Poppin my cherry with CFL's and Fridge

Ok I have been lurking around this site for about a month now and I figured my best shot at being good at this is to ask some questions. Its my first time growing and I need some advice from some of the OG's..

I'm using a hollowed out refrigerator meaning I sawed a hole between the freezer and fridge area. I also cut a hole at the top of the fridge for exhaust and have a bathroom exhaust fan drilled in place to take the hot air out.. For fresh air intake I have drilled about 35 holes in the bottom of the fridge. The dimensions of the fridge are 2x2

For lighting I have used two power strips with (10 lights)- 27 Watt CFL's that emit 1750 lumens at the 6500k spectrum. For Flowering I plan on using some 6500k but I have (2 lights) 68 watt CFL that emit 4200 lumens in the Red Spectrum.. As of right now I'm veggin em 24/7

I have all bag seeds and they are a few years old.. Im aware that genetics has alot to do with it but I'm wondering why some of my plants look so funny.. One is yellowing at the bottom and is dry and brittle to the touch.. I have been just watering a very small amount everyday but I'm wondering if its a nutrient deficiency or just over watering or too close to the bulbs.. I'm using Fox Farms Ocean Forest and Distilled water..

Another problem I have been wrestling with is heat. When I put a fan inside it raises the temps over 90.. When I dont have the fan in it ranges between 75-80.. I'm wondering if I should drill more holes in the bottom for better intake.

Any advise will be greatly appreciated!!

any ideas?? anybody??

how far those bulbs are from the plants ? they look pretty damn close as they are burning the plant from heat .
place them about 2-3 inches above the top of the plant .

intake air - holes wont cut it , u need airflow - i suggest u place a fan under those holes it will push the air thru the holes from the outside in to the fridge.
outtake - u need holes at the top of the fridge to actually remove the air out from grow box .
make sure ur fan is at the right position (if its actually outtakes air) other wise turn it over so it will do its job.

It sounds to me like the hot air has no place to go. That is why it gets hotter when the fan is on because it is circulating the air instead of just having the hot air rising to the top.

What you need to do is double check your exhaust fan. Make sure that there is nothing obstructing the airflow.
You should have at least 3 fans. One blowing in for the instake, one blowing out for the exhaust, and one gently blowing on the plants to strengthen them as well as keeping the fridge filled with fresh air.

You may also want to think about moving the lights up. I would suggest having them about 1.5 - 3 inches away from the plants. Also you may want to turn a few of the lights off until they get bigger. I have seen negative effects from having too much lights early on in their life.

Thanks for the replies Tmaster and BCBud!!! I have moved my lights up about 1 and 1/2 inches.. seems so obvious now but I have the SeeMoreBuds book and it really stresses proximity of the lights so i have been keeping them really really close...

as far as heat is concerned i have taken your guys advice and put a fan outside the bottom of the fridge to bring more air in and I'm gonna monitor the temps tonight.. I believe my exhaust fan is on correctly and I have taken a 3 quart plastic potting container and fastened it to the back to make a carbon filter and it has made it much quieter and i can feel the air coming out much stronger. The hardest thing to find so far is a oscilating fan for the inside..

Thanks for the help this has turned into a full time hobby for me and i don't have anyone to consult besides this site so any input is really cool and really appreciated!!

Heat is going to be a problem with a fridge grow because of the insulation. Personally I would put an exhaust fan up at the top to draw the heat out, and put another fan down low to draw cool air in and across the plants. Also, be careful with getting the insulation everywhere when you drill those holes, you don't want to end up smoking it later on. I have found that the smaller CFLs emit way more heat than the large 68 watt shop lights, it might not be a bad idea to just use two or three of those, and maybe two of the smaller 23w 6500k bulbs. Just my two cents, I've done nearly the same set up on a smaller scale in the past.

Thanks for the input Guru! Yea at first I thought that the fridge would be ideal bcuz im up north and I figured it would keep it a good temp inside but its getting really hot..

I added a window fan to the back of the fridge and that has cooled it down quite a bit.. I have also drilled new bigger holes and vacuumed out the insulation dust then wiped it with a wet rag to hopefully get that dust out but your right the insulation has been a bit of a problem.. I'm now seeing temps around 68 to 75 and hopefully when I start using those 68 watt 2700k cfl's they won't kill me with the heat!!

when i started my lil stealth cabinet grow i started with the exact same lighting setup with the home depot ys and 6 23watt cfls and my temps were out of control like mid 90s and into the low 100s ( this was before the plants went in though ) i switched to a small 4 bulb t5 setup that is about 2ft by 1ft iv used it through veg and my temps are way way down ussually between 75-80. now that im about to go into flowering i got to figure something out since my 400watt hps is much much hotter. i would put an inline fan in the wall at the bottom of the fridge to pull air in and accross the plants.

Yea i actually had temps as high as 110 but luckily i can check it often and was able to remedy the problem with the help of this site.. I have configured my fridge so that I'm averaging about 72 degrees.. The CFL's put out more heat than i expected. My friend is letting me borrow a really nice 250 watt CFL that supposedly emits very little heat but I'll know more about it once he gets here!!

Another thing to check would be the motor of the fan, i once had a fan that actually killed plants because it got so hot after running for a while. however it is probably your lights, if you can afford it try and get less higher wattage lights than more lower wattage lights.