Room too hot - what's my next step?

owneal · Nov 3, 2017

What's up people? Been lurking for a few weeks doing some research while setting up my first grow. Finally got my room setup and ran my lights and fans. Temps got to 90 degrees F. My setup is in a small closet which is 5 feet x 20 inches with an 8 foot ceiling. I have two 1000w LEDs. For my exhaust fan I have a 190cfm 4" fan with a carbon filter before the fan. Fan is exhausting air out of a vent in the laundry room next door to the closet. I have a passive intake with a 6" duct bringing in some air from the room outside the closet. I have a fan on the outside of the closet pushing air in through the 6" duct and i have a small fan moving air around inside the closet. With no lights on the closet was mid to high 70s. With 1 LED on it got to 85 and to 90 with both lights on. What should I do to get my temps down? Easiest thing for me would be to add another 4" 190cfm fan similar to what I have. Would running 2 fans inline help bring down temps? Appreciate any help and suggestions.

grassy007 · Nov 3, 2017

Temps need to come down. See if adding a 4" intake fan with ducting at the bottom helps. Maybe try putting that carbon filter past the fan instead of in front of it. Hot air will at least have a chance to run freely thru the ducting a little ways before entering the filter.

MarWan · Nov 3, 2017

owneal said:
For my exhaust fan I have a 190cfm 4" fan with a carbon filter before the fan.

You need a stronger fan ~ 300 cfm at least.

owneal said:
Fan is exhausting air out of a vent in the laundry room next door to the closet. I have a passive intake with a 6" duct bringing in some air from the room outside the closet.

Could the proximity of the closet to the laundry room attribute to the temps in the closet.
Again you need a stronger fan and and additional 6" fresh air intake.

owneal said:
With no lights on the closet was mid to high 70s. With 1 LED on it got to 85 and to 90 with both lights on. What should I do to get my temps down? Easiest thing for me would be to add another 4" 190cfm fan similar to what I have. Would running 2 fans inline help bring down temps? Appreciate any help and suggestions.

basically you need to bring in cooler air and get a stronger exhaust fan. 75 - 80 while lights off says your ambient temp in the room is high for growing under lights.

mr sunshine · Nov 4, 2017

Air conditioners are what people use to correct those type of problems.

owneal · Nov 4, 2017

mr sunshine said:
Air conditioners are what people use to correct those type of problems.

I was thinking about adding A/C but I don't have a window to exhaust out of so that's out.

owneal · Nov 4, 2017

grassy007 said:
Temps need to come down. See if adding a 4" intake fan with ducting at the bottom helps. Maybe try putting that carbon filter past the fan instead of in front of it. Hot air will at least have a chance to run freely thru the ducting a little ways before entering the filter.

Will try putting the fan before the filter and see if that helps. Thanks.

owneal · Nov 4, 2017

MarWan said:
You need a stronger fan ~ 300 cfm at least.

I'm gonna get another fan to replace the one I currently have and then use what I have to push air through the intake.

MarWan said:
Could the proximity of the closet to the laundry room attribute to the temps in the closet.

I thought that when the dryer was running but have tested temps when nothing was running and still have really high temps.

MarWan said:
basically you need to bring in cooler air and get a stronger exhaust fan. 75 - 80 while lights off says your ambient temp in the room is high for growing under lights.

Musta been too high yesterday lol. I've seen room temps as low as 71 with no lights on. Usually in the room it's between 71-74 when the heats on in the apartment. I'll put your replies into action and will report back in a few days. Sucks.... I thought i was germinating seeds this weekend

Appreciate everyone's input. Thank you.

chemphlegm · Nov 4, 2017

you could possibly exhaust a portable ac unit through your dryer vent

owneal · Nov 4, 2017

chemphlegm said:
you could possibly exhaust a portable ac unit through your dryer vent

Hmm okay. Then what should I do with the exhaust thats venting there? Would I attach both ducts to a T and have them both vent out the vent in the laundry room? With that said, should I just go right to a portable A.C. or would you try bigger fan and additional intake first?

chemphlegm · Nov 4, 2017

the temperature of your intake will dictate your best choice. If the air is cooler it may be increasing the volume of air moved will do it, but if that air is too warm to do its job then it wont. you'll have to measure day/night time temps from that source to determine your options. could flower at cooler time also possibly and/or incorporate that into your choice.

you might find a stink sock can be used with an ac unit exhaust if its large enough. you might also find that sealing up your tent with your portable/exchange unit might be great too. where you exhaust your spent air is up to you, keep in mind the heat, the escaping odors and noise generated, and also humidity in that space too could be a concern.

MarWan · Nov 4, 2017

owneal said:
Usually in the room it's between 71-74 when the heats on in the apartment. I'll put your replies into action and will report back in a few days. Sucks.... I thought i was germinating seeds this weekend

Appreciate everyone's input. Thank you.

