Water cooled open hood grow rooms

Anyone in here run an actual radiator type heat exchanger in their open hood room? I've read a few threads where people just like to debate about theory and no one is actually applying any of it. I've seen a few guys using the ice box exchangers on the ends of their hoods but I can't find any info on an open hood concept.

In my particular application 8X8X8 tent (2) Gavita Pro DE's 1150w I was considering a 1hp chiller with a 55gallon reservoir and literally a car radiator with a shroud and fan exchanging the air.

Yes a mini split would be cheaper and probably easier but they draw a lot more juice and the room I'm using already has a mini split so another one sitting outside would look suspicious. I'm going to run a tent in this room due to security reason so I cant use the one on the wall unfortunately. Also I'm sure I'll find a few extra uses for a chiller in a grow room. Thoughts anyone?

Buckets of thoughts, brother. You trying to use chilled water to cool your tent? Where would the chiller be?

1/2hp won't be enough to cool very much, likely not even one thouie.

The more you describe your intentions, the more I can help you.

ttystikk said:

Buckets of thoughts, brother. You trying to use chilled water to cool your tent? Where would the chiller be?

1/2hp won't be enough to cool very much, likely not even one thouie.

The more you describe your intentions, the more I can help you.

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Ty I read your thread on the farmer. It was a good read. Yes I am
Considering using chilled water to cool my two open hooded gavitas and few other components in my 8X8. My idea was to run a 1hp chiller, maybe 1.5 if needed. Reservoir is 55 gallons. Chiller would be inside the room (outside of the grow tent) but I can easily mount it outside if needed. I was just going to buy a civic radiator or something appropriately sized and toss a big can fan on it with a shroud. That's the thought anyways.

I read you ran a 2hp chiller with cooled hoods but you were running what 8 hoods?

sgrowdum said:

Ty I read your thread on the farmer. It was a good read. Yes I am
Considering using chilled water to cool my two open hooded gavitas and few other components in my 8X8. My idea was to run a 1hp chiller, maybe 1.5 if needed. Reservoir is 55 gallons. Chiller would be inside the room (outside of the grow tent) but I can easily mount it outside if needed. I was just going to buy a civic radiator or something appropriately sized and toss a big can fan on it with a shroud. That's the thought anyways.

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The chiller does not extinguish heat; just like AC, they only move heat. What's more, they generate more heat in the process of moving it. This means your chiller needs to be in another room that can ventilate and reject that heat.

sgrowdum said:

I read you ran a 2hp chiller with cooled hoods but you were running what 8 hoods?

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I ran a 2 Ton chiller, Tons are bigger than horse powers. I could run 8 lights, 4 at a time.

ttystikk said:

The chiller does not extinguish heat; just like AC, they only move heat. What's more, they generate more heat in the process of moving it. This means your chiller needs to be in another room that can ventilate and reject that heat.

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I understand the layout and concept of heat transfer. Forgive me but I'm not asking how to set it up or the concept behind it. I'm curious if anyone else has done what I'm asking. I want to hear about its longevity, things to note, issues and ways to make it better etc. IMO Pulling heat out of room with 4 sealed hoods would probably be a lot easier than cooling two open air gavitas at 1150w. I was told by an HVAC guy who runs gavitas to assume 4500BTU for each one. With that said a 12k or 1.5ton unit should do the job in theory. How did the S-10 radiators work?

sgrowdum said:

I understand the layout and concept of heat transfer. Forgive me but I'm not asking how to set it up or the concept behind it. I'm curious if anyone else has done what I'm asking. I want to hear about its longevity, things to note, issues and ways to make it better etc. IMO Pulling heat out of room with 4 sealed hoods would probably be a lot easier than cooling two open air gavitas at 1150w. I was told by an HVAC guy who runs gavitas to assume 4500BTU for each one. With that said a 12k or 1.5ton unit should do the job in theory. How did the S-10 radiators work?

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I've been running mine for years, reliability with a proper chiller is solid; my 2 Ton ChillKing unit even served as the home heating plant for several years. Kept me nice and toasty all winter. In Colorado.

In practice, you want excess capacity. Then, consider running two rooms on a flip schedule, to take advantage of the constant flow.

The 8" icebox coolers are toys. You need 2 Ton water cooled air handlers. DON'T buy them from Surna, they'll over charge you by as much as triple for the same unit. You should be able to get them for around $500 shipped.

You will need a source of heat for the system to work with, this is for dehumidification.

if you attached some hoods to a house radiator

then just pumped cold water into it and ran it to waste

your water bill would be high but I bet you`d see some cooling

probably get more cooling just taking hot air off the top of the tent and dumping more fresh air in there

The best way to manage heat is to have your lights outside your grow

Like above your grow with holes cut to let the light in

then you can cool your lights in the other room any way you like without messing with your plants much at all

ttystikk said:

I've been running mine for years, reliability with a proper chiller is solid; my 2 Ton ChillKing unit even served as the home heating plant for several years. Kept me nice and toasty all winter. In Colorado.

In practice, you want excess capacity. Then, consider running two rooms on a flip schedule, to take advantage of the constant flow.

The 8" icebox coolers are toys. You need 2 Ton water cooled air handlers. DON'T buy them from Surna, they'll over charge you by as much as triple for the same unit. You should be able to get them for around $500 shipped.

You will need a source of heat for the system to work with, this is for dehumidification.

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$500 just for an air handler is steep. For that price plus the chiller I'll just stick with the mini split. What happened to your radiators? They didn't do the job?

sgrowdum said:

$500 just for an air handler is steep. For that price plus the chiller I'll just stick with the mini split. What happened to your radiators? They didn't do the job?

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I guess you don't make much heat on your grow, then? Minisplit is better under 5kW of lighting.

ttystikk said:

I guess you don't make much heat on your grow, then? Minisplit is better under 5kW of lighting.

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There is always room to grow. juat doesn't make sense to spend nearly twice what a mini split costs on something that doesn't cool as well. Also I was going to go with a 12k mini split. Nothing crazy.

sgrowdum said:

There is always room to grow. juat doesn't make sense to spend nearly twice what a mini split costs on something that doesn't cool as well. Also I was going to go with a 12k mini split. Nothing crazy.

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That's a better choice.