Cooling issues

Hey whats going on out there. I have a bit of a problem with my grow room. The problem is that it's getting up to like 90 degrees. Now i have a 5000 btu a/c unit in the window, but it's kinda old maybe7-9 years old. The room in itself is like 10x11x8(with two 400wt hps), and 4x3x6 of space is taken up by the veg closet(one 400wt hps) which is recieving air from the grow room, so it is equally warm in there also. Now i know a 5000 btu unit is good for up to 165 sg. Ft., what i need to know is: Do i need to get a larger unit to compensate for the lights, or do you think i just need to get a newer 5k btu unit.
I welcome any advice, comments, or suggestions.
Also any gurus out there that know about converting regular watts to kilowatts(ex. Two 400wt hps=800wts, how many kilowatts would that equal up to for a 12 hour span.
Okay, i'm out. Hey thanks a bunch guys, and gals.



Peace!!!
-zen-

Alright there a kilowatt is a thousand watts = 1000watts. So when runing both it is 0.8kw = 800 then you need to add the kilowatts of what ever the ac unit is using, there will be a specification sticker on it somewhere. Ac unit use a supprising amount of watts. The equation you are looking for is power(kw) X time(hours) = energy(kwh) So you would use 0.8 x 12 = 9.6kwh. Your electric bill is worked out in kwh. Any other electrical questions give me a shout i am a electrician. And if that helped dont be shy

you could bring your temps down by adding cooltubes to your 400w hps and venting them outside. It would be cheeper then a new ac unit and might even work beter.

hey thanks BC. I think you may have just convinced me that i can afford to get two 1000wt lights, because i really am wanting more dense buds. I mean the 400's are great, i just want a little more, you know. i really appreciate that, left a little something in your stocking. Thanks man, if you dont mind i wonder if i can pm you about my grow room that only has one outlet. But that's for later, for now, thanks dude.

Hey Stumps, you know that is an awesome idea. I just have one problem that no one can give me an exact answer on:How many CFM's would i need to push two 400wt hps lights worth of heat, also how many CFM's would it take to cool off one 400wt mh. because i have a cool tube in my veg closet and i have a 117CFM axial fan on it(check out my grow for pics of my closet set-up), and that's not really strong enough to really compete with this southern heat,IMO.
So what do you recommend?


PEACE!!!
-ZEN-

No worries man, anytime.

my fan is in the 200 cfm range. the fan I started with was in the 400 cfm range. and it was great. I'll see if I can find the link.

I was wrong the fan I run now is in the 100cfm range the one I started with was 250cfm.http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/productIndex.shtml

That link isn't working so go to grainger and search part number 4c816. that is close to the one I had for the cooltube.

Do you have a fan venting out of the room or are you just relying on the ac? How hot are the ambient temps?
Check out this on ventilation https://www.rollitup.org/view.php?pg=faq&cmd=article&id=581

actually i was just relying on the a/c unit. and as far as the temps they go from 80 when the lights are off to 90 when they are on, sometimes 95. and it also the same in my veg closet(4x3x6). now ive figured out how to somewhat solve the problem in the closet(one intake at the bottom, and exhaust at the top, right) except for the fact that on my cooltube do i cap one end and have the fan sucking the heat out, or should i run ducting on both sides of the tube and suck air through, or should i have it blowing through. now since the flowering area is basically the whole room i'm a little stumped on how to vent. because that is what i feel is my problem, more hot air in the room than the a/c unit is able to switch out i guess. but my #1 issue is if i do run two cool tubes in the flower area what size fan is good (CFM's), and am i supposed to position the fan to have it blowing air, or sucking air.


PEACE!!!
-ZEN-

You need to vent out of the room. My room has a sealed door. I have ac going in the room "heat pump duct" the window open and 2 vents out one for the tube and one for the room. atm it is 99-102 outside and the room is 78. If the hps was running it would be around 85.

I'm sooooooo jealous!!!!

In the winter I shut the window some and set the cooltube intake by the window. I do hve to shut the tube fan down when the light is off or it gets a bit cool in the room. I leave the cric fan on so the room gets warm air all the time. There has been a few times I had to shut the window cuz it was just to friggin cold outside.

