Need Some Help With New Grow Room

[MichiganGrower420]

so im about to build a new grow room before summer and have a few questions. well to start off its gunna be 8ft long by 6 ft wide and 73in tall. i will have a 6in intake with a dust shroom and i will have a 6in exhaust hooked up to a air cooled hood and a carbon filter. might upgrade to 8in? what do you think it would do for temps? i wanna do a 1000w hps if temps arent too high and i will also have a portable ac in the room. i have also heard that the portable ac will blow stink smell outdoors from my grow room is that true? and if so should i get a 8in exhaust or what do yall think any help would be greatly appreciated

[MichiganGrower420]

also one other thing the exhaust hose for the portable ac is around 70in and it is 5in round so the questions i got for that are can i use a 5 to 4 in reducer? also can i add a small 4in duct fan one of them real small onesand then i will connect everything up through the top of the room and then 3 ft of straight 4 in ducting going outside

[MichiganGrower420]

that is what i will be doing i will be getting coller air from another room in my basement. and yeah the ac is taking air from the room as intake

[MichiganGrower420]

my neighbors would be 10ft away from the exhaust so i prob wont run the ac. so here is another idea how about 1000w hps in a 8in hood with 8 in exhaust and 6in intake and i would run my light from midnight to noon what do you thin and what do you think my temps would be? last summer i had a 3x3 ten with 400w hps and my main house ac went out and it got to around 90 in the tent but i also didnt have a intake then either so hopefully everything this summer gos smooth but nothing is ever that simple haha

[Kingdiamond]

Portable air conditioners do indeed pump the stink outside some use dryer sheets at the vent opening to disguise the smell im in the process of buying a ventless mini split system to eliminate any chance of neighbors smelling the dankness.

[MichiganGrower420]

i have hear about the  dryer sheets when i was looking up stuff about the ac stink problem dose it really work? and next summer i plan on having a ventless mini split system

[Kingdiamond]

Don't know never did it here just hoped the vent was down wind of the street but from what ive seen it work pretty well.

[trichcycler]

 invest in real activated carbon stink socks, available in all sizes, for best results.

[mibrains]

FYI - any air conditioner in the flower (and sometimes veg) room that vents to the outside will carry the scent with it..

 

to include portable, window, and built in the wall units..

 

carbon filter or split mini is the best options.

 

also remember that when harvesting your cannabis this is when the aroma is the most directly pungent and will carry a very long way on the wind..

 

i used to harvest mine with the back house window open and realized one day i could smell that flower all the way down by my mailbox..

 

truth be told the best idea is to have a "non-smoking" friend come and do a "walk around" for you... then you will know if your system is adequate and you have taken the necessary precautions...

 

a 1,000 watt single fixture should not give you to much trouble by itself.. but i would try to plan ahead and always consider your next expansion when your doing every cannabis project  

seems like for me.. right when i decide "thats it" its working just perfectly... i have another better idea and change things... again... lol..

something to do.. i really enjoy all the thrills of "watching the grass grow" these days if you know what i mean...

 

Great questions and answers I hope your project works well.

 

oh..

also...

i personally find it difficult at best to agree with using any "reducer" when dealing with exhaust from a conditioning unit...(particularly a portable one the exhaust gets very hot sometimes) - if anything i would lean toward bigger ducts and fittings as you work you way down the line toward the fresh air exhaust point...

[trichcycler]

my simple wall mount ac unit does not share inside air with the outside air.

[Norby]

If you intake the air from outside and run it thru your light and then back outside you can contain the smell in the closet.  If you add a carbon filter to the closet you can clean the air from the closet and vent out to the room where the ac is.  This way your ac will not intake smelly air outside the room and it will cool the room that your closet is intaking air from.  This way you have your smell contained to the closet, being cleaned before it mixes with the ac room.  Your air from outside goes in and cools the lights and goes back outside, not mixing with the room air.  This way you can also not worry about drawing in 80f and 80% humidity air, cooling it and dehumidifying it and then sending it outside.

