cooling the grow room in mid summer.

ruufuus · Mar 18, 2012

Hey guys, I am preparing for my next grow, which will be in the heat of summer, and I am looking for some ideas on how to keep the room cool during the heat of the day. I have done one grow in the heat of summer in the past, but it was very small and with a small light, with less heat output than the lights I use now. I plan to run exhaust through my cooltube to keep it cooler, and anintake to provide fresh air, but I'm afraid my temperatures may reach dangerous levels even still. I looked at evaporative ac units to stick in the grow room, but they aren't cheap and they humidify the air as the work. Does anyone have any ideas as to a sufficient method of maintaining healthy temperatures in the heat of summer.

Ps the house the room will be in is not air conditioned.

Thanks in advance guys!

Old_SSSC_Guy · Mar 18, 2012

run the crop at night instead of day, and exhaust the lights more than anything else. works happy...

Hushpuppy · Mar 18, 2012

I am getting ready to run in to the same problem myself. If the room is in a house that has a crawl space beneath it that is enclosed, you can draw air from there to pull through the grow. Use a strong blower that will exchange the air in the cubic space at least once a minute. The air from under a house is always very cool in the summer. I checked under my house once last summer when it was tapping at 100f and under the house was 73f. I was amazed but the ground is always cool.

If you reall want to do it right, you could dig a large hole under the house that would pool cool air, then exaust all the hot air out as high as possible.

However, if you are in a situation like me where you don't have a cool crawlspace to pull from, you can make your own AC with a couple coolers, 2 auto AC evap coils, a strong pump, hoses, a fan, and some dry ice. You start by setting up one AC coil in the area where you need cooling. Connect the hoses to it and route one of them to one of the water coolers with the pump and lots of water in it. The other hose would go outside the grow area and attach to the other AC coil. One hose would run back from that coil to the cooler with the pump.

You could either seal the system or have it pull from the pool of water in the cooler inside and then dump back into the same cooler. This cooler will be filled with the coolest of water and then have a small amount of dry ice added to it. This will cool the water and release CO2 into your grow room. the cold water will be pumped(with relatively low pressure) into the first coil that has a fan blowing on it so that the air is cooled(this is within the grow space or in the space from which the intake air is being pulled). the water will then continue on to the outside to another coil that is sitting in a cooler of cold water. This will pre cool the water before it is returned to the cold holding cooler with the dryice.

This is a "red-neck" AC idea that I have recently come up with. It is as yet untried but I feel like it would work for a couple days until the dry ice has evaporated and the cooler water has warmed. For the hottest days the expense for the dry ice might be worth it. I haven't worked out all the details.

ruufuus · Mar 18, 2012

Old_SSSC_Guy said:
run the crop at night instead of day, and exhaust the lights more than anything else. works happy...

thanks for the post. i plan to exhaust the cooltubes, and i will more than likely run the lights during the night, thanks for the advice.

ruufuus · Mar 18, 2012

Hushpuppy said:
I am getting ready to run in to the same problem myself. If the room is in a house that has a crawl space beneath it that is enclosed, you can draw air from there to pull through the grow. Use a strong blower that will exchange the air in the cubic space at least once a minute. The air from under a house is always very cool in the summer. I checked under my house once last summer when it was tapping at 100f and under the house was 73f. I was amazed but the ground is always cool.

If you reall want to do it right, you could dig a large hole under the house that would pool cool air, then exaust all the hot air out as high as possible.

However, if you are in a situation like me where you don't have a cool crawlspace to pull from, you can make your own AC with a couple coolers, 2 auto AC evap coils, a strong pump, hoses, a fan, and some dry ice. You start by setting up one AC coil in the area where you need cooling. Connect the hoses to it and route one of them to one of the water coolers with the pump and lots of water in it. The other hose would go outside the grow area and attach to the other AC coil. One hose would run back from that coil to the cooler with the pump.

You could either seal the system or have it pull from the pool of water in the cooler inside and then dump back into the same cooler. This cooler will be filled with the coolest of water and then have a small amount of dry ice added to it. This will cool the water and release CO2 into your grow room. the cold water will be pumped(with relatively low pressure) into the first coil that has a fan blowing on it so that the air is cooled(this is within the grow space or in the space from which the intake air is being pulled). the water will then continue on to the outside to another coil that is sitting in a cooler of cold water. This will pre cool the water before it is returned to the cold holding cooler with the dryice.

