Few ideas to get around the heating issue with LED lights.
- Thread starter The Bodgeineers
- Start date
meangreengrowinmachine
Well-Known Member
Yeah I would think that there would not be much heat generated by this really at all.
meangreengrowinmachine
Well-Known Member
I am thinking about just getting a 600 watt lumatek or nice gavita or something and in a 10 x 10 space I would have 3 beds with leds over each and then in the last corner have the bare 600 watt and angle it towards the beds and have a fan behind it blowing the warm air over the rest of the canopy. then you get the heat and the light and you are not wasting wattage powering JUST a heater.
I doubt it will have much effect on air temp, but fans can reduce light temp.
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
It certainly wouldn't hurt the lifespan of the LED components..
meangreengrowinmachine
Well-Known Member
yeah that was also part of the idea
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
Would you be ventilating the room, or would it be sealed off?
meangreengrowinmachine
Well-Known Member
sealed.. ish I guess? lol not 100% sealed but yeah sealed with C02 added at least during cold months
coreywebster
Well-Known Member
They say you can't defy physics, those people just haven't met Moflow..
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
If you put the plants into tent (as most LED growers do), and rigged up heat recovery ventilator (the most efficient air 2 air heat exchanger type of system) unit to both the exhaust output and the main intake.. basically creating an active ventilation loop, you could theoretically keep just the inside of the tent space warmer, without losing most of the heat to the rest of the room. Good units with newer counter cross flow designed cores can capture upwards of 90% of the heat, while also ventilating the space with new incoming fresh filtered air at the same time. It would probably work too good and actually overheat (unless your pulling colder outside air in, or depending on the season), and so you would want to hook up an extra motorized damper that is temp controlled to allow some regular non recycled ambient air to mix into the incoming stream, and allow you to dial the temps perfectly. Using only the LED as the only heat source.
The problem, is that decent HRV units would cost as much as the entire tent\grow setup. However, it would barely take much extra power to run.
If only they made more budget friendly mini versions of the recovery units just for passive LED tent growers...
The problem, is that decent HRV units would cost as much as the entire tent\grow setup. However, it would barely take much extra power to run.
If only they made more budget friendly mini versions of the recovery units just for passive LED tent growers...
meangreengrowinmachine
Well-Known Member
huh I have had similar ideas as far as using temp controlled motorized baffles but this HRV unit is something I have never heard of.. but sounds like that is a good thing since it is so costly lol. interesting idea though I will have to look into them.
meangreengrowinmachine
Well-Known Member
aaaah so it uses the furnace EXHAUST... if you heat with propane couldn't you theoretically use something like this to syphon off the CO2 that it off gases also?
Moflow
Well-Known Member
Was I summoned? Lol
The 4ft x 4ft tent
1 x 3" 12v pc fan extraction
1 x HLG 550R ~ 300 watts
Heatmat on the floor.
Walls, floor, ceiling insulated.
Lights just on Temperature
By the looks of the plants they hate it!
I've been doing this method years.
Hope it goes well for you.
The 4ft x 4ft tent
1 x 3" 12v pc fan extraction
1 x HLG 550R ~ 300 watts
Heatmat on the floor.
Walls, floor, ceiling insulated.
Lights just on Temperature
By the looks of the plants they hate it!
I've been doing this method years.
Hope it goes well for you.
Attachments
No. Tent exhausts through heat exhanger and transfers heat to intake air passing through to the tent.
Well ive fitted the big thermal wheel heat recovery units on buildings ive never really seen small ones you proly will get em only worry id have is it make it more vulnerable to problems like mould as its a recirculating system but assuming everything's clean and in check it work well and not use much power to run as you said man assuming thats what your talking about of course
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
I was thinking something like this config, but the HRV unit would be tuned with an extra powerful exhaust fan so that it can overcome the carbon filter restriction. Maybe even put the carbon filter inside another box, and add a plenum with an inline fan pulling on the box from outside of it, instead of trying to push through it.
I think you could get away with a smaller sized unit & core for something like a 4x4 tent space, without needing as many cfms. To actually control the heat though, I was thinking of some kind of bypass using Y duct fittings and a couple motorized dampers with digital controller ,so that you could switch the flow from one source to another.. like from inside the same room as the tent, or from outside of the house as the main input air. Or mix different streams, or maybe even just bypass the entire core so it starts dumping the heat automatically as needed, to keep the environment dialed in.
BTW, ERV aka Energy recovery ventilators are designed a little bit differently than regular HRVs, in that they can mix the streams, and also recycle the humidity. They also can run a defrost cycle, so the core doesn't freeze up. They use a better counterflow style core too.
Normal HRV just extracts all the moisture without replacing it. I'm not exactly sure which type of unit would be the best overall pick, or if one type would be better for veg/flower, or possibly cause mold issues depending on how you set it up, or where you live...
You have a good imagination, find us a way to make cheap air to air heat exchanger!
Or repurpose something. I always liked the idea, time to give it some thought and have a look around.
The wheels are turning... thinking thin aluminum for max heat transfer.....
BEER CANS!
Time for some prototyping...
Step 1. Attach cans together to form tubes.
Step 2. Shit! More Band aids!
Step 3. Plan B.
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
Yeah for sure you can try to save a good size chunk of change, and build your own DIY E/HRV. Multiple different variations to pick from too.
I've seen guys use beer cans placed inside 3 inch sewer pipes to make simple heat recovery ex-changers just like you say. I'll find the links.. A long 6' pipe (or multiple of them) could easily fit right inside the tent along one corner in a vertical position, which also makes it even more efficient than being installed outside of the space. Also easy to drain any possible condensation at the bottom. That might be all you need for a grow tent, is something like that.
You can also stack your own cross flow cores out of cheaper plastic coroplast plates, although thinner aluminum would be way better if you can figure it out how to stamp the plates in a press or something.. Beers can cut into sheets that is
Getting more technical, you can rig up a cheap arduino system, and program it with various sensors to more precisely control the output on each one of the HRV unit's fans, so they each spin at the exact RPMS needed to get the most efficiency possible from the core, by limiting or restricting the flow. For pennies on the dollar, compared to what the commercial units cost for those kind of functions.
I've seen guys use beer cans placed inside 3 inch sewer pipes to make simple heat recovery ex-changers just like you say. I'll find the links.. A long 6' pipe (or multiple of them) could easily fit right inside the tent along one corner in a vertical position, which also makes it even more efficient than being installed outside of the space. Also easy to drain any possible condensation at the bottom. That might be all you need for a grow tent, is something like that.
You can also stack your own cross flow cores out of cheaper plastic coroplast plates, although thinner aluminum would be way better if you can figure it out how to stamp the plates in a press or something.. Beers can cut into sheets that is
Getting more technical, you can rig up a cheap arduino system, and program it with various sensors to more precisely control the output on each one of the HRV unit's fans, so they each spin at the exact RPMS needed to get the most efficiency possible from the core, by limiting or restricting the flow. For pennies on the dollar, compared to what the commercial units cost for those kind of functions.
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
