Keeping your grow tent warm during our Canadian winters

dienowk

dienowk

Well-Known Member
I am trying to work through the kinks in my setup prior to my papers arriving and plants being planted and this seems to be the only aspect I currently have an issue with. Day time humidity and heat are awesome and can be further adjusted should the humidity get to high or low but night cycle heat is low with tent temps reaching like 55-60 some nights in my basement despite the furnace being on and I have a feeling a cheap ceramic heater although effective is likely a fire risk in a tent.

I need to correct this before I will be able to properly grow plants so I was wondering how you guys manage this.
 
GrowRock

GrowRock

Well-Known Member
dienowk said:
I am trying to work through the kinks in my setup prior to my papers arriving and plants being planted and this seems to be the only aspect I currently have an issue with. Day time humidity and heat are awesome and can be further adjusted should the humidity get to high or low but night cycle heat is low with tent temps reaching like 55-60 some nights in my basement despite the furnace being on and I have a feeling a cheap ceramic heater although effective is likely a fire risk in a tent.

I need to correct this before I will be able to properly grow plants so I was wondering how you guys manage this.
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For winter have the lights come on during the day and off at night cooler temps at night are not as detrimental to final harvest weight as cooler temps when the light is on. Or if you think the temps are good during the day have your lights run at night to warm it up. If you already have your lights running 24/7 it looks like a heater of some sort is your only option
 
dienowk

dienowk

Well-Known Member
chemphlegm said:
those oil heaters might be an option. seen alot of them in grow spaces.
mind your proper power draws/circuits, put an alarm inside it too maybe
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I have looked at them, a lot of people complain about them not heating well enough (the models I see locally anyways) but I am guessing they are heating more than a 5x5 with them as well.

GrowRock said:
For winter have the lights come on during the day and off at night cooler temps at night are not as detrimental to final harvest weight as cooler temps when the light is on. Or if you think the temps are good during the day have your lights run at night to warm it up. If you already have your lights running 24/7 it looks like a heater of some sort is your only option
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I was looking to run a 20/4 schedule because I heard it was ideal, as well as allowing me to miss some of the early hour electric peak time that starts around 5am. When the light is on the tent floats between 74 and 82 but is usually pretty steady at 76 for the majority of the time.

If I opt for a heater should I look for an inner tent heater (would likely go oil-filled if this is the case) or would raising the basement room temp with a heater be more ideal ?
 
greg nr

greg nr

Well-Known Member
I'd stay away from the oil heaters since they take so long to heat up and cool down. Makes it hard to regulate a small space like a tent. Also, heating the inside is much cheaper than heating the whole room.
 
kDude

kDude

Well-Known Member
sierranevadaca said:
Running lights on at night and off during the day will help
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this
IMO it's optimal to have lights on at night anyway; winter to get more warmth at night. summer so it's not so hot during the day.

i'm stuck in a daytime cycle though (light would bug me at night where it's located) so i use a heater when need be. hate doing that though.

really; you're only off 4 hours a day right now.. i'd make those 4 hours for when your house is its hottest (right mid-day likely)
 
sierranevadaca

sierranevadaca

Well-Known Member
kDude said:
this
IMO it's optimal to have lights on at night anyway; winter to get more warmth at night. summer so it's not so hot during the day.

i'm stuck in a daytime cycle though (light would bug me at night where it's located) so i use a heater when need be. hate doing that though.

really; you're only off 4 hours a day right now.. i'd make those 4 hours for when your house is its hottest (right mid-day likely)
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Couldn't agree more. Plus depending where you live, cheaper power rates during those evening hours :)
 
GroErr

GroErr

Well-Known Member
sierranevadaca said:
Couldn't agree more. Plus depending where you live, cheaper power rates during those evening hours :)
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Yeah this is definitely the easiest way to manage lights-out temps + save a ton on your electricity bill.

Your furnace will typically be on more during the day and bump the temps up a bit. Another method would be to re-direct some air from a furnace vent to where the tent is. I tied into my main plenum and ran a new vent into my flower room after running a space heater for one month, they cost a fortune. Now I just pull air into the room with an inline fan/controller as needed, air conditioning in summer too.
 
dienowk

dienowk

Well-Known Member
I already run at night and turn off during early morning peak, I will try turning off during mid-late day peak to see if it helps at all, if not I guess a heater will be my only real option.
 
dienowk

dienowk

Well-Known Member
Pulpit_ said:
I was at 55-60 degrees and the growth was really slow in veg, added the heater set to 70 deg and they grew a foot in 4 days.
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This is the issue I was noticing at my buddies grow (he has a similar setup and heat issue), the 2 plants he has started for me are like 4" and 6" after nearly a month of growing.
 
torontomeds

torontomeds

Well-Known Member
Depending on where your tent is, can you grab some 6inch foil ducting and just find your closest heat vent, pull the register off and jam the 6innh ducting into the vent, then just run that right into your tent? I think that would be cheaper and safer then a portable heater. then just turn your heat up during lights out.

I recently set up a new room in a garage and the garage is heated, but it was still too cold out in the room, so I moved it back to my old grow for now, will fire that new room up in a few weeks when weather is slightly better, then I will better heating in for next winter.
 
dienowk

dienowk

Well-Known Member
torontomeds said:
Depending on where your tent is, can you grab some 6inch foil ducting and just find your closest heat vent, pull the register off and jam the 6innh ducting into the vent, then just run that right into your tent? I think that would be cheaper and safer then a portable heater. then just turn your heat up during lights out.

I recently set up a new room in a garage and the garage is heated, but it was still too cold out in the room, so I moved it back to my old grow for now, will fire that new room up in a few weeks when weather is slightly better, then I will better heating in for next winter.
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It is a possibility, I have an existing duct about 4ft from my tent and still have some extra 6" duct. I would just need to grab a rectangle to round adapter, remove the grill and splice off of it sealing it with some hvac tape. I would have to consider an inline duct filter with that setup though, or maybe just one of the hydrofarm carbon bug filters for the end to catch any crap that may come from my existing ducting.
 
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