Closed Environment Growroom A/C questions

So this is whats going on.....I'm building a closed environment room, not huge probably 6x8 my question is I have to run a window a/c! Can't do a split $$$$!!!! will this be a huge issue with my C02? I'm going to super insulate so hopefully a/c isn't needed much , but It gets 115 in summer and 40 in winter? obviously I'll be 'on' at night in summer but does window a/c defeat the purpose of a closed room? One another thing, to stay warm in winter should I use an oilfilled radiator heater w/ built in thermo (winters)? I currently have my CAP Air 4 and am planning on running closed loop ducting for my lights on 24/7 ,control hum with Dehumdifier, heat with window a/c....sorry I'm pretty lit! hopefully this make sense but can someone help?

I run 30x12 room, divided, sealed, ac,dehum,no light cooling or ducting. 12000btu does it well. I have a c02 gen on the wall, water cooled also. adds a little hum to the air, but not an issue.

the air conditioner unit does not share air with the outside, unless its one of those evaporative ones with the two inlet/outlet hoses. when its 20 degrees outside, and your ac is running, you feel a little weird, but no fear, you are avoiding lot of issues by sealing up ! my room never sees outside air, unless I come or go. dont forget air scrubbers/stink socks.

c02 is awesome, and allows you to drive your plants' metabolism with increased temps, but 115 is pushing it. their are formulas used to figure out how much cooling btu's you need.

115 is Not inside thats ambient air outside during july aug.....you got a big setup, pretty sure your running a split unit a/c right? thats what my question was will the window a/c vent out Co2?

Window AC's are perfect for closed rooms. There circulate the same air thats in your room and never exchange with outside air, making them perfect. Portable AC's are no good, since they suck the air out of your room and you wont be able to keep Co2 in your room that way, unless you want to go through a bottle every 3 days.

If your AC is good enough... just take the glass off your reflector and run them open. Then you wont have to worry about a heater in summer.

And if your AC is good, then you might not need a dehumidifier either. My AC makes my room SUPER dry. So dry that I have to add a humidifier. Its the first time I've ever had to do that.

If you run your reflectors open, then just make sure you have a minimum of 3000 btu per 1000 watt light. Anything lower then that, and you'll be running your AC and max settings whenever your lights are on.

If your bigger scale, then a 3-5 ton mini split would be needed, unless your running aircooled reflectors and pull cool outside air through them.

no, not a split air conditioner, , its a window ac unit mounted in a wall seperating the grow room from the inside of the barn. room nevr gets over 85, barn gets hotter, and outside can get to 95 sometimes. the air is shared between the two seperated (light lock curtain) rooms, veg/flower. the heat during the day from the lights is used to heat the flower room and the veg room, and vice versa during the nite. although I do have 240 volt baseboard wall mounted heaters in each room w digi thermos. once i decided to seal my room, it made my cap c02/ducting/vent controller useless. I dont duct air to the outside at all. just get the biggest ac unit that you can afford, and that fits your window and electrical system.

The window ac unit does not share the outside air wit the inside air. , therefore will not transfer smells or c02. check out how they work. what the cap air 4 used for ?
not sure how cold it gets when your lites are off, but that heater prolly will not keep up, and it costs a ton to run! take a look at one of those pelonis ceramic heaters. they are impressive.

Elite Nugz said:

Window AC's are perfect for closed rooms. There circulate the same air thats in your room and never exchange with outside air, making them perfect. Portable AC's are no good, since they suck the air out of your room and you wont be able to keep Co2 in your room that way, unless you want to go through a bottle every 3 days.

If your AC is good enough... just take the glass off your reflector and run them open. Then you wont have to worry about a heater in summer.

And if your AC is good, then you might not need a dehumidifier either. My AC makes my room SUPER dry. So dry that I have to add a humidifier. Its the first time I've ever had to do that.

If you run your reflectors open, then just make sure you have a minimum of 3000 btu per 1000 watt light. Anything lower then that, and you'll be running your AC and max settings whenever your lights are on.

If your bigger scale, then a 3-5 ton mini split would be needed, unless your running aircooled reflectors and pull cool outside air through them.

Click to expand...

good advice ^, but be willing to mop up humidity from your ductwork, light fixtures, if you're ducting outside air through them, as well as nasty glass in your reflectors, blocking a significant amount of lumens/par.

apologies but in my experience window units are notorious for air and light leaks....they are NOT SUPPOSED to exchange air but they do...witnessed this firsthand walking by my buddy's ac and BLASTED with SKUNKWEED aroma... he said it wasn't the smell leak that pisses him off it was that this room was using 2x's as much co2 as the larger room with the mini-split....while it is not like air venting by any means it is a bad leak source...jus sayin

Kite High said:

apologies but in my experience window units are notorious for air and light leaks....they are NOT SUPPOSED to exchange air but they do...witnessed this firsthand walking by my buddy's ac and BLASTED with SKUNKWEED aroma... he said it wasn't the smell leak that pisses him off it was that this room was using 2x's as much co2 as the larger room with the mini-split....while it is not like air venting by any means it is a bad leak source...jus sayin

Click to expand...

no apologies necessary friend, we're here to learn from everyones xperience !


yep, my frigidaire in house leaked like that, but the growroom kenmore is lite/smell tight from the factory. I removed the panel and taped up the seams in the styrofoam insulation and solved the leak. In operation they do not exchange air, but some leak around insultion seams or poor install.
scrubbers in a sealed room are a must, fragrances will go through walls too. not sure what to say about the c02 usage. c02 drops like lead in the room after produced, it doesnt seem to want to go anywhere except the floor, unless there is positive pressure(?) in the room(which is not caused by a window unit, but maybe a portable) or a vacuum outside the room(furnace cold air return, vent,ducts,light ductwork , hot water tank vent, etc).

one room may be using more c02 because of higher temps also. I use twice as much c02 when the temps are at 85, compared to 75, even when the ac was not used. but the growth rate in the hot room exceeds that of the cold room, with c02 in both

Thanks for much needed advice! I'm building the a/c into the wall so hopefully i dont leak too much? I might seal up the styrofoam like pharma.....I was looking up diagrams and it looks like it shouldn't exchange air at all we'll see?

It's called condensor run off. Unavoidable. That's why I never went sealed until I was legal and smell no longer matters !