The Mill's Pride Club

[icough2getoff]

I keep my cab about 1 1/2" from my wall and it does fine. One piece of advice though would be to mount your darkroom louvers from the outside of your cab. Otherwise you're going to have a part of the louver sticking out the back and that would make the vents even closer to the wall.

 

[pinecone]

Thanks i modded the drawing. One question haviong my intake in the back of the cab, will i be able to draw enough air from the outside if the cabinet will be against the wall.

Unless you want to use CO2 (which I'm guessing you don't) you don't need 2 fans. You just need one fan to pull air into the box (through the darkroom vents), and then trough the cooltube, and then to push it out of the box and through a carbon filter. To do this ducting off of the right side of the cooltube, close the hole that that ducting goes through on the right side of the cab, put a bigger fan (bigger than 100cfm) on the left side of the cooltube, and get ride of the extra fan, extra ducting, and vents. This sort of plan requires that the Can 33 go on the outside (on top) of the box.

Edit: Also - I no next to nothing about digi ballast, but magnetic ballast can get pretty hot. If digi ballast also get hot I would consider locating it outside the cab.

Pine

 

[raygun]

Pine I don't quite understand how that is going to work. You had me untill you said to put a bigger fan than the 100CFM. Now If he did take the intake for the cool tube and connect it to one of the lower intakes and disconnect the 100cfm and ducting on that end It might work with the 440 creating neg pressure but would not count on that to pull enough air across the cool tube.

The DIGI ballest is cool to the touch no more heat than a laptop really.

I have for the most part always put my cab kiddy corner in a room corner so that i have the whole |> wedge of open space behind the cab. But my last place I had it in the garage and just kept it about 6-8" from the wall. Basicaly enough for the exhaust ducting to be brought u from the back. My large fan is vented out the back that is why I have exhaust ducting out the back.

Its looking better every time. I had my cool tube on a closed circut like this and ended up not keeping it and have changed my cab about 4 times in just as many years. It is always a work in progress.

 

[Mountain High]

i agree with pinecone that you should consider only using one fan unless there is a reason in mind for using more.

Also, the electric company isnt going to notice the use of a 400 watt light. you can relax about the use of more electricity.

Build this cab and get some ladies in there!

 

[raygun]

The only way to use just one fan is to push the air through the filter and that forces you to put your filter outside the cab. I do agree with you if that is an option then go wtih the one fan. But if you need to keep your filter in the cab you must suck the air through the filter and out and you are never going to get enough neg pressure to pull air through the cool tube to cool the light with just that one fan. You therefore must add an additional fan just for your cool tube.

 

[icough2getoff]

I'm a little confused on what you mean raygun. I grew in a cab with my carbon scrubber inside, it went scrubber>fan>cooltubes>exhaust and I didn't have any problems with airflow. I used a 6" vortex. I've seen lots of other cabs with similar setups. Though I'm now a fan of freeing up the space in the cab and putting the scrubber on the top. In most situations it can be hidden inside a cardboard box with no top. It also usually means less ducting, and the fewer 90° turns the better.

 

[StealthFarmer]

Hey Dmitexxi,

Your design is looking good, but I would change a few things...

1. Get rid of the 100cfm fan and just use the 6" 449cfm fan.

2. Hook up the Carbon Scrubber === Light === Fan === Exhaust out cab

3. Place the ballast outside the cab (I have a Lumatek digital ballast and they still produce a decent amount of heat).

I got basically the same setup that you are picturing and it works good as fuck. The cab stays close to ambient temp and its stealth.

Thats a Can 33 Filter hooked up to a Super Sun 2 light and a 6" Vortex with 2 darkroom louvers for the intake. I got the cab from Home Depot, its 48"width x 20"depth x 72"height.

 

[pinecone]

Hey Dmitexxi,

Your design is looking good, but I would change a few things...

1. Get rid of the 100cfm fan and just use the 6" 449cfm fan.

2. Hook up the Carbon Scrubber === Light === Fan === Exhaust out cab

3. Place the ballast outside the cab (I have a Lumatek digital ballast and they still produce a decent amount of heat).

I got basically the same setup that you are picturing and it works good as fuck. The cab stays close to ambient temp and its stealth.