Edited March 9, 2014 by Norby

[MichiganGrower420]

do you think i could do it without the ac? because right now i have a 4x4 tent with a 600w hps i have cool air coming in from another room with a 6in inline and i have the hot air from my hood being sucked out by a 6in outdoors and my temps havent went above 72f so during the summer when running the 1000w if it ran it at night would it be coller?

[MichiganGrower420]

i agree with you grassmatch your wall mount ac is not going to stink at all i would get one right now its just they are so expensive

Edited March 9, 2014 by MichiganGrower420

[trichcycler]

your 1000 watter will require some cooling. I'm guessing your ambient air wont be enough.

do you think i could do it without the ac? because right now i have a 4x4 tent with a 600w hps i have cool air coming in from another room with a 6in inline and i have the hot air from my hood being sucked out by a 6in outdoors and my temps havent went above 72f so during the summer when running the 1000w if it ran it at night would it be coller?

[rockinlespaul]

I use a portable a/c unit in my 2K flower room and it exhausts out into the open lot next to me.

 

Just get a good scrubber for the room and all will be well.

Edited March 9, 2014 by rockinlespaul

[GregS]

I think most portable ACs blow garden air to the outdoors, correct me if I'm wrong, anybody. If it only has one duct to exhaust, and not another for intake, it is almost certainly taking room air as intake. It doesn't take large ducting or heavy airflow to efficiently cool a 1000W lamp. You would want to draw from cool air indoors, but outside the room.

I believe they recirculate the air within the room. Only if they were vented to the outside via ductwork would they exhaust odor.

[GrowGoddess]

also one other thing the exhaust hose for the portable ac is around 70in and it is 5in round so the questions i got for that are can i use a 5 to 4 in reducer? also can i add a small 4in duct fan one of them real small onesand then i will connect everything up through the top of the room and then 3 ft of straight 4 in ducting going outside

 

No you can't reduce. You can only go bigger. The only time you can actually reduce in that type of scenario is Y off to (2) 3". You have all kinds of options considering you only want to run (1) 1000 or (2) 600's

 

This is one of my grow closets. Maybe you can get some ideas from how I configured the ventilation. http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/blog/532/entry-840-2000-watt-custom-cooled-closet-and-more/

 

 

An air exchange fan can make all the difference. Technically you can exchange the air to wherever you want and you can also pull air from wherever you want. Just a matter of what might be in the way. I guess  I never completed my blog. I built the closet in 2010. Many years before I was just running a small (2) 400 set up for personal use. I have ran and built far more extreme elite units far better than the closet in my blog. So the closet kind of came easy. It was my first time working with 1000 Watt lights though. It gave me no problems with cooling or any of that mathematically. It did give me many other problems that I could not predict. The reason why I say this is you said you were running 400's like me. Switching to 1000 W, in my case (2) 1000 W, it didn't effect the numbers for cooling or watts per square foot, but in the grow room, even though I was running less lumen and watts per square foot, even less cfm per square foot, I found with certain strains that I was used to growing to be darn near impossible to get them to flower at their best under the 1000 watters. From experience, I no longer take Kelvin, color spectrum, or any of that too seriously when it comes to 1000 W. In other words, all that stuff was BS when I made the change, except for the math when it came to cooling and electricity. I have been involved in the lighting industry for many years. Anyway, it took me a couple of years. I mastered growing under the 1000 watters. I like them. I never could get my favorite strain to grow right under them though, unless I used one of those dual arc bulbs (expensive and only last for up to 2 flower cycles). A regular bulb lasts a good year or two. I really like 600 W. My favorite strain did not do well under that either. I like 400, 600, and 1000 W now that I have experience with each type. They each have their own benefits, especially when it comes to different strains. What may grow great under one will grow for crap under another. In the past I only had experience growing (flowering) with multiple 400 W bulbs. So what I am trying to tell you is it took me a while to get used to flowering under the 1000 W lights. Some of my strains had no negative reaction, but others did. 

 

I have seen indoor portable air conditioners come both ways. The better ones have the option to exhaust to the outside. The less efficient ones do not.

 

Just trying to help. An air exchange fan can be the key.

