TheDudeNextDoor
Active Member
Greetings all. So I've been dealing with some major heat issues on my newly constructed room, and I'm hoping I have solved the problem. However, since I am a noob, I'm hoping you experienced growers can give me a critique to make sure my solution is good. Sorry it's so long-winded, but I want you to have a complete picture.
The setup: Small, insulated outdoor shed with a built-in 5' wide x 3' deep x 5' high insulated box. 400W MH, non-cooled, hanging 12 inches above canopy. Sufficient exhaust outside using modified blower fan sucking air out through 4" ducting, active intake with a modified blower fan sucking air in from outside, and a 14" oscillating fan blowing across canopy. Four plants 11 weeks into veg.
The problem: Despite having decent ventilation and active intake, my temps have been soaring to 100 degrees plus during lights-on and only dropping to a low of about 85 during lights-off. I think I underestimated how warm the shed would be, and I also realized the logic that pulling 95 degree heat during the day was obviously not going to keep the temps low regardless of how good exhaust I have. The plants are just now showing signs of heat stress with some leaf droop, but otherwise they look pretty good to my inexperienced eyes.
The solution: Today, I framed a 6500 btu window unit through the wall of the shed and set it to 78 degrees. I ran some 4" ducting from inside the shed into the box and plan to make that active intake as well. So I now have the box with conditioned air in one intake and outside air in another, with exhaust pulling from the top of the box to the outside. I don't think the AC pulls fresh air, so I plan to leave the outside intake running full time but I plan to cut the exhaust while lights are on and AC running. Then, I have set lights-out for midnight to 6:00 a.m. to take advantage of the cool evenings, so when lights go out, the AC timer will cut off and the exhaust timer will cut on. So in essence, I am only exhausting during lights out, but I'm drawing cool air from the AC and outside air (CO2) from the other intake, and I then exhaust and intake without AC running during lights out.
I really can't do any more big expenditures until the fall when I plan to add a cooltube to my light and probably upgrade my exhaust to an inline.
I think that's it. My main concern I guess is the lack of exhausting during the day. Is this a good plan, or should I exhaust periodically during the day? Any other holes you can see?
I'm not concerned at this point with smell or anything else. I'm just trying to solve this heat issue while not neglecting anything else. Thanks for any insight you can offer.
Dude
The setup: Small, insulated outdoor shed with a built-in 5' wide x 3' deep x 5' high insulated box. 400W MH, non-cooled, hanging 12 inches above canopy. Sufficient exhaust outside using modified blower fan sucking air out through 4" ducting, active intake with a modified blower fan sucking air in from outside, and a 14" oscillating fan blowing across canopy. Four plants 11 weeks into veg.
The problem: Despite having decent ventilation and active intake, my temps have been soaring to 100 degrees plus during lights-on and only dropping to a low of about 85 during lights-off. I think I underestimated how warm the shed would be, and I also realized the logic that pulling 95 degree heat during the day was obviously not going to keep the temps low regardless of how good exhaust I have. The plants are just now showing signs of heat stress with some leaf droop, but otherwise they look pretty good to my inexperienced eyes.
The solution: Today, I framed a 6500 btu window unit through the wall of the shed and set it to 78 degrees. I ran some 4" ducting from inside the shed into the box and plan to make that active intake as well. So I now have the box with conditioned air in one intake and outside air in another, with exhaust pulling from the top of the box to the outside. I don't think the AC pulls fresh air, so I plan to leave the outside intake running full time but I plan to cut the exhaust while lights are on and AC running. Then, I have set lights-out for midnight to 6:00 a.m. to take advantage of the cool evenings, so when lights go out, the AC timer will cut off and the exhaust timer will cut on. So in essence, I am only exhausting during lights out, but I'm drawing cool air from the AC and outside air (CO2) from the other intake, and I then exhaust and intake without AC running during lights out.
I really can't do any more big expenditures until the fall when I plan to add a cooltube to my light and probably upgrade my exhaust to an inline.
I think that's it. My main concern I guess is the lack of exhausting during the day. Is this a good plan, or should I exhaust periodically during the day? Any other holes you can see?
I'm not concerned at this point with smell or anything else. I'm just trying to solve this heat issue while not neglecting anything else. Thanks for any insight you can offer.
Dude
