Can I cool a 4k room with 14,000 BTUs?

budleydoright

Well-Known Member
No.

If you have more biomass you get more humidity.

I've run a 8kw sealed room with three tons and still HAD to run a drizair dehu in the room. Reason, massive trees that were 65 inches tall and 45" wide. Without dehu the AC ducts for upstairs rained condensation into my basement grow with lights on. Ambient here in Colorado is dry too.
Open or vented hoods? I'm just down the road from you where it's a little hotter and drier. High desert just the same.
 

SnapsProvolone

Well-Known Member
Open in there.

I have three rooms in 1300 sqft and two adults with high counts. One veg room for moms, clones and preflower veg. One flower room with 8k x three tons and trees with open hoods and CO2. One with 6 - 8k (8 in winter), trays, no AC, 12" exhaust pulling air thru hoods and out thru cd-1200 ozone gen and out via wall vent. 10" intake pulling outside air thru a dust shroom on cooling thermostat. There are 12x39 phat filter scrubbers running in these rooms. So far I am more pleased with the non CO2 enriched room for margins.
 

Aeroknow

Well-Known Member
I'm curious, when air cooling your sealed hoods and removing the heat they generate you obviously reduce the need for AC. Without that AC running and removing the moisture, how do you deal with the humidity? Do you run a dehumidifier? Are you removing heat from one source only ro replace it with another?
I have found running an 8-10k sealed room, that running my hoods open keeps my AC running the amount needed to keep my humidity in check. When things are cooler outside and there is less load on the AC as a result, adding another light will often ad the heat needed to keep the balance. Currently @ 9k and out of room, when things are big I do need to run a dehuey a bit and always need one at night.

When I ran water cooled light fixtures I found that I was having to run a dehuey 100% of the time and often needed an AC to remove the heat from the dehuey! So 3 refrigeration units cycling constantly. 2 to remove the heat and one putting some back in!

How do you balance that?
Ok, ok. Let me try to explain myself a little better this morning. I was liquered and high as shit from trimming on holy grail all day :bigjoint:
When you air cool the lights, in a sealed room, there's still a shit load of heat put off btw. Just not as much(of course rite). Dehu/s, ballasts in room, and generator/s generate lot's of heat too. A sealed room is gonna need an ac no matter what. Ok, lets say you have an ac correctly sized for a bare bulb sealed room. For an example, 4500 btu's per 1000w, and all is good. Then, in that same setup, you were to aircool them hoods, your ac would obviously be oversized now. The ac would not stay on for as long of periods, and the dehu's would need to do more work, therefore making heat, and more ac needed to combat that heat.(Gieco commercial, i guess?)
Now, if you used a smaller amount of ac, lets say 3500-4000 btu's per 1000w's, after you air-cooled them hoods in that same room, well, it would work virtually the same as the bare bulb setup w/4500btu's, but not cost as much to run the ac, because the "smaller" ac doesn't use as much juice.
In both situations, a dehu is also still needed during the light cycle, USUALLY. Example when it wouldn't: IF I am just starting a room, and it's not perpetual yet, i sometimes need a HUMIDIFIER when lights are on, in the winter, because it's dry as fuck, and there's not as much foliage(plant biomass)in the room creating as much humidity yet. Dehu at night for dehu purposes and heat.
Btw, In the winter, i also usually, de-air-cool some lights, or add lights to make a room work more symbiotically. Whatever's clever rite?
You follow what i'm saying this time?
I've never ran both sealed room scenario's side by side, with separate meters, but i just cannot see the bare bulb setup costing the same amount of $ to run. And i'll give this to ya: the air cooled lights sealed room, WILL most likely need a little more dehumidification, compared, as the smaller ac won't dehu as much as a bigger unit would :-) i still can't see that the little bit of extra dehu needed, would equal the same power as the bigger ac, throughout the grow. And i know, dehu's are pigs!
I hope you understand what i'm trying to say here :-)
 

Aeroknow

Well-Known Member
So far I am more pleased with the non CO2 enriched room for margins.
I killed it for years without sealing it up, and adding co2. I grew up in a very mild weather area of California. But then i started setting up shop in parts that get hotter than snot in the summer, and normal ventilation in the
Summertime=boo-boo. I sometimes, if climate permits, still hook people up with fresh air ventilation, and well, they kill it. And i'm just not that into using an ac in a fresh air ventilated room.
And Btw Snaps, have you ever had a room full of aeroponic tubes? That room with all the tubes and rezy's, will make more humidity vs. growing with MOST(not all of course) other setups, if both setups being compared had the same amount of biomass in them :-D
 

budleydoright

Well-Known Member
I hope you understand what i'm trying to say here
I do understand what your saying. So it's basically the same dance, just have to keep a balance. I know when I dial my room perfect. I need no dehuey during the day, the AC balances it out perfectly. I am perpetual so there's always something going on in there.

