Keep losing my CO2...

I came to the conclusion that if i wouldn't take a picture of my AC unit area, and all the ducting i had going to it, it needed a makeover. It was ugly i admit. So after a revamp of the whole loft area above the closet in my grow room (that's where i house the 7K AC unit, see pic below), and also a rework of all the 4 inch flex-hosing throughout the room, i did some more testing today and found my AC is as i suspected, good to go and not losing my co2. What is though, i don't much know. Gonna need some more testing i guess. But i guess i lucked out and got the unit designed correctly. After all the reworking was done, what i did was, pump the room from 550ppm (ambient) to 2603ppm co2, came back in one hour, and it was down to 1761. I let it get to 550 again, then pumped it back to 2567 but this time turned the AC off before i left. In exactly one hour it was 1735, so no difference with or without the AC on. Well except it was way to hot to have done that test midday, lol

When i wasn't trying to contain co2 i would run a neg vac and pump out so much heat from up there, i never had an issue. With the carbon filter just scrubbing the room now, temp's are starting to piss me off. My ladies are tough, they can handle them, would even more so with 1500ppm of co2 24/7, but the sun is falling in the sky and that means hear shortly i'll get to add 6 hours of natural sunlight to my flowering ladies from a South facing window in my room, and with that comes even more heat. This really is the worst time of year coming up, if i can find a way to have my cake and eat it too, results will be amazing though.

I can see the benefit of a mini split now,get the hot part right the fuck out of the room, was looking at this 9K unit for $400, but wondering where to set the hot part of the unit. I'm in an apartment so i can't put it outside. Would one work in a hot attic loft crawl space? Lot of air to move up there, just real warm air. Thoughts?

IMG_2276.jpg

So heres what i came up with for now with what i already have. BTW, that whole area behind the wood is like 71"x31"x 31" inches. So, best way to get air from outside the room, and cool the HID's and AC was from the HVAC vent i figured. I split it off into three 4" hoses, two short ones cool the area behind the AC, which vents into the attic. The long one you see runs to the two 400's, aluminum tape and zip ties sealing every connection along the way there and back. Gorilla tape sealing around the wood. I really don't see a leak anywhere. There are two 200 CFM inline fans in the pic also. One to the right of the AC on the bottom 4" hose, and the other is at the far left of the image on the other side of the HID's. It doesn't just dump into that space behind the AC unit though, its hot enough back there from the AC, i gave it its own hole into the attic behind the plywood. Might seem weird to use my homes AC to cool my grow rooms AC and HID's, but it works, all be it not as efficiently as id like.

I guess next i should test co2 loss with the homes AC off for an hour, than again with the two 200's off, and see if either of those appear to be the co2 robbers.

Thoughts?

minisplit heat pump in an attic wouldnt really work it would build dangerous amounts of humitdity up there just asking for mold and rot. as far as a mini split go i used to be in the same situation, in an apartment it would look rather suspect to be installing a 1000$ piece of equipment like that.

Originally Posted by polyarcturus

minisplit heat pump in an attic wouldnt really work it would build dangerous amounts of humitdity up there just asking for mold and rot. as far as a mini split go i used to be in the same situation, in an apartment it would look rather suspect to be installing a 1000$ piece of equipment like that.

I hear ya man, i happen to be legal though, landlords cool as shit too, so i can pretty much do whatever i want, and id do the install myself,.. but moot point cuz no way im dropping a grand on AC (at this point) and then the bill on top of it. Especially if mine isn't losing me c02.

Do all mini splits make a lot of humidity, or can they drain into a pan like my window AC? RH in my area is around 6% all year btw, desert. Not that i would put the heat pump in the attic if all do in fact make a lot of humidity, just curious. If one could handle the 120F heat up there, and drain into a pan, into a hose i ran down into my runoff bin, like i do with my window AC unit now, it might work? Just pondering... btw, thanks for the feedback everyone

I did a few more one hour tests with fans off and what not, to see where the co2's going. I had the least loss with both 200 CFM fans, and the homes AC off. So when air is blowing through those 3 hoses in the pic, bye bye co2. I don't flipping get it, i keep looking at all the connections, and everything seems sealed up. It's like the tubes are made of microscopic swiss cheese or some shit. I can see why a lot of growers don't even bother to vent there HIDs, and just buy a 24K mini split to combat all that heat they seal in the room. I hate the idea of an even bigger electric bill though. I only paid 230 last mo, low to a lot of growers i know,.. spending money makes money too,.. but i always want to do things a bit more efficiant than the average guy. Use less water, reuse co2 from my water heater, vent heat rather than pay to cool it. It ain't easy being a hippie, lol

well it wont like the heat in there much this will reduce its efficiency but i could work as for the humidity juts install an attic fan to exhaust and you should be all right so long as you pipe the pan(yes theres a pan like a window Ac under the heat pump) outside or to a drain.

lol a lot of people come to that conclusion after trying several sealed grows, like me for example

Man,... theres just gotta be a more efficient way than making heat, then paying to cool it. It's equally as wasteful as making c02, while you blow your water heaters co2 production out your roof. Oh and did i mention i run DTW and grow under LED's as well, lol. Use CFL's and two 400w HID's too. I really hate wasting my own money more than anything. I got all the time in the world to do it better, just not sure theres a way. And of course i can see myself adding more light down the road, so that 9K split i linked is laughable really. I'm only @ 1500W total at the moment, pull 6oz per, but my goal is to fill most of the 11x12 space with the 14 plants I'm legally allowed. At the moment that would mean they could all double in size as i've only made about half the room green.

Originally Posted by glassblower3000

poor boo..dude the advice you gave out was solid but these guys aren't dicking around....... Seltzer water will give off co2..but these guys are looking for automated consistensy.

Does seltzer water give off 1200-1500 PPM of Co2 as needed ??? i doubt it..

Originally Posted by DIYer

Yeah, i didn't make it easy for myself, but then again if i had dropped $500 and bought a minigen, it would be running for its life right now in my room. With all the HVAC shit running i can lose 3000ppm concentration pretty fast.




Hey man im not far from you, dealing with the same desert environment, fucking 100+ out today again. Im also in a spare bedroom. Do you use a mini split also?

The water heater co2 deal isn't too tricky, just a 4" flex-hose from the exhaust of the WH, routed to the grow room 30+ft away. I only need to an 80mm 12v PC fan, loosely placed into the 4" flex-hose to suck in thousands of ppm worth of CO2 in minutes, one WH run cycle, one shower basically. But only when the WH is running. When its not running what it sucks in from just the pilot light burning isn't enough to raise the CO2 level much above ambient.

I need to find a way to have the fan kick on when the burner in the WH fires up, and have it stop when it goes out, and or when X level CO2 is reached. Also have the room more sealed so when its filled, it stays.

No I use the central AC in my home there is a air duct in the bedroom. Lights off I'm getting lows of 71 degrees

Originally Posted by BeaverHuntr

No I use the central AC in my home there is a air duct in the bedroom. Lights off I'm getting lows of 71 degrees

Ya know,.. HerbalPrincess asked you this before, but thats where that thread ended, you never answered. How do you use your homes AC and not lose your co2? Also, IMO,.. paying to cool any grow room to 71F is a total waste of money. 1 Your ladies don't need it that cool, 2 if they'll turn colors from cold, you're not getting it quite cool enough to make that happen from what ive read, and experienced.