CFL's and a fan to cool things down?

lulutheblack

lulutheblack

Active Member
I am trying to prepare for my first grow. I was testing my grow closet and ran 12 cfl's for about 2 hours and it heated up pretty good. The closet is about 5x5x8. I had the door shut and it got pretty hot in there. I can't come up with any way of properly cooling it down and I would have to keep the door shut to keep light from getting in. If I put a couple of small fans (like 4" fans) blowing directly on the CFL bulbs would it help a lot or only help a little?

I didn't use a thermometer so I don't know exactly how hot it was but it felt like 85ish if I had to guess and that was only after 2 hours of running. I assume 18 hours of running would be way hotter.

Any advice for me or ideas?

+rep
 
first get a thermometer. fans can feel cooler to the skin because the air is moving but the air that's moving is still hot. if you only put fans in there without letting the heat out you are essentially creating a convection oven. just a great big heater with fans. if you're on a budget you can get the 4 dollar ones at home depot and they even have a somewhat accurate humidity guage (emphasis on somewhat). without a thermometer you will never really know what effect you are having on the temperature. you absolutely need someplace for the heat to go. there are a few solutions. you could get a "dummy door" for 25 bucks at home depot and just cut some holes in that and blow fans out/in. some people cut holes and vent to the attic, but with cfls this is difficult to do effectively. personally what i do is i leave the door open a crack and use that for vent, and i'm running a 400w hps. I also vented this way on previous grows when i used cfl/t5. i grow in a closet in a spare bedroom so this may not be an option for everyone.
 
My setup is also in a spare bedroom's closet. Honestly the ONLY thing I can think of that might work is getting some dryer duct hosing and tape it to the fan and squish the opposite end of it enough that it fits under the door to exhause some hot air out. What do you think about that? Think that might work?
 
No I can't cut the door or walls. One option is to install a vent fan in the cieling. You know, like the ones in the bathroom you turn on when you take a dump? lol

That's the best option I can come up with and it would help with the smell of the plants too! That's gotta be the best answer. I wonder how hard they are to install?!?!

Ummm....is anyone an electrician? hah
 
lulutheblack said:
No I can't cut the door or walls. One option is to install a vent fan in the cieling. You know, like the ones in the bathroom you turn on when you take a dump? lol

That's the best option I can come up with and it would help with the smell of the plants too! That's gotta be the best answer. I wonder how hard they are to install?!?!

Ummm....is anyone an electrician? hah
Click to expand...

Step 1 - cut a hole in your ceiling =)
 
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