Ventilation VS Air Cooled Lights?

atxbudgrower

atxbudgrower

Active Member
I was wondering if some one other could help me out im wondering about having a air cooled HPS or having a intake and exhaust setup the air cooled lighting seems like the better option but i thought i would ask before going through with it and see some opinions the room im gonna have is 6ft tall 3ft wide and 14in depth happy growing!!!:mrgreen:
 
groder97

groder97

Member
i would say air cooled for shur. i did it to my 1000w hps and iam really think of doing it to 400watt mh. its really nice becouse. iam in a 5x5 tent with a 1000w and a 4x4 with a 400w mh and the sad thing is my 5x5 tent when my light is on. its cooler then my 4x4 tent
 
atxbudgrower

atxbudgrower

Active Member
yea i bought a 400w hps and i dont want to put my seedlings in it yet till i have it down for right now i have them under cfl's but im thinking of doing a air cooled that way i have only one exhaust fan for the bulb and that would be the end of it but im worried about the temps how cool do they get?
 
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mrmadcow

Well-Known Member
even w/ an air cooled light, the plants want fresh air so you will need some kind of intake/vent for the room.
 
atxbudgrower

atxbudgrower

Active Member
you think a oscillating fan will be able to fix that fresh air problem or do i have to have a intake and exhaust system?
 
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mrmadcow

Well-Known Member
atxbudgrower said:
you think a oscillating fan will be able to fix that fresh air problem or do i have to have a intake and exhaust system?
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a oscillating fan will just blow stale air around. you wont need much,just some way to get fresh air in. a 4 in hole top & bottom will work even w/out fans as heat rises.
or leave off the intake to your aircooled hood so it draws air in from the room & you only need a passive intake vent at the bottom
 
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OrganicOzarks

Active Member
You can use an air cooled hood with an inline fan, and put the inlet of the fan(with carbon filter or not) at the top of the tent, and a passive intake at the bottom. That will take care of your fresh air problems, and your heat problems.
 
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dpjones

Well-Known Member
You must have an exhaust fan. The intake can be passive but exhaust is a must.

Plants need CO2, so you need to get new air into the growing environment at periodic times. Your room is just over 18 square foot.

Now how often the air in the room needs to be changed varies between who you believe but i think for a HID light with no tube 3 times a minute would do it. So if you had a 54cfm fan then that would do. I believe a ruck 4" inline fan is 135 cfm so would be more than enough.

For such a small space I wouldnt bother with an air cooled reflector if you have powerful enough suction especially for a 400w. You will need a passive intake though. And an oscillating fan inside.

Also a carbon filter is highly recommended.

Gl
 
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Tiz

Member
hmm, I ordered a bake a round to do a DIY cooltube for my 400w HPS, I also have 2 fans, a Hydrofarm that I am using for the light when I get all the stuff to complete the cooltube and also a smaller Dayton fan I was going to install in my cabinet as a seperate exhaust for the plant, from what I am getting here in this thread I don't have to actually do a seperate intake for the cooltube? I can just leave the intake portion on the cooltube open and just cut an intake by the plants so I only have to use 1 fan?? Will that work just as good or atleast compareable?? it would be nice having to only have to use 1 fan, will help with electricity and noise. glad I found this thread, and im not trying to hijack it :) but thanks for your advice all
 
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dpjones

Well-Known Member
Tiz said:
hmm, I ordered a bake a round to do a DIY cooltube for my 400w HPS, I also have 2 fans, a Hydrofarm that I am using for the light when I get all the stuff to complete the cooltube and also a smaller Dayton fan I was going to install in my cabinet as a seperate exhaust for the plant, from what I am getting here in this thread I don't have to actually do a seperate intake for the cooltube? I can just leave the intake portion on the cooltube open and just cut an intake by the plants so I only have to use 1 fan?? Will that work just as good or atleast compareable?? it would be nice having to only have to use 1 fan, will help with electricity and noise. glad I found this thread, and im not trying to hijack it :) but thanks for your advice all
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Yes that would work, wouldnt be perfect but would work. I would suggest adding some ducting to the open end so the heat wont just shoot off the bulb and into the open.

