Help! My Closet has No Attic Above It. How do I Exhaust?

C

caesar23

Active Member
Ok guys,

I need some help big time. I've got a 4x2x5 grow tent in my master bedroom closet. It basically takes up half the closet lengthwise only leaving an inch or two on each side for passive air intake. I do live in a condo that I own and only neighbor is below. There is no attic above me, just the roof, now the roof is maybe 2 feet above my closet ceiling. I have no access to that "attic" area. Right now im using around 250 actual watts of cfl's since its my first grow. In the next couple months I want to get an hps light. But I must get my heat/ ventilation issue solved first. Now my temps are getting up to 85. I have a 4 inch fan(200 cfm) and carbon filter that is blowing exhaust air back into closet an an oscilating fan blowing into the closet. Closet door open and id prefer to keep it closed. My idea is this....my closet is between my bathroom and bedroom. Can I vent my hot air into the bathroom with that door shut and pull air in from the bedroom that shares a wall with the closet? Ideally I want the closet door shut t decrease noise. I want my temps in the mid 70's. Another thing is im planning on upgrading my ducting to insulated ducting and to install a duct muffler. Would all this work and how? What else would I need to purchase? Any advice you guys can give is hugely appreciated. I can upload a picture in a couple hours when I get home. Thanks
 
M

mrmadcow

Well-Known Member
venting into the bathroom should work great.you would need an intake for the closet to get fresh air in.either a hole in the door covered by grating or you could shave an inch off the bottom of the door to get air flowing. a duct muffler and a carbon filter will cut into the CFMs the fan is moving so you might need to go w/ a bigger fan. good luck
 
dynamitejack

dynamitejack

Well-Known Member
Get a 6" cool tube and fan the 6" cut a hole in your ceiling and vent out. Use your 4" fan and filter to clean the air in the tent, don't exhaust this air keep it circulating in the tent. If you do this I promise it will keep the temperatures where you want them.
 
Buddy Ganga

Buddy Ganga

Active Member
Ok, let me get this straight.

You have space above your ceiling, but it's not attic space.
About 2 feet between your ceiling and roof..

That's more then you need.
Your roof should have "roof vents" which help to keep the roof area from building up heat.
Even if you don't have "roof vents" you will have "gable vents".

So juts cut out a hole and put your flex duct through it.
It will vent naturally with the rest of the air in that space.
We are talking about dry air, so there shouldn't be any concern about moisture build up.
 
C

caesar23

Active Member
@mrmadcow....I was planning on cutting a 4 inch hole in the closet wall that is on the bedroom side so I can pull in room temp air from my bedroom which is actually the coldest room of the house so its usually around 68. I would prefer the whole house be 68 but vaulted ceilings in the rest of the place and being on the top floor makes it damn near impossible for the rest of the house get to 68. So I'm thinking I would need another 4 inch fan to bring that cool air into the closet. You mentioned that I should upgrade my fan that I already have. Do i need more than 200 cfm with my tent size running a carbon filter and possibly a duct muffler. (I'm using everything except the muffler right now) I would imagine so when i upgrade to hps but for now just using cfls I'm thinking it should be fine. Right? I'm not even thinking about the hps in the short term, this is my first grow and I've read enough here to know that if I can't get my ventilation going good with a cfl grow then I'll have no hope with hps. What size would be good for the intake in my closet? And would I be able to just bring the cool air into my closet and have passive intake or should i actually duct it into the tent?
 
C

caesar23

Active Member
As long as those are venting the attics hot air out, which I guess they would have to be, then I'm good to go as far as venting my hot air into the attic. Does anybody see why I wouldnt be? I just want to make sure I get this right.
 
Buddy Ganga

Buddy Ganga

Active Member
I've been building custom homes for over 20 years and designing grow spaces for 5.

What you took pictures of are the sofit vents.. Air intake for the roof system.
The air must exhaust somewhere so you either have roof or gable vent for the heat exhaust.

 
Buddy Ganga

Buddy Ganga

Active Member
FH00NOV_ATTICV_01.JPG
You might have what we call ridge vent too, so either way you will have plenty of air flow to solve your problems.
 
C

caesar23

Active Member
Are these vents that I should be able to see from outside? Or is it just a given that there is a place for that hot air to go?
 
Buddy Ganga

Buddy Ganga

Active Member
3 different places to look.

1. Square box's usually found on the back side of the building. They will be about 3 feet from the top of the roof 6 to 8 feet apart.
roof_vents..jpg
2. Gable vents. They may look different but they do the same thing.
index.jpg
3. Ridge vent..
If you do not see any other vents then look at the ridge or tip top of your roof.
Ridge vent will look like the ridge is lifted up by an inch or two..
(ridge vent sis the most common now if you are in a newer building and is the most effective type of venting)

ridgeVents-shingle.jpg
 
Buddy Ganga

Buddy Ganga

Active Member
Nope, those exhausts "bathroom fan/cloths dryer/range hood".
And those are for your neighbors place downstairs.


