Mini Air-Conditioner for grow tent!

Hello all..

I have recently run into a problem with temp. in my grow tent, and another buddy of mine mentioned the possibility of getting a air-conditioner.

My tent is about 6 foot tall about 3 feet wide about 2 foot depth, and the HPS is too hot for the babies so, I was thinking maybe something like this would help.

Small Fan & Mini-Air Conditioner: The Original Handy Cooler in Blue. Portable and convenient. Runs on batteries or USB. Cools air up to 30F.

I really don't have the money for a new intake out-take fans on the tent, but, I was hoping someone would have some experience with this one!

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=mini+air+conditioner&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&biw=819&bih=970&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=16398395760073575236&sa=X&ei=Rja7TrbpDszsggfom-jeCA&ved=0CJQBEPMCMAA#ps-sellers




all post welcome!

I have a 1200w aircon in a 6 X 3 X 8 room and it is total overkill, even when it is 100F degrees outside.

evaporative cooling works well in smaller areas so it might be good. for $30 bucks it is worth a shot. climate control is always my main focus when producing quality yields. However, dont expect great climate control on a such a simple device. expect 10-15% differences at best.

That wouldnt chill a gerbil in a sardine can , save your money , your half way to an inline fan/ducting anyway , gimmicky junk im sorry to say...

i looked it up and it works by blowing air from a wet spong i dont think it will be worth it better of just freezing water and putting it infront of you intake fan

un named said:

i looked it up and it works by blowing air from a wet spong i dont think it will be worth it better of just freezing water and putting it infront of you intake fan

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Hee did you say wet sponge must be a frzen sponge to get down to 30 degres lol sry hwd to laugh

Look at my journal I run a 1000w closet 4x2.5x6 roughly and adding an ac unit has worked wonders I now control the temp to where ever I want it so I'd deff do it plus it helps with humidity too

Here is the link

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/473411-poormans-super-closet-muwahahahahahaha.html

An ac unit is hardly comparable to that little thing , cmon man

Clonex said:

An ac unit is hardly comparable to that little thing , cmon man

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I agree with you, my first reaction was (piece of junk) and I went to check out the reviews and all that, but, realistically I cannot afford to make my tent any louder... the apartments already are like freakin police around here! anyway, I read about a marine who uses one to cool his sardine like bed at night?? just figured it might be a shot!

But I still need a way to bring them temps down. I think they it gets close to 100 degree's, plus I just cloned a bunch of cheese and I aint tryin to loose them, later on!

well you can make "passive" intakes , plenty of info on how to do this on RIU, requires just a normal fan and some fresh air getting into the room your tent is in , Inline fans of quality do not make much noise , my exhaust fans are way louder than my intakes ... good luck anyhow..... Air coolers of a larger size are also available ....

also , it wont work because the little mini cooler thing needs fresh air to generate any cool air at all , how long do you think the sponge would make a difference in your tent ? 3-4 minutes ?
i really dont want you to waste that 30 bucks man ....

I already Node said:

I agree with you, my first reaction was (piece of junk) and I went to check out the reviews and all that, but, realistically I cannot afford to make my tent any louder... the apartments already are like freakin police around here! anyway, I read about a marine who uses one to cool his sardine like bed at night?? just figured it might be a shot!

But I still need a way to bring them temps down. I think they it gets close to 100 degree's, plus I just cloned a bunch of cheese and I aint tryin to loose them, later on!

Click to expand...

I know what you mean. In my journal I'm experimenting with various techniques. It's helpful to think of heat as a waste by-product in your situation. But, if you were to calculate the vol. of air cooled for a mairne in his rack compared to your tent????...also, said marine probably doesn't have 100s of watts of lighting irradiating his sheets with infrared.

So, heat is a waste, to be transported at a higher rate than you add it. Air or water transport? Cold water to copper coils and bring the outside air through that. A Radiator set up. I have that in play. Plumb the top of the tent through the ceiling into the attic or out a window? A convection setup. I pull a lot of the heat through my carbon filter and dump it into the attic. A forced exhaust setup.

I have a 100 gals of water I keep cold with an old room a/c with it's cold coils immersed in water. Produces big heat, so the hot side is in another insulated water flow. That water goes to a homemade cooling min-tower, that I made out of buckets and sponges/with a shower head sprayer. Water is several times more effective at transporting heat.

The nice thing about water is that it can be easily and stealthy transported. To the shower head in your bathroom and back to tent for example. Just that will cool the water significantly. I have a water cooled light, and a waterblock cooled Peliter @ 200 w to remove the 20% of the heat that the Fesca Sol fixture leaves behind.

For the current emergency add dry ice at the top of the tent in mini-cooler you hang there. Adds to yield and protects from the temps.

Also, helpful for me is the idea that a tent or anything really indoors is a micro-climate inside a maco-climate of some kind.
If you want to invest, get a window air or a portable A/C that conditions the room that the grow draws from. Cheers.

can you show the set up of your air cooling system. 100 gal. where do you put that? I am trying to cool a 2x4 tent coming out of a "redneck ac" (diy swamp cooler). My results arent great, but m thinking its because Im running it with a small water rez (for diy swamp cooler). Right now I have a small styrofoam cooler with 2 1" pvc inlets, and a 170 cfm fan blowing into my tent. The air is definitely cooler, but I dont think that Im getting enough cold air in to overcome the hot.
I am thinking to run duct inside my tent with holes, leaving more "cool air entry points" I am also just blowing that cool air in, Im thinking I need to use that fan to suck the hot air out. Im using T5s, but if thsi works, I want to run a bigger unit in my 5x5 tent. I dont mind replacing 1gal jugs once or twice a day. I dunno if its too much water or it wont cool enough. Trying as I go, but any help would be apppreciated

that thing doesnt have nearly enough British Thermal Units (BTU's) to cool a grow tent or room.

yea its small, how big would it need to be? do I need 100 gal, or still not enough? Im trying to keep the electric down, so Im trying to avoid portable a/c, but looks like no choice. will one 5000k window unit do the trick for all three tents providing ambient temps? What kind of power is that? I live in hot assulas vegas, where temps are regularly 100+ out, and Im trying to keep my central air (live with friends who pays electric) at like 80.