I think the main reason people seal them off is so they dont have to filter the air from the cooltube to get rid of smell.
 
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Tiz

Member
dpjones said:
Yes that would work, wouldnt be perfect but would work. I would suggest adding some ducting to the open end so the heat wont just shoot off the bulb and into the open.

I think the main reason people seal them off is so they dont have to filter the air from the cooltube to get rid of smell.
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so do you think I should just go ahead and use the second fan for the cabinet itself?? I mean I do have 2 fans, I just figured if it could cut down on noise and the electric bill I would do it that way since my cabinet is still a work in progress, it is mostly built and I have the parts but I still need to do a lil drilling for ventilation.
I have some red shop rags and some of that activated carbon for making a filter already so that doesn't bother me... If just having a dangling intake tube on the cooltube isn't going to be as good or even close to as good I will just setup both exhaust fans if you think I should
 
atxbudgrower

atxbudgrower

Active Member
Thanks for the info DP also what exactly do you mean passive intake? as a fan that doesnt run off electricity? and for tiz its cool dont worry about hijacking lol i made it to find info and help people with the same situation as me
 
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Tiz

Member
yah if I can get away with using only 1 fan and it will work damn near as good I am all for it, I can avoid a lil noise and save on electricity but I need somebody who knows if the pros outweigh the cons. If it isn't gonna hurt my temps but like say.... 1-2 degrees I think I will use just the one with the intake of the cool tube ducted a few inches and cut, if it's gonna be a 3-5 degree difference I will just use both fans. anybody know or do I get to be the test dummy on how much difference it makes?
 
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dpjones

Well-Known Member
atxbudgrower said:
Thanks for the info DP also what exactly do you mean passive intake? as a fan that doesnt run off electricity? and for tiz its cool dont worry about hijacking lol i made it to find info and help people with the same situation as me
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Passive intake is just a place where air can enter where its not being pushed by a fan. Basically a hole into your room. Then the exhaust fan sucks air through from the top and new air is brought in through the passive intake.

To Tiz:

If you are going to bother with a cooltube, do it properly. A fan shouldnt use to much leccy.

Have one fan to suck air from the room to refresh the air. And then the other fan to suck air from the cooltube. Have the ducting going to the cooltube and away from it sealed so no air from the grow can get in. Its pointless having the tube and no air flowing over it.

Whether you could use one fan for both, im not sure. I guess its possible but normally you suck air through a carbon filter so kinda impractical to join up the ducting. Although possible.
 
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Tiz

Member
dpjones said:
To Tiz:

If you are going to bother with a cooltube, do it properly. A fan shouldnt use to much leccy.

Have one fan to suck air from the room to refresh the air. And then the other fan to suck air from the cooltube. Have the ducting going to the cooltube and away from it sealed so no air from the grow can get in. Its pointless having the tube and no air flowing over it.

Whether you could use one fan for both, im not sure. I guess its possible but normally you suck air through a carbon filter so kinda impractical to join up the ducting. Although possible.
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k thanks, I will just install both fans then like I originally planned. I want to make sure I do it right, just thought from what I read in this thread it was ok to just exhaust from the cooltube but leave the intake to it unconnected from an actual "intake" and it would just suck from wherever I decided to drill an intake hole (by the plants)
 
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mrmadcow

Well-Known Member
if your fan is big enough,1 fan is all you need but I prefer to run 2or more fans so if 1 fails, it wont heat up the room as fast.
as for the intake of the cooltube, if you take in fresh air from outside the room, you dont need to run it through a carbon filter as it wont pick up any smell. my last setup was a 4x4x7 closet, had a PC fan running 24/7, a cooltube running w/ another pc fanthat ran w/ the light and a large bathfan tied to a thermostat that ran about 2x an hour for a couple min each time. this was setup in an unheated garage in winter- when outside temps got above 60, the room would overheat but it gave me about 6 mths growtime so it worked well
 
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