HELP! Stealth grow in a small enclosed Cab, having heat issues!!

GreenThumbsMcgee

GreenThumbsMcgee

Well-Known Member
Hey guys i am new here, and it took me forever to even figure out how to start a new thread! hope this goes thru and is in the right place.
okay, so basically, I got a small CFL setup, inside a night stand that i hollowed out, that measures 1.5ft L, 1.25ft W, 2ft H. I realize its very small, but I am confident that the space will work for what i need it to do, if i could just keep that damn heat down! I have put alot of time into this, and have been using alot of techniques to keep my plants short and bushy, and have been succesful in that department...that is not the issue!

my problem is :fire:heat:fire: I have read alot of other peoples posts with simular set ups, and see that most everyone has the same issues. I currently have 2 larger CPU fans running on the top left corner for exaust fans, and on the opposite side, and at the bottom i have another smaller CPU fan for intake. i tried passive intake, by cutting aprx 10 1/2in holes on the bottom half the cab, but it was still getting hot, so i tried adding the intake fan. even after, it is still hitting 90+ degrees when i leave it alone...and cant be there to open the door to air it out. i want to be able to just have it stay relatively the same temp while the lights are on. i am tired of battling this!
Like i said, its a stealthy type situation, so noise is a factor. Can anyone help me with some ideas on what they did in my situation? I am at the end of my ropes with the situation:wall:, and am open to any suggestion!!! thanks you guys.
 
vostok

vostok

Well-Known Member
I don't believe you made any introductory post in the https://www.rollitup.org/introduce-yourself/ a pity as sometime you will be leeching of the experience of others here at RIU.org ...lol
anyways ...
Welcome to RIU.org
Your onestopshop for all matters cannabis, take a look around but I should advise you that the fabulous "Like" button, is broken, instead buried below is the equivalent, reputation button that works almost the same., so if you see or read something you like, well! you can't like until it's fixed but you can click the Rep button to show your appreciation.



https://www.rollitup.org/support/789405-like-button-temp-disabled.html
 
JoObJoOb

JoObJoOb

Active Member
i guess id find away to introduce some cooler air ie window,lol,it dont mater how much air flow you have if its sitting in a 80 degree room,2 larger pc fans in that small area should be pushing out alot of air to help cool your box,i dont see how cfls could make that much heat with 3 fans running and 2 pulling air out,unless its very hot in your room where its placed
 
GreenThumbsMcgee

GreenThumbsMcgee

Well-Known Member
JoObJoOb said:
i guess id find away to introduce some cooler air ie window,lol,it dont mater how much air flow you have if its sitting in a 80 degree room,2 larger pc fans in that small area should be pushing out alot of air to help cool your box,i dont see how cfls could make that much heat with 3 fans running and 2 pulling air out,unless its very hot in your room where its placed
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ya, its the room i sleep in, and it is about 75 or so in the room its in. I noticed that there is a spot on the floor that already has a hole from wood being bad or whatever, but i was trying to think of a way to draw air up from the hole in the floor, the hole just leads under the house. i just am not sure what to use to draw the air up in a cheap fashion. everything i have done with this box has been DIY, and i wanna keep it that way for the most part. only cause money is tight right now. anyway, thanks for quick responses you guys. any ideas on drawing up air?
 
BeardedBandit

BeardedBandit

Member
We were having some serious heat issues too and on warmer days we still battle them from time to time. CFLs, in the right concentration really can warm the place up lol. That being said I don't believe the CPU fans are enough. Granted you could have some really awesome ones that are pushing a lot of air, but we used CPU fans and it was garbage. We stripped some 12v power adapters for other electronics, wired them to the fans and voila! However we did see someone recommending bathroom fans, like the ones you turn on when you stink the place up. I wouldn't say they are loud but they are definitely louder than the CPU fans. We have one for exhaust at the top and one for intake on the opposite side at the bottom. It works pretty well for now. But we have never grown through summer so it may become an issue again. That or maybe since the AC will be on in the summer maybe it won't. We also thought about putting a hole in the floor but opted out since we finally stabilized the temperature. Our biggest worry about doing that was letting bugs and other contaminants into the grow room. So I would make sure you seal it well and some have kind of filter or some way to prevent things from getting in. Everything we have is DIY, and it feels that much more rewarding haha. I would think with one of those bathroom fans mounted to the floor (make sure it is pulling air not pushing), some 6 inch ducting, panty hose as a filter and duck tape would do the job for cheap. Damn I typed a lot lol. Hope some of that helps!
 
