A bunch of questions at once

[tchashow]

Okay, im growing lowryder hydroponically and im doing it with 10 five gallon buckets. im going to have 2 400 watt lights in cool tubes. My grow area measures approximately 2.5' x 5' x 8'.

Question 1) How many fans should i have to effectively keep my grow room cool and how should they be set up?
----- would this be a good way?
exhaust fan<--carbon filter<--ducting<--1st light<--ducting<--fan<--2nd light.

Question 2) Would i need another fan in between the first light and ducting?

Question 3) Should i have 2 fans for exhaust? one for the lights and the other for the grow room itself.

Question 4) Does my intake fan at the bottom of door need to have less cfm than the exhaust fans or can they be the same?

ANY ADVICE WOULD B APPRECIATED. I'M A NEW GROWER. THANX!!!

 

[HippyInEngland]

You will need 1 fan outlet for the light heat and another outlet for the room heat.

The carbon filter should be fitted to the room heat exhaust.

The last question .... You can only exhaust what comes in, so if yo have 2 exhausts, you need that amount of intake.

You could use something like the picture below, or a 'Y' shaped one, connect the lights and the carbon filter to it and only have the 1 exhaust.

eace:

 

[UKgirl420]

:yeahthat:

 

[tchashow]

i dont really understand what ur saying. using the y shaped filter would basically be the same thing as using one filter except that i would just have the filter and the fan seperated and not connected. or would i connect one end of the y shaped part 2 the light with fan attached via ducting and have the other side of the y shape connected to a fan that exhausts the room and have the one sided end connected to my door??????????? i dont kno if that made sense.....

 

[HippyInEngland]

You need to exhaust the light heat and the room heat, you can do this using 1 fixing instead of making 2 holes, or you could make 2 exhaust holes, its your call.

The 'Y' shape fitting simply saves making 2 holes.

You can fit the light exhaust tubing to 1 part of the 'Y' and the carbon filter to the other part of the 'Y'.

An inline fan pushing air out or an external fan pulling the air out, it would remove the heat from the light tubes and the room at the same time.

 

[tchashow]

ooooooooo.so i understand. the carbon filter is connected to the part of y the exhaust the heat of the room and the SMELL because putting the filter on the heat extracted from the light wouldnt be getting rid of the smell.
i was thinking i needed 2 fans connected on both ends of the 'Y.'
But i will still need 1 fan for each light, right? so put another fan in between both of the lights bcuz i will still need a seperate exhaust for each one.

 

[Tater]

You don't need two fans, just one fan big enough to do the entire job. Hippy isn't wrong though what he said will work but so will what you originally wanted to do. For example my set up goes like this.
Light->Light
CarbonFilter-> Fan->Exhaust
Light->Light

So I have my filter, then four lights, then my fan and my one fan takes care of my entire room. My temps are to low in the winter and I've had to switch to a passive intake. No fan blowing air into the room. But I have one ready for when it gets warm outside. Your original idea will work just put the carbon filter before the lights so that the air is destinkified (thats a scientific word trust me) before it goes through your lights and out of your room.

If you are going to do things hippy's way you need to remember that the air you pull through your lights needs to be drawn from outside the room otherwise you have defeated the purpose of the filter. If you are having problems with temps I would suggest following hippy's advice and having a fan pull air from outside the grow room through the lights and then exahst it outside and have your filter and fan pulling air from the room.

 

[solarz]

If you are using an air cooled light, IMO you are wasting your scrubber connecting it to the light exhaust...there is no odor to be scrubbed coming from the air *INSIDE* your lights. That air never gets "contaminated" by the odors inside the room. Connect the scrubber to the exhaust that will be blowing out the hot air from the actual grow room.

As far as your fans and cfm...what is ideal is to have that "tunnel" effect...and for this you are on the right train of thought. You should have more exhaust that you have intake. That's why you can run a passive intake/active exhaust system with success.

 

[solarz]

Sorry tater...i didn't see your reply somehow...didn't mean to repost pretty much everything you said. lol

but to the original poster.....pretty much everything you asked has been answered. Pick an option

 

[BuddyLuv]

You want to cool your lights with air from outside the room. So yes you will need two fans. I would set it up independently but I am sure others will so no. I would go like this

Outside>light>light>Fan>Outside for cooling the lights
Carbon Filter>Fan>Outside for exhausting the room.
You will want your intake to match your exhaust.

Inside your space and using 2 400w lights I would say you could get away with a 6" 400+cfm centrifugal fan for the lights and 2 4" 175+cfm centrifugal fans for your intake and exhaust.

 

[tchashow]

If you are using an air cooled light, IMO you are wasting your scrubber connecting it to the light exhaust...there is no odor to be scrubbed coming from the air *INSIDE* your lights. That air never gets "contaminated" by the odors inside the room. Connect the scrubber to the exhaust that will be blowing out the hot air from the actual grow room.

As far as your fans and cfm...what is ideal is to have that "tunnel" effect...and for this you are on the right train of thought. You should have more exhaust that you have intake. That's why you can run a passive intake/active exhaust system with success.

But i can not draw air from outside becuz im renting and cant drill holes that lead to outside air. so the air blowing through my lights WILL be the same air coming from the grow room. so connecting the carbon scrubber 2 one end of the 'Y' shaped tubing would be cleaning the air from the grow room then blowing that air through the lights and out of the grow room.

i think im just stoopid bcuz i'm not getting this.

 

[BuddyLuv]

Not from outside the house, outside the room.

 

[solarz]

:yeahthat: I'm not sure how effective it will be to cool your lights with hot air from inside the grow room. For your light/air cooling to be of any use, you must use cool air to blow thru the lights. Is there any way that you can post a pic ofyoru situation and we will probably be able to give you a better set up to get the most efficiency out of your grow room.

 

[tchashow]

i tried posting pictures but the computer said it didnt accept the format my pictures were in and i dont kno how to change them to a different one.

so can i connect the ducting that will be cooling the lights to the same room i will be exhausting the hot air into? i plan on having a fan in the window of the room i will be exhausting into to blow fresh air.

 

[solarz]

Yes you can do that, but i would try, as best you can, to route the hot air AWAY from the intake you are pulling the cold air from. This is similar to the set up that i am using and it works like a dream. I have my light about 6-8 inches from my canopy w/o any burn or heat stress. During the winter, i pull air directly from outside to cool my lights/room. Hope this helps.

 

[HippyInEngland]

i tried posting pictures but the computer said it didnt accept the format my pictures were in and i dont kno how to change them to a different one.

Use Jpeg pictures

 

[slowmo77]

ok i see what everyone is sayin. and they will all work imo it just depends on the setup your using. if your lights pull air from inside the grow room then connect the scrubber to the lights connect the lights with ducting then connect them to a fan to pull the air out of the box thru the lights. then you'll just need a intake fan.

if you plan to cool your lights with air from out side the room then instead of puttin the scrubber on the one side put ducting and run it to where you plan to get cool air then the air coolin your lighrs will not need a scrubber because its usin air from outside the box. then you'll need another fan hooked to the scrubber inside the grow room pullin air out to cool the box, and another fan pullin cool air into the box. so thats 3 fans. i hope this make sense to you. im stoned and it sounds right in my head.

 

[tchashow]

thank you so much for that explanation. i guess i need to not be blazed when asking and reading questions. but i understood what u said perfectly. thanx so much