DR100 Ventilation questions

[TheRuiner]

Hi there rollitupers, I need your help again so here goes with a open ended question about venting a DR100:

Right now all I have on the tent fan wise is a 6inch air king inside to move air and a 195cfm inline duct fan attached to the incoming air vent pushing air through the short tubing and through my 6 inch vented hood and out the other side. This works to a degree, but the air coming out isn't going that fast and it seems like there is a lot of heat still coming off the bulb (into the tent). I just feel like this could be done more efficiently. How are you all ventilating your DR100, DR120, DR80 size tents? I have a 400 watt switchable in there now and the single fan on the bulb doesn't seem to be enough. I have a ac in the tent as well and it has to work non stop to keep temps acceptable. I will also be adding a 4'' exhaust. fan pulling air out of the tent and putting it through a carbon filter, but that isn't hooked up yet because i'm only dealing with seedling right now. I'm sure this will help, but the heat coming from the bulb could still be reduced. How do you all have yours configured, how could I do mine better?? Where do you all have your fans mounted and how are they mounted as well? Thanks a ton in advance guys and gals! Peace!

 

[desertrat]

1. are you venting your ac outside the tent? if not, changing this will fix your cooling. even if you are venting, if it's a single hose a/c then it is extremely inefficient and may not do the job in the summer.

2. you have to have an exhaust for the tent, with or without your carbon filter. make sure to put the exhaust at the top of the tent. when you add the carbon filter, suspend it from the ceiling.

3. if your bulb is putting out significant heat, then either your ventilation has serious leaks or you need a stronger fan. your hand should be comfortable within 8 inches of the light if it is properly cooled.

personally, i buy an outsized fan with a variable speed controller and run: carbonfilter->fan->light->duct muffler->exhaust. everything in the loop creates air resistance so i use a 440 cfm fan and dial it down as far as i can while keeping the light cool. i also have a powered inlet to help bring in fresh air.

 

[TheRuiner]

1) I am venting the AC outside the tent but I'm afraid that this is my biggest hurting factor, the ac is blowing out 90 degree plus air right outside the tent, so the only intake air is 90 degrees as well, I'm sure I can fix this and already have a plan to vent the AC differently (through a hole in the ceiling)

2) I have an exhaust for the tent, just not in place yet, I will mount it this weekend as you say and vent it out the top of the tent. I'll try to leave room for the carbon filter coming later.

3) I was afraid you might say that, I guess I just need a stronger fan if doing those other things doesn't help. Well after this weekend I'll know a little better because I'll get the ac vented properly and the external overhead exhaust in place. I'll report back the temp change and see if anyone else has any ideas... thanks Mr Ganja

 

[TheRuiner]

Ganja, your setup sounds good, I don't think I have the space for all that though in my garden, I would love to have a way to bring in fresh air to it, but I'm not sure how that would happen unless I punched a hole in the wall and really rigged something. I can do three exhaust systems though if I spread them out, one for the light, one for the AC and one for the tent itself. If I had a way to pull or push in fresh cool air from inside the house that would be amazing, but I don't know how, any idea's on that one RIU?

 

[desertrat]

i've cut two holes in my walls that i would rather not have had to do but it was the only solution for my grow room. an input hole goes to a room that's on central a/c and an outlet hole goes outside the house. when it comes time to move it'll probably cost me $100 to close and finish the holes, not that much considering how much i've invested in growing.

 

[itsnotfairitsnotlegal]

I hear ya, you can't make an omelet without cracking a few eggs right? I can vent 'out' by going up and into the attic but the coming in from the house part is all concrete walls except for one and that one has a small bathroom on the other side of it, I'm not sure what I could do there, maybe try to hook into the bathroom vent ducting and pull from there! I don't even know if any of this stuff is accessable though and holy hell the wife is gonna wonder what I'm doing... I guess I'll be doing some attic crawling this weekend too them....

 

[itsnotfairitsnotlegal]

Son of a bitch, i just blew my cover.... damn double accounts....

