Hi everyone. I was wondering about what is your opinion on this topic. Is going air cooled means that my rh will go higher than with open reflector? I wanted to upgrade from 2x600w standard euro reflector to 2x1000w air cooled in a 5x10 space. Problem is its a basement with over 75 rh. I will use dehumidifier but not sure how much that will help.I really appreciate your advice, thanks
Air cooling = mould problems?
- Thread starter Emiel
- Start date
drcannabis.io
Member
Yes the dehumidifier should help. But why do you think air cooled will increase the humidity?
JoeBlow5823
Well-Known Member
Lights do no generate humidity, plants do.
Something like this should take care of your humidity issues.
Something like this should take care of your humidity issues.
jondamon
Well-Known Member
I think he means about when you seal your lighting rig as in cool air feed from outside the grow through the lighting rig and out the grow room exhaust so no grow air passes through the lighting rig.
this can increase RH I know from experience. It can also have a negative effect as cold air can condense on your ducting by your lighting rig and the heat generated. Cold + hot = moisture.
to combat this you can either use the filter inside the grow room Connected to the lighting rig or have a better fan and filter combo on your exhaust.
but 75% ambient RH is meaning that every single amount of air you pull in is at 75% Rh already.
so dehumidifier is gonna be essential.
Either in the grow or in the ambient basement.
Renfro
Well-Known Member
Yeah thats gonna be a problem. No ventilation = hot plants. Ventilation = high humidity.
You will need to condition the room the tent is located it, so a big dehumidifier is likely the ticket. You will want to seal the basement up pretty good (unless it is dry outside, then vent the basement. What is the outside humidity?
drcannabis.io
Member
I see, that's interesting.
OP do you have a tent in your basement or what do you have?
I do. My basement is non-heated, other than a woodstove that I only use during extended power outages in the winter. It's year-round 52F. In the winter, humidity is 55-60% and in the spring, due to me living at the bottom of a mountain range on the edge of a lake, it goes up to 75-80%.
I have four tents down there. I use a large dehumidifier for the whole basement to keep my humidity at 47-50%.
Renfro
Well-Known Member
Some things to consider.
RH% rises dramatically when the air is cooled provided the absolute humidity remains unchanged. This chart will show you what I mean.
Air that is at 80.6 degrees at 50% RH (relative humidity) or 11.34 grams of H2O per KG of air
That same air cools to 69.8 degrees and now it's almost 75% RH.
Also, when ducting cool air through a warmer, humid area you will get condensation on the exposed cool surfaces of the ventilation system that you won't want dripping on plants or lights.
If the air outside can't help with cooling and has high absolute humidity then we can't really use it to vent our grow. In this case we must condition a "lung room" that the grow area can draw cooled / dehumidified air from. This air could be vented back into the lung room and recirculated, provided the air conditioning and or dehumidification can keep up. The air could also be vented outside. If you run a really sealed up, recirculating system then you need to make sure there is a supply of CO2. Either an occasional exchange of fresh air into the lung room or supplemental CO2 in either tank form or a CO2 generator running on natural gas or propane.
I hope all that helps you in your journey.
RH% rises dramatically when the air is cooled provided the absolute humidity remains unchanged. This chart will show you what I mean.
Air that is at 80.6 degrees at 50% RH (relative humidity) or 11.34 grams of H2O per KG of air
That same air cools to 69.8 degrees and now it's almost 75% RH.
Also, when ducting cool air through a warmer, humid area you will get condensation on the exposed cool surfaces of the ventilation system that you won't want dripping on plants or lights.
If the air outside can't help with cooling and has high absolute humidity then we can't really use it to vent our grow. In this case we must condition a "lung room" that the grow area can draw cooled / dehumidified air from. This air could be vented back into the lung room and recirculated, provided the air conditioning and or dehumidification can keep up. The air could also be vented outside. If you run a really sealed up, recirculating system then you need to make sure there is a supply of CO2. Either an occasional exchange of fresh air into the lung room or supplemental CO2 in either tank form or a CO2 generator running on natural gas or propane.
I hope all that helps you in your journey.
Thanks for reply everyone. Yes i have a tent in the basement. What i mean is that i read somewhere that if your humidity is already high and you will change your lights to air cooled the air no longer gets dryer due to heat from open bulb and humidity gets higher.Is it just some old wife's tale?thanks
I get what you mean , thanks
What would you suggest?thanks
I will get all the details together and will definitely check threads.
Shame i am at work now, damn night shift :/
I doubt your gonna spring the money for a commercial dehuey for a couple lights so my advice is to go buy a 70 pint and see if that's enough it's the largest ones I see regularly stocked at stores. It should prob be enough if not buy a second one. Buying 2 of the 70 pint is still way cheaper than a commercial unit but for 2 lights I'd say a 70 pint would have no problems unless your basement is just super wet.
Thanks.You are right, comercial are way too expensive. Basement normal humidity is about 75% .Still puting my orders for new equipment and serch for dehumidifier is on.I think dessicant will be better since its quite cold in there most of the time.