GreenThumbsMcgee

GreenThumbsMcgee

Well-Known Member
BeardedBandit said:
We were having some serious heat issues too and on warmer days we still battle them from time to time. CFLs, in the right concentration really can warm the place up lol. That being said I don't believe the CPU fans are enough. Granted you could have some really awesome ones that are pushing a lot of air, but we used CPU fans and it was garbage. We stripped some 12v power adapters for other electronics, wired them to the fans and voila! However we did see someone recommending bathroom fans, like the ones you turn on when you stink the place up. I wouldn't say they are loud but they are definitely louder than the CPU fans. We have one for exhaust at the top and one for intake on the opposite side at the bottom. It works pretty well for now. But we have never grown through summer so it may become an issue again. That or maybe since the AC will be on in the summer maybe it won't. We also thought about putting a hole in the floor but opted out since we finally stabilized the temperature. Our biggest worry about doing that was letting bugs and other contaminants into the grow room. So I would make sure you seal it well and some have kind of filter or some way to prevent things from getting in. Everything we have is DIY, and it feels that much more rewarding haha. I would think with one of those bathroom fans mounted to the floor (make sure it is pulling air not pushing), some 6 inch ducting, panty hose as a filter and duck tape would do the job for cheap. Damn I typed a lot lol. Hope some of that helps!
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yo...ya, makes sense, and i too am terrified of summer. haha. hope to get a box unit to battle that. ya, its a steady 71 degrees in my room, so i think its cool enough to draw in cool air, i think most my problem is the fact that i have bare holes in back drilled, and light escapes, so i taped a couple cardboard flaps on it, so it only has about an inch or so of breathing room. i know this is a factor, due to it drawing back its own exausted air that is warm. it does get warm back there, but i cant pull it out further, because the light makes it obvious. it really REALLY sucks having to hide it. if i didnt, i wouldnt have a problem whatsoever.
also, how do you power those bathroom fans? and i am having a hard time seeing your vision here...this is def a possibility. ..tho i wonder how loud "louder then a cpu fan" exactly is! lol / I found myself at one of those wholesale lighting/soil/every expensive growing tool under the sun type stores for advice, and they had nothing reotely senseable to say, other then trying to sell me this huge jet engine rocket ship sounding ass kicking fan for like $120.oo bucks!! lmao!!! thought that was comical seeings how i just told the guy its a mini grow in a night stand, and i was trying to be stealthy, and totally a DIY type job...and for him to recommend the most expensive, loudest motherfuckr in the store! i dont think i will be talking stratagy with them anymore! they have cheap good soil...anyway...i am rambling.
 
H

Hadleyhaha

New Member
Are your air vents on the floor or ceiling? I ran my 6" ducting from my air vent in the floor to my tent with a screen filter on the end. It worked great. When the air kicked on the plants had nice cool air. By the time it warmed up a little the air would turn on again. Temps stayed at 77-78 in there.
 
GreenThumbsMcgee

GreenThumbsMcgee

Well-Known Member
Hadleyhaha said:
Or get you a small LED and that would cut out a lot of heat issues
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i have considered that but I thought you had to have them like 18 in. away from your plants....? is that true? i havent found anyone who could answer questions about led, cause most people i run into swear by the "old" ways. the only thing i have found is that there is a lot of led haters in the world! lol
but seriously, if i could use them in my 2ft. tall cab what kinda led lights would one suggest using for my needs. i am only growin 2 plants at a time. just a small personal smoke grow.
 
GreenThumbsMcgee

GreenThumbsMcgee

Well-Known Member
Hadleyhaha said:
Are your air vents on the floor or ceiling? I ran my 6" ducting from my air vent in the floor to my tent with a screen filter on the end. It worked great. When the air kicked on the plants had nice cool air. By the time it warmed up a little the air would turn on again. Temps stayed at 77-78 in there.
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nice. that is some kick ass mcguyver shit there! hah! the vents are on the floor but it is disconnected. im in a old double wide that seems to be slowly fallin apart. thats why i mentioned that hole in the floor...i was thinking i could use the hole to my advantage during these colder months. just tryin to figure out a good quiet (*cheap) way to move the air.
 
