Cheapest possible venitaltion set up

LowOriginz

Member
Im looking for the cheapest set up possible to keep the temps down and air flow good im in a 80x80x160 tent with a 600w HPS and as you can imagine that thing gives off some heat
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
Im looking for the cheapest set up possible to keep the temps down and air flow good im in a 80x80x160 tent with a 600w HPS and as you can imagine that thing gives off some heat
i tried running a 4 inch fan on a 600, it wasn't enough, i had to go to a 6 inch. i can run it at 90% during the day and drop it down to 30% when the lights go out, it keeps it under 80 on a hot day, and running it at 30% at night keeps the humidity from spiking so bad.
the carbon filter is usually as much as everything else combined, if you aren't worried about the smell, that's a big chunk of change.
i wouldn't cheap out on it though, if there's the least possibility of the smell giving you away to anyone you don't want to know what you're doing
 
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OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Too much light for the space tho the plants will love it if you can keep the temps down.

How warm does it get around the tent because the temp of your intake air is crucial to lower temps in the tent.

Keep the ballast outside the tent to keep some heat out. Are you using an air-cooled hood?

You're going to need a fan just to draw hot air from the light and one to vent the tent with that has a carbon filter on it. Possibly A/C as well so no matter how you do it it's not going to be that cheap.

If not an enclosed hood then you'll want a good 6" inline fan to be able to pull air through a carbon filter and get the heat out too. Cheap fan that will do 400cfm around $100, good filter another $150 and 30 or so for ducting. Cheap A/C for around $150 and some DIY to have it feed cold air to the tent.

:peace:
 

LowOriginz

Member
i tried running a 4 inch fan on a 600, it wasn't enough, i had to go to a 6 inch. i can run it at 90% during the day and drop it down to 30% when the lights go out, it keeps it under 80 on a hot day, and running it at 30% at night keeps the humidity from spiking so bad.
the carbon filter is usually as much as everything else combined, if you aren't worried about the smell, that's a big chunk of change.
i wouldn't cheap out on it though, if there's the least possibility of the smell giving you away to anyone you don't want to know what your doing
ik right thats why im trying to get cheap as possible and yeh i have to get a carbon filter otherwise gonna stink out my neighbors yard
heres my set up
 

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LowOriginz

Member
Too much light for the space tho the plants will love it if you can keep the temps down.

How warm does it get around the tent because the temp of your intake air is crucial to lower temps in the tent.

Keep the ballast outside the tent to keep some heat out. Are you using an air-cooled hood?

You're going to need a fan just to draw hot air from the light and one to vent the tent with that has a carbon filter on it. Possibly A/C as well so no matter how you do it it's not going to be that cheap.

If not an enclosed hood then you'll want a good 6" inline fan to be able to pull air through a carbon filter and get the heat out too. Cheap fan that will do 400cfm around $100, good filter another $150 and 30 or so for ducting. Cheap A/C for around $150 and some DIY to have it feed cold air to the tent.

:peace:
not sure of temp but i have turned it on with no plants in there and the humidity and heat is disgusting but i figure they will love that heat but the humidity is too much and i am keeping the ballsat outside
 
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Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
well, the single biggest thing you can do is get a cool tube, or at least a vented hood. you hook your filter to the light, then the fan to the other side of the light, pulling through the filter then the light fixture, then going through the fan, and outside. it would drop temps in your tent at least 10 degrees, maybe as much as 20. you don't really need an active intake fan, either, just open enough vents along the bottom so your getting good air flow, but still maintaining a little negative pressure.
 

LowOriginz

Member
well, the single biggest thing you can do is get a cool tube, or at least a vented hood. you hook your filter to the light, then the fan to the other side of the light, pulling through the filter then the light fixture, then going through the fan, and outside. it would drop temps in your tent at least 10 degrees, maybe as much as 20. you don't really need an active intake fan, either, just open enough vents along the bottom so your getting good air flow, but still maintaining a little negative pressure.
on looking i really want to get a vented hood however my ballsat is so old it doesnt have a plug at the end to plug into the reflector to power it, its wired so i dont think im able to do either of these without buying a new ballsat which i wouldnt be able to afford
 