 

[desertrat]

Son of a bitch, i just blew my cover.... damn double accounts....

lol.. no double agents allow

 

[TheRuiner]

After giving this a lot of thought, I'm thinking that I might rework my ventilation system altogether and make it more like yours desert. I was thinking about putting my ducting and my carbon filter/fan on the wall just above my tent, but after hearing that yours is on the inside and your sucking air from your tent through your filter and then passing it over your light and then out the tent makes me wonder why i can't do the same thing. I was concerned about not getting enough air over my light and this will fix the problem if I put my inline fan on the other side of the loop that it's in now, (and suck air instead of blow it) I know this shortens the life of your fan but if it works I can live with spending another 25 bucks on another inline fan one day.
this way I'll have my 170 cfm growbright fan sucking air out of my tent and the little inline fan helping it along after it gets it into the light vent.
How long have you been using this setup, how well does it work for you? How many plants are you keeping in check smell wise with that system?

I also like this idea because it conseals the fan and the noise it creates (some of it anyway)
Now to just figure out how to get it mounted in there. How'd you manage that one?

 

[TheRuiner]

Ok, time for my education, what would you guys do with what I have here? I know I can setup a better exhaust system that this. I have a carbon filter on the way...

Also, here's the gang, no names yet cause we just aint that far along yet... so for now we'll go with two Thia Super Skunks and one PPP just dieing to stick his head out...

Please tell me the exact same way some of you would do this... thanks much...

 

[TheRuiner]

I've currently got a 170cfm blower a 250cfm inline fan, a 6 inch air king hanging in the tent and a 8000btu ac blowing around air. the ac is vented out the bottom and out the ceiling. The intake for the tent is passive now, and the exhaust from the light is just blowing into the room. I'm thinking of getting a Y connector and venting the light out with the ac. That is after the light on the inside is hooked to the blower pictured currently just sitting there. How would this work? I know I'd have to cut a bigger hole in the ceiling, it's only 4'' now. 6 at least...

Ideas sirs/mams?

 

[jrinlv]

Well I would lower the light and lower the fan , so the heat can collect at the top of the tent.
What are you running for A/C?

I would leave the hood venting like it is and just put the fan after the hood pulling air through it and out of the tent.

I have a DR120 and run A/C into the tent from a window unit, so it's a closed system. It will cool the hot air and return it to the tent, this way I use very little Co2 to rum my garden. Then all the Hot air from the A/C unit is blow out the window.

Is that fan really only 195 cfm? Let us know JR

 

[jrinlv]

Ok yeah run the A/C and hood out the attic, make sure that if the A/c is not running that the hot air is not coming back into the room...JR

 

[TheRuiner]

Well, here's a better idea of what I mean when I talk about the Y connector, If I just put one right here then I could vent out the AC and the light hood in one tube. But from what your telling me I need to take the large 170cfm blower that I have and put it on the other end of the light (the left side, opposite the 250cfm inline fan on the right side?) I thought it was always better to blow than suck hot air? Longer fan life?

 

[TheRuiner]

Well I would lower the light and lower the fan , so the heat can collect at the top of the tent.
What are you running for A/C?

I would leave the hood venting like it is and just put the fan after the hood pulling air through it and out of the tent.

I have a DR120 and run A/C into the tent from a window unit, so it's a closed system. It will cool the hot air and return it to the tent, this way I use very little Co2 to rum my garden. Then all the Hot air from the A/C unit is blow out the window.

Is that fan really only 195 cfm? Let us know JR

I'm running a 8000 btu one of these. This is what's venting out the bottom left vent on the tent. I want to have this meet the light exhaust and go out into the attic together (if that's the best way to do this?)

What do you mean you use very little co2 to run your garden? More co2 is better, up to about 1500ppm i thought? If I can't vent in fresh air then what are my choices to keep this running the right direction? Please someone say that I'll need to supplement my own co2. I'll get on craigs list right now....!!!

 

[desertrat]

i go away for one day and all the problems are solved. gotta try that in real life to see if it works. anyway, a couple of thoughts.

1. if your a/c is a single hose portable then you need to be aware that it is using inside air to cool its compressor and then sends that air out the exhaust - WITHOUT ever going through your carbon filter. hard to use that kind of ac without ona gel or jury-rigging a connection to its own carbon filter.

2.

I'm thinking of getting a Y connector and venting the light out with the ac. That is after the light on the inside is hooked to the blower pictured currently just sitting there. How would this work? I know I'd have to cut a bigger hole in the ceiling, it's only 4'' now. 6 at least...

this should work fine. when thinking about where to put a fan in the loop, i advise putting it right after the carbon filter to minimize any untreated air leaks getting into your ventilation. there are other reasons to place the fans in different places, but for me security is more important than going through a fan or two over the years.

3. in case he doesn't answer, jrinlv meant that you can add much less co2 over time to get a given concentration if you have a closed system that is not constantly venting co2 out.

