advice about temperature

Hey everybody! This is my first post but I've been reading in the forum for a while.
The things is I bought a Dragon60 LED panel and as you may know LED lights don't produce much heat, so this is becoming a problem to me. My grow room is 5,5 x 2,2 x 2,2 (1.70 x 70 x 70 cm) with a veg chamber of 2,2 x 2,2 x 2,2 (70 x 70 x 70 cm) and the flowering chamber is 3,2 x 2,2 x 2,2 (1.0 x 70 x 70 cm). It has a passive intraction system in both chambers and the temperature is 16-18 °C most of the time(60.8 - 64.4 F°) So, my question is what is the cheapest system you know that I could implent to raise the temperature????

It's September and your grow room is too cold?? You're in for a rough winter. A couple of options: try a small space heater on a thermostat; upgrade to a high pressure sodium fixture. It will give off more heat and likely give you better results than the Dragon. Good luck!

enzofilo said:

Hey everybody! This is my first post but I've been reading in the forum for a while.
The things is I bought a Dragon60 LED panel and as you may know LED lights don't produce much heat, so this is becoming a problem to me. My grow room is 5,5 x 2,2 x 2,2 (1.70 x 70 x 70 cm) with a veg chamber of 2,2 x 2,2 x 2,2 (70 x 70 x 70 cm) and the flowering chamber is 3,2 x 2,2 x 2,2 (1.0 x 70 x 70 cm). It has a passive intraction system in both chambers

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http://www.easy.cl/EASYFO_IMGS/img/productos/mediana/215978.jpg

and the temperature is 16-18 °C most of the time(60.8 - 64.4 F°) So, my question is what is the cheapest system you know that I could implent to raise the temperature????

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Get a small heater. Put it on a timer when your lights are in. Put th heater outside your tent near your intake . Your exhaust fan shoukd pull air thriugh and heat up your room. Play with it a bit to get temps right

Hid will raise temps

Personally I would switch my light out, with winter coming this is the indoor season. Sounds like you have the perfect situation for a hid lamp, most would be jealous because most issues are at the other end of the stick. Don't waste energy on heaters or you money for that matter, make money and solve your problem in one swipe...A HPS for flower and your led for veg...Good Luck

JonnyAppleSeed420 said:

Personally I would switch my light out, with winter coming this is the indoor season. Sounds like you have the perfect situation for a hid lamp, most would be jealous because most issues are at the other end of the stick. Don't waste energy on heaters or you money for that matter, make money and solve your problem in one swipe...A HPS for flower and your led for veg...Good Luck

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He wants the cheapest way possjble. He would need to buy a new bulb ballast and hood this way.

Thank you for the answers. I thought of those possible solutions, but the heater increases the temperature only for a little while, and its not worth it cuz im spending too much and not getting a stabilized temp, plus in my country is kinda expensive. Then, a friend recommended an extra light that could produce more heat, but i chose LED lights because they would reduce my bills, so if i add another light my main goal would be screwed (maybe one that produces a lot of heat and does not consume too much power???) .
Summing up, the idea is to spend money on something that, even though it might be a bit expensive, it would save in the long-term (electricity bills) and avoid unwanted attention in my bills. I've read about radiators and temperature controllers. Can anyone give me more input about any of the things i mentioned???? Any ideas about anything are welcomed
By the way, I have 2 LED panels: one in the veg room and 1 in the flowering room.

add some cfls they will warm it up alittle

adower said:

He wants the cheapest way possjble. He would need to buy a new bulb ballast and hood this way.

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your right, but he would also be getting better results to compensate for the cost of it. one grow with a hid, and it pays for itself...

I am also planning my first grow and also believe I will have a problem over the winter with the temps being too low.

If I did invest in a HPS light this would obviously raise the temps during veg, but when I flip to 12/12 then I would have to still use a heater for the 12 hours of no light right?

So the HPS wouldn't be a complete solution?

You want your temps going down 15degrees farenheit during the dark hours so for example lights on your temp is 84 you want it to go down to 69. Temps any lower than 65 are generally not a good idea and higher than 86 is bad as well.

I like the addition of CFLs they will add heat for a minimal cost, also they will help grow out your smaller buds. add 1 or 2 in veg, and more in flower. Switch to a HPS soon as you can though. with your temps as low as they are, I'm wondering what the Dark temp is?

adower said:

He wants the cheapest way possjble. He would need to buy a new bulb ballast and hood this way.

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Your right. You can spend $50. bucks on a decent heater and increase your electrical bill, to warm the room up. Spend another $100. and you can put the LED away, solve his heat issue and produce 3 times as much per sq/ft. and depending on the size of LED increase your usage a little. If it was my ass hanging out, I might as well get as much bang for my buck as I can. JAS

HOld on. Don't add to your electric bill, Go to home depot or Lowes and buy yourself some insulation board, or they have wrap that isulates. For <$100 you can insulate the whole grow tent/box and let the plants do the work. Your adding energy to the room already use it to heat. If you have a exaust/intake adjust to get a good temperature. If you don't have airflow you will need it.
Led's are great, in the summer time you dont have to use A/c and year round your electric bill stays pretty tame. You can rest easy knowing your not paying for bulb heat.
Insulate buddy. think long term.

Insulation will not keep the grow room warm because when there is nothing in the room that generates heat. Once the lights go out the temps will drop quickly, insulated or not.

What you need is a small space heater as others suggested, this will keep the room warm when lights are off.

Hey!! Thanks a lot for your answers, you have given me a lot to work with. I kept my research and I found some people use heat mats or electric blankets. Then I found that all of them are pretty much a bunch of soil warming cables wrapped in other material. So, i might give it a try with the cables. They're a bit hard to get here, though.

I found some people who have a reservoir with hot water in their rooms as well (usually powered by aquarium heaters[is that the translation ])will it work??

Also, found this " urchins heating board" (i don't know if that the exact translation, again) My closet is made out of wood so i was wondering whether it would be dangerous, for the ladies AND for my home, to have this heating board inside.

It is 28cm x 28cm. It has a dimmer and it only sucks 14W. It goes from 0° to 65°C (i'd keep in 24°C) and its only 30 bucks + shipping, which is 10 more at the most. What do you say???

Check it out her is link to some very efficient space heaters maybe one of these. I am looking at this problem as well. http://www.treehugger.com/green-home/6-energy-saving-portable-electric-space-heaters.html

meangreengrowinmachine said:

Check it out her is link to some very efficient space heaters maybe one of these. I am looking at this problem as well. http://www.treehugger.com/green-home/6-energy-saving-portable-electric-space-heaters.html

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Awesome link bro!! However, after reading the specs they all suck up to 1500 Watts. I own one that's 1200 Watts and that's way too much. The truth is, I had something cheaper in mind. For example, something like this candle heater http://www.heatstick.com/
I even found a DIY candle heater in youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bus9EUMUmJM

The problem i have to overcome now is safety , since my grow space is made out of wood and I don't think it's going to be safe to leave an unattended flame inside it. Still, I'm still looking for more heating methods, I now there must be something cheap and safe out there. Anyway, I appreciate all the ideas. Thanks everybody.

I'll continue the research ....i'll post everything i find here.

Put your intake as high as possible, that may help

skatercodyme said:

Put your intake as high as possible, that may help

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I dont understand why I should put my intake as high as possible. It would be helpful if you please elaborate a bit more. According to what i know hot air rises, so if I put my intake high all the heat would escape through the intake... ???? im kinda confused