Ventilation experts NEEDED please...

[md.apothecary]

Okay, I posted in a response to another question about the particular strain I wanted to grow, but this is the more appropriate area to post my questions about ventilation.

I have a 10x12ft bedroom that is about 80 degrees normally, INSIDE this room I have a very small stand in closet. It's as measures:

3.5ft deep, 5ft wide, 8ft tall.
SQUARE FOOT 17.5SQ. FT (3.5 * 5 = 17.5)
Total volume 140 cubic feet (3.5 * 5 * 8 = 140)

Please check my math....

I have a 6in oscilating fan inside, as well as 2 55cfm fans to circulate airflow INSIDE the closet.... I also plan on getting this scrubber to replace the 6" osc. fan mentioned above...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160167007677


CURRENTLY THE TEMPS REACH 90 DEGREES!!!

What do I need to bring these temps way down??

The room is limited, I have fluorescent lights in one side of the grow room, and I will be placing a 400watt HPS on the other for flowering. I need drastic cooling.

Someone mentioned squirrel cage fan, but the problem is I don't know how they work, and after searching, can't find much information on how to use them properly. Would it vent to the attic? and if it vents to the attic, will the attic smell??? I can't have the smells! Has to be a stealth grow.

Thanks for your time and consideration!!! It's already much appreciated!!

 

[trichnut]

I would run a piece of 6" duct to an open window and run that to your closet with a 6 inch duct fan for intake. punch a whole in your door or the wall into the closet. next you will need another fan and scrubber to exhost the hot air into you attic. make sure that the fan on the scrubber opperate at a slightly higher cfm than the intake. also make suer that your lights are off during the hottest time of day.
chances are somthing like this will run you about 200 bucks for everything

 

[Bubby]

You mentioned buying a carbon scrubber.. if you're handy, be sure to check out these threads:
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11420
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17337
Only use the scrubber on the exhaust, whether it be to your attic or the outside. No point in circulating clean smelling air in a room full of bud

The type of fan you use isn't as important as how much air it'll move. You have to take into consideration that carbon filters will reduce airflow by a lot.

The rule of thumb I've read, is circulate the air 10 times an hour (or every 6 minutes).

So.. (140cf x 10) = 1400cfh
(1400/60)x6 = 140cfm
This math just doesn't seem right.. if it's wrong I blame the high :ccc:

A 4 inch vortex fan puts out 170cfm, which would be enough.. but it'll be much less with a carbon filter. Could work if you vent it through a roof, or someplace high up, so smell can dissipate .

A 6 inch vortex fan moves 450cfm, which I think should be plenty enough even with the carbon filter.

The temp of your room relies a lot on the temp of your air intake. Since the air intake is 80f.. you're going to have trouble. I think the optimal temp limits are 70 - 85 (correct me if I'm wrong). If there are no colder areas you can get your air from, you might want to consider a small air conditioning unit.

 

[md.apothecary]

Hmm... okay, now I am a bit confused on carbon scrubbers.... I guess I was under the impression that a free standing carbon scrubber like the one in the link I posted above, did not attach to an exhaust vent, it stands there and cleans the air that's in the grow room.... thus taking the smell out of the grow room air, regardless of whether it's vented or not.

Doesn't it take the odor out and recirculate the air within the grow room?

 

[Stoney Bud]

Hmm... okay, now I am a bit confused on carbon scrubbers.... I guess I was under the impression that a free standing carbon scrubber like the one in the link I posted above, did not attach to an exhaust vent, it stands there and cleans the air that's in the grow room.... thus taking the smell out of the grow room air, regardless of whether it's vented or not.

Doesn't it take the odor out and recirculate the air within the grow room?

Yes, that's exactly what it can do.

However, you have several things to think about with an inside grow.

1. The smell. It gets really, really loud. If you don't clean the air, your entire home will smell just like growing weed.

2. The heat. Once your air is clean, it'll be just as hot as it was before cleaning it. If it's already 90 in your grow area, it's too hot. You have to do something to cool that area down.

3. Fresh air. Fresh levels of CO2 are needed. If the room is sealed up pretty good, the CO2 levels will drop pretty fast. Having some sort of fresh air coming into the grow area is a must.

4. Humidity. Due to the nature of growing a green leafy plant indoors that fills an entire room, it gets pretty humid. Mold is your enemy. Damp drywall will grow mold in a minute. You may not see it, but it's there. The fresh air and coolness will keep the humidity and mold from being a problem.

I'm lucky. I live alone on a large piece of property and nobody can get withing 150 feet of my house because of my fence. When a craftsman needs to come in to repair something, I break out the air fresheners and shut down the grow room while he's here. I don't mind the smell and my home heat/air are plenty for my grow to supply all the fresh air needed.

 

[md.apothecary]

I've been testing with my large box fan tonight.

With the door open alone (no fans) it was approximately 88 degrees.

10 minutes with the large box fan on medium speed exhaust air out of the grow room tonight brought it down to 87 degrees in a 10minute time frame.

