Thermal Imaging, Help Please.

hey people,

i just have a few questions on thermal imaging if you dont mind answering?

how would you be able to keep the thermal imageing cameras at bay from the attic (choppers)
does mylar work by itsef? or would you need layers.. like, white sheet, black sheet, white sheet?

just say there are 9 600watt lamps

also theres this stuff called thermal insulation foil roll or aliminum thermal foil, would this work?
heres the link: http://www.wickes.co.uk/thermal-insulation-foil-roll/invt/210022/

and: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=10617653&fh_location=//catalog01/en_GB/categories%3C{9372016}/categories%3C{9372050}/categories%3C{9372230}/specificationsProductType=thermal_foil

they look both the same but the second one is cheaper.

so what i would like to know, what is the best thing to use to keep heat detectors away.

thanksgl

I mounted a refrigerator with automatic ice maker to the roof above my grow.

Seems to be working so far.

infared does not see through walls it detects surface temps

wbd said:

I mounted a refrigerator with automatic ice maker to the roof above my grow.

Seems to be working so far.

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just say there where 9 600watt lamps, what would you need to do?

fabfun said:

infared does not see through walls it detects surface temps

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yes i know this. so how would you be abe to keep surface temps cool. would this sheetiing work for 9 600watt bulbs?

mlore said:

just say there where 9 600watt lamps, what would you need to do?

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I suppose you could just get 1 refrigerator per lamp?

lol i dont think so man, not in an attic.

Put some type of AC unit with them in the attic and regulate the heat?

In theory if you super insulate between the roof rafters, the heat will not reach the surface of the roof, and it would be cooled by the outside air making it appear normal to the chopper.

This is only a theory and one I intend to apply on my grow room. But it seems to make good scientific sense. I have been studying a lot of heat vision helicopter footage on cop chase programmes. One thing that has reassured me is that often when the person being chased appears cool on their torso, suggesting the jacket is keeping their heat in and the cold out.

The issue is going to be keeping the air in the attic cool enough to be a benefit to your extractor system.

I am no expert, but I am very careful and pay anal attentive retention to detail. Its just a suggestion

Good Luck

Firstly...... 9 x 600w ya gonna deffo need cool tubes. Link all the cool tubes up to a 10" extractor using an independent inlet. This air will be clean (not smelly) so you can pump the heat back into your house for heating during the cooler months.

9 x 600w = 5.5 Kva draw on the grid...... dodgy. I would use a silent 3.5Kva generator + mains elec for that matey, that's a lot of juice your going to be drawing especially on veg lighting.

Next you are deffo gonna an aircon unit (min 18000 BTU's) to cool the air in the attic. The aircon needs to be vented out as they generate as much heat as they do cool air.

If you lucky and have a chimney stack on your house, use an 8 inch borer and duct your filtered air out through the chimney. Obviously make sure there are no gas appliances venting into the chimney you are using.

All this with a mylar layer might.... might keep you cool enough and under the radar during the autumn and winter months. During the summer months ya gonna need more than 1 aircon for 9 lights.

dunno about the thermal image coming from the home. but i DO know that my bud uses (1) i think 26000 BTU (the most expensive window unit at home depot) to cool his room that has 11 X 1000 HPS lights.

granted, he does have them all in cool tubes or air cooled hoods with a HUGE Max Can fan.

he does vent the heat from the lights into the rest of his home on a different story to heat the home during the colder months. and im sure by the time the heat gos through the rest of his 1200 square feet living area its dissipated into air cool enough to not be noticed by thermal imaging.

again. in theory and practice to date it has operated flawlessly.

mlore said:

yes i know this. so how would you be abe to keep surface temps cool. would this sheetiing work for 9 600watt bulbs?

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invest in cool tubes and vent it like it was a gas hot water heater vent

thanks for all your ideas poeple. this is what i think would work. 1. layer the walls with white mylar, 2nd layer black mylar, third layer white mylar. 2. add thermal amliminum foil on the last layer around the walls 3. on the uutside of the tent in the attic put a a/c unit to cool round the outside of the tent just for added safety so you know is cool. 4. outtake through chimney. do you think this is enough? the only thing is that a/c units always seem to be noisey? are there quite ones? thanks

Get ya cheque book ready for all that mylar my friend. A cheaper option is down to wickes and get space blanket loft insulation 150mm (they do buy 1 £14 get 2 free). Do ya loft out with that. If your using a tent don't bother with the mylar at all, the tent will keep the heat in. The aircons are noisey, I put mine on a few pillows to reduce vibration. I have mine in the tent it helps with the cooling as it sucks the tent air in and cools it. Make sure you duct the aircon to the chimney independently from your extractor.

mlore said:

yes i know this. so how would you be abe to keep surface temps cool. would this sheetiing work for 9 600watt bulbs?

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Any type of regular insulation will accomplish this. You can spend all the money in the world on expensive "IR blockers" but they all accomplish the same thing........preventing heat from escaping through the walls. Venting your hot air may be your bigger problem. With a grow of that size you will more than likely need to ventilate your hot air. Do you have a plan for dealing with this? Venting hot air to the outside is the #1 way growers are picked up on FLIR.

move to a state with high temperatures. the roof on my house is extremely hot, no trees, 102 degrees daily, all helpful conditions due to living in the south.

doc.111 said:

Venting hot air to the outside is the #1 way growers are picked up on FLIR.

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This is it! Vent into your crawlspace and give that hot air time to cool off.

BudDub said:

This is it! Vent into your crawlspace and give that hot air time to cool off.

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Absolutely! It must be disguised as something else, like hot air from a dryer or hot water heater or it must be diluted with cooler air before being vented to the outside.

if you own the house, like buddub said, vent it through the lower sections of your house.

my friend has his vent from a closet through the wall into the bathroom and into his drain in the shower. shit flows through pipes and is not released until it hits the sewers.

Bad call on the drain to sewer method. For one, it would create pressure at the trap slowing the flow of waste water potentially causing expensive Plumbing issues further down the road. The other factor is all plumbing systems have a vent going to the roof to allow sewer gasses to vent, preventing back pressure when the system is used. Think of it like a soda bottle. Tip it so the water doesn't block the whole completely, and it's free flowing, turn it completely over, and back pressure rears it's ugly head. Could vent it into the sewer vent line, but then your back to a hot spot being detected from an odd source.