It's just so perfect when it's all in synch, the thought of cooling my lights gives me nightmares! Makes me curious how the other half does it. I've never been able to vent out and all of my experience is with sealed rooms.
 

Aeroknow

Well-Known Member
I do understand what your saying. So it's basically the same dance, just have to keep a balance. I know when I dial my room perfect. I need no dehuey during the day, the AC balances it out perfectly. I am perpetual so there's always something going on in there.

It's just so perfect when it's all in synch, the thought of cooling my lights gives me nightmares! Makes me curious how the other half does it. I've never been able to vent out and all of my experience is with sealed rooms.
The ONlY problem i ever experience with air-cooled hoods in a selaed growroom, is when the air used to "air-cool" the sealed hoods is too cold. It will straight rain from the hoods. That sucks! To much of anything good, ends up a bad thing i guess. I thank you for understanding what i was trying to say. I'm still in the stone age, as far as how to communicate via forums....peace
 

budleydoright

Well-Known Member
The ONlY problem i ever experience with air-cooled hoods in a selaed growroom, is when the air used to "air-cool" the sealed hoods is too cold. It will straight rain from the hoods. That sucks! To much of anything good, ends up a bad thing i guess. I thank you for understanding what i was trying to say. I'm still in the stone age, as far as how to communicate via forums....peace

Appreciate the dialog. I have extensive experience but only one style. As we approach full on legalization in my state, I believe the most well rounded growers will be the most successful. I would like to turn this into a profession so I like to axe questions!
 

Sencha

Active Member
I've still not decided on a unit. I need a dual zone option for under 4k. I'm still going to air cool my hoods but if you find a unit that does 16,000 per zone, please link it.
 

SnapsProvolone

Well-Known Member
The ONlY problem i ever experience with air-cooled hoods in a selaed growroom, is when the air used to "air-cool" the sealed hoods is too cold. It will straight rain from the hoods. That sucks! To much of anything good, ends up a bad thing i guess. I thank you for understanding what i was trying to say. I'm still in the stone age, as far as how to communicate via forums....peace
If the cool is that cool it doesn't sound like you have a cooling problem, more humidity that heat means slow or stop the blower cooling lights, intake cool air seperately on a thermostat and run a big dehu.
 

SnapsProvolone

Well-Known Member
I've had rooms with 3 - 4 kw in basement not need any cooling when it was super cold out, like 0F and colder. As outside temps vary so must our environmental controls.
 

SnapsProvolone

Well-Known Member
I've installed YMGI and Panasonic's as well for MMC's out here but not for personal use. No complaints.

If money was no object I would go Mitsubishi just because they are tanks. Otherwise they all work. Just be sure it will resume setting when power goes out (most do - server room). Also look for low ambient function if running it when cooler than 60 f outside.
 

Aeroknow

Well-Known Member
If the cool is that cool it doesn't sound like you have a cooling problem, more humidity that heat means slow or stop the blower cooling lights, intake cool air seperately on a thermostat and run a big dehu.
It's just condensation, but it sucks. This will happen while room is 50% and 82 degrees. And only happen when it's snowing cold outside. I betcha i would have to get down to 30% to help that way. Answer has been, to not use freeeeezing cold air to air-cool. If you put the air-cool fan on thermostat, hoods would be sealed, yet not being cooled(i no likey that)at times. Now slowing them fans down in that situation, def might work though, along with a little lower, say, 40% humidity. Next time it snows, and that works, i'll post. It might just help
someone down the road. Thanks man
 

Sencha

Active Member
They should all work down to 4-12 F. I ran one this year WITHOUT the cold weather attachment. It only stopped working when it got below zero. That happened two times this year, for about 3 days each time. I was able to cool my room with ambient air at that point though. I have a closed 8" duct that I can add a fan too, just for that reason.
 
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