I’m having cooling issues in my tent. I have both intake and exhaust fans but I still need to get the temp a few degrees cooler. Any suggestions? Anyone using some sort of cooling equipment with success?
Thanks,
J0
855-420-GROW
I’m having cooling issues in my tent. I have both intake and exhaust fans but I still need to get the temp a few degrees cooler. Any suggestions? Anyone using some sort of cooling equipment with success?
Thanks,
J0
Running your lights at night is the first step in the summer. And yeah we are use AC units of one type or another. I use a window unit. Someone else may use a portable rolling one. And someone else has a mini split
I use a window unit, but on occasion, I will put a frozen 2 litre of water in front of the intake, on days when the ac is struggling to keep up. And Sunny is right on about running your lights at night.
First question is where is your intake fan pulling the air from? Is it from a room in your house that is cooled by a central AC? Is there a window in the room it is in that could handle a window unit AC? When you say you want it a few degrees cooler, are we talking the difference in 83F and 79F? Or are we talking the difference in 100 degrees down to 80 degrees?
I have two 5X5 tents in my attic, both lined with double sided radiant barrier on the inside, wrapped with 4″ thick fiberglass insulation, topped with 1″ thick styrofoam insulation panels, and then wrapped with more double sided radiant barrier on the outside. One tent is my primary grow tent containing a Mars FCE-8000 light with the ballast mounted outside the tent. The other is my “lung” tent containing a portable AC unit, a Heater, a humidifier, and dehumidifier and a couple Mars SP3000 lights for off-cycle growing. The two tents are connected with 6″ AC Infinity fans to maintain a relatively closed loop system.
My problem was excessive heat as my attic can get over 120 in the afternoons, so I am trying to shave 40+ degrees off. I have had to supplement CO2 some to help handle the heat and I have spent more on insulation than I did on the tents themselves. Know upfront that if you decide to add an AC into your tent that you also will likely need to add in humidity as well to keep your VPD in check. I can watch my NIWA graph and see as my afternoon temps start to ramp up from 80 to about 90 that my humidity drops at the same rate as the AC system pulls water from the air as it cools. Also know that if you decide to add in an AC unit that it will likely require an additional electrical circuit as running lights and AC on the same circuit is a quick recipe to a thrown breaker which can really throw off your grow!
Thanks for the tips. I’m changing how my fans are configured. One exhausted at the top and one intakes at the bottom drawing in air from the air conditioned portion of the house. Together the fans equal 556 cfm which I believe is sufficient for a 5 x 5 tent. Let the testing begin!