portable air conditioner

vein5

Active Member
Well i decided to invest in a air conditioner and i am worried about smell. If the hot air is blown into the attic and the conditioner is in the room will smell be a issue? I was thinking of hooking the hot air hose to my 6 inch blower that flows through my cool tubes and out my carbon filter into the attic but i dont know if blowing hot air through my already hot 600 watt tubes is a good idea. Any input?
 

superstoner1

Well-Known Member
the ac will put out more heat than yourlights and will suck all enviroment, including odor, from the room. portables are terribly inefficient. i spent hours taking a dual hose ac apart to seal it, what a waste. if that is your only option try water cooling. it doesnt matter if single or dual hose, just not worth the money.
 

dbkick

Well-Known Member
mini split is the only way to go. water cooling, I dunno, I just gave it a whirl and wasn't impressed, I have a 8 inch ice box just sitting around now.
 

vein5

Active Member
Oh wow so dont get an air conditoner? How do most cool their rooms? Funny my clost has a central ac floor vent. I put a booster but it just is not enough. Maybe ill try building a box with a 6 inch inline fan to really boost flow. But it does not seem energy efficiant to run the central air for a small room
 

dbkick

Well-Known Member
add co2 and your temps can run up a bit. then a portable will suck co2 and odor out of the room, if you want to add ac to just that room a mini split system is what you want.
 

superstoner1

Well-Known Member
i was just trying to save him some money. i love my minisplit, wouldnt have anything else, ever, but not everyone can install one themselves or has the $1200-1500 needed to purchase, wire, install and vacuum one out.

adding co2 to a room to combat heat is not the way to do it. co2 should be the last thing added to a room after all enviroment conditions are met and you know your strains.
 

ScoobyDoobyDoo

Well-Known Member
you can do it just fine with a portable a/c. couple things first off.

you shouldn't be pushing air through your carbon filter. the air will not be going over the prefilter first and will shorten the life of the carbon on your filter.

the problem with most portable a/c units is that they are single chamber which means that the air in the room and the air used to cool the unit are mixing. they sell high end units that are dual chamber but probably way more than you want to spend. in your case i would still get the portable ac but i would connect the exhaust hose to a inline carbon filter. don't suck air from the ac using a fan or anything...this will burn out the motor on the ac. just filter the air exhaust before sending it to the attic. a cheap way to do this would be to just build your own filter box for the attic and axhaust your ac into that. you can buy sheets of hepa and carbon filter at home depot.

water cooling is amazing but probably more than you want to spend. i use ice boxes, water cooled air handlers, big and small chillers and absolutely love them. i will never go back. they are 40-50% more efficient than ac's and allow you to cool more equipment specifically like co2 generators and reservoirs. the drawback is that it's probably double to triple the price of a standard ac setup to cool the same space. you make that money back quickly on your electricity bill but most people don't want to throw down that much money off the bat. the other thing is that water cooling is not really an option for anything less than 2,000w cause the chillers that you want are not the cheap ecoplus and active aqua ones. you need commercial hillers like chillking. this is where most people messup. they get a 1/2hp ecoplus chiller and the wrong soze reservoir and expect a single ice box to cool their light and their room. doesn't work like that.

anyway, i'm rambling...:lol: you'll be fine with the portable ac. just filter the exhaust somehow. for your lights...if you are pulling air from outside of the room then you don't need to filter the exhaust. if you are pulling air from inside of the room then switch the fan and filter. put the filter on the intake of your lights and pull air from the room, through the filter, through the lights, and exhaust it into the attic. if you get the ac then i you will need to make the air going through your lights a closed loop somehow.

edit: agree 100% with super. adding co2 is not the answer to high temp issues. it will only lead to more problems.
 

vein5

Active Member
Yeah i was going to add co2 but i decided not to bc that means more heat from the generator. I dont need to complicate things when i grow 5 plants for only myself lol. I really just enjoy growing. I also worry about co2 dropping into my living space from bathroom vents. I live in a 3 story townhome so the co2 will end up downstairs if there are leaks. 1500 for an air conditoner is not worth it to me. Already put 3000 into my room
 

dbkick

Well-Known Member
mini split systems can be h ad for just a little more than a dual hose portable if you don't have to buy a name brand, I guess I really don't take into consideration the cost since I work at a hvac shop and can get things for cost and install isn't a thing.
 

vein5

Active Member
As far as the filter i have a dust shroom on the fan that blows through the lights through the filter. Is that alright?
 

dbkick

Well-Known Member
some pictures and you'd get more response probably. so you're exhausting room air out the cool tubes? I'd think you'd want to isolate the light cooling from the room totally by pulling air from outside the room and exhausting outside.
 

ScoobyDoobyDoo

Well-Known Member
As far as the filter i have a dust shroom on the fan that blows through the lights through the filter. Is that alright?
you really don't want to push air through a carbon filter in that situation. you will shorten the life of your filter and create positive pressure in your hoods. the fan won't be able to push air through the filter fast enough and pressure will back up into your hoods.

you should switch locations of your filter and fan. pull air with the fan (fans are more efficient when they are setup to pull air) from the room, through the carbon filter, through the lights, through the fan, and into the attic.

those dust shrooms aren't meant for odor. only good to keep dust and stuff out of your hoods.
 

dbkick

Well-Known Member
you really don't want to push air through a carbon filter in that situation. you will shorten the life of your filter and create positive pressure in your hoods. the fan won't be able to push air through the filter fast enough and pressure will back up into your hoods.

you should switch locations of your filter and fan. pull air with the fan (fans are more efficient when they are setup to pull air) from the room, through the carbon filter, through the lights, through the fan, and into the attic.

tjose dust shrooms aren't meant for odor. only good to keep dust and stuff out of your hoods.
those dust shrooms, are they those 200 dollar plastic housings with the 20 dollar mickey mouse carbon filters in them?
 

ScoobyDoobyDoo

Well-Known Member
those dust shrooms, are they those 200 dollar plastic housings with the 20 dollar mickey mouse carbon filters in them?
pretty sure he's talking about these...

Capture.jpg

i used to use them before i switched to the hepa ones. they are good for keeping dust and stuff out of your lights. that's about it.
 

vein5

Active Member
Oh wow so ditch the dust shroom and reverse everything. Problem is my setup is on wheels, im doing it vertical so i need to spin it to get to each plant which means i would need to disconect the duct everytime i water. Gotta think about this one. It never ends ugh
 

ScoobyDoobyDoo

Well-Known Member
Thats the shroom since its a real pain to clean the glass since the tubes are connected
i'm not gonna pressure you into posting pics but one would help. i don't think it would be that hard to switch the placement of the fan and the carbon filter. you wouldn't need to move any ducting. i'm not sure you are getting exactly what i'm saying.
 

vein5

Active Member
I get what your saying just would be easier to blow through the lights since i have a wall of plants and a fence around everything. Ill do it though, i appreciate your help and advice. Guess ill deal with the cooling another day lol
 
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