Thats a Can 33 Filter hooked up to a Super Sun 2 light and a 6" Vortex with 2 darkroom louvers for the intake. I got the cab from Home Depot, its 48"width x 20"depth x 72"height.

I like this much better than the 2-fan design. As others have mentioned you could also put the filter on the other end of the ventilation (outside the cab).

Pine

 

[raygun]

I'm a little confused on what you mean raygun. I grew in a cab with my carbon scrubber inside, it went scrubber>fan>cooltubes>exhaust and I didn't have any problems with airflow. I used a 6" vortex. I've seen lots of other cabs with similar setups. Though I'm now a fan of freeing up the space in the cab and putting the scrubber on the top. In most situations it can be hidden inside a cardboard box with no top. It also usually means less ducting, and the fewer 90° turns the better.

Ah I see what you mean now.
I was thinking for some reason you were talking about a set up like this and did not understand.
scrubber>fan>exhaust and then hooking up one of the intakes to one end of the cool tube while leaving the other end open hoping that the suction from the fan would pull enough air over the bulb. That just would not work.

I have had my set up with the scrubber in and out of the cab, it went cooltube>fan>scrubber out of the cab(put L brackets on the back of my cab and attached scrubber to that) worked great when I could attach to the back. Luckly I have never hit the new ceiling of my cab with any strains I grow so saving room in the cab is not needed for me. Keeping it inside the cab is more convienient and astethically pleasing when your cab is in plain sight to company you might have over.

The only issue with this set up is your carbon scrubber is up high with the heat so you are now pulling hot air over your hot bulb. This would not work for me with my fan as I only have a 256CFM dayton so perhaps if I had a 440CFM it would be a different story but still the fact tht you are pulling hot air over the hot bulb it there. I am all for simplifying things when possible but for optimal performance I do suggest the 2nd fan if space and $ allows. Mine takes up hardly any space and cost me $10 as I had the fan and only needed the reducer.

I guess it is going to be up to your personal preferance and situation. Everyone has there own way and idea and sounds like they all will work. Its just up to your personal needs.

Happy Growing every one!
~raygun~

 

[dmitexxi]

Stealth you mean something like this?

I think i try one cab design for the first grow and another for a second grow and see what works best.

 

[pinecone]

Stealth you mean something like this?

I think i try one cab design for the first grow and another for a second grow and see what works best.

This is not the way stealth has his cab setup. He is only using one big fan (449c) which pulls air through the darkroom vents, through the Can 33 that is mounted above his hood, through the hood, and then pushes it out of the cab.

The alternative would be to use one fan to pull air through the darkroom vents, through, through the hood, and then to push it out of the cab and through a carbon filter that is located externally.

Either of these would work fine. The former setup is probably stealthier, but requires more bends, and uses more in-cab space.

I think either of these setups are better than one that uses two fans.

Pine

Edit: I think part of what is going on here with the one versus two fans is that there is a pretty big performance difference between the 256cfm Dayton and something like the 449cfm Vortex. Most of the people that have used both the 4" 152cmf Vortex and the 256cfm Dayton will tell you that the smaller Vortex moves more air and is quieter than the Dayton. In a setup like Stealth's I can't imagine that the temperature of the air around the filter is much different than the air anywhere else in the box.

 

[StealthFarmer]

Dmitexxi,

Your new design looks good. I would put the darkroom louvers higher than an inch of the floor of the cab because the pots are going to block them and reduce airflow. Also, like pinecone said, you could also put the carbon filter outside of the cab at the end of your exhaust if you want to free up some space inside the cab.

I have both of those setups going on right now, one with the Scrubber = Light = Fan and the other with Light = Fan = Scrubber. I tried both because I wanted to see which works better. Both work equally well, when I look at the temps of either setup, its crazy how both have around the exact same temps at the canopy. Maybe its because both cabs are in the same room? Anyways, Ill post some pics up later of the second setup so you could see what that looks like.

One thing I noticed with the different setups is that putting the carbon filter at the end of the exhaust reduces the noise of the whooshing air from your exhaust, kinda acts like a duct muffler. But then I have to deal with hiding the carbon filter when friends come over (that thing is huge!)

