Grow Tent in Garage in southern state?

TheJoJo said:

Hey guys hope all is well. My questions are regarding heat issues Im going to be trying to use a grow tent in my garage but living in Texas has me concerned about heat being an issue. Now I am using LED lighting to help with the cause do you guys think that intake and exhaust will be enough with some fans moving air around inside or will I need to use my portable AC unit you think and if I do use the AC unit should I just cool the entire garage with it or pump the AC directly into the tent? Sorry silly questions I know just seeing if anyone has any experience with these isssues before. Well thanks to all.

Click to expand...

eddy600 said:

a garage would be my last choice,usually they are not insulated as well as a living space. the amount of heat that you would have to move would be much greater than a spare bedroom and a retrofit of drywall and insulation is costly for a single tent.

Click to expand...

Quasar Jones said:

I'm a mechanical engineer... work on rockets, but from my HVAC class, I'd recommend ac for whole garage.

you must understand that ac units 'create' more heat than cool, so the heat side of the unit must be thermally isolated( with insulation) from cool, or the heat will leach back in, and actually raise temp.
If you build a rigid chamber with 2x4 and wood or shower board($13 for 8'x4', water resistant, thin) you can apply insulation to walls of that, and just ac that box.

Click to expand...

reddan1981 said:

So then brother, do you have an inclination on how AC works onboard the International Space Station?

Click to expand...

supchaka said:

Estimating a build cost and the actual ending are sometimes quite different. I built a room in the garage 7x7 utilizing 2 existing walls in the corner. So 2 walls, electrical, outlets, switches, insulation, wood, drywall, screws, paint, mud, tape, molding, door, locking knob, all that shit starts to add up. My AC unit was a 10k that ran about $350 and I spent about another 650 on the construction. So 1k total, which doesn't include any lights or other growing equipment. I spent $100 just on the wire to run 2 circuits from the breaker. In the end though, its the only way to go. Take whatever you ballpark its gonna cost and double it Unless you're really awesome with estimating stuff.

Click to expand...

Quasar Jones said:

I literally just did this, so the estimation is from recent experience, but I ballparked it due to his size being different, perhaps.

You do not need drywall. That simplifies it immensely. I live in Colorado(it gets 100F in the summer) so I didn't worry about stealth.

Yes, your garage is going to heat up, see my first post. That's why a $50 6 inch exhaust fan from your garage to atmosphere, don't forget an inlet, will be a good addition to remove that heat.

I only have 460W of light. You need about 5000btu/hr for every 500W of equipment in the box, but shit just buy 3 of the cheapest window ACs.


I wouldn't continuously draw 78 degree air from your house unless that is your target temp. Maybe a CO2 sensor that flips on a fan, or a timer.

Yes, I've been inside an International Space Station module during construction on the ground. Environmental control in space might be the most difficult engineering problem. There's no atmosphere to dump the heat to. But this is not space, and we are not trying to pull sweat out of the air to convert back to drinking water.

Click to expand...

justugh said:

portable AC are crap
if u look at the energy use vs the cooling area.....they are sheer crap and should not be sold to ppl as it is a huge rip off

a window shaker AC or a mini split
window shaker u get to take with u or move it to other parts
mini split in your garage u have increased the value of the house 10/20 k AC garage on a whole other system then the main house .......in texas that is huge thing (old ppl and the very young)

but odds are for the size of the area u are talking 2 ton at least so that is going to require it own breaker (check your panel to make sure u got room)
but u can hire someone to run and install the power line for that and install the mini split before u even set up the tent ....so u are golden

yes it is a investment but it will pay off by the 2nd grow (first grow is learning curve 2nd is always better) .....this is my a tempt to save u troubles down the line

this will allow u to set up a fan and carbon filter in the tent to extract the hot used stinky air ......suck in the cool A/Ced air .. u will maintain negative pressure as long as door shut so stink/smell is controlled no one will know

Click to expand...

supchaka said:

Estimating a build cost and the actual ending are sometimes quite different. I built a room in the garage 7x7 utilizing 2 existing walls in the corner. So 2 walls, electrical, outlets, switches, insulation, wood, drywall, screws, paint, mud, tape, molding, door, locking knob, all that shit starts to add up. My AC unit was a 10k that ran about $350 and I spent about another 650 on the construction. So 1k total, which doesn't include any lights or other growing equipment. I spent $100 just on the wire to run 2 circuits from the breaker. In the end though, its the only way to go. Take whatever you ballpark its gonna cost and double it Unless you're really awesome with estimating stuff.

Click to expand...

Benihana99 said:

Yep. A year ago almost to the day I finished setting up a 4×6 tent ( for mommy's and clones) which feeds 2 gorilla 5 by 5's (for flower) but cuz I suck I didn't have enough power to do all that so I took out a gorilla tent and anyways I spent over 5k. Thought it was going to be less by maybe 2k. I decided to buy equipment that is made in America though and that's why I paid so much.

Click to expand...