Advice on cold weather during dark cycle.

VTMi'kmaq

VTMi'kmaq

Well-Known Member
001.jpg002.jpg003.jpg004.jpg005.jpgOk sadly im experiancing horridly cold temps 10-15 f average now. My gl120 tent3'11"x3'11'x 6'11' stay quite warm during lights on and there's no issue there, going to 12/12 is concerning me mainly due to the temp becoming an issue after 4 or more hours in dark. I also have two auto's in a closet under t-5's that are experiancing slight wilt from cold. First two are auto jack and auto b respectfully lol, then i got some dog og and one medicine man. The one dog in pic three is the one thats experiances the wilt, the rest seem to deal with it fine. Now bear in mind i have a large house and the gas heater that's on the first floor only heats the living room and two other rooms by vents in the damn wall(old school style not my fav by far) so its hard to keep all three rooms even remotley same temp. Could i put the autos in thick blaco contactors bags during dark and not tie em off just leave the bags over them so there lighttight not airtight and keep em near the heater? The tent im thinking i can just attach like 20 feet of 4inch ducting to the heat exaust and have it blow into the room or tent periodicly during 12 off cycle. Any other thoughts or advice id welcome.
 
VTMi'kmaq

VTMi'kmaq

Well-Known Member
wanna try to limit my energy footprint tho space heaters eat energy like fat kids eat cake and stuff!
 
sensisensai

sensisensai

Well-Known Member
1. Run lights at night as recommended. This will provide essential heat during the coldest parts of day. As well. Most power companies have "off peak" rates. Making it (in some areas UP to)25% Ccheaper to run at night. Even if its 2%.. it adds up right.

2. Fan speed controllers. These will allow you to dial the airflow back during lights out. Allowing airflow to continue however decreasing the rate at which it happens... which translates into temps taking longer to plummit.

3. Build n insulated box or duct to a spare closet and put in a thermostat regulated heater. Oil radiator gets my preference. Fairly low power consumption in comparison. Much safer than a space or heat core style heater. Cons is it takes.longer to heat up.

Close the heater into the box and get a duct booster fan to draw the warm air from the box into the garden. Make sure the heatbox has a passive intake. Basically ur isolating a heat source and drawing from it rather than from freezing outside air. Any one of these or better a combination should bring ur temps down to a liveable range 10 degrees is a lot of chill to knock off. I'd be happy hitting 62 at night in that situation. And bare in mind that while avg temps are important to health . What's really important is controlling that drop. While they wouldn't thrive... I could care less if I could only get my garden to 65 day temps.. the important thing to me is that my nigh temps don't fluctuate more than 12 degrees from day. We know they hate cold but drastic temperature changes IMO cause far more stress then a cold but controlled environment. Powdery mildew for example loves cold nights and hot days with shade. So just in massive fluctuations alone the plant is experiencing stress factors that are likely adverse to its immune system. So I'm not saying u WILL get pm. If ur room is clean and intake is filtered spores shouldn't exist so it couldn't take hold. But as it is if u dragged some spores in on ur shoe or something ur environment would make it very hard to get rid of..

Try the steps above and In the meantime be very very clean and careful about going in the room.

OK I'm done lol. /$.02
 
VTMi'kmaq

VTMi'kmaq

Well-Known Member
obviously this man knows his shit lmao that being said i dread waking up to 15 f outside only because i can never tell just how it efffects my 214 year old buildings walls lol! its a unique situation sadly. The oil heater is def a purchase i pass by the wife safely. Excellent idea sir and once again many thanks for your concise input!
 
SOMEBEECH

SOMEBEECH

Well-Known Member
Ecips said:
Buy a space heater 20$ wall mart , make sure it has a thermostat !
Click to expand...
This if you live where its gonna be cold alot.
VTMi'kmaq said:
wanna try to limit my energy footprint tho space heaters eat energy like fat kids eat cake and stuff!
Click to expand...
Here tht did amp draw yesterday my boiler type i use for flower station

pulls as much amperage as 1k 9amps,So its like running a 1k bulb.

Glad i run my ballast on 220v


Beech
 
sensisensai

sensisensai

Well-Known Member
As for saving energy... phantom draw is a huge consumer of energy... unplug anyhing not in use... anything. It will save u money.

Use cold water to do you laundry
use cold water and 5% bleach solution to soak dishes in before cleaning them.. in cold water.

Turn the thermostat on ur water heater down a bit. Not a huge effect but it will make a.difference.

Take gallon like jugs (minimum of 2 per shelf) fill with ice cold or even slushy water and place.on each shelf in the fridge. Reduce the fridges thermostat. The water will act as an insulator keeping the fridge colder meaning it runs less often.. big savings.

If u have baseboard heaters turn their circuit off and get u a heat 600w heat coil style heater with aa fan. Most baseboard heaters consume 1000w per four ft. Of strip. That's 4kw in an average 2 bedroom. The one space heater will keep any room ur in more than inhabitable and ull only be using 600w. (35 Ishdollars a month?)

Duct the exhaust from your lights to the main living area. This can largely eliminate the need for any heat sources depending on wattage ur running.

Other than that there's not a WHOLE. Lot that u can do considering its 15 out lol. But I'm sure other users have some great advice as well. Cfls if u haven't already are a great way to save in the long run. Replace all the incandescents in the house.
 
VTMi'kmaq

VTMi'kmaq

Well-Known Member
So were gonna go 12/12 now and use slower exaust fan speeds to minimize the heat loss during last few hours of 12 on. Then seal the tent to retain the heat and keep that room a steady 65 all day for 12 off hours, now for the closet and those auto's idk really 18 on 6 off till they finish is kinda weird for me, yeah first auto grow. I do have an old dr 80 i could use but im lighting the auto's with 4 ft hydrofarm t-5's atm maybe a combo of t-5 and those damn cfl's i hoard? in that ole dr 80?
 
VTMi'kmaq

VTMi'kmaq

Well-Known Member
now see beech the wife is canadian and she has rubbed off that canuk sense of humor on me. i do everything but say eh. lol actually you guys have a show called dragons den i absolutley love to watch. I just need to figure out a neato way to get as many of those cfl's in one area...this may require redneck engineering!
 
sensisensai

sensisensai

Well-Known Member
I know it feels.weird but 18/6 is the way to go with Auto. I don't see why the Dr wouldn't work. Worst case u can just move them at lights out to the other dark tentwhere its warm for 6 hours and move em back. Pain in the ass if ur not always home.
 
sensisensai

sensisensai

Well-Known Member
Google DIY cfl Hood or array or the like... some creative mofos. Out there that have likely already made a how to video on exactly what u aim to do honestly.
 
SOMEBEECH

SOMEBEECH

Well-Known Member
VTMi'kmaq said:
now see beech the wife is canadian and she has rubbed off that canuk sense of humor on me. i do everything but say eh. lol actually you guys have a show called dragons den i absolutley love to watch. I just need to figure out a neato way to get as many of those cfl's in one area...this may require redneck engineering!
Click to expand...
Alot of Ys.........Seen tht sensi you see the Shandlier sp but you know i hope what im talking about.Some Crazy setups tht a 150Hid would probly be better and cost less

Beech
 
HeartlandHank

HeartlandHank

Well-Known Member
I feel you, OP. My plants are getting chilly. I am maxed out on available amps... Next winter I am going to cut a light and buy a really small electric space heater.
 
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