Air Conditioner vent hose to a carbon filter?

Hi all!

I have a tent that is 8ft X 4ft by 6.5ft and I currently have 2 600W HPS lights running. I also have a can-filter and can-fan but while it controls smell it doesn't even touch the heat.

I can get a used air conditioning unit tomorrow (Danby) that puts out 7000 BTU which should be plenty for that space.

My problem is I can't vent out the basement window as it is level with the ground and we get a ton of snow in the winter and the window opens up very weirdly so it just wouldn't work anyway.

What I was wondering was if I could put the AC unit right in the tent and vent out into the basement itself? If I did this it would be two separate environments so it wouldn't cancel out the AC unit.

The problem I am going to have is that I can't see a way to hook it into my current can-filter/fan system unless I put a T in the filter and I am just not sure that would work at all to be honest?

The AC unit has a built in dehumidifier which is a major added bonus and uses a bucket/cup system or I could run a hose directly to the basement floors drain.

My main questions are if I run the vent hose out into the basement, is it going to contain any moisture or no more than say the can-filter which is venting out already?

If the moisture is normal, I would have to add a home made carbon filter to the vent of the AC unit because it is venting air from straight out of the tent. Is this going to restrict airflow and damage the AC unit at all?

I don't think my plants are going to make it more than a couple of days if I can't get it sorted as the heat is turning the fan leaves yellow at a very alarming rate and it's a shame because they are in their 3rd week of flower and have tons of bud sites and buds.

Any help greatly appreciated!

*bump*

I have temps under control but I need to know if I can use a carbon filter on the portable AC units out vent?

aight magic A - lemme see if i can help you...

i have a tent the same size (4x8 - GrowLab) with 2x 1000w HPS... i dont exactly have it set up completely... my ventilation is lacking also (still need a fan/filter)... and i already got the AC...

I got the portable, dual-hose exhaust 12,000 BTU AC/dehumidifier with no water container (evaporates water)...

it has a pretty powerful exhaust, but, it needs to move that much air to cool the compressor... so if you put a carbon filter on it - you should get the largest size that you can get... like the Can-66 so that the pressure is not increased as much... you might have to add a separate fan to help the ac move the right amount of air... that will make it more efficient to add an extra fan to boot.

so - what is the current path of the air through the tent? is it like this?

room air >> into tent >> carbon filter >> over 600w light 1>> 600w light 2 >> exhaust back into room

i plan to have 2 separate air streams through my tent

1 like this: outside air >> 1000w light #1 >> 1000w light #2 >> exhaust ouside

and 1 like this: room air into tent >> carbon filter >> fan >> exhaust into room

the room has the AC in it and its a small room... (about twice the size of the tent)

Hi BloodShot420 and thanks very much for replying!

Hopefully what I am about to say makes sense as it is very late and I am frankly ready to toss this all out in the trash arghh!

My setup is basically an 8 X 4 tent (6.5 high) with two 600W hps lights running off two digital ballasts. I had planned to put a 6" vortex and matching Phat filter in there but my so-called partner went out and bought a can-fan and can-filter that is about half what it should be for CFM I need and so all I could do was put the filter in at the top of the tent and attach the can-fan directly to it. It works great for odor control but just isn't powerful enough to cool the lights. That left me with either buying another filter and fan again or luckily (so I thought) I got this AC for about $100 less and wanted to use that to cool the room down.

Initially I tried getting the vent right up to the outside of the carbon filter and was trying to blow directly into it (the can-fan sucks through this) and I thought it might be able to allow me to exchange enough air to keep the unit cooling. Clever bastard I thought to myself until I checked it in 15 minutes and the thing was blowing massive heat!

For my next trick I thought I would run the vent hose out directly into the basement. Works like a charm except for the smell of course. Which was why I was wondering about a carbon filter (thanks for the info I still might look into that).

So for the last few hours I have been wracking my brains trying to figure out wtf to do next. I was ready to take the AC back to hell-mart and just be done with it all but then I thought why not place the AC unit next to the tent but on the outside. I could then (uh-oh) cut the tent (mylar) on three sides (top, left and right) and then fold the material down in a perfect shape for the AC blower portion to point in the tent. I was going to use metal tape to then stick the sides of the tent opening to the edges of the blower. I'm not *too* worried about this as I had a small tear in the tent and the metal tape held it together just fine ever since and I figure if it doesn't work it should be easy enough to patch that hole. I would then take the vent hose and vent it out into my bedroom which adjoins the basement. What a clever bastard I thought again except I have two concerns.

1) The unit is self evaporating which as far as I can tell after trolling web sites and googling for hours on end basically means it takes any humidity (water) and throws it out the vent hose. If this was a significant amount I simply couldn't do it as it would ruin my bedroom and anything in it. However from what I can tell these units don't send enough out to damage anything as this is what is recommended for server rooms and other rooms portable AC's are used for in general.

