New Room Design

PaulaBee

Member
I am setting up a different space in my basement. I want to redefine the space and I am wondering if I should include the window for the AC in the actual room or if it should be outside of the room. I can do both. Right now my grow is just in a larger room in the basement. The temps have been improved by AC in summer and heater in winter but I don't have an exhaust system set up yet and it is getting pretty stinky now entering the 6th week of flower. I need to add exhaust system into the space so thought it best I make the space smaller by subdividing the space. Advice appreciated.
 

flamdrags420

Well-Known Member
It might be more efficient to cool the basement area that is serving as the lung than to cool the heated space itself. This of course is dependent on growing room and lung room size. Type and power of AC. And of course your venting and exhausting system(if any). This stuff I'm looking at also. (although I haven't gotten to this point yet, it's on the lower portion of my to do list. If I have some extra time or stumble across anything on this, I'll let ya know.

What I propose is this: Take the rating of the AC. It can cool a volume of air at your current max temps in the growing space to the desired growing temp. in X amount of time. You can use this time value now to calculate it's running cost. Now you can use this data to help also figure out a exhaust system (which I feel you should have unless running CO2) that will do the same job by taking out the heat from the grow room while drawing the hopefully much cooler air from the larger outside area of the basement that will serve as your lung room. (draw the cooler air in either with a passive or active system ie a big hole or a intake fan) You may not even need an AC which I know is a big cost to run depending on how effective your exhaust system turns out being. If an AC is needed putting it in the lung room might be a better option if you are intent on using it because I am hypothesizing that it will be more efficient to bring down the lung temps since it's going to naturally be at a lower temp. All of this of course is null and void if you aren't dumping your heat out because what would happen in this 2nd scenerio is that the ac would end up cooling both the lung and the grow room.

I would do your best to get a exhaust system hooked up and see what the environment is doing then before setting up this ac.If you are doing some framing for this new partition, you can frame and plan ahead for it just so it's easy to add down the road, but not necessarily have to start out using it if you don't need to. Hope this helps get your mind juices flowing into a positive direction for ya.

be blessed

~~ Flams ~~
 

bloomfields

Active Member
can i just come in here and ask , does air conditioned air contain any co2 ?? i too have just moved house , now my op is in the loft , right next to the air con unit thats serves my house , its a new house , i also have 1 of those things that collects and filters rainwater , priceless for micro nutes, anyway the air con unit shoots off to an outlet for every room in the house , 1 of which runs anlong the floor in the centre of my flower room, can i drill holes into this pipe and use plugs to take the air conditioned air only when the lights are on ???? thanks for your help =D
 

flamdrags420

Well-Known Member
I'm not going to advise for or against modifying house systems for partial use into a grow op. It's not a matter of CAN, but SHOULD. I believe in keeping systems separate for ease of maintenance. I also can't offer any advice or education on how ACs work. That is beyond my scope of knowledge, but conditioned air should contain the same ammount of CO2 that is in the system that it is conditioning minus any loss in that system. Again beyond my scope. I feel my advice is sound and I think most others would agree that step 1 should be an exhaust system unless you are running a CO2 gen in the room.
good luck
~~ Flams ~~

PS. what micro nutes does rain water contain? last time I did a PPM check on rain water, it was near 0
 

PaulaBee

Member
It might be more efficient to cool the basement area that is serving as the lung than to cool the heated space itself. This of course is dependent on growing room and lung room size. Type and power of AC. And of course your venting and exhausting system(if any). This stuff I'm looking at also. (although I haven't gotten to this point yet, it's on the lower portion of my to do list. If I have some extra time or stumble across anything on this, I'll let ya know.