 

With the strains that I like that can get mold easy, or strains where cooler temperatures cause negative effects like small buds, the air exchange fan can solve those problems. I leave mine running all the time. During lights on it is on high and lights off it is set to medium. If I turn it down too low with an 8" exchange fan it will shut down with the speedster controller, not enough juice. If I did it over again, I would use (2) 6" exchange fans, if not 3. Then I can turn it down as low as the controllers will allow. That is how I have my smaller closet, but only one 6" exchange fan. I will have to do a blog on that one. In my big closet, I am able to keep the temperature around 5 deg higher than the temp outside of the closet or room.It is set up quite differently. I have learned it is easier to fight the AC by returning the heat than it is to exhaust and fight the outdoor humid heat. Kind of hard to put into words. Either way I believe it is good to bring in some outdoor fresh air. Even if it is minimal and you have to add CO2, I still recommend it. An air exchange fan can greatly help with heat problems. You can exchange it from one room to another. You can have it to where only in the summer it is manually connected to a duct going right out of the house, out the roof or even underground. During the cooler months, you can unplug from the vent and have it blow in the house or always blowing in the house. An exchange fan can offer more options on top of exhausting and reduce the strain on the AC, possibly even eliminate the need for the AC.

 

Sorry, I need to vent for a second. I am really angry. I have two different flower room designs. I am bored with my old unit. Here I am not able to build a new unit because I do not know which way the law is going to go. I have a unit in my head to accommodate either way. I can't believe I am sitting here waiting on some criminal self serving politicians to do their job and vote on the bills so I can get on with my life. Currently, I am not even flowering. This is my opportunity to make a change, but I have to wait.

Edited March 10, 2014 by GrowGoddess

[solabeirtan]

Though I've never used one, I did help a crazy neighbor lady load one into her car to return it. Personally I think the portable AC unit is a questionable investment. Was looking for some info about them and came across this... didn't like it at first, but upon further consideration, it could prove useful ...

[trichcycler]

I have a 400 sq ft room that is sealed, sharing no air with the outside. I don't vent in or out of the room all year. my ac wall mount unit is connected to a thermostat and keeps temps under 80f all year. I do augment with c02 with the lights on schedule, and I run 4/5 3 and 4 foot air scrubbers full time. Night temps are digi controlled and stay at 69 during lights off. Several fans circulate the air in both rooms(divided by a light lock curtain) and in between the two. Humidity is also digi controlled to keep RH under 50%. I do not add humidity. I've suffered no plant issues. I used outside air for some time, and had all the problems mentioned when I did, except a lower electric bill resulted.  I will always use a sealed room in the future, for the win !

[GrowGoddess]

I don't use outside air much. I can when I want to. I have not had any problems doing so, but I only pull outside air when I believe there won't be any problems.

 

I do pull air from inside the house though which is nice in the summer. Keeps the air moving throughout.

 

With either of my new designs it will be 100% sealed with the option to pull air from outside or in the home or simply not at all. I like having options. My current design is that way, just not completely air tight. Just need to change out one door and add a vent. Then I will have all three options.

 

 

@grassmatch. With the curtain divider is that two flower rooms one on one off or is that half grow half flower? Even half flower, at 50 watts per square foot in 200 square feet, that would be about (10) 1000W lights. A full time job for sure!

 

My one flower closet is only 40 sf at 50W/sf with (2) 1000 Watt lights.

[trichcycler]

10x12 for veg and 20x12( 11 foot ceilings) for flower.

have no misunderstandings, I do not light the four corners. I am blessed with ample work room. In veg I grow out all I need in a 2x4 table tray and a 24x18 mini greenhouse for clones with a 2x4 486 watt T5 fixture only. The rest of the room is used for trimming, worm farming, storage, dirt mixing, etc. In flower I grow in the center of the room, with 2 1k hps  lights on movers, and two stationary 600 watt metal halides in a relatively small area of 8 x 10, and full walk around , bench  and work areas, with shelving and cabinets.  When I started I foolishly thought I would need all that space just to keep up with demand. Now, I grow some 30 plants under my count and have no issues with five heavy needs patients, and have lots of work space to heat and cool !

 

I can jam dozens of 2 ounce producers under one moving(8ft) 1k light with great results. The end ones are always bigger, but produce the same as the centered ones.