With blowing air INTO the grow area, it went down to 85.7 degrees....(from 87) in 10 minute time frame. the side of the closet away from the light is 83.5 degrees (approx. a 2ft distance away)

Still in both cases outside air temp in the room the grow closet is in is still 81.5 (both with exhausting air and blowing air).

So..... I am going to assume that with the HPS light (not setup yet), it will be say 10 degrees hotter where the plants are.


Rethinking about all of this... maybe now this might help someone tell me a more energy efficient way to cool this area... exhausting isn't working TOO well, but pushing air IN is as that is obviously circulating air in and out of the grow area through the open door. However, the door will not be open when the plants are larger and I am not home.

I am just pooping my pants thinking of having to get an AC unit to cool this darn thing. I wish I could find 1 quiet *** fan that will pull enough air IN the grow area, and push the air out of an exhausted area. haha

 

[Stoney Bud]

I am just pooping my pants thinking of having to get an AC unit to cool this darn thing. I wish I could find 1 quiet fan that will pull enough air IN the grow area, and push the air out of an exhausted area. haha

Dude, I hate to say it, but you need to bite the bullet and put an a/c unit in that room somehow. Either in the window or a portable unit. If you can put one in the window of the room, it would also work and be the least expensive. You could then place fans to blow the cool air into the grow area.

You're not sleeping in this room are you?

I mean the bedroom that's got the grow closet area.

Mine is an extra room. I made my grow room from the walk-in closet in the master bedroom. I live in the "guest" bedroom now.

I use the "bedroom" part of it as the drying room for leaf, dead plants, trim for oil...

The master bath part is my Mothers, my clones that are rooting and the seedlings.

The one door into the Master GrowBedroom has a "special" lock.

I did put additional vent fans in. They install right into the floor/ceiling vent and a thermostatically controlled fan comes on to boost the house fan pressure.

They were 50 bucks each.

Good luck man, and let us all know how you do.

 

[md.apothecary]

Dude, I hate to say it, but you need to bite the bullet and put an a/c unit in that room somehow. Either in the window or a portable unit. If you can put one in the window of the room, it would also work and be the least expensive. You could then place fans to blow the cool air into the grow area.

You're not sleeping in this room are you?

I mean the bedroom that's got the grow closet area.

Mine is an extra room. I made my grow room from the walk-in closet in the master bedroom. I live in the "guest" bedroom now.

I use the "bedroom" part of it as the drying room for leaf, dead plants, trim for oil...

The master bath part is my Mothers, my clones that are rooting and the seedlings.

The one door into the Master GrowBedroom has a "special" lock.

I did put additional vent fans in. They install right into the floor/ceiling vent and a thermostatically controlled fan comes on to boost the house fan pressure.

They were 50 bucks each.

Good luck man, and let us all know how you do.

This room is a spare room I use all the time, it holds my computer (furthest corner away from the grow area) and all my art materials, etc.

UGH... so venting isn't going to work then

 

[thestandard]

You mentioned buying a carbon scrubber.. if you're handy, be sure to check out these threads:
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11420
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17337
Only use the scrubber on the exhaust, whether it be to your attic or the outside. No point in circulating clean smelling air in a room full of bud

The type of fan you use isn't as important as how much air it'll move. You have to take into consideration that carbon filters will reduce airflow by a lot.

this post is extremely confusing to me and the OP i think. As I understand, these particular filters, and alot of filters, do not need ducting. This is a closet box grow, not a whole room. I'm also buying the smaller version of that filter and was feeling confident it would snuff odors. This was my understanding that it would simply clean the smell out of the air in this fashion. Website says for closets and rooms, free standing, not ducted.

the post in your first link shows the same breed of filter, which is meant to be used as I depict below I think, isn't ducting for a larger scale?


The air in the room needs to BE cleaned, it doesnt create and circulate it's own clean air.. idk someone wana step in?

 

[md.apothecary]

Okay... I just realized the HPS light I am going to be hooking up is an open air HPS reflector, not a forced air cooled....

How much can I expect in temp drop if I get a forced air cooled reflector and a 6" inline fan vented into the attic? Does it really make a big difference? Some say up to 12 degree drop in ambient room temps after light is at max temp. So, i could still be in the 80's for the grow room if I vent the HPS light right? I think I could live with 80 degree temps with a 400watt HPS on ...

 

[Bubby]

The air in the room needs to BE cleaned, it doesnt create and circulate it's own clean air.. idk someone wana step in?

Your diagram makes sense to me. You're using the filter on the exhaust, so it cleans all air exiting the growroom.

I put the carbon filter (attached directly to the fan) outside of the box, with ducting from the growbox. This saves me a little inside growspace. I can easily change the place of the exhaust (say I wanted it exhausted to the attic), just by moving the fan/filter, and ducting a new route.

The use of ducting isn't necessarily for larger scale grows.. in my case, the growroom is located in an area that gets no airflow, so I have to draw air in from other rooms. I might also want to exhaust in a different room so that the exiting heat and stale air (CO2 used up) doesn't get recirculated.

 

[clever_intuition]

I have heard that this works well for ventalation and purification.....A bit on the high end when price is a concern though.

http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/l...edia&cm_pla=air+purifiers&cm_ite=ionic_breeze