Water Cooled Grow Rooms

[phillipchristian]

Fuck yes, that^ is $$$ sir!!!

Hell ya. It's been a labor of love for almost 3 years. Tweaking it and messing with stuff. Amost 100% automated now. Working on an automated nutrient feeding machine right now. Pain in the ass but I hope to have t done within a month or so. Then I need to test it out for a few weeks with no plants. I'm running the HOLE system from the new AgrowTek controller. Air handlers on seperate temp and humidity controllers, Co2, chiller temps, light schedules, reservoir temps, fans, everything. I even have a VPN so I can check online from anywhere and see all the data up to the minute. Even installed cameras last year. It's fun.

 

[groovedaddy]

Sweet! Sounds like I'm on the right path. I'm using a 35 gallon igloo marine cooler outside room as a res and a mag drive 800gph water pump. Ran pvc though walls, made a manifold and mounted ice box on wall as a spot cooler. Test ran everything last night and all is well. Two questions. I've heard repeatedly not to use copper tubing and the cool coils are about $100 each. How about running thin plastic tubing in each reservoir as heat exchangers? Also my original plan was to completely seal off room and use the ice box to cool air from both lights and exhaust into room. Would that not be as effective as using the ice box as a spot cooler? May try the antifreeze after I'm comfortable with system not leaking.

 

[phillipchristian]

Sweet! Sounds like I'm on the right path. I'm using a 35 gallon igloo marine cooler outside room as a res and a mag drive 800gph water pump. Ran pvc though walls, made a manifold and mounted ice box on wall as a spot cooler. Test ran everything last night and all is well. Two questions. I've heard repeatedly not to use copper tubing and the cool coils are about $100 each. How about running thin plastic tubing in each reservoir as heat exchangers? Also my original plan was to completely seal off room and use the ice box to cool air from both lights and exhaust into room. Would that not be as effective as using the ice box as a spot cooler? May try the antifreeze after I'm comfortable with system not leaking.

Hey Groove, glad it's coming together for you.

For sure you don't want to use copper in a nutrient reservoir. It can fuck up your plants. They do sell aluminim and galvanized coils which work just fine. As for the thin rubber stuff I have never heard of anyone using it before. Test it out and see if it works. Just keep an eye on it for a while. Not sure of the drawbacks; maybe gotta watch that the pump doesn't pull it closed or that the plastic doesn't start to degrade. But I bet you could find rigid coiling at any HVAC or hardware store.

I think you are better exhausting the lights like you are now. If you completely sealed the room you would need 2-3 more Ice Box, a bigger chiller or an a/c. The Ice Box will remove the heat from one 1000w bulb but you would still need to cool the room with another 1-2 of them. If you sealed it and just had 1 Ice Box as a spot a/c I am pretty sure the temps would get out of control. When I was using Ice Boxes still I had them on every hood and still had to have additional cooling in the room. In the future if you can get a bigger chiller and more Ice Box then I say go for it. Closed Environment is the easiest way to grow in my opinion. Good luck man. Let me know if you need anything.

 

[groovedaddy]

Thanks for the help!

 

[phillipchristian]

No problem. My pleasure.

 

[budleydoright]

Buy a stainless wort chiller coil off of ebay for 50 bucks. Made to fit inside a 5 gal bucket.

 

[woodsmaneh!]

the best deal and service anywhere, I get my coils from here

http://www.nybrewsupply.com/wort-chillers/3-8-x-25-stainless-steel-wort-chiller.html


I have the 50' with attached hose ends 3/8 SS, very happy with them.

 

[phillipchristian]

NICE! That's awesome. I'm gonna order a few. Those are perfect for nutrient reservoirs. Way cheaper than the Hydro Innovations ones and much better quality. Plus they have hose connects. Sick. Thanks for sharing bro! +REP

 

[groovedaddy]

Yeah that's way better than the cool coil. Thanks woodsman

 

[groovedaddy]

I could buy one of those, cut it at every 4rth coil, use hoses to attach and have 4 for half the price of one cool coil! sweet!

 

[phillipchristian]

That's a good idea. With shipping and everything might come out to $75.

 

[JJFOURTWENTY]

Hell ya. It's been a labor of love for almost 3 years. Tweaking it and messing with stuff. Amost 100% automated now... It's fun.

