Air Cooled hoods
- Thread starter trenton
- Start date
tokeythebear
Well-Known Member
get ducting and hook them all togeather or two togather and have a fan sucking at the end or blowing.
rimbaegeus
Active Member
It is more efficient to push cool air through your reflectors than to suck the hot air out. If your reflectors have glass lenses, get yourself some high quality duct tape and seal off the edges of the lens. Get yourself a real powerful fan (or even two if you want to take care of each dyad of lights separately). I like centrifugal fans or squirrel cage fans for this, as they're quiet and efficient.
Depending on your situation, you are either blowing air through your reflectors or sucking air through them. Sucking air through them is easier as it requires less ducting (make sure you get the right diameter ducting). Your set up will either be:
1. fan outside grow area connected by ducting to lights, fan pulling air
or
2. fan outside grow area connected by ducting to lights, with more ducting from lights going to the outside of the grow area, fan pushing air
The second scenario is superior because in the first scenario, when the air in the reflector is sucked into the fan, the movement of the air creates a vacuum, which draws in air outside the reflector (which is in the grow area). In the second scenario, air outside the grow area is drawn into the reflector. Ideally, it's as though the lamps don't exist in the grow area, but the light they produce does.
Make sure to take into account the ducting required to exhaust the fans. Spending money here and getting yourself a real monster of a fan will pay off loads in BUD. I keep my air cooled lamp 6 inches from my canopy.
Just don't forget to also exhaust the air from your grow room. You'll need a complex ventilation system with many modules to properly vent such a powerhouse grow area as you have.
You'll need:
1. Air cooling for your lights(You'll need to research how much power you'll need in a fan for so many high wattage lamps)
2. Exhaust for your grow area(Enough to evacuate your grow area once every three minutes, at LEAST)
3. Intake for your grow area(For such a large area, active is better than passive. Get a dedicated fan)
4. Circulation for your grow area(In the form of many oscillating fans. You'll probably need at least three)
Depending on your situation, you are either blowing air through your reflectors or sucking air through them. Sucking air through them is easier as it requires less ducting (make sure you get the right diameter ducting). Your set up will either be:
1. fan outside grow area connected by ducting to lights, fan pulling air
or
2. fan outside grow area connected by ducting to lights, with more ducting from lights going to the outside of the grow area, fan pushing air
The second scenario is superior because in the first scenario, when the air in the reflector is sucked into the fan, the movement of the air creates a vacuum, which draws in air outside the reflector (which is in the grow area). In the second scenario, air outside the grow area is drawn into the reflector. Ideally, it's as though the lamps don't exist in the grow area, but the light they produce does.
Make sure to take into account the ducting required to exhaust the fans. Spending money here and getting yourself a real monster of a fan will pay off loads in BUD. I keep my air cooled lamp 6 inches from my canopy.
Just don't forget to also exhaust the air from your grow room. You'll need a complex ventilation system with many modules to properly vent such a powerhouse grow area as you have.
You'll need:
1. Air cooling for your lights(You'll need to research how much power you'll need in a fan for so many high wattage lamps)
2. Exhaust for your grow area(Enough to evacuate your grow area once every three minutes, at LEAST)
3. Intake for your grow area(For such a large area, active is better than passive. Get a dedicated fan)
4. Circulation for your grow area(In the form of many oscillating fans. You'll probably need at least three)