Cooling/Ventilation Question

[Skunk Baxter]

Hi, guys. It's been a few years since I've grown indoors, but I'm putting together an indoor grow room again and I've got a quick quesion regarding cooling and odor control.

I'm using the space beneath a set of basement stairs, and dividing it into 2 chambers - a vegging chamber and a flowering chamber. The flowering chamber will the portion under the taller part of the stairs; it measures about 4.5x4.5 with about 7 feet of headroom. Total of about 20 square feet of growing space, 140 cubic feet of volume.

Vegging chamber is the smaller space beneath the short end of the stairs - 4.5x2.5, with about 4 feet of headroom at the tallest portion, 3 feet at the short end, so I can veg plants up to about 2 or 2.5 feet before moving them next door to the flowering chamber.

I'm going with a 1000W Eye Hortilux Super Blue lamp in the flowering chamber, and a 400W MH for the vegging chamber. I'm using inline reflectors for both lamps. For a fan, I'm using a Soler and Palau TD-150 6-inch inline fan; 218 cfm at low setting and 293 cfm on high.

Now. The question is, is there a way to use that one fan to cool both lamps and vent the odor? Or am I going to need 2 fans? The total volime of both chambers will be under 200 cf. I figure there should be no real problem using one fan to cool both lamps (just a matter of creative ductwork), but can that one fan do both jobs? It's not that I'm shy about spending another 150 bucks on a second fan; it's just the noise I'm concerned about. The fan will be entirely enclosed within the flowering chamber, but I'm a litttle conerned that twice as many fans means it's 3 times as likely that a houseguest or repairman or whatever might notice the sound and wonder what's going on in that room under the stairs.

 

[seymourxxx]

Hi, guys. It's been a few years since I've grown indoors, but I'm putting together an indoor grow room again and I've got a quick quesion regarding cooling and odor control.

I'm using the space beneath a set of basement stairs, and dividing it into 2 chambers - a vegging chamber and a flowering chamber. The flowering chamber will the portion under the taller part of the stairs; it measures about 4.5x4.5 with about 7 feet of headroom. Total of about 20 square feet of growing space, 140 cubic feet of volume.

Vegging chamber is the smaller space beneath the short end of the stairs - 4.5x2.5, with about 4 feet of headroom at the tallest portion, 3 feet at the short end, so I can veg plants up to about 2 or 2.5 feet before moving them next door to the flowering chamber.

I'm going with a 1000W Eye Hortilux Super Blue lamp in the flowering chamber, and a 400W MH for the vegging chamber. I'm using inline reflectors for both lamps. For a fan, I'm using a Soler and Palau TD-150 6-inch inline fan; 218 cfm at low setting and 293 cfm on high.

Now. The question is, is there a way to use that one fan to cool both lamps and vent the odor? Or am I going to need 2 fans? The total volime of both chambers will be under 200 cf. I figure there should be no real problem using one fan to cool both lamps (just a matter of creative ductwork), but can that one fan do both jobs? It's not that I'm shy about spending another 150 bucks on a second fan; it's just the noise I'm concerned about. The fan will be entirely enclosed within the flowering chamber, but I'm a litttle conerned that twice as many fans means it's 3 times as likely that a houseguest or repairman or whatever might notice the sound and wonder what's going on in that room under the stairs.

Hey Skunk,

You should be able to do it with the one fan. You'll need a T or Y branch to split the one duct leading into your fan's input into two ducts - one from each grow chamber. Here's a link to a Y branch on worm's way, but you can prolly pick one up cheaper at home depot or some such. http://www.wormsway.com/detail.asp?sku=WB644. Cheaper and quieter than getting 2 fans. Worse case would be that you need a stronger fan, but I doubt it.

Good luck!

 

[Skunk Baxter]

Hey Skunk,

You should be able to do it with the one fan. You'll need a T or Y branch to split the one duct leading into your fan's input into two ducts - one from each grow chamber. Here's a link to a Y branch on worm's way, but you can prolly pick one up cheaper at home depot or some such. http://www.wormsway.com/detail.asp?sku=WB644. Cheaper and quieter than getting 2 fans. Worse case would be that you need a stronger fan, but I doubt it.

Good luck!

