Assistance needed on cfm/airflow for low end of a medium size grow

TheDankyOne

New Member
Ok so I'm going to have a medium size grow (on the low end of the spectrum though) of 30 lights (1000w.) I have way more space than I would ever need for any theoretically sized grow I could conjure, but for the moment I'm building a contained room within the space itself of approximately 550-650sq.ft. to accomodate the current iteration. In another part of the facility, I have a separate business going which generates huge amounts of heat, for which I have a 30 inch roof exhaust fan running off 3-phase power, with a CFM Low of 3,833 and a CFM High of 10,235. The plan, although I'm not sure how much effort it will require, is to somehow have the exhaust for the room eventually be piped through that main roof exhaust as well.

I've been growing 8-10 lights for a long time, but it was in a house and obviously the space dictated the rules of the grow, rather than being able to do damn near anything I want (as far as space/options for setup go) which is where I find myself now. The ceiling height in the new space can be really whatever I want to build it out to, since I am building a room within the facility and there is plenty of vertical space. What would be the ideal height to set that ceiling height to? I plan to be using trays for this (for my back,) although I've always just done it from the ground on concrete. I was thinking 12' high ceilings, factoring in 4 foot high trays.

Smell was an issue in the previous house, for which I used a little 'baby' scrubber and a 48" long one. I really never did any calculations or anything when using those or setting that house up -- it just worked and so it was what it was. Now that I have the chance to do it right, that's exactly what I'm going to do. The CFM calculator on Phresh says for a 25 x 25 room, with 12' and 30 lights I would need approximately 7000cfm, which my current roof exhaust fan, per the specs, can handle. It says I would need anywhere from (16) 6"x12" filters @ 450cfm or (5) 10"x39" @ 1400cfm. Seems like I would rather just have 5 of the 10"x39" rather than 16 of the smaller ones, but if there is a particular reason why that should not be so, I would like to hear it.

Is there an ideal way to place the scrubbers? I.e. should they all just be hanging towards the ceiling, should they be spaced a certain way, etc? I appreciate any feedback or advice.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
i've never set up a room that big. the general wisdom is to buy a bigger filter than you need, and run your fans lower. cuts down on noise and makes the fans last longer, so i would go with the bigger ones. i try to hang my filter away from any air intakes, so the filter isn't just sucking out fresh air as it enters the room. those big boys are pretty heavy, i might hang a couple in the middle of the room, then set one up on a bucket or something like that in each corner of the room?
 

TheDankyOne

New Member
Noise won't be an issue, as the other business I have going in the facility operates at a constant 70-75dB 24 hours a day. And that's what I was generally thinking in regards to the placement as well. Noise and electricity use are not my wildcards; the only real exposure I have would be with smell and water usage. But I have what I think is a decent solution to offset the water usage to make it appear normal, although that will require some logistics work and some planning but I think it's doable. The real issue is the smell
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
build an airlock room, if you're building stuff to suit you. add a room big enough to change clothes in, and hang some coveralls in it.
put a small passive air intake away from the door into the growroom, and a small fan blowing from the changing room into the grow room, to maintain negative pressure. then you can go in and out with no worries about smell, as long as you only open one door at a time.
 

TheDankyOne

New Member
That's what I was thinking as well would be the best way to go about further minimizing it. All I'm starting with is a lot of space, concrete floors, and a high roof, so I figured it shouldn't cost too much more to build-out an anteroom when constructing the room itself. I appreciate the input
 
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