 

[TheRuiner]

i go away for one day and all the problems are solved. gotta try that in real life to see if it works. anyway, a couple of thoughts.

1. if your a/c is a single hose portable then you need to be aware that it is using inside air to cool its compressor and then sends that air out the exhaust - WITHOUT ever going through your carbon filter. hard to use that kind of ac without ona gel or jury-rigging a connection to its own carbon filter.

2. this should work fine. when thinking about where to put a fan in the loop, i advise putting it right after the carbon filter to minimize any untreated air leaks getting into your ventilation. there are other reasons to place the fans in different places, but for me security is more important than going through a fan or two over the years.

3. in case he doesn't answer, jrinlv meant that you can add much less co2 over time to get a given concentration if you have a closed system that is not constantly venting co2 out.

Holly hell, I didn't even think of the fact that my AC will be exhausting doo doo air!! Good point! I guess I'm going to need another filter on the exiting end of the exhaust (in the ceiling),... could I just take the carbon filter up there instead of hooking it up to the blower inside the tent, (making it last in line instead of first?)

Wow, this AC pulling out stinky air has really got me wondering if I should rethink the entire cooling process, I want to leak co2 eventually and this current setup would be working against it if it were being leaked now.... If there was a easy way to make the cool air from the ac vent into the tent that would be nice, then it would free up a big foot print in the tent too, any more ideas fellas? I'm super excited and ready to get this figured out asap, Anyone know a good way to vent from an ac into a tent? Going from a long rectangular blower on the ac to a 6" round tube going into the tent won't be easy....

 

[desertrat]

could I just take the carbon filter up there instead of hooking it up to the blower inside the tent, (making it last in line instead of first?)

what you want to think about is that any air that doesn't make it to the filter is going to stink. if the filter is outside the tent at the end of the loop then any air that leaks from the ventilation will smell as will all of the air in the tent. that's a lot of places to worry about leaks. if you put the carbon filter inside the tent then you are greatly lessening the volume of smelly air in the tent, you can even have a closed circuit with just the carbon filter and a fan, with the exhaust staying in the tent if you have a separate exhaust loop.

If there was a easy way to make the cool air from the ac vent into the tent that would be nice, then it would free up a big foot print in the tent too, any more ideas fellas? I'm super excited and ready to get this figured out asap, Anyone know a good way to vent from an ac into a tent? Going from a long rectangular blower on the ac to a 6" round tube going into the tent won't be easy....

that's a pretty creative idea. i might have to give that a try myself. as for making it work, depends on how handy you are. you can get a sheet metal rectangular to circular adapter at home depot that is used to connect a heating register to the household hvac and then use copious amounts of duct tape to seal it.

 

[TheRuiner]

what you want to think about is that any air that doesn't make it to the filter is going to stink. if the filter is outside the tent at the end of the loop then any air that leaks from the ventilation will smell as will all of the air in the tent. that's a lot of places to worry about leaks. if you put the carbon filter inside the tent then you are greatly lessening the volume of smelly air in the tent, you can even have a closed circuit with just the carbon filter and a fan, with the exhaust staying in the tent if you have a separate exhaust loop.

I read ya loud and clear now on your carbon filter placement, makes sense too. I'll consider this fact during all future grow rooms. thx

that's a pretty creative idea. i might have to give that a try myself. as for making it work, depends on how handy you are. you can get a sheet metal rectangular to circular adapter at home depot that is used to connect a heating register to the household hvac and then use copious amounts of duct tape to seal it.

I would really love to try this but I'm not sure if space will permit, not right this second anyway, I have about 2 grand invested in my tent, equipment, and ect... it's been a work in progress thus far and shall continue to be... the sophistication of my setup grows right along with my plants... once I'm able to free up a little more space just outside my tent I will be giving this a try, this along with a aeroponics build!

In other news, the PPP was still not out so i decided to intervene with nature and poke him with a toothpick, turns out he was out of the dirt completely and the tip of his tap root was turning brown, i redirected him and gave him a good spraying for now, let hope she finally takes root and get to business!

 

[desertrat]

stay tuned in the next week, i'm in the middle of the end of the beginning of the end (i do make good stuff ) of finishing my old veg/new flower room that i'm trying to make work in plus 100 f ambient summer temps. past summers i've just closed it down but i was determined to make full use of space.

anyway, i'm going to do a tutorial on all the dumb mistakes to avoid with vivid personal examples.