You should have the same thing right above your window, unless they vented yours into the roof area. Which they most likely did since you are on the top floor.
 
M

mrmadcow

Well-Known Member
caesar23 said:
....... You mentioned that I should upgrade my fan that I already have. Do i need more than 200 cfm with my tent size running a carbon filter and possibly a duct muffler. (I'm using everything except the muffler right now) I would imagine so when i upgrade to hps but for now just using cfls I'm thinking it should be fine. ....
Click to expand...
looks like Buddy has covered the roof venting nicely so i will just address the fan size.
when you add the duct muffler and extra ducting to get up to the attic,you will be adding restrictions to the airflow so your fan won't be moving as much air.the 200 cfm rating on the fan means it moves 200 cfm with no restrictions.your carbon filter drops that down a few cfms.add a bend to the ducting and it will drop a few more,a muffler will drop it even more.add a HPS and you may need more CFMs to keep it cool.the only way to know will be to set it up & run a few days to see what happens.I was just warning you to be ready to upgrade the fan if needed when you add a HPS.
 
C

caesar23

Active Member
Buddy Ganga said:
Nope, those exhausts "bathroom fan/cloths dryer/range hood".
And those are for your neighbors place downstairs.


You should have the same thing right above your window, unless they vented yours into the roof area. Which they most likely did since you are on the top floor.
Click to expand...
I don't see anything like that above my window or along my roofline, so I guess mine is getting vented into the roof so if they can exhaust my roof area I don't see why I can't, right?
I do see a a gable vent too right above my patio but I don't see how that is attached to the inside anywhere.
t
 
C

caesar23

Active Member
mrmadcow said:
looks like Buddy has covered the roof venting nicely so i will just address the fan size.
when you add the duct muffler and extra ducting to get up to the attic,you will be adding restrictions to the airflow so your fan won't be moving as much air.the 200 cfm rating on the fan means it moves 200 cfm with no restrictions.your carbon filter drops that down a few cfms.add a bend to the ducting and it will drop a few more,a muffler will drop it even more.add a HPS and you may need more CFMs to keep it cool.the only way to know will be to set it up & run a few days to see what happens.I was just warning you to be ready to upgrade the fan if needed when you add a HPS.
Thanks for clearing that up. I'd be a little upset if the fan I just bought wasn't going to work for this grow. From my reading on here and grasscity it seems pretty likely that I'll need a 6 inch filter and fan when I switch over to the hps. I've got about 7 weeks of flowering on this grow and I'll probably do another one with just cfl's to see how much improvement there is with a "correct" setup. These plants have been moved a couple times and never to rooms with ideal conditions so I'm curious to see the improvements from this "ghetto, first grow" to my next grow all inside a tent w/proper ventilation. This is a great hobby, and like first newbies I jumped in and didn't realize what all was involved in it. At least I've got a carbon filter, that appears where must newbies don't understand its importance. This site has helped so much, thanks to everyone. Now I guess my question is this. Once I exhaust into my attic area, I know I'll need to setup an intake for the closet b/c I would prefer to keep the door shut. Right now w/o exhausting into the attic with the closet door open I'm getting about 60-65 decibels(according to an app on my phone) 80 if i put the phone right in front of the exhaust, and if I shut the door my decibels go down to about 40 decibels. Question is if I cut a 4 inch hole in the wall on the bedroom side and get a vent or whatever for the bedroom side to make it look like a normal ac vent, is that alone enough to give me good air circulation or will I need another inline fan bringing in the air? If I need a fan would it need to be ducted into the actual tent or just into the closet and then it would be able to go in by passive intake. Is a 4 inch good enough or would it need to be a 6 inch? I've heard of like booster fans or something like that, that are cheaper than inline fans, would those work? What is recommended? Thanks again for all the input guys.
Click to expand...
 
Buddy Ganga

Buddy Ganga

Active Member
inline2.jpgI'm gonna guess this is what you have... moves about 220 cfm's... Good for cooling a light or helping air flow..

But this is what you really need to work with a srcubber/filter...
It moves 440 cfm's and will have enough power to pull air through the filter/scrubber as well as cool any lights you may use..
infan.jpg

You start with the filter/scrubber connected to the fan with flex duct, then connect the fan to your light hood, and then your light hood to your exhaust point.


Here is one of my set ups. I have a filter/scrubber-----fan------hood---hood-----exhaust outside of the tent. ("----" notes flex ducting)

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top