You've got it, hot air out at the top, cool air will come in through a hole near the bottom. Try to have them on opposite sides of the room for optimum airflow.
As for the cooltube, give it it's own cool air intake if possible, from outside the room, then have a fan sucking through the cooltube and blowing out of the room. Fans work better at pulling air than pushing it, and if there are any pinholes in the ducting then air will be sucked in rather than blown out and heating the room.
Imo a 200-250cfm fan should be sufficient to cool up to a pair of 600w-ers, but it depends on the ambient temps, how much ducting there is, and how straight the ductwork is. If you have to make a bend in the ducting, try to make it as smooth as possible, rather than a sharp bend.

Hairy Bob is giving you good info. I should say my cool tube is set up in the flower room. the rest is veg and clone. I vent the flower room form the veg area. I also have fans moving air in both area's

From my calculations your lights are putting out 2800 BTUH and the AC unit is putting out 1500 BTUH. If you aren't exhausting the heat out of the space you are basically compounding the heat in the room.

If you have any questions about power and cooling feel free to ask. I manage, design and implement computer data centers. My life is power and cooling!!! hehe

socal70 said:

From my calculations your lights are putting out 2800 BTUH and the AC unit is putting out 1500 BTUH. If you aren't exhausting the heat out of the space you are basically compounding the heat in the room.

If you have any questions about power and cooling feel free to ask. I manage, design and implement computer data centers. My life is power and cooling!!! hehe

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input.
Now is that 2800btuh for two 400wt or 600wt hps, also my unit is 5000btu. So what is btuh, and how does that convert from 5000 to 1500? and how do the two 400wt convert to 2800btuh?

ZEN MASTER said:

now ive figured out how to somewhat solve the problem in the closet(one intake at the bottom, and exhaust at the top, right) except for the fact that on my cooltube do i cap one end and have the fan sucking the heat out, or should i run ducting on both sides of the tube and suck air through, or should i have it blowing through. -ZEN-

Click to expand...

According to Al B. Fuct (see sticky on hydro forum) fans for cooling lights should suck cool air in, blow over the lights and vent out, and you should keep the ducting as straight as possible. He even has a simple diagram somewhere in his FAQ.

I use 2 inline 600w digital ballasts/w enclosed reflectors, 6" flex hose clamped to a 4" reducer and a 4" 171cfm inline fan ducted to the chimney... out the roof it goes"

There is a dual thermometer on the upright, measuring ambient room temp. It's remote sensor is hanging to measure temp at canopy height.

I also use an AC window unit to help in cooling. I've set it at 70 (temps are measured in degrees Fahrenheit)

There are 2 oscillating 16" fans to move the room's air.

You can rest your hand on either reflector just feel soft warmth.

Lights on: 72 ambient 75 canopy
Lights off: 68 to 70

willyjack said:

I use 2 inline 600w digital ballasts/w enclosed reflectors, 6" flex hose clamped to a 4" reducer and a 4" 171cfm inline fan ducted to the chimney... out the roof it goes"

There is a dual thermometer on the upright, measuring ambient room temp. It's remote sensor is hanging to measure temp at canopy height.

I also use an AC window unit to help in cooling. I've set it at 70 (temps are measured in degrees Fahrenheit)

There are 2 oscillating 16" fans to move the room's air.

You can rest your hand on either reflector just feel soft warmth.

Lights on: 72 ambient 75 canopy
Lights off: 68 to 70

Click to expand...

hey willyjack thanks for stopping by and for the input. i really like the way you have your room set up. that was your flowering area right? its kinda like your room and mine have sort of the same amount of space. here's a pic of mine, i guess i could be using more but my drain ramp is only 3'x8', and as far as my lights, you can see one of them in the pic to the left. its the kind with the ballast attached and the glass covering the light. the other to the right has an open batwing reflector with a remote ballast. now with the lights off my temps are at about 78-80 degrees, and 87-90 degrees with them on. i guess that being in the south i have just accepted that its going to be hot during the summer months(May to mid-October), but if you could share some wisdom on how to solve my problem, in the most cost effective way or not, it would be greatly appreciated.

PEACE!!!
-ZEN-