What I propose is this: Take the rating of the AC. It can cool a volume of air at your current max temps in the growing space to the desired growing temp. in X amount of time. You can use this time value now to calculate it's running cost. Now you can use this data to help also figure out a exhaust system (which I feel you should have unless running CO2) that will do the same job by taking out the heat from the grow room while drawing the hopefully much cooler air from the larger outside area of the basement that will serve as your lung room. (draw the cooler air in either with a passive or active system ie a big hole or a intake fan) You may not even need an AC which I know is a big cost to run depending on how effective your exhaust system turns out being. If an AC is needed putting it in the lung room might be a better option if you are intent on using it because I am hypothesizing that it will be more efficient to bring down the lung temps since it's going to naturally be at a lower temp. All of this of course is null and void if you aren't dumping your heat out because what would happen in this 2nd scenerio is that the ac would end up cooling both the lung and the grow room.

I would do your best to get a exhaust system hooked up and see what the environment is doing then before setting up this ac.If you are doing some framing for this new partition, you can frame and plan ahead for it just so it's easy to add down the road, but not necessarily have to start out using it if you don't need to. Hope this helps get your mind juices flowing into a positive direction for ya.

be blessed

~~ Flams ~~
Uh oh, a bit more than what I was expecting to hear. First what do you mean by lung room. I never heard that term before.
 

bloomfields

Active Member
I'm not going to advise for or against modifying house systems for partial use into a grow op. It's not a matter of CAN, but SHOULD. I believe in keeping systems separate for ease of maintenance. I also can't offer any advice or education on how ACs work. That is beyond my scope of knowledge, but conditioned air should contain the same ammount of CO2 that is in the system that it is conditioning minus any loss in that system. Again beyond my scope. I feel my advice is sound and I think most others would agree that step 1 should be an exhaust system unless you are running a CO2 gen in the room.
good luck
~~ Flams ~~

PS. what micro nutes does rain water contain? last time I did a PPM check on rain water, it was near 0
i am running 2xruck fan exhaust systems in my op , i just wondered if the extra cool air coming from said pipe , would contain any co2 aswell as being very cold, its my first aircon unit and i was unaware if it draws air from outside , or generates its own before cooling , hense the question ....
also....
when i say micro nutes"" i mean the stuff god puts in rainwater that my ladies seem to love lol , thanks for reply ......=)
 

flamdrags420

Well-Known Member
Uh oh, a bit more than what I was expecting to hear. First what do you mean by lung room. I never heard that term before.
What were you expecting? A lung room is a feeder room or the space where you draw your fresh air from. In your case the larger unused portion of the basement. Without providing parameters on your current environment it's hard to be more specific on what to do. You have no clear objective in your post. IE how hot is it? What's the humidity? things like this? What is it you are wanting to do?

i am running 2xruck fan exhaust systems in my op , i just wondered if the extra cool air coming from said pipe , would contain any co2 aswell as being very cold, its my first aircon unit and i was unaware if it draws air from outside , or generates its own before cooling , hense the question ....
also....
when i say micro nutes"" i mean the stuff god puts in rainwater that my ladies seem to love lol , thanks for reply ......=)
Very unclear to me, and I'm sorry for this. I don't know where your AC is located. ACs are not CO2 Generators. The cool air by recycling the air mass by running it through the machine. No CO2 is added to this system. It will have what ever is currently in the air. Research more on this if you want to learn more about how ACs work. I really don't know how they do the thing they do. Not my cup of tea there. I know what micro nutes are. Last I understood there are none in rain water save for any micro organisms that may or may not be growing in the collection bin. They seem to love it huh? lol They told you this or they give you little clues? =)
 

PaulaBee

Member
I have 2 600w HPS over the lights. The temp go from 69 to 78 during the winter. I use a ceramic heater in the lung room and the AC is 5000BTUs located in the lung room. During the summer I was able to keep the temp from 73 to 78. Of course there is no lung room yet as I have no partitioned the space yet. I want to filter the odor, thus create an enclosed room. Sounds like I should not incorporate the AC into it though. My lights do not have air cooled reflectors.
I do want to add more so I want to have enough space in my flower grow room to expand. I will try to break down what you wrote. Thanks
 

flamdrags420

Well-Known Member
So ya your environment is great then. For odor then you can scrub your air with a fan and filter and also I've heard about people using those ozone gens for this also. Sounds like you have a very ideal spot.

