hydroinovations water cooled c02 generator

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DIRTHAWKER

Well-Known Member
Are you using the hydrogen water cooled c02 generator?
If so.. how is it workin for ya? Thinkin about buyin one but i keep hearing negatives.
 
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DIRTHAWKER

Well-Known Member
Well, I bought and hooked up my generator. It works great and pumps out the co2. But my 5lb propane tank only lasted 3 day cycles!! WTF!

ANY HELP???
 
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DIRTHAWKER

Well-Known Member
A bottle... lol i go through a bottle every 5 days, thats why i switched to propane.
Propane is cheaper where im at,and less conspicious. I just thought maybe i had the setup wrong or something.

The room is 1500sqft with about 30 plants in all different stages. 3 1k hps, ac, dehumi, chhc1 controller etc... everything is perfect in there except the fact that it went through the propane so quickly.
 
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Dirty Harry

Well-Known Member
5lb propane tank? That is quite small. Can you get a bigger propane tank? BBQ grills use 20lb tanks and you can get up to 100lb construction site propane tanks. That large tank is a PITA to move around when its full though.
 
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DIRTHAWKER

Well-Known Member
Thanks Dirty...Actually it is the barbeque propane tank, and they do weigh like 25lbs, but they only hold 5lbs of propane. I may have to go with the 40lb tank.

Anyone have a similar setup ? and whats your propane consumption?
 
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Dirty Harry

Well-Known Member
I don't know jack about CO2 generators other than they use propane. I do now that gas heaters and furnaces can be converted to us propane or natural gas with a conversion kit. I am curious why a conversion kit to natural gas is not available for a CO2 generator. I would rather it be natural gas and I can hook it into the house gas line like any gas appliance. I would rather be using natural gas (city utility for my home) than have a tank of propane in my house.

Now, if you happen to live rural and your house and appliances are already propane (You have a big tank in your yard) there is no reason not to connect to the gas lines. Its the same stuff.
 
watercooled@

watercooled@

Active Member
1.) there are conversions to hook up to NG and dump the LP tanks

2.) Something is wrong. You are going through too much propane. What are you using to check the PPM in the room?

The watercooled room in my sig uses the hydrogen too. It turns on for about 20 seconds to bring the CO2 from 1400 to 1600 PPM using a sensor from Agrotek and confirmed with a secondary sensor the first few days to verify calibration.

It seems to use VERY LITTLE propane at this point.
 
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DIRTHAWKER

Well-Known Member
I have it hooked to a sentinel chhc-1 controller. Its set to 1500 right now and it takes about 45 sec-1.5 min to bring the level back up to 1700. But it always creeps up to around 1800+ even after it shuts off. thats ok though.

My room is 1500sq ft, its mostly sealed except a passive vent inside the bathroom. I keep the bathroom door shut and i figured enough air would pass through beneath the door to keep a negative pressure for when the exhaust vent kicks on.

Do you think co2 is escaping under the bathroom door and out the vent?

I didnt calibrate the controller, it said its calibrated at the factory. I will calibrate it ASAP!

Another thing is air circulation,, i have fans and a carbon filter and fan blowin up a gale in there, could this somehow effect the co2 sensor?

thanks for the help.
 
MacGuyver4.2.0

MacGuyver4.2.0

Well-Known Member
This setup looks like it's in a 'laundry room'? (based on your pictures in your grow joural) If you are using CO2 the room HAS to be sealed for it to work correctly. CO2 is also heavier than normal atmospheric air and will sink or fall to floor level. IF you have a gap, crack or other way out it will find it. Usually with CO2 you have a sealed room, you build up to your 1500ppm and then hold this level for at least an hour or two. Purge the room to release any built up heat (if any) and then rebuild the CO2 level again. If you have a clothes dryer in the room, it has an exhaust on it that vents to the outside (even if it's not on) Also door cracks or gaps, windows are all suspect here. That's probably why the fuel ran out so quickly. The gen unit was fighting to keep the level at 1500 or so. Just my .0002 cents...
 
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DIRTHAWKER

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the help Mac. Actually that journal is old. Heres a pic of the new room. the pic was taken a while ago,
Like i was saying, its mostly sealed with the exception of a passive intake.

But yea you guys are right something is a miss.
 
watercooled@

watercooled@

Active Member
No, I don't think your passive exhaust would be enough to make that much of a difference. I would consider using a smoke bomb to try and "see" the airflow. You may find a large escape somewhere, that would be weird.