2) Temperature sensor of the AC obviously wouldn't be "sensing" the temperature in the tent as I believe it would be sensing the temperature of the basement itself. I *might* be able to piss about with the temperature controls but I somehow doubt it. I might instead have to put it on a lower fan speed and just try to get it in a position where I can run it continuously without damaging the AC unit. I am going to be running it for 12 hours a day on it's own built in timer (maybe 11 or something) but anyway I guess trial and error here is about all I can do.

FYI the unit is a Danby Diplomat model DPAC5070 which runs 5000 BTU's which when I had it running properly in the tent was great at managing the temperature in the tent very quickly reducing it and switching to "fan" mode and cutting the AC in and out as needed.

Anyway, any thoughts or suggestions appreciated. I'd rather work with this somehow and get it working rather than try other routes as money is really tight for me. This AC wasn't something I wanted to buy or could really afford but I had to get those temperatures down.

Thanks in advance and thanks BloodShot420 for your reply!

i hear ya...

so just to get this straight... you have 2 non-ventilated 600w lights in the 4x8 tent... and a can fan/filter exhausting air from it... which handles the smell, but not the heat.

then trying to hook up the AC you are having problems, because the AC is shitty, with a single hose, and it exhaust the air from inside the tent, out the AC exhaust, which smells strongly of ganja...

if this is the case, i think there are a couple things you can do... but they may cost a few bucks...

1. get ventilated light hoods... then switch around the configuration for your exhaust... so that the air goes through the filter >>> then through the fan >>> then over light #1 >> then over light #2 >> then out of the tent, and possibly out of the house.... this will take care of a lot of the heat.

2. you COULD cut up your tent, and try to fit it over the ac and the controls... so you would adjust the controls from inside the tent... then it would get the right temp, unless the temp sensor is in the incoming air area, in which case it would be sensing the room temp still... either way - it involves chopping of the tent to fit the AC, which is not ideal still. and exhausting the AC into the room the tent is in, makes the tent suck in hotter air...

i would not recommend #2... i think the main problem is your lights are not vented (if i'm hearing you correctly) - and the 2nd problem is that your AC sucks... if you can return it - do it... and use that money for some vented hoods and more fans..

so i did a little googling of your AC... i found it on walmart.com with 1 review which was kindof funny... it was not a good review, i'll just post it:

"A $400. fan!, 08/11/2009
I was so happy to find a low BTU portable AC for the small bedroom I needed to cool. When it was all said and done, the ticket price comes in just under $400.
I recieved my unit in a week and it looked great.
Set up was so easy, I was done within 25 minutes.
I set the AC to the coolness I wanted and went away. I came back an hour later the room was still hot. I could hear the unit, and the water receptacle was collecting water, so I left it for another hour. Room was less humid, but by no means cool. I continued to run the unit hoping it would eventually make the room cold. But no. The next day I ran the AC again. Raised it to the coolest settings, and went to bed.
Half way through the night I had to click it off and go back to my fan. "

Click to expand...

so if you can return that thing... your options will open up...

other than it being a shitty AC... i dont quite think it would be big enough, as they say you need 12,000 BTU (1 ton) to cool a single 1KW bulb if its exposed... so you should be shopping for something between 12,000-14,000 BTU anyways... i found that ALL of the single hose units suck ass, because it ALWAYS blows air out of your house after cooling the compressor... and this ALWAYS causes your room, to suck in "fresh air" from somewhere, which is usually HOT... so it creates this endless cycle of trying to cool the fresh hot air... it just doesnt work well... if at all.

thats why they invented the dual hose AC... which draws air in from the outside, cools the compressor, then blows the hot, humid air back outside... emulating a split system like most houses have... the result is the recirculation of the air you are trying to cool, so each pass makes it cooler... with no change to the pressure of the room (it will not be under negative pressure, sucking in new air)

but even if you got a good AC, and used the room outside of the tent for the AC exhaust... the tent will be sucking in the hot AC exhaust, raising the temp of the tent... so you need to exhaust that shit outside if you can... running an AC in a sealed off environment doesnt work.

putting a big kick ass dual hose unit in the room containing the tent would be the better move... it will give you much better control of the temp in the tent... and you'll get to enjoy it too if you like AC...

if you have a shitty fan/carbon filter now, you could possibly upgrade to the one you originally wanted, and use the current fan to exhaust the heat from the lights... and the filter in case you have to exhaust that heat into the room the tent is in... (which would need to be AC'd in return...

now you have enough info to confuse you... let me know what you end up doing...i'll be here in the meantime...


peace!

Yeah I totally gave up to be honest. Although I will say that AC unit worked very well! Venting into my bedroom sucked.

With the new C15 bill passing here it's time to get out of this until some sanity returns to the world