JohnCee
Well-Known Member
I live up in the northern part of the United States, and right now is probably the hottest point in the year for us, or at least for the next couple of weeks. I have been struggling to use my 315w bulb in my enclosed 4'x4x6' area, simply because it gets too hot in that small area, roughly 85-92F, and all of my ladies end up burning which is not good. I have been flowering 1 plant at a time under a cheap led panel simply because it's my only other light that doesn't heat the room up too much, staying between 77-79F on average with the led panel running only. There is nothing else that I can do ventilation wise, because for that small area I have a small 150-200 CFM inline fan for air intake, and a 400 CFM fan for pulling air out of the room, and a 335 CFM fan pulling air out of the light fixture, which of course all of the air is vented outside of the house as well. I have tried all different ducting and arrangements, and went through tons of foil tape trying different reconfigurations.
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I don't really have the money to go purchase an air conditioner that's appropriate for what I need, however, opening a Lowe's or Home Depot card is not out of the option. I was considering opening a card to purchase an air conditioning unit from them, however I'm not really sure which unit to go with from them within my price range. I wanted to keep the spending limit for an air conditioning unit to around $400, because I wanted to get a few other things and stop spending on the card at $500.
I have a few concerns, so hopefully someone could help me out by easing my worries about the new plans, here are the quick overviews of the hypothetical situation:
Room Size: 4'x4'x6'
Ventilation: None - Enclosed (except the air conditioner out, granted if that's needed, not sure?)
Light Fixture: Enclosed - Air Cooled
1) - If I were to line the inside of the room entirely with a white styrofoam for insulation and reflectivity, would this help the cool air stay inside of the room longer, preventing the air conditioning from running as often?
2) - What size and style of air conditioning unit should I shoot for when trying to make my purchase? Remember, I pretty much only have the options presented at Lowe's, Home Depot, or Menard's, and ideally at around $400. Also, given the restrictions of where I can make a purchase, would it just be a waste of money and time trying to get a unit from them within my price range?
3) - I am trying to calculate the cost of the energy based off watts and hours running, however, I don't really know how many hours to gauge for the air conditioner to be running. Would anyone happen to have any idea roughly how many hours out of the 12 hour cycle would the air conditioning unit be running for?
4) - For having such a small flowering room size, is having an air conditioning unit running in the fall/winter unnecessary, especially considering the fact that I live up north and my enclosed grow area is in the basement?
5) - Does anyone else have a similar scenario and setup, which requires them running an air conditioner year round?
---
I don't really have the money to go purchase an air conditioner that's appropriate for what I need, however, opening a Lowe's or Home Depot card is not out of the option. I was considering opening a card to purchase an air conditioning unit from them, however I'm not really sure which unit to go with from them within my price range. I wanted to keep the spending limit for an air conditioning unit to around $400, because I wanted to get a few other things and stop spending on the card at $500.
I have a few concerns, so hopefully someone could help me out by easing my worries about the new plans, here are the quick overviews of the hypothetical situation:
Room Size: 4'x4'x6'
Ventilation: None - Enclosed (except the air conditioner out, granted if that's needed, not sure?)
Light Fixture: Enclosed - Air Cooled
1) - If I were to line the inside of the room entirely with a white styrofoam for insulation and reflectivity, would this help the cool air stay inside of the room longer, preventing the air conditioning from running as often?
2) - What size and style of air conditioning unit should I shoot for when trying to make my purchase? Remember, I pretty much only have the options presented at Lowe's, Home Depot, or Menard's, and ideally at around $400. Also, given the restrictions of where I can make a purchase, would it just be a waste of money and time trying to get a unit from them within my price range?
3) - I am trying to calculate the cost of the energy based off watts and hours running, however, I don't really know how many hours to gauge for the air conditioner to be running. Would anyone happen to have any idea roughly how many hours out of the 12 hour cycle would the air conditioning unit be running for?
4) - For having such a small flowering room size, is having an air conditioning unit running in the fall/winter unnecessary, especially considering the fact that I live up north and my enclosed grow area is in the basement?
5) - Does anyone else have a similar scenario and setup, which requires them running an air conditioner year round?
