New Grow Room

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StreetRacer

Member
Ok so I have been reading this forum for a while now but just decided to join today....

I am setting up a new grow room and would like your feed back/help/advice on it. I will post my plans and any questions I have below, please respond with any advice feed back or just something I am forgetting because this is the best time to figure it all out (before it is rocked) and I plan on starting construction as soon as I am sure everything is covered.

I have a 750 sf building on my property with 8' high walls, that equals 6,000 cubic feet of air space. It is a "naked" building (no sheetrock or insulation) I am running a 200 amp sub panel to it, a line from my 500 gallon propane tank to feed the co2 generator without ever having to fill a bbq tank again and it already has water piped in directly from my well (cold water due to it being a pretty deep well) I also have a 3.5 ton Goodman ac that I just purchased.

1. Clean and bleach every spot in my shop.
(Q) Is there something better then bleach to accomplish this (I hate working with bleach)

2. Calk everything, NO AIR SEEPAGE AT ALL, I will also be using expandable foam where needed.

3. Run Ducting from my 3.5 ton Goodman ac throughout the shop to evenly spread the air.

4. Frame up a wall to divide the veg from the flower rooms (using metal studs). I was thinking a 30veg/70flower split would be a good split..... I will also be installing a small entry way off the main door so I can seal their room air tight also wont have to worry about anyone ever being able to see in...
(Q) Any ideas if the 30/70 split is good or should I go 35/65 40/60?

5. Install door between veg and flower rooms.

6. Run Electrical from 200 amp sub panel throughout the room, I am trying to minimize the amount of extension cords that will be every where....
(Q) What is a good electrical plan so I can minimize my extension cords hanging everywhere? I have seen where people mount their ballasts right to the ceiling near their lights, what do you think pros and cons of that are??? Also a good way to control as much as 20 1000W lights with one panel...

7. Run wood braces on rafters where I plan on hanging my co2 generator and lights from.

8. Insulate walls with R19 and rafters with R38, My walls are built out of 2x4's so I don’t think I could get anything any thicker in there without having to compact it thus loosing my "R" value...

9. Run a thermal barrier over the insulation.
(Q) Any advise on a specific thermal barrier? I was thinking on either going with backed foam or just a Mylar roll out heat barrier... Mylar would be cheaper....

10. Drywall the entire place with 5/8's sheetrock, tape and float the walls smooth.


11. Install two 24" fans in the wall that separates the veg room from the flower room. One moving air from the Veg room to the flower room and one moving air from the flower room to the veg room.
(Q) I know co2 weighs more then oxygen so should I mount the fans at the bottom of the wall so that they exchange the co2 more efficiently? I can run a 24" duct on both exhaust sides that brings the air back up high??? Give me your feed back on this one....

12. Paint the walls, ceiling and doors with a high reflective white paint.
(Q) Any advice on what paint is best for this application in this kind of an environment????

13. Epoxy the floor with a reflective white epoxy garage type of sealer for its reflective qualities and ease of clean up....

14. install all electrical plugs and plates. (I'm putting all outdoor plugs because I got them on sell and they will add to the air tight environment I am trying to accomplish.

15. Install oscillating wall mounted fans where needed. (I will already have plugs ran)

16. Install 15x15 vents over air ducts to direct cold air away from plants.

17. Hang co2 generator..... This one is a bit of a head scratcher; I am trying to decide what would work best. Either mounting it from the ceiling 18" away from the wall that separates the veg from the flower room (on the flower side) directly above the fans that will be mounted in the wall or would it be better to mount it directly above my plants in the center of the flower room????
(Q) what are your thoughts on this???

18. Run my water thru a reverse osmosis system and in to a heated storage tank that I can pre mix all my nutes in and balance out my ph levels then pipe it to my plants as needed.

19. Install my lighting, still thinking if it is better to mount my ballasts near the lights or in one general area then run light cords from there... Also install two 12" vortex fans for venting the lights in to the attic space!!!

20, Decide how I am going to grow this time..... At the moment I have a aeroflo2 60x2 set up but want to go bigger, I have had much luck with homemade dwc/bubbleponic systems but have also had much success with a solid soil mixture.... I am a pretty experienced grower and can get large yields from my plants (avg 4oz and have done better here and there but have also done way worse on occasion) I recently saw a video on YouTube where a a guy was growing out of garbage cans and had a huge yield, way more then I have ever gotten from an indoor grow but he was also using way more s/f per plant then I do. (look up the video on YouTube, search "urban grower ph perfect") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMKhnMc4wmQ
(Q) If you know anything about this system please share it...