 

[raygun]

.....
Edit: I think part of what is going on here with the one versus two fans is that there is a pretty big performance difference between the 256cfm Dayton and something like the 449cfm Vortex. Most of the people that have used both the 4" 256cmf Vortex and the 256cfm Dayton will tell you that the smaller Vortex moves more air and is quieter than the Dayton. In a setup like Stealth's I can't imagine that the temperature of the air around the filter is much different than the air anywhere else in the box.

Pine that is a great point and good to know info. Had I known this years ago I probably would have gone with a vortex. I still want to get a larger fan soon so thanks for the info.


D I think you know what you need as far as materials now and its just a matter of putting it together. Get 'er done!.

stealth nice setup what type of bulb are you running? looks like a CMH possibly or is it just a MH?

Dmitexxi,
One thing I noticed with the different setups is that putting the carbon filter at the end of the exhaust reduces the noise of the whooshing air from your exhaust, kinda acts like a duct muffler. But then I have to deal with hiding the carbon filter when friends come over (that thing is huge!)

For sure!!!

 

[kp^]

Things are going pretty well on my end. I ended up only having 1 female out of my 3 plants I grew. The 2 males got ground up in the garbage disposal.. so sad

Currently plant is in FF ocean potting soil, and been feeding FF Big Bloom...

Here is pics of my female in flower.. hope u enjoy.

 

[dmitexxi]

Yeah i think im good to go thanks a lot fellas.... i think i know what i need to get after the holidays... just need to find a good fan. all i read is Dayton/Vortex so ill take my pick. When shopping what is the safest way to aquire these items? I dont think online is safe with a credit card what do you recommend i get these items?

Just one question from reading another post, the can33 is rated 200CFM and my fan is 449CFM does that mean that the can33 is the bottle neck aand should i get a can66 with a higher CFM that is close to my fan?

also approx how big are these carbon cans?

 

[pinecone]

When shopping what is the safest way to aquire these items? I dont think online is safe with a credit card what do you recommend i get these items?

I just buy the stuff with a credit card. I find it really hard to believe that the authorities are going to be concerned about you purchasing a small amount of grow related items from a hydro shop.

Pinecone

 

[raygun]

D i think that the CAN filters are quite large. I would recomend a DIY carbon scrubber. I made one years ago and it still works great! just need to change out the carbon/kitty litter crystal mix every 4-6 mo. to keep in top performance. Costs are minimal its like $20 for carbon every time i change and the 1 tub of kitty crystals will last at least 3-4 changes so over a year at a 1:3 ratio kitty:carbon

Mine is 6" in diameter and a little under 2' long basically extends from my fan intake to the edge of my cab. You could make it 8" in diamerter just as easily for extra filter power as well.

here is an IC mag link to the model i used to make mine.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=29402
and this is the DIY thread link soyou can see some of the other designs.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=40637

 

[StealthFarmer]

Just one question from reading another post, the can33 is rated 200CFM and my fan is 449CFM does that mean that the can33 is the bottle neck aand should i get a can66 with a higher CFM that is close to my fan?

also approx how big are these carbon cans?

Dont worry about the CFM's because your going to want to put a speed controller on the fan if you get a 6" Vortex and it should be close to the rated CFM's of the Can 33 after the speed adjustment.

The Can 33 is 13"tall w/ a 12" diameter. Theyre pretty big and they weigh around 30 pounds but work awesome in eliminating all odors.

btw what is your budget dmitexxi? You may want to do some DIY shit because buying everything can get expensive.

 

[StealthFarmer]

stealth nice setup what type of bulb are you running? looks like a CMH possibly or is it just a MH?

Raygun, Its just a normal HPS bulb, I guess in the picture it looks like a MH but nope its just a regular HPS bulb.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Hope I’m not to late to play. There was a several day waiting period between registration and posting privileges.

Not saying this is the best or only way but, I think it’s what you’re trying to do...



In the first example there’s no ballast because it’s not really part of the venting system. If I was going to put it anywhere inside, I’d put it next to the filter intake.

My concern, and others correct me if I’m wrong, is the C13 style cab requires one internal horizontal brace. At the bottom it makes for great storage. At the top you can use it for ballast, power strips, timers etc, keeping everything inside the cab for stealth purposes.