airhood leak.

[bluealein56]

im using a 6 inch flanged air cooled hood. Im pulling air through the carbon then through the light and through the 6inch Hight Output can fan, and out and a way.
I seem to be having air leaks in between where my glass lens meets the metal of the hood. Is there like a special kind of tape or something i could use to seal the leak?
I use mh and hps so i want it it be something i can easily remove or work around when changin bulbs.

thanks.

 

[jmansweed]

Even the expensive hoods should be taped at the seems for effecient air cooling. I use high end duct tape. Something that handles the heat. Gorilla Tape works great. Good luck.......you'll be amazed at the improvement

 

[hanfhead]

Is yours hinged? If it is, it should have come with some weather stripping tape that goes as a gasket between where the glass meets. If not, I really like the foil tape in the hvac aisle at the H depot. It is a bit more sticky and you would probably have trouble getting it off, but it would be the best seal.

 

[bluealein56]

nahh mine slides in and out. guess ill go with the foil tape probably?

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Hi,

The heavy duty foil tape would be a great choice if you didn't want to change bulbs occasionally but since you do I'd go with a quality duct tape. I agree that Gorilla Tape is some quality stuff and although it will leave some sticky behind you'll be able to remove it without too much difficulty. The foil tape that I use I only put only seams and connections that I don't plan on disconnecting or removing any time soon. The foil tape has very strong glue and it adheres so well that I think it would be very hard to get off of glass and metal on your reflector.

You might look at Home Depot to see if they have some very thin type of weather stripping available. I get lots of leaks when I use conventional air cooled hoods too. I also pull air through my filter first and then through my 1K in my closet and I had to switch to a cool tube style of reflector to make it all work well and bring temps down into the mid 70's.

Happy Growing!

 

[bluealein56]

So is there really a performance
diff in cool tubes and hoods? Or s really a preference choice?

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Hi blue...

Yup... The cool tube design amounts to a 2.5 foot piece of 6" glass duct and the air zooms right through. In a conventional hood the heat gets a chance to build up within the hood and then the hood radiates the heat into your grow room.

I found what I consider the best of both worlds... It's a cool tube built into a conventional hood for a better light spread. I found this only at one website and I can't find the product anywhere else for price comparison but it seems like a good price anyhow.

hXXp://texashydroponics.com/shop/home.php?cat=55

They have two models that have a cool tube in a larger reflector... I got the Silver Star 6" model like the pic below and I love it.

Happy Growing!

 

[NorCalHal]

Heavy duty Foil tape, and a Razor knife to cut the seams during a bulb change. Been usuing it for years. Duct Tape seems to loosen due to the heat imo.

 

[bluealein56]

yeah i was afraid standard duct tape wouldnt have the ability to hold up in a high heat enviroment.

 

[bluealein56]

i almost got the cool tube when i bought my hood but i coulndt find one small enough to fit in my closet. Only got about 2.5 feet of width in that closet

 

[gatorman]

Jusy go to a hardware store and buy the small thin weather stripping with the adheasive backing and stick it to the hood them put the glass back in and problem solved. this will make it look professional. Most manufactures use plain old weather stripping anyway . After time and heat the origional stripping will fall apart and decentegrate. I have already changed mine out already on my ExtraSun hood. Thats the bad of pushing air thru and not pulling it.