21. Bleach and clean everything again.


22. Calk all spaces, like the bottom of sheetrock, door trim and light sockets....

Also any other advice you could share would be greatly appreciated.....

Thanks StreetRacer:hump:
 
NLXSK1

NLXSK1

Well-Known Member
1. you plan on encapsulating every surface in the shop. It is likely that cleaning with bleach initially is pointless.

4. Dont know, you might want to make a temporary wall first.

6. There are special panels that are manufactured to run this many lights. I would HIGHLY recommend that you purchase and use one of these rather than try to figure out how to rig something using more than 6 lights.

9. You are running AC internally. Installing a heat barrier will make the AC work harder.

11. Pull low from the flowering room, exhaust high into the veg room (you really dont need CO2 for the veg phase).

12. Flat white paint

17. Directly above the bloom table

You are going to have to make the barrier between veg & bloom light proof.

You can use hydrogen peroxide instead of bleach.

I am not sure your goodman AC is large enough to handle 20 1000W lights.
 
jrinlv

jrinlv

Well-Known Member
Could you link that video,...

It sounds like you got a good handle on what you need to do, when you going to start postin' pics?
 
S

StreetRacer

Member
Thanks for the advice, I was thinking the same thing with the wall fans..... I also have a split unit 2 ton that I will pre wire so that if I need it I can install it with ease.... But I am keeping my fingers crossed that the goodman will work.... I was going to install water cooled fans but I know a guy that is having a lot of issues with them.
 
NLXSK1

NLXSK1

Well-Known Member
Street Racer,

I would look into more articles about the BTU. I just grabbed this one off the internet and will quote part of it. My guess is that you can support about 10 1000W lights with a 3.5. This info seems to support that. I might be wrong about the figures but 20 lights would give off an enormous amount of heat.

I found this info from Cooper lighting years ago..

“..every watt of power used in a lighting system will introduce 3.414 BTU‘s (British Thermal Units) of heat that the HVAC system has deal with.”

I found some info in a Maximum Yield magazine article and their suggestion is a little higher, 4 BTU‘s per Watt.

In the MaximumYield article they only gave numbers for a 1000 watt ballast, here's the gist of it...
For Basements in the ground
4,000 BTU's per 1000 watt and minus 400 BTU's for each remote ballast.
Above the basement or earth line
8,000 BTU's max.

How accurate is this info? The article does not address many issues like heat from fan motors, climate zone, humidity, insulation in room walls etc...

so using the Maximum Yield articles info for basements and standard AC size ratings we get this chart that helps show what ballpark we're in when using 1000 watt lights.

12,000 BTU equals 1 Ton - 3 Lights and Ballasts
18,000 BTU equals 1.5 Ton - 4.5 Lights and Ballasts
24,000 BTU equals 2 Ton - 6 Lights and Ballasts
30,000 BTU equals 2.5 Ton - 6 Lights and Ballasts
36,000 BTU equals 3 Ton – 9 Lights and Ballasts
42,000 BTU equals 3.5 Ton – 10.5 and Ballasts
48,000 BTU equals 4 Ton – 12 Lights and Ballasts


There is 586 extra BTU's of cooling left between the two formulas (per 1000 Watt Light.) 4000 – 3414 = 586 BTU's. The Cooper lighting formula is for HVAC design for office space and the Maximum Yield formula is for Humid Grow Rooms with Magnetic Ballasts.

* Higher humidity levels retain more heat and will require more energy to cool and remove moisture.
Click to expand...
 
S

StreetRacer

Member
NLXSK1.... thanks for posting that, the only question I have is this considering lights that are not vented or lights that are vented?? There is a huge difference and if I need more ac then i'll go ahead and put my split unit or just jump on cl again..
 
NLXSK1

NLXSK1

Well-Known Member
StreetRacer said:
NLXSK1.... thanks for posting that, the only question I have is this considering lights that are not vented or lights that are vented?? There is a huge difference and if I need more ac then i'll go ahead and put my split unit or just jump on cl again..
Click to expand...

I am not sure, I am just recommending you do some research. It wouldnt help your financial situation to end up with 10 1000W lights you cannot use due to heat issues.
 
