Mocked up grow room for dual hose A/C, think this will work?

I mocked this up quickly as I feel so far it's my best layout idea for the space I have to work in, the whole thing is about 10' x 13' w/ some addition utility space toward the upper right corner that doesn't count as growing space so it's not shown (where passive intake is)

I'm trying to avoid a mini-split for cost and visual reasons, I already have a central air unit so don't feel an additional a/c unit outside would really make much sense, fully legal grow by a card holder but still I rather be incognito anyway.

I'm thinking I could use a dual hose A/C where I pull air in from the outside room area into the unit and exhaust it out of flower area into the back corner of veg area then from there I'll have a carbon filter connected to your typical inline fan (probably 6") which will expel the heat out a basement window.... I feel like I would cut down the risk of smell leaking if I had this 'dual stage' approach since I doubt those portable A/C units will mask smell as they also have an in-room intake on top of the hose one.

Entire room will be done with 1" rigid foam insulation for walls, ceiling, etc. (both rooms actually) and will be sealed up quite well to control smell, won't be running CO2 or anything so I'll still be exhausting the hot air generated from the A/C but want to know if this should work? I'll likely use a 14,000 BTU unit or maybe 12,000 only going to have 3 600's in total, sometimes only 2 until I decide I may want to upgrade.

I feel like if I exhausted the A/C straight out the window I'd be sending the smell out too but I'm not sure if sucking out that back corner area of heat will suffice or if it will heat up far too much, honestly I could probably exhange some of the air conditioned flower room air back into the veg area as well since it would still be carbon scrubbed on it's way out the window.

Thoughts? Think this will work?

I'm also interested in a dual hose portable A/C over other options because it has a built in heater and dehumidifier as well, which will eliminate the need for other appliances and power consumption, I figure once the A/C turns off the dehumidifier can be programmed to kick on in it's absence and keep everything from getting too humid, in the winter at lights out I can heat the room up as well if it gets cold enough to stunt growth. Seems like an all-in-one useful appliance if I get a halfway decent one. I'd love to run a mini-split but I feel this would work but want some input, having a second A/C outside a small home just wouldn't look right.

Also the surrounding rooms where I have passive intakes (including outside veg) are quite cool all year, they're so cool in the summer I sometimes feel I need to bundle up when it's 90 degrees outside.

I could even close off that "back alley" area where the heat is and consider it a separate lung room I suppose, just have an easily removable chunk of rigid foam so it opens and closes like a Styrofoam fishing cooler.

If I just get a minisplit, does anyone have a rough estimate on how much it would cost for an HVAC guy to come out and purge the line before it's connected, not sure the exact term, vacate? I feel like installing a minisplit would be easy and they can be had for $500-700 all day long for smaller units, that's the only part I don't have the equipment or comfort for. Still like the idea of what I drew up, figure it would control smell from the portable unit but I'd consider a minisplit if I had a little more money.

DrGribble said:

If I just get a minisplit, does anyone have a rough estimate on how much it would cost for an HVAC guy to come out and purge the line before it's connected, not sure the exact term, vacate? I feel like installing a minisplit would be easy and they can be had for $500-700 all day long for smaller units, that's the only part I don't have the equipment or comfort for. Still like the idea of what I drew up, figure it would control smell from the portable unit but I'd consider a mini-split if I had a little more money.

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If you absolutely have to get a portable ac then do so, but a mini is the way to go. I too have tried the portable idea and it works, sometimes, but it is very inefficient on electricity. You mentioned that you want to use the portable for a few things, well, a mini-split can also be used as a dehumidifier or a heater, but personally I like to keep my dehumidifier separate from my AC. If you rely on the AC for cooling, dehumidifying, and heating it could run a better chance of burning out quicker. So if it was me, and you are gonna go with the portable AC, I would still go get a small dehumidifier that is detached just in case. I doubt you will need the heating at any point; your lights are heaters! HVAC price for installation on a mini-split is going to depend on a few things, but where the unit would go and how long of copper piping you have is gonna tell you a bit right off the start. If you get a unit with 15ft of copper freon tubing and have to go 25ft, then the HVAC is going to cost more because he is gonna have to connect more piping, etc... If you have all the parts and hardware for the installation it will run you between $400-$1000. That would include purging the line, mounting the unit inside, setting up condenser, etc... I would assume that if you installed everything yourself and just needed him for the vacuum then it would be about $100-$200, maybe cheaper depending on your location. You can also do this yourself. I installed a few of my mini-splits without a vacuum pump. On a lot of new units they allow you to do the installation yourself. However, I caution this approach because if you mess the unit up, any warranty could not be covered because of the lack of professional installation. There are a few other questions you should be thinking about as well if you want to run a mini-split. Do you have power to run an extra AC unit? Do you have another quick disconnect or can you install one? If not you might need to get an electrician out too for a possible sub-panel install and a quick disconnect. Even though this sounds like a headache, if you are going to get into growing do it right. Im afraid you are gonna get a portable ac and be upset in a month or two because you spent a lot on a unit that really isn't the most optimal for your grow. Are your passive intakes going to leak any light from your veg into your flower room? Cheers