BeardedBandit

BeardedBandit

Member
I don't know a whole lot about LEDs but from what I understand they produce virtually no heat. Downside is that for a good one that you don't have to keep right up on the plant for light penetration you have to pay an arm and a leg. Because when it comes to flowering you'll want to make sure the whole plant is saturated in light. My buddy said they have LEDs now that you can use almost like an HPS above the plant, but that is up in the 800 dollar range. Just have to decide if it is worth it to you. But from my experience, you'll probably end up changing your set up a few times before ending up with a final design. I know we did lol. So just keep that in mind. But it would most likely solve all your heat issues.
 
BeardedBandit

BeardedBandit

Member
I got on with intentions to answer you questions about the bathroom fans but my brain isn't exactly organized at 4 am haha. But about the design, I really am not sure. You'll have to play around with it. We never took it into testing phase. And pretty much this is the cycle of us setting things up: New problem arises > what sounds like a good idea to fix said problem > fix the new problem that has arose from the "solution" > now we can breathe until the next issue haha. I don't want to tell you to go cut up your house and you be like, this mother fucker on RIU said this would work! However with that little disclaimer, the way I pictured it in my head was fan horizontal coming up through a hole in the floor, 6 in ducting over the fan and running to the grow box. Below the floor level: maybe some kind of filter over the flat side of the fan, more ducting or anyway you think you could prevent bugs or other things from getting in. Something to consider too, which we never had a solution for was what if it is too cold? It wouldn't exactly be air conditioning that you could just shut off. I mean you could stop sucking in the cold air, but if it is all hooked up to your grow box the chances are that your exhaust fan will have enough power to still pull in air. It's just a lot of crap to consider. Things I can tell you that don't work that you might be considering are a window AC unit but not placed in a window or a cooler full of ice haha. We have tried a lot of shit man. The ice thing was too tedious, had to be changed out a few times a day. The AC unit not placed in the window is counter productive because it seems to produce more heat than it is able to cool. Oh and you asked how do you power the fans. They have a regular outlet plug. So we just run extension cords and it works find. However it does come with housing that the cord plugs into (the power cord on it is like 3 inches long) and then you can wire that to something if you wanted to use the housing. And about the loudness, they are loud enough that if you stand outside of the room they are in and listen for them you can hear them. That being said we know what we are listening for. We have had friends over a pretty often and no one ever mentions the sound. If you will be having someone in the same room with the grow box then yes, they will most definitely hear it. But I assume since running ducting to it from the floor isn't a problem, most likely no one will be seeing it.
 
hermex

hermex

Active Member
Tough little problem. Heat is always an issue and only gets worse when you reduce the amount of space. If you can't upgrade to an armoire or utility cabinet, then your options are going to be limited. First off, two hours before the lights come on around here the heat goes down to 67 if the temperature outside is below 20. Over 20 and I'm down to 65. A warm day like 35 and I'm down to 63...this sucks, is not ideal, and is only a method of delaying the installation of AC. The point though is that you'll have to decrease the temperature in that room you are sleeping in or otherwise decrease your input air. My input is a duct booster attached to a register I cut into the bottom corner of the door. At the top of the room is a 6" vortex fan...but I'm talking about a 4x5 area and two 600w HPS. Still though, currently with the house at 65 I'm at 71...not too shabby.

Man, I hate going to most grow shops. At a lot it seems like the person is always just making sure that it looks like he knows the most about growing "tomatoes" or whatever he's calling it that day. But, in terms of ventilating the correct way, the person was correct about what I'm assuming was a 4" inline vortex-type fan. Too noisy for you, but you are not the first person to come on and ask why it's so hot and then talk about PC fans and other non-grow fans....decrease your input air to 67 and below and you will see huge improvement. To see sufficient, direct air flow, you'll need a good fan. You could mount a good fan down in the crawl space, but I don't like giving whatever is in the crawl space access to my flower room.

No, AC units not placed in a window do not work! Although I did have one that was mounted into a wall in a basement...I put a bookcase over it backwards and vented the enclosure with some duct boosters...it worked for as long as I needed it.

Going MacGyver sometimes means just having a hot grow....
 
