Air cool and heat!??

JLStiffy

Well-Known Member
Hi
I have a little problem I want to resolve and I know everyone has or had this problem; smells seems to blow down the country rd when you drive to my gate! The smells escapes because of two AC units I run in my shop. One out the front and one large one out back. Obv, I run the AC untis to help balance the heat but still very hard in the summer months. Now, this leads me to say 'fuck the AC units' and ' in with the air cooled shades?'
First question with the air cooled shades, can I get 6 1000HPS in a row with an 8' vortex fan. The air will be pulled from out back of the shop, through the shades and up into the roof.
Second question, in the summer time, will the shades still emit heat were their will be heat issues and air cooled shades are no longer effective?
Third questions, the light is diminished and i already know that but by how much? 10% and would someone consider putting a 600w HPS in an air cooled shade or is that just stupid?
The shade is a Silverstar Plus 8inch exhust by hydrotek - the unit is not a tube but square. http://www.hydrotek.ca/en/category.php?id=21

Thanks for the info..
 

HowzerMD

Well-Known Member
I'm not much on thinking at the moment, but my two cents : You'll want more than one 8" vortex for the 6KW of light. Next, 600w in an aircooled hood is an excellent combo. Not a waste of time at all. If you get a good quality reflector, you'll have great light distribution.
 

HowzerMD

Well-Known Member
PS : A 6KW daisy chain should have a blower on the intake end and another fan pulling on the exhaust. 'S how I would do it anyway.
 

JLStiffy

Well-Known Member
If I run two 8 inch fans think I would be able to squeeze 8 lights in a row? I run 10 lights on a flip flop and kinda want to re design! So more lights for me in a row is better!
 

dbkick

Well-Known Member
you say you have 6 1kw lights running in a room and they aren't air cooled??? I'd think you'd need the lights air cooled and ac running in the summer. what type of ac? the odor must be escaping because its not a split system or dual hose if its portable.
 

HowzerMD

Well-Known Member
If I run two 8 inch fans think I would be able to squeeze 8 lights in a row? I run 10 lights on a flip flop and kinda want to re design! So more lights for me in a row is better!
8 lights with A/C hoods with an 8" fan on each each end plus your a/c unit will juuust do it. Maybe. IDK bout 10.
 

HowzerMD

Well-Known Member
Or maybe two rows of five lights with a 10" exhausting each. That would be much easier to cool than the flipflop you have going with the 10 lamps now. That way you don't have to downsize to 8 lamps, and you'll be moving air much more efficiently.
 

TruenoAE86coupe

Moderator
Obviously cost will be exponentially higher but i believe the only way you can get rid of the A/Cs completely in the summer is water cooled hoods. You could seriously reduce the heat with air cooled hoods but we are still talking a lot of heat from that much light. I believe 2 rows of lights with an intake and exhaust on each run may be possible, but we see 90 here regular in the summer so that is not possible in my mind but i do not live in canada. What is the average daily high in July/August? If you only get into the 70's then i could see the thought but the square hoods will slow airflow more than the cool tubes, so thats why i see so many fans. Still cheaper than running the a/c all the time though.
 

HowzerMD

Well-Known Member
Obviously cost will be exponentially higher but i believe the only way you can get rid of the A/Cs completely in the summer is water cooled hoods. You could seriously reduce the heat with air cooled hoods but we are still talking a lot of heat from that much light. I believe 2 rows of lights with an intake and exhaust on each run may be possible, but we see 90 here regular in the summer so that is not possible in my mind but i do not live in canada. What is the average daily high in July/August? If you only get into the 70's then i could see the thought but the square hoods will slow airflow more than the cool tubes, so thats why i see so many fans. Still cheaper than running the a/c all the time though.
Factor this in and you will have some fun :D. Water cooling will elimate most of your issues as you see them now. Cooltubes would be better, but they don't provide the same light spread. So I guess there's the trade off; less efficient air movement with the bulkier hoods, or compromised light coverage with the cooltubes. OR, go with water cooling and forget about that duff:-D But that line is drawn with cost. That can be prohibitive of water cooled.
 

HowzerMD

Well-Known Member
If I had a setup that large I would invest in water cooling. With that much production water cooling is justified.
^^^Def what he says. It's a long term investment. Worth it if it's affordable now. You'll be able to recoop your costs in around two months ;-)
 

JLStiffy

Well-Known Member
Hi
Well thanks for all the info from everyone.. I had a water cooled system from the creek and it did not work very good. But thats because my water was not chilled. I had a shallow well pump and pressure tank with 5/8 pek pipe (over 300 feet). The water would pump into two ice chillers but the water did not pass into a chiller first. The water came from the creek and the piping was dug under ground.. In this case, I would guess I would have to create a small water cooled (chiller) closed system.
In Canada we have hot summers and cold winters; although, our winters are much more mild now. Right now we are -3. Makes growing GREAT! for now... In the summer we hit normally around 20-38 deg or around 70-90 F.
My game plan is going to run 6K HPS in air cooled shades with two 8' fans.. Than I am going to run 4 600HPS on bat wings reflectors. I really dont want to run the AC unit because it suks out smell from the grown room and blows it outside the shop lol.. I can't do that anymore.. BUT. instead of running one room during the day from 5pm to 5am and the other room for the other 12hr.s I can eliminate smell during the day because ill run my lights at night from 8pm to 8am. And the AC unit wil work half as hard and obv less chance of people comming over.
Does this sound like a sound game plan? Any more adjustments? And any website that I should consider buying grow gear from? Ill take a peek at the big kahuna shade or what ever its called ( ill scroll up) and one last thing. If I run tw0 eight inch fans with the square silverstars plus think that would work instead of going to the cool tubes?
 
If you had an adjacent room you could send the air condition exhaust too. You could filter the air in the second room with carbon filters, then exhaust the air outside. Hope this helps.
 

JLStiffy

Well-Known Member
Hi
Yea I was thinking about that. I built a 15 x 8 room as well as my large flower rooms. The 15x8 is used to hold water and also extra flowering but I can use it for what ever. The room was built to hold moms and cuttings for the outdoor. -yes we can do outdoor in Canada! But the season is over and now the room is in flower. I heat the room up with my exhaust. I could add the AC exhaust into that room but that only works with AC that are 12BTU or less. I have a big 220 one but dont want to use it. It suxs hydro either way in heating and cooling lol.
 
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