I've always found the more time and energy invested in projects like this, almost always leads to a reward of getting to sit back and having the work take care of itself for you once everything's up and running.

No pain, No gain!

 

[ganjagoddess]

Hey Phillip I wanted to put up this image I found a while back about Commercial Systems using Water Cooling on the Lights, We didnt end going this route because basically I didnt think it could get rid of 2 lights of heat and also My room would not have been as adjustable with 32 lights relying soley on our 5 Tons to do the work. I am very interested to actually see a chain or two of your light systems and cooling tank setups if possible!

 

[phillipchristian]

I've always found the more time and energy invested in projects like this, almost always leads to a reward of getting to sit back and having the work take care of itself for you once everything's up and running.

No pain, No gain!

I agree man. 100%. I once told someone I actually like designing the rooms more than growing. I love messing with new technology.

 

[ganjagoddess]

Hey Phillip I wanted to put up this image I found a while back about Commercial Systems using Water Cooling on the Lights, We didnt end going this route because basically I didnt think it could get rid of 2 lights of heat and also My room would not have been as adjustable with 32 lights relying soley on our 5 Tons to do the work. I am very interested to actually see a chain or two of your light systems and cooling tank setups if possible!

View attachment 2083979

BUMP For Phillip

 

[phillipchristian]

Hey Phillip I wanted to put up this image I found a while back about Commercial Systems using Water Cooling on the Lights, We didnt end going this route because basically I didnt think it could get rid of 2 lights of heat and also My room would not have been as adjustable with 32 lights relying soley on our 5 Tons to do the work. I am very interested to actually see a chain or two of your light systems and cooling tank setups if possible!

View attachment 2083979

Yea, that diagram is off the Hydro Innovations website. I'm not sure what your point is or how many lights you have. In the diagram they don't have an a/c in the room. They have an Ice Box on every light and they are using 2 of them as spot a/c's. If you were to put an Ice Box on every one of your lights you wouldn't need a 5 ton a/c. Depending on the size of your room you could probably get away with 18,000btu. If you used the water cooling technology to cool your reservoirs, Co2 generators, and dehumidifiers then you might be able to get rid of the a/c all together and just use a few Ice Boxes as spot a/c's. I don't run this exact system anymore. I actually duct my lights back to my back to the return on my water cooled air handler. This actually saves me money from having to buy a dehumidifier and a bunch of fans and Ice Boxes. Water cooled air handlers have the advantage of being more efficient but also they alow you to dehumidify the air without actually cooling it; this is somethin air conditioner can't do.

Just because we disagreed in another thread and I actually proved you were wrong doesn't mean you need to come here looking to start something. If you wanna see a picture of my room then you post a picture of your "32 Lights" and I'll post a picture of my flower room. If you wanna talk water cooling then great. If you wanna be a wise ass then go away.

 

[ganjagoddess]

I was actually asking for advice from you man,, why so hostile??? we didnt think Those chillers could do it. Just wanted someones opinion who says they have... Dam

 

[ganjagoddess]

And actually you were proved wrong in the other thread... BTW

 

[phillipchristian]

And actually you were proved wrong in the other thread... BTW

Don't even try it man. You got clowned in proven wrong in both threads and now you are here to start shit. Chillers are 40% more efficient than a/c units and can easily handle the load of 32 lights if sized correctly. They are pricey but if you think about all the ducting, fans, dehumidifiers, and a/c units you don't have to buy they really aren't that bad. plus they allow you to cool anything that NEEDS to be in your grow room.

If you want to have a serious coversation about water cooling your grow room then you are welcome to stay. I'm not here to start shit with anyone and if you took offense to me showing someone that your advice was wrong then you need to grow thicker skin.

 

[ganjagoddess]

I'm not here to start any shit but I will defend every answer I have ever written, but I'm also not calling you out either.. at least not in this thread...

Just don't take offense when we disagree about stupid things, like wether dehumidifiers put off HEAT.. for the most part you seem to have decent level head, you just are really argumentivive over pennies and the like.

Its cool man, you know some things and so do I, thats why I wanted advice on this subject, I'll look past your bigheadness if you'll look past my smart alec remarks k?