GreenThumbsMcgee

GreenThumbsMcgee

Well-Known Member
BeardedBandit said:
I got on with intentions to answer you questions about the bathroom fans but my brain isn't exactly organized at 4 am haha. But about the design, I really am not sure. You'll have to play around with it. We never took it into testing phase. And pretty much this is the cycle of us setting things up: New problem arises > what sounds like a good idea to fix said problem > fix the new problem that has arose from the "solution" > now we can breathe until the next issue haha. I don't want to tell you to go cut up your house and you be like, this mother fucker on RIU said this would work! However with that little disclaimer, the way I pictured it in my head was fan horizontal coming up through a hole in the floor, 6 in ducting over the fan and running to the grow box. Below the floor level: maybe some kind of filter over the flat side of the fan, more ducting or anyway you think you could prevent bugs or other things from getting in. Something to consider too, which we never had a solution for was what if it is too cold? It wouldn't exactly be air conditioning that you could just shut off. I mean you could stop sucking in the cold air, but if it is all hooked up to your grow box the chances are that your exhaust fan will have enough power to still pull in air. It's just a lot of crap to consider. Things I can tell you that don't work that you might be considering are a window AC unit but not placed in a window or a cooler full of ice haha. We have tried a lot of shit man. The ice thing was too tedious, had to be changed out a few times a day. The AC unit not placed in the window is counter productive because it seems to produce more heat than it is able to cool. Oh and you asked how do you power the fans. They have a regular outlet plug. So we just run extension cords and it works find. However it does come with housing that the cord plugs into (the power cord on it is like 3 inches long) and then you can wire that to something if you wanted to use the housing. And about the loudness, they are loud enough that if you stand outside of the room they are in and listen for them you can hear them. That being said we know what we are listening for. We have had friends over a pretty often and no one ever mentions the sound. If you will be having someone in the same room with the grow box then yes, they will most definitely hear it. But I assume since running ducting to it from the floor isn't a problem, most likely no one will be seeing it.
Click to expand...
your crackin me up bro!:lol: lol...i am gonna hold you responsible when my plants have icicles forming off em!!! lol! and it sounds like you really have tried a lot of shit! hahah, the ice was pretty comical, but seriously, you gotta do what you gotta do. i hear ya, its been a constant struggle, but i am unemployed at the moment, so i have been enjoying keeping my hands busy. thanks for yr imput man. so these bathroom fans...they just plug in normal huh? i thought it would be something i had to wire...you just get yours at lowes or home depot?
 
BeardedBandit

BeardedBandit

Member
We just went to our local hardware store but I'm sure lowes or home depot would work. We also do have a fan kind of like what Hermex is talking about. We use it to pull air to cool our HPS: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Suncourt-Inductor-6-in-In-Line-Duct-Fan-DB206/100067594
It is more expensive but it also moves a lot more air. Just make sure whatever you get that you look at the CFM (cubic feet per minute) just makes sure you're able to move the amount of air that is in your box out in a minute. This ensures they are getting fresh air as well as pumping heat out. Take some measurements of your box: Length x Width x Height = your cubic feet.

But the bathroom fan I'm talking about is this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/NuTone-ValueTest-50-CFM-Wall-Ceiling-Mount-Exhaust-Bath-Fan-696N/100081599?N=5yc1vZc4kqZ1z0yi0z
Ours was about 15 bucks I believe but it was 90 CFM if I'm not mistaken. Hermex is right about cooling down the room though. If you can make your room colder then the box will be colder. And it sucks it is in the room you sleep in because one method we've used to cool down the room in a pinch is to close all the air vents in the house except in the veg room and then blast the AC in the house haha.
 
GreenThumbsMcgee

GreenThumbsMcgee

Well-Known Member
wow, i really like some of the options home depot has. i wonder if i could just go in there and try out what they got, and see how loud they are. shit, the one you showed me is cheap! i wonder if i could mount one like that on the side of the box, at the top...i only have so much space to grow in vertically.. man, options options. its a never ending struggle isn't it? hahah dont let me fool you, i am loving every minute of it! idk why i waited so long to get started in my new hobby. dude, i just got some bubblicious autos from nirvana. took about 12 days to get here, but i am stoked! i really want everything to be prime befor i start those babys. rite now i am using some bag seeds that have been great for experimenting new techniques on. they take turns getting close to death. it has my nerves just about shot! i tried some super cropping on them, for height issues, and i am super fucking bummed with the results... yesterday the jack of spades got all wilty lookin, and bounced back, today, my big bubba did the same, got all wilty frail and moist feeling, the leaves all got smaller, shit, the other one bounced back, but it got me worried, and now i am going thru it again today. not sure i like super cropping. lst and fimming will be fine from here on out!
 
Shaded420

Shaded420

Well-Known Member
I use a Hans panel, but my area is pretty small(23"x17" coverage)

If I had a larger space I would definitely be buying more Hans panels, or invest in one of the more expensive options(which recommend more distance from the plants than Hans)
 
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