ventilation

[smokedoja]

im thinking about upgrading and i want to know how much heat comes off a
400
600
& 1000 watt bulb ....


-make sure you include what fans you use, if its aircooled, room temp outside grow area....pretty much as much info as possible
:D

[BloodShotI'z]

I use a 400w in a closst 9ftx2. Really confined space. Temps were up to the low 90's with just the light. I went to wal-mart and bout a couple fans. One stationary metal cage type fan. An a smaller oscilating fan. I leave my closet door open for venting. Temps now....on these 100 degree days where I live insode the grow is 80-85f. I'll see if I can find/post some info on venting.

Non aircooled.
Temps outside grow room is always 5 degrees cooler.
Open door for venting hot air out.

[tokecrazy]

If you can air cool your lights you will not have bad heat problems with either 600 Or 1000.My closet is ac vented in the closet with a 200cfm fan pulling the hot air out of the closet.The light is a 400watt hPS which is hotter than MH.If I upgrade I will do the 600watt for it puts out almost the same lums as 1000watt and the elec cost is cheaper.My closet temps are 74degree to 77 degree.I think if I go with the 600 the temps would only rise up 2 to 3 degree.If it go's higher I will upgrade the fan to a 300cfm.In the DIY secton I posted a site to buy fans at a cheap cost.The 200 has been running for 10 1/2 months now on 12/12.So far I love them fans at $9.95 each.I have a 300cfm in my cab and the test run in the cab only got to 80 to 81 degrees.You will have to test out the light and the space you want to run them in to know what the temps will be and what steps you have to take to cool them down.More light means more heat. PEACE

[btdt]

Here's how I did mine. I still have tweeks to do (as always)..but it's working AOK for the initial run/initial start up of the system.

I vent my rooms seperately/seperating the ventilation of the lights from the ventilation of the room.

I do this for a few reasons:

First, I think I get better temp control overall. More air miving is NEVER a problem and is one of the SECRETS of having huge yields. Look at any pic you can find of LARGE grows..there's tons of ventilation/ducting present. It may be a TEMP solution to leave a door ajar...etc. to help keep the temps dowen in a heat wave...but for everyday use..if you find you need to need to do this you HAVE NOT covered yer ventilation needs adequately. No way around it.

In my set up...the red arrows are the LIGHTING side of the equation. The air for this system is CLEAN/Odorless...coming form outside the grow space and being BLOWN THROUGH the ducting rather than SUCKING the heat out of the space itself via an open reflector port. (one side of reflector/w duct, the other side suckin in the air from the room)

In short..if you source CLEAN air and BLOW THROUGH yer venting on this side of the equation you will NOT need to filter the air. In fact, I vent all 3400+ watts in my space back into my home during Winter rather than shooting it outside.

FYI...the light side of my room is being pushed through 4 reflectors via a 4" inline...210 cfm....slammed/foil taped into an 8" ducting (almost swallows the fan itself). Ya don't need tons of air....it's all contained in the ductwork vs. working on the entire space.

The "room" side of the system consists of a 10" Can Fan 737cfm inline fan SUCKING the air out of the space through a duct muffler (pictured)...then up into the attic..where the fan is...then it blows through the inline charcoal filter...and into anotherr duct muffler....then out. I may vent this in the house also....but it will contain moisture from the space itself...so tinme will tell. The LIGHT side is where the majority of the HEAT is....so I use that first.

Make any sense? If you can do it...this works well for me and may also work well for you.

rock on

btdt

[smokedoja]

wow thats a great setup btdt! the only thing thats stopping me from getting air-cooled lights is that it seems more difficult to adjust the lights since all that ducting is in place. or do you just prop em up with milkcrates? since ive only used cfls, jumping up to a grow room with aircooled lights seems like a big step...i was thinking about starting out with the basic 400w hps...then maybe upgrading, ya know startin out small...
what do you think, should i just test my skills with ducting and go all out with an aircooled reflector?
oh and i was planning to vent that hot air into my cold house this winter too!

[btdt]

If you look at the first red arrow..this is the feed tube from the fresh air source. It needs to be longer for future grows in my space...but as long as this tube (and the elec cords) is long enough I can drop/raise the system without problems. All of the hoods (except the center one which has yet to be vented/added to the system and will be replaced with a reflector like the rest soon) are hooked together/are at the same level..so the only thing that is important in raising/lowering is that you do it by 6" or so increments keeping all lights at about the same height.

I always urge folks to make the jump to hps. It may kick the 'stoner ingenuity' into effect full force to overcome the challenges...but there's no space that can't be vented out and temps controlled if the grower is willing to take it as far as necessary to do so.

My advice....buy a 400 or a 600..depending on yer space size and keeping the 50 watts per sq ft rule in mind...and also buy a fan LARGER than you need. This way...when you DO go even BIGGER down the line (and you will! LOL) you are covered. It may only cost you 50-$75 to upgrade to twice as large of a fan at the onset...whereas later..you'll be back ponying up another $150-300 for a bigger fan.

Always look AHEAD. You'll save $$$ in the long run if you do.

btdt

[BloodShotI'z]

Thats the way to go if in your own place. Pushing a 400w in the small space I have is a feat itself. Door opened or not.

There is always the ideal way...and the make it work way. Like mine. No cutting in an apt. Well not in mine anyway. All venting involves cutting holes which I cant do. Its either pay the fee for damages when I move out, be less efficient or not grow at all.

I compromised to grow but not with the best setup. Overall Im satisfied. Especially considering the heatwave and I still can keep the temps in range. Sometimes you do what you gotta do.

But if I decide to stay here another year or so I'll go ahead and get to work.

[btdt]

Right on, bro. NOT knockin anyone's set up. you do what you have to do...

But I did see you mention, or someone else did..that you were thinking of buying a set of doors/a door and doing some work there on vents...etc. that would be a "fix" that could easily be remedied when you leave via 3 hinge pins or fartin with the slider track to put the old door back on. Put a vent in low for fresh air (and pump in AC if you have it...and a vent at the top for hot air to be blown out.... I KNOW it's tougher than that... but even in an apt you can get around some of the pitfalls...etc. and not do permanent damge...etc.

Summer will be over and cooler temps will prevail in a few months. Good luck keepin 'er cool 'til then!

btdt

[SHAMAN]

"Blood" a DIY on a removeable Vent door would help a lot of people. If I needed one I would do it. How about you............

[BloodShotI'z]

lol...thats an underhand lob if I ever saw one Shaman. I'll consider doing one once I decide if Im gonna stay here.

I'd do the intake through a hole in the door and vent out through a hole in the ceiling. Thats where I was worried about the damage charges coming from.

And no sense in doing the door with no venting out of the grow. So I just leave it open. In the long run I may actually cost myself more $$$ if I have to run the AC in the cooler months to keep the grow temps in range. I'll have to see how it is when it cools down. If I have to keep the AC going and I decide to stay here....I'll get it done.