Temporary solutions for high heat areas

HighLife4Me

HighLife4Me

Well-Known Member
daesonn said:
Hello Everyone. I'm currently on my first grow. Now, I live in a hot, dry state and temperatures have proven to be an issue over the past couple of days. Things are not looking up as the forecast shows the we're hitting the 100s in just another couple days.

I am growing in a 3x3 tent in my garage, which has a swamp cooler that I keep running during peak hours. Due to me coming home from a short holiday and noticing the temperatures, I have manually switched on the swamp cooler so that it runs later. However, it's just a few hours before midnight and temps are still about 82 degrees.

What can I do? If I can, I'd like to avoid purchasing a small AC unit because I don't have the money and the garage is a lot bigger than the tent itself. So, any of you remember the "build your own A/C" video that went viral a few months back? If not, link:

Does anyone think there's any reason I can't connect the DIY A/C unit directly to my inline duct and greatly reduce temperatures in the tent?

Or, does anyone have any better ideas? lol
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:D i made one of those for my room. it puts out a very low btu/h.. It didn't work for me. I'm in FL and running a 7000btu unit, in a 150sq ft room that i have my video games and a 4x4x7 box with a 600w hps (cooltubed) with 400w of cfls in and it only keeps my room at 81(f) mid day. which is not enough. So, i just bought a 24,000btu(2 ton) mini split to keep my temps around 70-75(f) max. I found that in FL without a co2 generator my plants are happiest in that temp range. I will be running my 50pnt dehumidifier because of the over sized unit. IMO get a larger ac unit if you're serious about growing the best bud.
 
Red1966

Red1966

Well-Known Member
If you duct the output of a window A/C directly to your tent, you can use the smallest ones made. I have a 5200 BTU unit cooling a 4x8x6-1/2 foot tent that is more than adequate. It cools the tent down in just a few minutes. It doesn't run enough to adequately dehumidify the tent (and not at all during lights off), so I also use a dehumidifier. Running bare bulb caused it to run nearly constantly and dropped the humidity below 14%, so I use cool tubes.
 
SFguy

SFguy

Well-Known Member
daesonn said:
@jc I am already experiencing humidity levels between 50-65% due to the swamp cooler in the garage. A/C is not currently an option as it would not be cost efficient in the garage and I can't move the tent in the house for the time being.

@Squid. I thought about that, However, Perhaps it will do just enough to keep molds from starting? And the humidifiers aren't going to cost hardly anything to run at all. If you think it's comparable to a portable A/C at 9000 btu, you're wrong... That's my main concern. I'm doing my best to cool without A/C and to manage humidity levels at the same time.

No matter how seemingly impossible it may seem,I'm not looking for resistance to the idea as a whole. I'm just looking for innovative ideas to help make it work.
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you try running your lights at night instead of the daytime??
 
daesonn

daesonn

Active Member
No. I only run my big swamp cooler during the day and it cools enough to combat the heat of the day and my light for now. The swamp cooler would be running during the day whether or not I was growing in the garage, so I'd rather not keep it running during the night also.. As for now, I did some maintenance on the cooler and that combined with lower outside temperatures has seemed to create a relatively stable environment for now. I have also added a dehumidifier which keeps humidity generally between 30-60%. I did create a DIY cooler like the one in the original post, and attached it to my intake. I will save that for a really hot day and see how it works.
 
Squidbilly

Squidbilly

Well-Known Member
Cooler temps and raising humidity at night might cause some problems. That being said, established plants should be able to deal with the swings your talking about.

Make sure you have really good air circulation through your canopy both day and night, this will help prevent 'wet spots' where leaves touch, helping to prohibit powdery mildew/mold.

Also, be diligent about inspecting your plants. Look for signs of pm and mold. If you stay ontop of your grow and catch any problems early you'll have a good chance fixing them.

If your temps are 70-85degrees and your RH is 40-70%, you should be fine. I've seen plants thrive in some nasty conditions, the condtions in your tent aren't that bad-just keep an eye on your plants.
 
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