Thanks for the response, very helpful... I think I could do the install of a mini split aside from the line work, I'd make sure to buy an entire full kit w/ lengthy enough line so there's nothing extra required there, ideally I'd have the unit next to my central air to look less awkward but that's pushing a 25 foot distance just about and I don't find them w/ much longer than that (although I can buy longer hoses I've seen) I have a 3rd option too, I could get this $250 12,000 BTU GE unit that's for sale right now at a big box store and then just modify/box it up and seal the two sides real good and save myself a crazy amount of money, I hear these are more efficient than the portable units although obviously nowhere near a mini split, I did this before but the A/C was only 6000BTU so it was a struggle just to stay at 78 degrees, figure 12K would be way easier w/ same amount of wattage as before on half the AC size.

I have considered having a larger electrical panel thrown in though, it's not a very big service panel but most of this stuff would run in the middle of the night when other things (should be) turned off for the most part. I'm not opposed to getting a larger panel installed though, I figure that's at least 1000 if not a bit more but would be worth it, small house, never needed anything large but I'm currently running what I need to at the moment (minus AC) so we'll see when I hook up more. I could always take advantage of the $250 window unit since it's pretty cheap and then when I'm doing better on fiances and can afford a mini maybe sell it for $150.

DrGribble said:

Thanks for the response, very helpful... I think I could do the install of a mini split aside from the line work, I'd make sure to buy an entire full kit w/ lengthy enough line so there's nothing extra required there, ideally I'd have the unit next to my central air to look less awkward but that's pushing a 25 foot distance just about and I don't find them w/ much longer than that (although I can buy longer hoses I've seen) I have a 3rd option too, I could get this $250 12,000 BTU GE unit that's for sale right now at a big box store and then just modify/box it up and seal the two sides real good and save myself a crazy amount of money, I hear these are more efficient than the portable units although obviously nowhere near a mini split, I did this before but the A/C was only 6000BTU so it was a struggle just to stay at 78 degrees, figure 12K would be way easier w/ same amount of wattage as before on half the AC size.

I have considered having a larger electrical panel thrown in though, it's not a very big service panel but most of this stuff would run in the middle of the night when other things (should be) turned off for the most part. I'm not opposed to getting a larger panel installed though, I figure that's at least 1000 if not a bit more but would be worth it, small house, never needed anything large but I'm currently running what I need to at the moment (minus AC) so we'll see when I hook up more. I could always take advantage of the $250 window unit since it's pretty cheap and then when I'm doing better on fiances and can afford a mini maybe sell it for $150.

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Your third option could work, but note that a good friend of mine was using a 1400k btu portable in his 2k watt grow. He couldn't keep temperatures down below 78º-80º with the portable so he eventually ditched it. Not saying that your situation will be that way, but I saw it first hand that his brand new LG 14k BTU was not sufficient enough for 2k. Your room will be 1800watts from what i remember reading, so although you have less wattage then my friends room, you will also be using a less powerful portable unit. If heat is really your issue, have you thought about selling the 600's you have and purchasing an led or similar? Would probably alleviate a lot of your issues with heat. Then, a portable ac should be sufficient. I can only speak from my experiences, so in the end you will do what your patience/budget will allow you to do.

Yeah, I am almost thinking I'll be better off with the third option at this point and I actually did manage to sustain 78 degrees pretty consistent when I had the modified 6000 BTU window unit, I feel maybe I should jump on this $250 12K BTU window unit and just get a little DIY happy with it, I THINK if I seal up the inside and the two sections very very well I won't have a smell leak coming from there as per my understanding. I've seen a lot of the tutorials for that in the past but they're very dated, I've pretty much decided I probably won't go with a portable unit now and it'll be the modified window unit until I can afford a mini split, unless of course the window unit suffices.

I might only have 1200W in the flower room, I'm thinking about hanging two 600W from socket cords and running them vertical without reflectors/hoods that way I don't waste any of the output and just place 3-4 plants around each one to be a little more efficient. I considered doing the same thing w/ air cooling through dual cool-tubes but I think if I have 12K BTU in there and only 1200W I should be fine, I did it with 6000 once but it was ALWAYS running and being inefficient, doubling the A/C power I'd imagine solves that issue if I don't have smell leaks that is, I'll probably have only the front of the A/C unit poking through the rigid foam walls and seal up the inside as best as I can that way the air being drawn into the side/top intakes will be from an outside source of air and then use one of my 6" fans to suck out the heat from the back and out the basement window, if that's the case and it's the only exhausting I do I'll just have my carbon filters running in a "scrubbing" configuration continuously inside the flower room and possibly even the lung room.

Fun stuff, wish I could just go for the mini split right now but thinking that Window unit is a better option now for sure (than the dual hose portable).

Sounds good, I hope all goes well! Happy Growing!

xmatox said:

Sounds good, I hope all goes well! Happy Growing!

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Thanks for taking some time to offer your input!