If you are going to make a cooltube out of a pyrex bread baking tube, be advised. --- The bread tubes are only 3.5 inside dia. ,that means you need a t15 size bulb. I think that for hps bulbs that is not much of a deal, but for my 250 m/h , Im having a hard time finding a t15 bulb with 5k color. They exist but cost about 120 bucks. For that price I can get a real 6" cooltube and then use any bulb I want. Just thought Id tell you about my experience.
DIY Cooltube
- Thread starter Fman
- Start date
BigBudBalls
Well-Known Member
Yup. Have 2 of the bake-arounds here. Seemed too tight.
Bought a real air cooled hood. I might actually get around to using it too
{Kottonmouth.King}
Well-Known Member
I've heard 10%.
BigBudBalls
Well-Known Member
Closer to 5% and an AR coating and can gain maybe another 2%
I dont know how much light you lose. I think the pyrex bread tubes are the same type of glass as a real cool tube (borasilica). BUT the amount of cooling I got from mine is worth any small loss of light. The bread tubes can be found on ebay for around 15 bucks. Thats a 250watt mh Im holding But remember if you use a bread tube you MUST use a t15 or t18 shape bulb.
sleeper05
Well-Known Member
Here is what I did and it actually has helped drop temp by a good 5 - 10 d. Celcius. There is a noticeable difference when putting my hands on each the intake and the exhaust. I don't know the exact difference but warm on one hand and cool to the touch with the other seems like it's working. My intake is pulled from a shoe storage near one of the doors in the house and both fans run 24/7. I drilled holes in the shade instead of cutting one big hole and then attached a 4" tap in collar to the outside. Everything is sealed with some foil tape and away she blows!
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scruffmcgruff
Well-Known Member
I read about a fella on another forum that bought two of these glass tubes (which are 10" long by 5" inside diameter) and used them successfully as cool tubes
Glass Cylinder Candle Shades 10 IN. tall $5.99 ea.
Glass Cylinder Candle Shades 10 IN. tall $5.99 ea.
Al B. Fuct
once had a dog named
I bought a couple of Bake-A-Rounds off Ebay, planning to use them with 1000W HPS lamps. 1000s have a bulge in the middle of the envelope, so there's only about 10mm clearance between the envelope & the tube. No worries with 400 or 600 HPS, tho.
I did opt for commercially made 150mm x 500mm cooltubes in the end.
I did opt for commercially made 150mm x 500mm cooltubes in the end.
Al B. Fuct
once had a dog named
They're not home made.
I see now, sorry