Thanks, bro. I was planning to connect 'em both in a single run, running ductworkfrom the 400W through the adjoining wall to the 1000W and then out of the room into the chimney. The ducting will only need to run about 4 or 5 feet from one lamp to the other. Is it more efficient to use a T or Y connector than straightline them?

And can the cooling fan still be used to exhaust the odor as well? Or is that asking too much from one fan?

 

[seymourxxx]

Thanks, bro. I was planning to connect 'em both in a single run, running ductworkfrom the 400W through the adjoining wall to the 1000W and then out of the room into the chimney. The ducting will only need to run about 4 or 5 feet from one lamp to the other. Is it more efficient to use a T or Y connector than straightline them?

And can the cooling fan still be used to exhaust the odor as well? Or is that asking too much from one fan?

Might work, but the air's going to already be warmed from the 400w when it hits the 1000w. Not sure how much though, and I'm not familiar with that fan. From the specs it should pull plenty of air for both chambers.

Since I'm a cheap mofo, I'd first rig up your straightline method and dry run test it for an hour or two and see how hot both chambers get. If it works, great. If not, buy the Y or upgrade the fan or both. Not a huge deal to re-rig the ducting as long as you do it before you put the plants in.

And I would run the test with an anti-odor filter installed - odor control is always important when considering ventilation . Once those buds get to stinkin', you won't want to be lighting incense and spraying febreeze everywhere every time the vent kicks on.

 

[Skunk Baxter]

Might work, but the air's going to already be warmed from the 400w when it hits the 1000w. Not sure how much though, and I'm not familiar with that fan. From the specs it should pull plenty of air for both chambers.

Ohh - good point. I hadn't thought about that. hmmmm....

Since I'm a cheap mofo, I'd first rig up your straightline method and dry run test it for an hour or two and see how hot both chambers get. If it works, great. If not, buy the Y or upgrade the fan or both. Not a huge deal to re-rig the ducting as long as you do it before you put the plants in.

Yeah, I'll give that a whirl. The first couple of months, I'll only be using one chamber at a time anyway. I can run both lamps while I'm vegging the first indoor crop, and if it seems too hot, have plenty of time to rework the ducting or buy and install a second fan if I need to before I start running both chambers at a time.

And I would run the test with an anti-odor filter installed - odor control is always important when considering ventilation . Once those buds get to stinkin', you won't want to be lighting incense and spraying febreeze everywhere every time the vent kicks on.

I'm venting out the chimney. The chimney's next to the staircase, and I can run the ducting straight out to it without it being evident.

One thing I'm still not understanding, though. And here's where my naivete is really going to show. Can I just use the air from within the growing chambers to cool the bulbs as well, thus venting the odor at the same time that I'm cooling the bulbs? That's the part I'm wondering about. Is there any reasom I can't do that?

 

[seymourxxx]

I'm venting out the chimney. The chimney's next to the staircase, and I can run the ducting straight out to it without it being evident.

One thing I'm still not understanding, though. And here's where my naivete is really going to show. Can I just use the air from within the growing chambers to cool the bulbs as well, thus venting the odor at the same time that I'm cooling the bulbs? That's the part I'm wondering about. Is there any reasom I can't do that?

Actually that should work. Unless you're chamber is sealed up like a submarine you'll pull in air from your house through the cracks with no problem, and that will keep you cool. This is how a great many grows I've seen use that configuration.

Awesome that you've got the chimney option - not possible for me but I wish it was. Another thing to consider - if your vent fan is not going to be on 24/7 (and I think you indicated it isn't), then when the fan is off the smell is going to leach out of your staircase and skunk up the house. This can be mitigated by running the vent fan periodically (once or twice an hour) whether temp calls for it or not. Plan for success Flo - if you do things right you'll have a staircase full of big sticky buds that will stink to high heaven . May even be a good idea to have emergency backup odor control (ghetto shit like glade plug ins) on hand in case the carbon filter goes out on ya.

 

[pilsner]

any ideas on silencing a can-fan?

 

[seymourxxx]

any ideas on silencing a can-fan?

Check out the sound control thread at https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/122532-quiet-neighbors-can-hear-you.html

I haven't tried it myself, but the bungy box for the can fan looks pretty cool.