I don't know about calibrating the sensor, I just verify it. I always use two PH readers even if I've just calibrate them. If they both don't read the same I check everything.

P.S. Room looks good!
 
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DIRTHAWKER

Well-Known Member
Smoke bomb? thats sounds interesting, what exactly is that and where could i get it?

Another thing i forgot to mention is, i have a 13000btu single exhaust hose portable AC unit in the room too. The exhaust hose is ducted to a wall and out the room. It was given to me from a friend. I did some research about the single hose units and although you do exhaust some of the air inside the room, they said it was very minimal and it shouldnt effect the co2 levels that much....apparently i may be wrong?

Some tests are in order.

Thanks watercooled... are you affiliated with watercooledgardens.com?
 
PurfectStorm

PurfectStorm

Well-Known Member
DIRTHAWKER said:
Smoke bomb? thats sounds interesting, what exactly is that and where could i get it?

Another thing i forgot to mention is, i have a 13000btu single exhaust hose portable AC unit in the room too. The exhaust hose is ducted to a wall and out the room. It was given to me from a friend. I did some research about the single hose units and although you do exhaust some of the air inside the room, they said it was very minimal and it shouldnt effect the co2 levels that much....apparently i may be wrong?

Some tests are in order.

Thanks watercooled... are you affiliated with watercooledgardens.com?
Click to expand...
I believe switching to a dual hose setup is in order. I found myself in the same predicament for my cab grow, i was going through 5lb of co2 over night, because my 8000btu p.a.c. was exhausting it straight outside.
 
watercooled@

watercooled@

Active Member
DIRTHAWKER said:
Smoke bomb? thats sounds interesting, what exactly is that and where could i get it?

Some tests are in order.

Thanks watercooled... are you affiliated with watercooledgardens.com?
Click to expand...
I used a "firecracker" smoke bomb once. oddly enough found that I needed to move one of my fans to cover a spot in the room the smoke would just sit in.

I assume if you are exchanging the air in the room, you'll *see* which way the smoke goes.

I am not affiliated with watercooledgardens.com although I recommend you give them a call if you want to purchase equipment. :-)

Let us know how it goes. I look forward to an update after you try a couple things.
 
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DIRTHAWKER

Well-Known Member
Well,, you guys were right. Perfectstorm you hit the nail on the head!

I turned off the AC unit and the co2 stablized. It actually hovered around 1500-1700 for like 30 minutes before it fired up again...so that takes care of that problem.

Now with the AC off the temps start to creep up pretty quickly.. like from 83 to 90 in about 28 minutes. My exhaust fan kicks on at 90 with a deadband of 10. so after the exhaust fan kicked on it took 40 minutes to bring the temps down to 80 again. 40 freakin minutes !!!!

It looks like i will definately need a dual hose AC unit.

any recomendations?
 
watercooled@

watercooled@

Active Member
DIRTHAWKER said:
any recomendations?
Click to expand...
http://www.coldflow-ac.com/

Did you expect anything different from me? :hump:

Don't know much about specialty A/C's. Good luck in finding a deal. They seem to be pricey!
If you have a pool, get the one in the link and plumb it into the pool pump. You'll have to get creative with some relays to ensure the pump runs when the A/C needs it.

If you don't have a pool, this is a great excuse to get one! :joint:
 
watercooled@

watercooled@

Active Member
^ GREAT ROOM!

Since I'm a cocky punk I want to point out two things you'll LOVE!!!

First, get this I GUARANTEE you'll LOVE it! Take your water inlet to the PROGEN and run it to this first. Take the out of this and pipe it to the in on the PROGEN. you will get ZERO heat. It's very cool!
Second, order one (or all) of these Test it! If you're reflector is warm or hot to the touch you'll love them. I ran one on an air cooled reflector with no air. It kept the heat in. Basically my view is that big reflector acts like a heater. The metal is hot and radiates heat into the room. These covers work well, they are cheap and I'm jealous I didn't think of doing it before these guys did. I have no affiliation with them so buy wherever you want...

And let me know how you like 'em
 
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DIRTHAWKER

Well-Known Member
Yea man i want those too!! im gonna get all this stuff eventually.

Hey, ya know how i was saying in that post about how it takes like 40 minutes to cool my room when the exhaust turns on. What if i put a power damper/ vent booster to power up at the same time my exhaust turns on bringing is fresh cooler air?
 
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