CO2 Generation

Glider

Member
A thought on carbon dioxide (CO2). I got sick of mixing sugar and yeast and it did not last very long so I am trying dry ice. So far I have been able to keep 5 lbs of the stuff slowly subliming out CO2 for three days but containing it in a glass vacuum flask like the old thermos bottles. This method may be a good alternative to buying a CO2 tank for the small grower
 

BigLittlejohn

Well-Known Member
Could one potentially use Dry Ice in a cooler with an inlet hole filled by a fan and an outlet hole blowing cold air? I am wondering if building a home-made, cheap (often referred to as a Redneck AC) AC Unit only replacing the ice/cold water with Dry Ice.

Seems like it would both help keep the room cool (for those using HID) and provide the ladies with the necessary CO2. I was thinking of trying this very thing in my closet DWC set-up, but don't know much about the potential dangers of that.

If that would work, my next question would be to wonder how long the dry ice would keep.
 

bigsteve

Well-Known Member
CO2 is potentially deadly and it is important to realize it is heavier than the surrounding air. Means that generating the gas in a closed environment
is a bad idea. The CO2 sits on the floor and slowly, invisibly, fills the space from the bottom up. We used a CO2 chamber at UCLA to euthanize rodents.
3 or 4 breaths from the bottom of the chamber and looking through the glass top we could see the animals gasp once or twice and lay down and die.
So be careful with it.

I use the yeast/sugar trick in my flowering room. I use a gallon platic jug with a handle on it to mix the water, yeast and sugar. Took an old belt and triple-
looped it through the handle - a way to hang the jug. Put a large spike in the wall 6 feet off the floor and hung the jug on the spike. I switched the direction on my ceiling fan
so that the gas would bubble out of the jug, catch the fan which pushed the gas over my plants as the gas settled toward the floor. Putting a CO2 generator on the floor is about worthless.
So stick it up high and take a look at your air flow. Knowing about the gas allows you use it's properties better and safer.

Good luck, BigSteve.
 

Glider

Member
Could one potentially use Dry Ice in a cooler with an inlet hole filled by a fan and an outlet hole blowing cold air? I am wondering if building a home-made, cheap (often referred to as a Redneck AC) AC Unit only replacing the ice/cold water with Dry Ice.

Seems like it would both help keep the room cool (for those using HID) and provide the ladies with the necessary CO2. I was thinking of trying this very thing in my closet DWC set-up, but don't know much about the potential dangers of that.

If that would work, my next question would be to wonder how long the dry ice would keep.

It would take too much to actually cool the room. It costs around $15/5 lbs. But you can make a pretty good container using the foil backed urethane foam insulation panels from homedepo. Cut and glue a box with a lid together with hot melt glue. You might want to use two layers of foam. Make sure that everything is as air tight as possible except the lid of course. Shape is not that important. I like them higher than wide but I do not have any evidence that that is better. Theory says that a cube has the best volume to surface ratio.
 

Glider

Member
CO2 is potentially deadly and it is important to realize it is heavier than the surrounding air. Means that generating the gas in a closed environment
is a bad idea. The CO2 sits on the floor and slowly, invisibly, fills the space from the bottom up. We used a CO2 chamber at UCLA to euthanize rodents.
3 or 4 breaths from the bottom of the chamber and looking through the glass top we could see the animals gasp once or twice and lay down and die.
So be careful with it.

I use the yeast/sugar trick in my flowering room. I use a gallon platic jug with a handle on it to mix the water, yeast and sugar. Took an old belt and triple-
looped it through the handle - a way to hang the jug. Put a large spike in the wall 6 feet off the floor and hung the jug on the spike. I switched the direction on my ceiling fan
so that the gas would bubble out of the jug, catch the fan which pushed the gas over my plants as the gas settled toward the floor. Putting a CO2 generator on the floor is about worthless.
So stick it up high and take a look at your air flow. Knowing about the gas allows you use it's properties better and safer.

Good luck, BigSteve.
I don't want to seem like a know it all but they may have been using CO instead of CO2. You really have to work at it to die or be injured from CO2
 
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