Have that one set to the lower temp

Wire a household thermostat to the window unit (may not be possible)

Run two external thermostats on timers with each thermostat/timer combo setup for night or day

I have one of these running my window unit. Its a line voltage thermostat which means it is in series with the unit and shuts off the 120 Volts to the unit

 

[2buds]

Are your air cooled hoods sealed? Do they draw air from outside and send the air back outside? Just wondering if your fighting yourself here. If you're drawing air from inside the grow and sending it outside then your creating a huge draft which keeps your ac running non stop since the air it is trying to cool is always being exchanged. I run 2x 1k sealed hoods that use external air separate from my grow air. I also have a 400(sealed same as 1k's but hooked to thermostat so I can use it as heat in the winter) and some T5s(almost no heat generated, give cuts the prettiest shades of green) lights that run whenever needed. I use a 10,000btu window unit cut into a wall. My ac cycles, never runs nonstop even in the summer when its 100 outside. My grow is sealed tight though, 7/16" OSB for walls, siliconed every seam, weatherstripping around the entry, R19 insulation, I trickle CO2 during lights on so they don't starve for it, 8" inline runs 24/7 pulling through carbon venting back to each room, great circulation and no smell and no mold since I set it up that way. Good luck with everything stay safe and tell no one.

Peace

 

[smurfin'herb]

yep, im cooling hoods the same way as you man.