This is a "red-neck" AC idea that I have recently come up with. It is as yet untried but I feel like it would work for a couple days until the dry ice has evaporated and the cooler water has warmed. For the hottest days the expense for the dry ice might be worth it. I haven't worked out all the details.

good idea with the diy air conditioner, but im not sure if i want to go that route =p. i thought about running intake from under the house, but im afraid the air would be dusty, and possibly carry mold or something, as the crawl space isnt exactly what i would consider "clean"

getnasty · Mar 19, 2012

I have a $100 window air-conditioner that cools my entire bedroom more than adequately. It's a 5000BTU from Haier, that I purchased at Walmart. How big is your grow space? Is it in or connected to a room that has a window? Or is there enough space to set up the window unit on an end table with a drip pan behind it?

The Hemp Goddess · Mar 19, 2012

ruufuus said:
good idea with the diy air conditioner, but im not sure if i want to go that route =p. i thought about running intake from under the house, but im afraid the air would be dusty, and possibly carry mold or something, as the crawl space isnt exactly what i would consider "clean"

I pull air from my crawl space all year round. In the winter, it doesn't get too cold and in the summer, it is substantially cooler than outside air. I am a plumber and am in crawl spaces all the time. Put something on your intake to help filter the air. If you have mold in your crawl space, you have it in the rest of your home--spores do not stay in one place. In addition, unless you have a very new home, you have places all over your home where air from the crawl space enters your living space. Also, like also mentioned, in the summer, I always run my flowering lights at night. Dry ice does not work well and does not last long enough to really be something you want to use--you would be better off buying a small window A/C like nasty mentioned. The cost of dry ice would most likely be greater than the cost of the electricity to run the cooler and there would be no real controls on the dry ice system.

ruufuus · Mar 19, 2012

The Hemp Goddess said:
I pull air from my crawl space all year round. In the winter, it doesn't get too cold and in the summer, it is substantially cooler than outside air. I am a plumber and am in crawl spaces all the time. Put something on your intake to help filter the air. If you have mold in your crawl space, you have it in the rest of your home--spores do not stay in one place. In addition, unless you have a very new home, you have places all over your home where air from the crawl space enters your living space. Also, like also mentioned, in the summer, I always run my flowering lights at night. Dry ice does not work well and does not last long enough to really be something you want to use--you would be better off buying a small window A/C like nasty mentioned. The cost of dry ice would most likely be greater than the cost of the electricity to run the cooler and there would be no real controls on the dry ice system.

good info thanks for your post. in light of the information provided i will most likely run intake from the crawlspace, and set my timers to run the lights during the night time, and hopefully this will be enough to keep the ladies cool and happy =]

Jericho · Mar 19, 2012

I get this problem as well. Ac is the only way i can go. It goes up to about 100f easy over there in mid summer time, also humidity sky rockets. That plus a 600w in a tent can make temps hit 120.

Not sure if it was mentioned but might be handy to get some white thick curtains. They block out allot of heat from windows, that plus my ac does the trick. Also blocking out as much heat from coming into the room from outside helps reduce how much the ac works.

PuffinNugs · Mar 19, 2012

hxxp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16896741555

i just got one of these, had a coupon in my email and got it for $170 including shipping

perfect for rooms without windows, just have to add another vent output to the grow

this size is good for the romm im building, they come in smaller and bigger "btu"

also..."allow you to use this model as a cooling unit, dehumidifier, or a fan to circulate air" so works like the window ones and is multipurpose

Hushpuppy · Mar 19, 2012

That is a capitol idea

That only draws about 8amps, probably 10amp start up. Having it not in a window or wall will keep it quiet on the outside too

PuffinNugs · Mar 19, 2012

i dont know how ruufus setup is. involving how many outlets and the like in his room. i didnt really look at amps when i boughtjsut saw the price was a steal and was perfect for my new design. that 10 amp start up could casue some problems to some people if they have it on the same cuircut as ballasts and such. but after many years of growing now, i find it is a must for summers in my area unless i want to blast the central a/c and raise my electric $100s of dollars.

but im building a room from the ground up once i move in a couple months. goign to wire multiple dedicated circuts so not too worryed about amps. like ill have flower room lights on one, veg room lights on another. one for the a/c and other fans in flower, and another for veg fans and other random things.
my current house is wired so screwed up i doubt it would past todays inspections. i blow fuses constantly if i try to vaccum or anything. one ballast is on the same circut as my home theather

not good at all.

a couple more months i keep telling myself lol. i cant wait have so many plans i hope they all come together, the equipment is there but no where to build lol

Hushpuppy · Mar 19, 2012

I know what yu mean, I am in about the same boat with not having enough power to do what I want. I told my brother I wish I had a warehouse to work with and legal rights to do as I want. But for now I have to stick with my little cabinets

unlimitedblackx · Mar 20, 2012

PuffinNugs said:
hxxp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16896741555

i just got one of these, had a coupon in my email and got it for $170 including shipping

perfect for rooms without windows, just have to add another vent output to the grow

this size is good for the romm im building, they come in smaller and bigger "btu"

also..."allow you to use this model as a cooling unit, dehumidifier, or a fan to circulate air" so works like the window ones and is multipurpose

I have a single hose unit almost like this one and the thing is, there is 2 blower's in the unit and when it is blowing cold air in your room it is actually exhausting air from the grow room to outside the grow room at the same time, so you almost need to connect a filter to the exhaust part of the unit !! or you can have the unit sitting outside your room and duct the cold air in the room !! you cannot have a sealed room with these unit's !! and are not very efficient, very poor design if you ask me !!