I found another post of yours somewhere where you talked about getting your seeds snagged in the mail. Was wondering about what company you went with?
 

PaulaBee

Member
So ya your environment is great then. For odor then you can scrub your air with a fan and filter and also I've heard about people using those ozone gens for this also. Sounds like you have a very ideal spot.

I found another post of yours somewhere where you talked about getting your seeds snagged in the mail. Was wondering about what company you went with?
That was with Amsterdam Seeds. They did replace them for an additional shipping fee. Then forgot to send them. Then after I contacted them again they did send them out. All together it took 3 months to get them. I have bought from Attitude and got a 4 day turn around. Although they are not a true seed bank but more of a broker I will use them any day again. Amsterdam seeds maybe too much of a stoner company. Attitude got down to business.
 

bloomfields

Active Member
Very unclear to me, and I'm sorry for this. I don't know where your AC is located. ACs are not CO2 Generators. The cool air by recycling the air mass by running it through the machine. No CO2 is added to this system. It will have what ever is currently in the air. Research more on this if you want to learn more about how ACs work. I really don't know how they do the thing they do. Not my cup of tea there. I know what micro nutes are. Last I understood there are none in rain water save for any micro organisms that may or may not be growing in the collection bin. They seem to love it huh? lol They told you this or they give you little clues? =)[/QUOTE]

No lol , my air con unit is the air con unit that is powering my the air con in my house, and my flower room sits right next to it in my loft , my question was does it draw in air from outside and cool it (meaning it would contain co2) or does it use a hydrolic pump to generate its own air ? i want to know this as 1 of the ducting pipes from the ac unit runs directly through my flower room ,...... so i could add more light and maybe exspand my flower room if this air is any good as its already cold , and yes they do love it , i have exsperimented with settled tap water , spring water from tesco and rainwater , same strains same enviroment , the rain water grow was healthier and produced better buds , bear in mind i grow in soil only and i dont use any plant feed of any kind ....again thanks for reply ....
 

bloomfields

Active Member
That was with Amsterdam Seeds. They did replace them for an additional shipping fee. Then forgot to send them. Then after I contacted them again they did send them out. All together it took 3 months to get them. I have bought from Attitude and got a 4 day turn around. Although they are not a true seed bank but more of a broker I will use them any day again. Amsterdam seeds maybe too much of a stoner company. Attitude got down to business.
attitude seedbank have there issues , on 3 occasions they have sent me the wrong product , ok they fixed the issue , but still cost me time ...
 

flamdrags420

Well-Known Member
No lol , my air con unit is the air con unit that is powering my the air con in my house, and my flower room sits right next to it in my loft , my question was does it draw in air from outside and cool it (meaning it would contain co2) or does it use a hydrolic pump to generate its own air ? i want to know this as 1 of the ducting pipes from the ac unit runs directly through my flower room ,...... so i could add more light and maybe exspand my flower room if this air is any good as its already cold , and yes they do love it , i have exsperimented with settled tap water , spring water from tesco and rainwater , same strains same enviroment , the rain water grow was healthier and produced better buds , bear in mind i grow in soil only and i dont use any plant feed of any kind ....again thanks for reply ....
I've already answered your question. Air Conditioners recycle air. Again I'm not an expert on how it does it's magic. Take some time out and learn how ACs work if this sort of thing is interesting to you. There may or may not be types that incorporate fresh air in the system. Again this is beyond my scope of knowledge.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/ac.htm
google is your friend. I'm not going to do any more leg work on this matter for you. Please take some initiative for yourself. If you want more CO2 in your op you will have to bring in a fresh supply either through an active or passive inlet or a CO2 generator.

If your rain water performed better than your tap water, I would guess that it was because it lacked any micro nutes. What is your PPM of your tap water? This is beyond my scope of knowledge.
 
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