is anything wrong with this person's idea of venting his grow? I'm starting to get the wheel turning now. I'm thinking a small encloser, completely insulated and sealed off from the attic. Hole in the side with a small fan connected. running the fan on a timer for short periods throughout the day, because that will be one of two holes to the outside (cold temps) the other will be my exaust. For the exaust I'm thinking like a dryer hood, with little flaps that will open when the fan is turned on, but will close when off, so no air can enter. What else guys, help me think this through.

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my main concern obviously is how to safely heat this cabinet/box. i'm searching for these water heated blankets right now.

alright,i love a good challenge.I heard on science channel earlier that air is the best possible insulator, becuase it's a gas,it cannot disperse heat like solid objects do (don't quote me on that but you get the idea). So I am going to build a box with two layers. Basically I want a box within a box, that has roughly 1-2 inches space between each other. shouldn't be too hard to construct. I'm thinking a cabinet, regular old cabinet covered in insulation. Then constructing a larger box from regular old plywood, that is longer/wider, and I will just place it over the cabinet much like you would with a grill cover, it will have no bottom to it. Then I can easily lift it off the cabinet. open cabinet doors, and groom the babies. i think that's the answer. any believers?

I believe. then i want to see you do it with the temps down to -10 ... so i can do this in my garage

[quote=mastodonfan;382307]If I remember correctly that is 'dead air', its not moving. You're idea of a box inside of a box is correct.

What you could do, is go to one of the big box stores and take a look at what you need to do to Insulate a house in your area. If you duplicate that, including ventilation outside box, and put a hole from the living space to the inside of the outside box for intake air it will be a part of your living space, heated by your furnace.

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Its simple, its not easy. To be as efficient as possible, you need dead air space, you get that by using batts of insulation and the syrofoam in combination. The styrofaom stops air from blowing in and the air space that is in the insulation does the rest of the job.
The ventilation around the outside of the insulation is very important. I don't know if this is a good example for you or not but its the one I got. Remember when you were a kid and you went out, with gloves on of course, to throw snowballs?? As soon as your gloves got wet it was time to stop. And walking back to the house you would push them off a little so they didn't contact your skin? What you did was create an air space heated by you hand. Don't touch the wet gloves you are ok until you get the wet gloves off. Point is "Wet" insulation doesn't work as well as dry, with a dead air space, slightly heated. Or cooled. One of your first comments was about how cold it gets in the attic. Well insulation, and energy efficiency, depends on ventilation to keep it dry. If it's cold outside and warm in the attic your insulation is not allowed to do its job. It is 'wet' It's science, not rocket science, it can be done, it will be work.

As far as Doctor Pots 'Barrel Of Green' goes, the 'space age material' he uses inside to reflect the light back to the plants is a water heater blanket. Dr. Pot is a member of this forum, doesn't get to visit often, he does respond to questions about it. I think the last time he stopped by he said he was using a 400 watt now and I think there was a fan size change. It has been a while. Tell him I sent you. VV

The principles don't change. The plants don't know its a garage. At least I don't think mine know. My workshop is a room constructed inside of the garage, insulated with batt insulation and "Styrofoam Insulation" on the exterior walls under the siding. Usually service entrances for water and electric are close to the garage which makes it convenient to do plumbing and electrical Installation. Most have open attics so ventilation is easy to set up.
You just need to make sure you have the right insulation, just like you do for any 'Living Space'. Make it 'energy effiecient' first. Then make it a grow room. VV

Its minus 12 degrees celsius here right now. My work area is 28c and my plants are at 21c, with the lights out. Guess you 'can do it' in a garage. VV

yo i had just saw one of those instalation things that keep the heat in and you just set em up around it and put the lights in. it well reflect i think

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Yo dude its not a water heated blanket, its a water heater blanket, made to insulate a water heater. Its in one of the two threads from barrel of green. He probably gave a source for them seems like it was around $50.00's or so. He strips the insulation off to fit the barrel of green, I figure the reftective material must be worth it. Dr. Pot didn't give me the impression he would waste money. And for you situatuion you could leave the insulation on. VV

you could just use a hoter light... like get a 600 watt hps have it on from like 6pm till 6 am and then since it get's 70 degrees durring the day it will constantly be warm...i don't really see any reason for a box, as long as the attic is dark when the light is off.

-Cult

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