Roddy · Mar 20, 2012

getnasty said:
I have a $100 window air-conditioner that cools my entire bedroom more than adequately. It's a 5000BTU from Haier, that I purchased at Walmart. How big is your grow space? Is it in or connected to a room that has a window? Or is there enough space to set up the window unit on an end table with a drip pan behind it?

If the A/C is blowing it's exhaust air back into the room, you're warming the air you're cooling in one shot!

I've seen several DIY A/C examples, the one posted above is as good as any. If you have a cool basement to set the cold cooler up in, it would probably work even better. I've seen the suggestion of digging deeper in crawlspaces (or in my case, MI basement), the deeper down, the cooler the ground air. I have both, really, a crawlspace and a MI basement. The crawlspace is directly connected to the MI with an access hole...lots of cool air in there that can be tapped with a simple house fan sucking into the grow space (fan needs to be strong enough so as not to limit the pull already made with the ventilation set-up).

Roddy · Mar 20, 2012

Dry ice does not work well and does not last long enough to really be something you want to use--you would be better off buying a small window A/C like nasty mentioned.

Yep, why I've never bothered with the DIY. Seems a wash in cost from elec to ice and I know my time/effort is worth more than any measly savings one could make! I would add that you want to make sure the A/C is of size it's not being overworked and running constantly!

Irish · Mar 20, 2012

under the house is where all the creepy crawlers live...i've always heard if you use bombs in crawl space, and if you use gas appliances, you should turn off your gas first...

i treat under my home with diatomaceous earth every year. i go under there with a head light and a duster every spring. just started throwing cedar mulch under and around the grow area as well to control bugs...

i have a hate/hate relationship with spiders.

you just don't want to give them free access to your girls, so something to think about too when drawing cool air from crawlspaces...peace...

PuffinNugs · Mar 20, 2012

unlimitedblackx said:
I have a single hose unit almost like this one and the thing is, there is 2 blower's in the unit and when it is blowing cold air in your room it is actually exhausting air from the grow room to outside the grow room at the same time,
and are not very efficient, very poor design if you ask me !!View attachment 186947

thats what i want it to do though. i didnt want the one with the second hose pulling in outdoor air. so it all depends on the user and thier needs.

this is for the 100+ degree weeks, wont be using it all the time. my hoods are pretty good at keeping my temps under control. well built hoods make a huge difference. probably mostly be used as a dehumdifier/fan.

if i was running co2 i woulnt need the a/c at the same time, so really dont matter if it was sealed or not for me.

you have a hose for water on yours or is it a tank? they look similar but are differnt. does that one only take in air from the sides or something, i see no intake in the front.

dman1234 · Mar 20, 2012

Its not a direct answer to the question but.....I gave up, it became alot of work and in summer there are things to do outside, I just wanna grow like mad Sept-May and shut it down, but thats just me.

unlimitedblackx · Mar 20, 2012

PuffinNugs said:
thats what i want it to do though. i didnt want the one with the second hose pulling in outdoor air. so it all depends on the user and thier needs.

this is for the 100+ degree weeks, wont be using it all the time. my hoods are pretty good at keeping my temps under control. well built hoods make a huge difference. probably mostly be used as a dehumdifier/fan.

if i was running co2 i woulnt need the a/c at the same time, so really dont matter if it was sealed or not for me.

you have a hose for water on yours or is it a tank? they look similar but are differnt. does that one only take in air from the sides or something, i see no intake in the front.

There is only one hose on mine and it is an exhause hose hooked to the hot side of the unit to outside, its tuck in behind the unit in the pic you caint see it.

it does not have a water tube neither does it have a tank, my unit evaporates the water as it builds up !! You could actually use it as an exhaust for the room but you would need to DIY a duck to a air filter somehow, witch im really thinking of doing as it is a really strong fan, must be at least 500 cfm, when my unit is on i have a real hard time shutting the door, it want to suck it open again !!

There's an intake on the side witch blows air in the hot side of the unit to outside,that's the part that would need a filter to it if you would want to use it as an exhaust, that's the strong one. And there is one in the back of the unit blowing air through the cold side of the unit back into the room !!

cooling the grow room in mid summer.

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