Grow Room Rearrangement

Hello guys!

Summer is around the corner and I can no longer make a portable ac unit work. That MF is first of all too loud to listen to all day everyday if it has to be in the same room in an apartment and my windows aren't at all made for any easy solutions to this problem. The only thing that would actually work would be installing a wooden frame around the window to cover it and make holes for exhaust but before I do that I want to see if there's a better and ultimately more fost effective solution in the long run, namely installing an ac unit in the apartment.

To give you some info it's a 1 bedroom apartment and currently I have 1 4x8 tent with 2 600W LEDs in one room and 1 660W LED and a 400W HPS in two separate 4x4 tents in the room right next to it. The pair are running at night and the HPS one is fine temp wise (this one will only be running for two rounds, then it's back to 3) . The 660W is currently killing me because I cannot dim it down, but will soon have that ability. The other two lights are running during the day and the temps are getting fucking awful, even when I have them dimmed down to 50%, it has never been so bad this early in the year.

Now I have several options. The room that is running during the day is big enough for a 9x5 tent where I could then place all leds in one tent and just have one space or I could continue as I am. Either way I would like to know what are your experiences, will an ac unit cool down the place enough for optimal ambient temperature inside the tent ?

Gorilla599 said:

Either way I would like to know what are your experiences, will an ac unit cool down the place enough for optimal ambient temperature inside the tent ?

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Depends on the size of the AC unit lol.

Remember that the LED tent doesn't need to be as cool as the HID tent.

By size you mean actual size or max power? It draws up to 3.6 kW for cooling. What data can I provide for you to tell me if it's big enough (that sounded so wrong when I wrote it)

Also the whole apartement is about 485 sq ft.

Renfro said:

Depends on the size of the AC unit lol.

Remember that the LED tent doesn't need to be as cool as the HID tent.

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Yes, I've seen you and some others mention that the temps can go higher with led, what would be the highest acceptable temerature w/o added co2?

Gorilla599 said:

what would be the highest acceptable temerature w/o added co2?

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83-85F canopy is where I like to be under LED. I could probably get away with 86F. The lack of infrared spectrum means the leaf surface temperature needs a little boost under LED. Too cool and it slows growth.

Renfro said:

83-85F canopy is where I like to be under LED. I could probably get away with 86F. The lack of infrared spectrum means the leaf surface temperature needs a little boost under LED. Too cool and it slows growth.

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Well that's good news, but at less than full capacity they already reach 89 during the hottest part of the day. Do you think I am better off installing an ac and effectivelly cooling the whole apartment or installing a wooden frame around the window and keeping the portable (less effective and more expensive monthly) ac?

Man I personally would cool the whole apartment but I am not worried about paying the electric bill (mine generally runs over 2k a month lol). I don't like to be hot either lol. But it's all up to you. If you can get the apartment cool enough for the HID tent it's gonna take some real BTU. I assume the tents have enough CFM and the apartment then functions as the lung room. You could exhaust the heat from at least the HID tent outside and put in a nice big AC unit then things probably get really easy for you.

That's exactly what I wanted to hear, lung room. I can indeed vent out the hot air from the tents. While ventilation is not yet at the stage I would want it to be it is next on the list and hopefully this last/current grow won't turn out to be as bad as I think it will. If 75% of things work out I'll probably have a near perfect environment in a couple months, if not, then I'll probably give up on this place and find a house asap.

To tell you the truth though, I am pretty sure cooling the whole apartment will cost me less than the portable unit.

Gorilla599 said:

To tell you the truth though, I am pretty sure cooling the whole apartment will cost me less than the portable unit.

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Those portables have to run hard to cool anything more than a closet. A fat window shaker would really blow it away for sure. Check the power you have available for the window unit, once you get past 14,000 BTU/hr they generally go to 240 volt. I have a 1.5 ton window shaker that took a 15 amp 240 volt feed and I think thats where the 240v starts.

Renfro said:

Those portables have to run hard to cool anything more than a closet. A fat window shaker would really blow it away for sure. Check the power you have available for the window unit, once you get past 14,000 BTU/hr they generally go to 240 volt. I have a 1.5 ton window shaker that took a 15 amp 240 volt feed and I think thats where the 240v starts.

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It says it can draw up to 4.05 kW of power. I suppose the 0.6 - 3.6 kW means optimal range though. Anyhow, I think this will work. Even at 3.6kW it still comes out to almost 12,000 BTU/hr which should be plenty considering the building was just isolated even more and the biggest problem are only like 4-6 hours of the day.

Thank you for your help.