New Closet Grow Room, Help with Heat

2closetgrowers

2closetgrowers

Member
Hello all,

This is my first grow so any help is much appreciated it. I've been reading through these forums as much as possible and learning as much as I can. I have built my grow closet but am having a problem with heat. My goal is to have the closet closed so that no one can see whats going on in their but still have air sucking in from around the gaps in the door and exhaust blowing out the top of a compartment on top of my closet. Here is a description of my closet followed by pix.

My closet it 6.5 feet high, 2 feet deep, 3 feet wide.

I have a compartment on top of my closet which I cut a whole in the back left for venting out hot air.

I divided my closet up so that the flowering area is 4 feet high and my veg is 2.5 feet high.

I opted for 42 watt CFL's throughout. I have 8 red for top (flowering) and 6 blue for bottom (veg).

I have a 4 inch 85 cfm cheapo inline fan, a 4 inch squirrel cage 465 cfm blower, and 3 small fans shown in pic below.

The room that my closet is in has an average temp of like 78 F. The closet has an average temp of like 79 F with no lights on.

With all lights on and no fans running it easily gets over 100 F. But the problem I'm running into is that even with the blower attached to the top compartment sucking air out the temp only gets down to like 96 F.

Right now I only have the closet door open, 1 42 watt light on, and 2-3 fans blowing the heat off the light and right at the plant level its at 82 F. If I close the door even with that one light it goes up to 88 For so.

I've tried all sorts of venting from the veg straight to compartment on top of my closet sucking with the blower. I've tried blowing into the grow chamber but all i keep getting is warm air.

I know I can buy an AC for my room and drop the temp down to like 74 or 75, but with the door closed i am afraid that it still won't get the cooling down.

I've even played with the idea of a portable AC stuck in there but they are like 300 bucks and I can't figure out how to get the AC to both areas.

Any help would be appreciated. Let me know if you need more info or better pix.
 

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f1tzg3r4ald

f1tzg3r4ald

Active Member
I would swap out the bottom cfl's for florescent plant lights. CFL's build up a good amount of heat.
I would also consider going to a 150 or 250 watt cool tube in top. Instead of the ac.
Make sure the inlet air is coming from near the floor .
Make sure the exhaust is getting out of the closet and not just being sucked back into your inlet.
Just a few thoughts. That should help with the heat issues if you can afford it. I say better right the first time. GL

Most important you want some back pressure. Set your fan up to suck air from the top of the closet and blow it out. If you have a filter that goes on before the fan.

Also what are the two ducts coming out bottom is inlet? top is exhaust?
 
2closetgrowers

2closetgrowers

Member
I have just a small cupboard above my closet where I'm exausting to. Then of course its going back into the room. So I'm sure I need to cool the room with an A/C. But Just don't know what to do to keep the inside cool. It can jump up to 96 with all lights on and the closet door wide open.

My air flow is as follows.

Passive intake into veg part at bottom of door through 4 inch intake.

Passive intake up to flowering part through 4 inch hole in back of shelf. (will obviously add light proofing method later once heat exhaust is figured out)

Blower sucking air up through cupboard and exhausting into room at ceiling level.

I tried sticking the 4 inch inline in the bottom pushing air in, no help, I tried pulling the air from the veg room to the flowering room with the 4 inch inline, no help. I tried running venting from the veg room all the way to the exhaust, no help.

Soon as that door closes my temp rises, argh.
 

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f1tzg3r4ald

f1tzg3r4ald

Active Member
Those cfl's are killing ya. You got quite a bit of em. Probly more heat than a 250watter. I would definatley go for the DIY cool tube or buy one. Other than that your setup is looking good. Also you need to make sure that with the door closed you are still getting the air volume exchanged fairly frequently.
 
2closetgrowers

2closetgrowers

Member
Hi fitz,

I would swap out the bottom cfl's for florescent plant lights. CFL's build up a good amount of heat.

something to think about, might have to try that.

I would also consider going to a 150 or 250 watt cool tube in top. Instead of the ac.

I've heard of the cool tube but haven't done much research into it, i thought it was for HID lights or something. I'll have to look into it.

Make sure the inlet air is coming from near the floor .

It is.

Make sure the exhaust is getting out of the closet and not just being sucked back into your inlet.

It is.

Just a few thoughts. That should help with the heat issues if you can afford it. I say better right the first time. GL

Agreed :D

Also what are the two ducts coming out bottom is inlet? top is exhaust?

Bottom is inlet. I closed the top one on the front of the closet (it was supposed to be an intake for flowering, but didn't do anything that I could tell). I closed it up and now only have inlet at the bottom of veg, exhuast into flowering, which is sucked up by the squirrel cage blower into the top of my room.
 
2closetgrowers

2closetgrowers

Member
Those cfl's are killing ya. You got quite a bit of em. Probly more heat than a 250watter. I would definatley go for the DIY cool tube or buy one. Other than that your setup is looking good. Also you need to make sure that with the door closed you are still getting the air volume exchanged fairly frequently.
__________________

Will definitely look into the cool tube bit!!! I figured the CFL's were hotter than I'd hoped they would be. I thought by going with them I'd be going easy on the heat. Lol, newbie mistake.
 
f1tzg3r4ald

f1tzg3r4ald

Active Member
You could also build a box around your cfl's that would be covered with glass and have air inlet and outlet. Probly a stoner idea but might work.
 
2closetgrowers

2closetgrowers

Member
f1tzg3r4ald said:
You could also build a box around your cfl's that would be covered with glass and have air inlet and outlet. Probly a stoner idea but might work.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of that actually, some glass or plexi glass box attached to bottom of light fixture with an inlet and outlet going to exhaust. hmmm, I'm high now too, so you might be on to something!
 
2closetgrowers

2closetgrowers

Member
Now that I'm looking at the prices maybe it would just be better to just buy a 150 or 250 watt HID light with a cool tube. Hmm, but which size and would that resolve my heat issues or just solve part of them.
 
f1tzg3r4ald

f1tzg3r4ald

Active Member
6 sq ft times 50watts per sq ft max = 150watts min, 250watts optimum, 300watts max.
to exchange the air in your closet (39 cubic ft) every 1 minute you need 39.24 CFM minimum. Which you do.

The only reason it could be getting hot is because the air isn't getting exchanged out of the closet or room. Does your room seem warm? Can you cut a hole and patch it later?
Maybe try mounting your big fan inside to suck air over the lights. Hey if I keep guessing I'll get something right. lol

Also what is your climate where you live. You will need to make sure to take that into account when calculating CFM's.
 
FeRiZaJLI

FeRiZaJLI

Well-Known Member
i would try and get some plexi glass build my self a cool box put it where the lights are two hole air in and out or just make a hood and use plexi to over the bottom side again holes for air in and out
 
2closetgrowers

2closetgrowers

Member
stoner conscensus noted, will build coolbox for my lights, if that doesn't work I'll go ahead and just buy a 250 hps with cool tube, heck i still might do that instead. Will get better results in there anyway
 
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