Closed Environmental Agriculture

How to set up and design a "CEA" grow room? Any help would be appreciated.

  • is it the same thing as a closed loop system?

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_MrBelvedere_

Well-Known Member
Technically a CEA is neither "open or closed loop", although it is more akin to a closed loop because it does not allow any outside air to be exhausted or taken in. CEA is a term to describe a highly engineered 3 room environment where each room can be individually controlled. CEA requires dedicated power circuits. It's the most expensive multi room system to set up because it also requires a dedicated heavy duty air conditioner and dedicated controllers for CO2, RH, and controllers that allow you to tweak every single aspect of every room to perfection. A proper CEA system must contain a dedicated third room that acts as the lungs of the entire system. Oversimplifying it but hopefully you get the idea!
 

mr.nice72

Member
How would a sealed grow room with CO2 supplementation be set up like? Could you explain how to design and builed one?I'm planning on an 8'x8'x8' area with 4 600 watt HPS lights and a minisplit A/C of 12,000BTU. What do you think?
There's no ventilation intake or exhaust fan in a sealed room, correct?
 

nevergoodenuf

Well-Known Member
You will also want a dehumidifier. If you get a mini split that heats and cools, you can run a wall thermostat that lets you set a lights on temp. range and a lights off temp. range. I still run an exhaust through a carbon filter, but the fans are only on for 15 minutes after the lights turn off and 2 more times before the lights come back on.
 

mr.nice72

Member
You use an exhaust through a carbon filter in a sealed grow room?? I thought there is no exhaust ot intake vents in a sealed grow room? I know I'll need a dehumidifier, but how big would it have to be in terms of growing in an 8'x8'x8' area grow room? Will 36 plaants fit in an 8'x8' room? and, what kind of capacity dehumidifier do you recomend? what size?
 

mr.nice72

Member
Thank you guy's for all your input! If I'm missing something, please let me know. I have a few more questions. Should I run the electricity on 240 volt power? And, how will this add up to savings on my electric bill?? How many outlets need to be installed do you think for 4- 600 watt HPS lights in a 8'x8'x8' grow area?
 

nevergoodenuf

Well-Known Member
IdealAir minisplit calculator says you need 22000 btu's to cool that room. you could fit 2 3'x6' trays or 4 3'x3's. you could also do 2 1000w on light movers. If running 4 600, get a 4 light master control and run 220v from that to your panel off a 30 amp breaker or run a subpanel to your room.
My room is only sealed when the lights are on. The plants use O2 at night and CO2 during the day. Also keeps the smell down, otherwise you need a scrubber in the room. I use the IdealAir 70 pint dehumidifier and a 12000btu minisplit in a 5x9x9 room.
 

mr.nice72

Member
IdealAir minisplit calculator says you need 22000 btu's to cool that room. you could fit 2 3'x6' trays or 4 3'x3's. you could also do 2 1000w on light movers. If running 4 600, get a 4 light master control and run 220v from that to your panel off a 30 amp breaker or run a subpanel to your room.
My room is only sealed when the lights are on. The plants use O2 at night and CO2 during the day. Also keeps the smell down, otherwise you need a scrubber in the room. I use the IdealAir 70 pint dehumidifier and a 12000btu minisplit in a 5x9x9 room.
I thought the average BTU recommendations are 4000-4500 BTU's per 1000 watts of light. Therefore, if I were using 4-600 watts of HPS, that's 2400 watt's total. So, if you do the math, 12000 BTUS of a mini split A/C would do the trick, right? 22,000 BTU's sounds crazy. Please correct me if I'm wrong!
 
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