Can you bring in out side cold air through the window to the closet? If the room where the closet is located has a heating vent, can you close the vent?
you will need the ambient air temps to be in the low 70s or high 60s, to get a good temp in the closet.

owneal · Nov 4, 2017

chemphlegm said:
the temperature of your intake will dictate your best choice. If the air is cooler it may be increasing the volume of air moved will do it, but if that air is too warm to do its job then it wont. you'll have to measure day/night time temps from that source to determine your options. could flower at cooler time also possibly and/or incorporate that into your choice.

Got it, thanks. I'll start with a stronger fan and additional intake and see if that helps first.

chemphlegm said:
you might find a stink sock can be used with an ac unit exhaust if its large enough. you might also find that sealing up your tent with your portable/exchange unit might be great too. where you exhaust your spent air is up to you, keep in mind the heat, the escaping odors and noise generated, and also humidity in that space too could be a concern.

I don't even know what a stink sock is lol but I'll look into it too. Appreciate all the info and help.

I did have a question on the fan though. Not questioning anyone's advice in this thread - just wondering. Everything I've read regarding fans says figure out the C.F. of the room which in my case is 5x2x8 so 80cf. Then divide by 3 and that's how many cfm u need in ur fan. That's why I made the initial purchase of the 190cfm 4" fan. Where did I go wrong?

owneal · Nov 4, 2017

MarWan said:
Can you bring in out side cold air through the window to the closet? If the room where the closet is located has a heating vent, can you close the vent?
you will need the ambient air temps to be in the low 70s or high 60s, to get a good temp in the closet.

Unfortunately I can't. This apartment has these stupid windows which swing open to the inside with no screens and I'm on the 3rd floor so I'd really have to get creative to make that happen. I already did close the 2 vents to the room so it's not bringing in any heat.

owneal · Nov 4, 2017

Is a fan like this OD for my small closet? I like that it goes up to 710cfm but u can also reduce it to 30% of that.

I can't post links yet since I'm too new but it's an 8" HyperFan

owneal · Nov 4, 2017

grassy007 said:
Maybe try putting that carbon filter past the fan instead of in front of it. Hot air will at least have a chance to run freely thru the ducting a little ways before entering the filter.

Was about to do this but then realized that I wouldn't have a way to vent outside of the room to the laundry room next door? How would i go from the filter back to the duct to vent outside the room? Filter is capped at the end.

* Edit * just realized they probably sell end caps so it's open on both sides?

XipXipXoom · Nov 4, 2017

There is no need for an intake fan. It would be beter to run all fans as exhaust, in parallel, not in series. What type of fan is it? Some fans have godawful static pressure ratings and cfm will plummet with addition of carbon filter. Have u checked temps with no carbon filter? Is the exhaust port in the closet higher than the lights? Running lights on at night and pulling cold nighttime air from a window is a good option if you're handy and creative enough.

Look into Panasonic Whisperline series of bath exhaust fans.

owneal · Nov 4, 2017

XipXipXoom said:
There is no need for an intake fan. It would be beter to run all fans as exhaust, in parallel, not in series. What type of fan is it? Some fans have godawful static pressure ratings and cfm will plummet with addition of carbon filter. Have u checked temps with no carbon filter? Is the exhaust port in the closet higher than the lights? Running lights on at night and pulling cold nighttime air from a window is a good option if you're handy and creative enough.

Look into Panasonic Whisperline series of bath exhaust fans.

It's an ipower 4" inline fan exhausting from the top corner of the room on top of the lights. I haven't tried running it without the filter.

coreywebster · Nov 4, 2017

owneal said:
Got it, thanks. I'll start with a stronger fan and additional intake and see if that helps first.

Everything I've read regarding fans says figure out the C.F. of the room which in my case is 5x2x8 so 80cf. Then divide by 3 and that's how many cfm u need in ur fan. That's why I made the initial purchase of the 190cfm 4" fan. Where did I go wrong?

That's for air exchange to keep co2 levels reasonable. It doesn't take into account your light wattage. Which we don't know at this point. Probably like 130-230w range per light.

Are you running lights on at night?

Get a Bigger fan and filter to match. Make sure the hot air can get out of the room your venting it into or its going to impede your fan performance considerably.

Also move the air inside the closet more.

owneal · Nov 4, 2017

coreywebster said:
That's for air exchange to keep co2 levels reasonable. It doesn't take into account your light wattage. Which we don't know at this point. Probably like 130-230w range per light.

Got it, thanks.

coreywebster said:
Are you running lights on at night?

Yeah

coreywebster said:
Get a Bigger fan and filter to match. Make sure the hot air can get out of the room your venting it into or its going to impede your fan performance considerably.

Also move the air inside the closet more.

Yeah definitely gonna get a bigger fan. I'll report back once i make these adjustments. Thanks.

evergreengardener · Nov 4, 2017

also i dont think i saw this asked yet where do you have your thermometer located in this closet

Room too hot - what's my next step?

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