how to cool a sealed 2x4 grow tent

Something has been bugging the shit out of me and I can't figure out a solution.

My current grow is in a sealed 2x4x8 tent. I keep RH at 60% and will supplement co2 with a chhc4 sentinel with bottled co2. Im using Led lights.

My temps hover at 90f and the 2nd led isnt even on yet. Obviously i cant run a ventilation system because ill waste co2. Even 90f is too hot with co2 at 1500ppm. And once the second led kicks in itll be worse.

I need a compact and efficient way to cool my sealed tent for less than 1000$ and i cant find a solution for such a small space.

Can anyone help?

water cooled possibly, take a look at hydro innovations ice box and chiller. I guess they do sell ac units with no exhuast, how that works I don't know. other than that a split system ac but that will run a little more than grand I'd think.

I've got an 8 inch ice box from hydro innovations. I'm not really wanting to run a chiller so I'm putting a large res out in the garage (which gets pretty cold in the winter) and seeing how that may work. The ice box is actually for cooling a light but just circulating in the tent should cool it down. They also sell a one with fan and stand, I think they call it the ice box pro.

Isnt a split system huge?

split Air Conditioning

|FCG|Frank said:

Something has been bugging the shit out of me and I can't figure out a solution.



My current grow is in a sealed 2x4x8 tent. I keep RH at 60% and will supplement co2 with a chhc4 sentinel with bottled co2. Im using Led lights.

My temps hover at 90f and the 2nd led isnt even on yet. Obviously i cant run a ventilation system because ill waste co2. Even 90f is too hot with co2 at 1500ppm. And once the second led kicks in itll be worse.

I need a compact and efficient way to cool my sealed tent for less than 1000$ and i cant find a solution for such a small space.

Can anyone help?

Click to expand...

can you vent your light in a different system? as in a hood cooled light? i have a 2 by 4 with a 600watt hps and can keep it at 80 in the winter, 90 isnt really that bad with co2....

op says led in the first post so I'm assuming there is no air cooled hood.

they come in 12k btu so that isn't going to be real big but installation may not be easy for you. I run co2 and a controller, the controller turns off the co2 and turns on cooling equipment such as an exhaust or intake fan ( I intake in the winter and exhaust in the summer), I feel I minimize my co2 loss by intake instead of exhaust.

shit I just looked at the dimensions of your tent. not much room for anything I'd say.

I think an icebox pro with res outside the tent and a good chiller is an awesome option and itll fit right in the 1000 budget! Ill email hydro innovation apparently they have great support.

A split ac system is Way overkill. Its winter too so installing that will be a nightmare in the snow.

I have no hood either, no. The ice box pro looks like the best option.

http://www.whynter.com/productdetail/air_comfort/portable_air_conditioners/302

Got one of these for 75 bucks on craigslist a couple weeks ago, fucking steal.

Don't have to be this specific model, but I would suggest something like this (portable, 12-14k btu, exhaust hose)

Shop it, youll find a bargain.

EDIT: I would love to get a 6" icebox system so I could run my 600w again, but now is not the time for that kind of start up cost, when I want to convert to RDWC; the chiller will be much more worthy of the buck.

-the boxes themselves can go pretty cheap, again; shop it.

Do you mean to say a chiller is useless for a RDWC or you mean you'd rather save to get a RDWC system?

Because for the money, it looks like it could do the job really well. Investing in a split system to cool a single 2x4' tent is madness imho.

I meant that I will invest into a chiller to water cool my room when I invest in a RDWC as well; the chiller would be a central station for the entire room- my lights, intake, exhaust, Res, the whole gist- all on boxes.

Water is easily the most efficient way to absorb heat and will pay itself off in utility bills, just a lot for startup once you tack on all the important small things (fittings, tube, valves, etc.)

A chiller would be the first thing I'd start shopping for if I got serious about RDWC, but wouldn't invest in one unless I went
recirc. not worth cooling water for a small setup unless your temps are just way out there.

I hear yah on the AC unit, don't know what you mean by "split system," I do know that to use the AC mode of my unit you must exhaust the hot air out via a 4" tube- don't think this would be a big deal since most tents have more than a couple outlets but if you cant find yourself a smaller unit to fit your tent with efficiency then obviously find what sits your scenario.

If you could swing water-cooled, Id be all over it.

Scotch089 said:

I hear yah on the AC unit, don't know what you mean by "split system,"

Click to expand...

Somebody suggested I use a split Air Conditioning system. A split system is this, right?


This thing is AT LEAST 2k for the cheaper ones around here and is not portable at all.

I was actually about to order a 1/15hp chiller to cool the water of my DWC so its at the optimal 65F for O2 exchange. Now I'm thinking about rigging a system with a bigger chiller (1HP say) that would cool both the water in my res AND the air. I bet with 2 6" and a fan I could get this thing roller for not much more than my 1000$ budget and it'd be fully portable.

you'll be needing a stainless steel wort chiller if you wanna do the room with an ice box and the res, the ice box is copper and no good with nutrient. hydro innovations also sells a stainless steel wort chiller of some kind.

one horse chiller sounds kinda big for your plans, I'd do a 1/2 horse myself.

here's what I did for a chiller and res.The way I set it up it constantly circulated from the cooler to chiller and straight back into the cooler, the other set of bulkheads ran a pump that was on a thermostat controller in the room, the fan on the ice box was also cycled by that controller.

What hp is this chiller?

Looks like a nice setup!

thanks. that's a 1/2 horse.

you could probably get away with a smaller cooler and chiller. like 1/4 horse but to make sure always buy bigger. you'll also need to dump the heat from the chiller somewhere.