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Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
you're kind of screwed at the moment then. a larger exhaust fan will help, but putting that bulb in a closed reflector will do more to keep your tent cool than anything else. deal with it for the moment, and save up for a new unit, they come pretty cheap on amazon and ebay.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
hps in this small of a space do i have a good risk of a fire?
in an open wing reflector? i wouldn't want to go away for too long.....honestly, not from the heat so much as from a bulb failure. sometimes they just die, and sometimes they pop. not saying the cool tube would prevent it, but it would give you a better chance, and a few minutes to deal with it.
in that size tent, a 400 would be enough, and would produce a good bit less heat to deal with, but then you're back to buying new gear
 

LowOriginz

Member
just incase someone was in the same position as me i ended up buying a 5 inch high garden pro fan with a rhino filter and its doing fine in there with the 600w hps temps are at 31 degrees and the fan is actually not that loud at all. Now next grow i can use that as an intake and get a ruck extractor fan next grow
 

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
Hey man.

Get that ballast raised off the floor. Raise in on bricks or something not likely to slip or move and is heat proof.
Get those wires that are laying over your reflector off of the reflector.
Make sure all electrics are not on ground level.

As for the ballast, does it not have a male female somewhere connecting the reflector to the ballast? Old ones usually plug direct into a female socket in the ballast, new ones have the female on a cable coming off the ballast several inch.

If you don't have a male female socket then cut the cable from the ballast and wire one, you can buy them at electrical shops. Its a 5 minute job. Then you can use a cooled hood. The picture you showed is just the wires to the bulb housing. All that comes with a cooled hood. It has its own bulb socket and cable to go to the ballast. But even if it didn't its a simple thing to undo those wires and wire it to a cool tube/hood.

If you haven't bought a fan yet buy a second hand quality one. They can be bought for piss cheap on ebay.

How are you venting the heat out of the house?

Just had my morning coffee so im a bit wired!!! :lol:

Edit. Just read your last post. Nice work on the fan.

But for the love of god get those electrics off the floor and those wires off the reflector or they will melt.
 

LowOriginz

Member
Hey man.

Get that ballast raised off the floor. Raise in on bricks or something not likely to slip or move and is heat proof.
Get those wires that are laying over your reflector off of the reflector.
Make sure all electrics are not on ground level.

As for the ballast, does it not have a male female somewhere connecting the reflector to the ballast? Old ones usually plug direct into a female socket in the ballast, new ones have the female on a cable coming off the ballast several inch.

If you don't have a male female socket then cut the cable from the ballast and wire one, you can buy them at electrical shops. Its a 5 minute job. Then you can use a cooled hood. The picture you showed is just the wires to the bulb housing. All that comes with a cooled hood. It has its own bulb socket and cable to go to the ballast. But even if it didn't its a simple thing to undo those wires and wire it to a cool tube/hood.

If you haven't bought a fan yet buy a second hand quality one. They can be bought for piss cheap on ebay.

How are you venting the heat out of the house?

Just had my morning coffee so im a bit wired!!! :lol:

Edit. Just read your last post. Nice work on the fan.

But for the love of god get those electrics off the floor and those wires off the reflector or they will melt.
those cables on the reflector was just for the cfls because i couldnt use the hps at the time because it was getting way too hot in there so i didnt even bother turning it on i was just using the cfls. Also by electrics on the floor you mean the extension plug right? there was nothing on the floor in the prev pics. Also its a clip on fan however i cant get it to place right in the postion i need so i decided to just tie it lol and for the HPS im only gonna use the rest of this grow so i thought fuck it lmao i will be upgrading to a vented hood next grow so why not. Also to bear in mind its sunny right now and miday and also in direct light so 35 is max temps(i turned the hps literally just before so i could get some pics) and obviously the box is not heatproof just a temporary thing so my carpet doesnt get mashed up( i
 

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ANC

Well-Known Member
You need to get more heat OUT... that means collecting more of it, and radiating less of it on the way out...
Step one... air cooled hood, cover all of except the glass with thermal insulation to keep the heat in. Step 2, feel your ducting, it is probably warm, try to wrap that too...
 

LowOriginz

Member
You need to get more heat OUT... that means collecting more of it, and radiating less of it on the way out...
Step one... air cooled hood, cover all of except the glass with thermal insulation to keep the heat in. Step 2, feel your ducting, it is probably warm, try to wrap that too...
no air cooled hood my guy but yeh the ducting is a little warm
 

ANC

Well-Known Member
OK so the ducting is not connected to the hood at all? insulate the tubes if you feel heat.
 
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