S

StreetRacer

Member
@jrinlv I will post pics of my progress and sort of how to if you guys would be interested in it, I was also thinking of making a video and creating a good howto type of video for YouTube or something....
 
REDI JEDI 420

REDI JEDI 420

Active Member
imagineif you buy the ventilated hoods almost same price and run your inline fans through the hoods you would save money and power on your ac having to run as much..aslo you can get the lights closer to the plants
 
OhioMediGrower

OhioMediGrower

Active Member
beautiful grow love the trash cans wonderful idea,

everything looks stellar but one idea that might save you some money on electricity, light movers

cut your light requirements in half

im subscribed!!!
 
S

StreetRacer

Member
REDI JEDI 420 said:
imagineif you buy the ventilated hoods almost same price and run your inline fans through the hoods you would save money and power on your ac having to run as much..aslo you can get the lights closer to the plants
Click to expand...
I'm am planing on running 8" vented hoods with 12" vortex fans. What I am trying to figure out is if a 1000w bulb with ballast puts out an average of 4,000 btu's of heat without being vented... How much of that heat escapes into your room if your hoods are sealed and vented? I emailed the light company that I am thinking of using but they don't know? I assume that the inline fans displace at least half the btu's if not more so my 3.5 ton should be perfect but I can't find any data to back that up......
 
M

Mcburner510

Active Member
I haven't grown yet, but here's something I've read about A/C while researching what I'll need when building my grow room. Maybe it'll help?

"Each 1,000-watt HPS light in a CO2-augmented room requires about 3,500 BTUs of cooling to maintain a target ideal growing temperature of 78?F (25?C). For every 1,000-watt light in a non-CO2 grow room, growers need about 2,800 BTUs of cooling capacity.

These formulas can be downsized by 10% if light ballasts and CO2 generators are located in a central room outside the grow room."
 
lowerarchy

lowerarchy

Active Member
StreetRacer said:
1. Clean and bleach every spot in my shop.
(Q) Is there something better then bleach to accomplish this (I hate working with bleach)
Click to expand...
As NLXSK1 said, h2o2 but you could also just bugbomb the fuck out of it once you've got it sealed.

StreetRacer said:
2. Calk everything, NO AIR SEEPAGE AT ALL, I will also be using expandable foam where needed.
Click to expand...
You might consider skipping drywall/insulating entirely and just using structural insulating panels, do both jobs at once, no need to worry about sealing a rickety old building once with caulk/foam and again with drywall.

StreetRacer said:
I have seen where people mount their ballasts right to the ceiling near their lights, what do you think pros and cons of that are???
Click to expand...
No advantage unless you have absolutely no space at all. In my humble opinion they're better off in the veg space because you can run that room hotter and it's nice to have access at ground level; no fucking around with 50lb bits of equipment on a ladder.


StreetRacer said:
13. Epoxy the floor with a reflective white epoxy garage type of sealer for its reflective qualities and ease of clean up....
Click to expand...
I'd suggest brown but I'm a traditionalist. Easier on the eyes anyways, supposed horticultural benefits aside.


StreetRacer said:
14. install all electrical plugs and plates. (I'm putting all outdoor plugs because I got them on sell and they will add to the air tight environment I am trying to accomplish.
Click to expand...
Another good reason to use SIPs. Run your electrical on raceways made of wood placed over the panel, all coming from one utilities entrance. I don't think it's possible to airproof outlets.


StreetRacer said:
18. Run my water thru a reverse osmosis system and in to a heated storage tank that I can pre mix all my nutes in and balance out my ph levels then pipe it to my plants as needed.
Click to expand...
I'd just put the tank in the veg room and skip the heater. As long as the tank is big enough for a few days supply you can refill it after irrigation and it'll basically be a free source of minimal a/c.


At any rate good project. Lots to consider with a room this size. My only other observation/unsolicited opinion is that if you're faced with two design choices, pick the one that's easy to change later - once you build your outlets into the wall, for instance, you might find yourself using tons of extension cords anyways.

edit: one other thing, I think you mentioned this in your original post, but making a little entranceway/foyer that breaks the line of sight between your rooms and the outside world is a necessary security precaution. Just a small space that you can have two doors in; open outside door, close it, open inside door, never both at once. And if you really want to go to town you'd have a changing area there so you can enter your room with clothes covered up with overalls/shoe covers at the very least; ideally you'll change clothes entirely. I can't think of a better vector for infestation than walking across the lawn right into your room.
 
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