Safest way to heat a tent

I am setting up a tent in my garage. The garage is detached and I heated. Yesterday was approx 10deg F and my grow tent was approx 35 degrees when I measured it. I have seedling ready to put in but that is way to cold. I have led lights so they won't produce much heat.

What is the safest way to heat the tent? I don't want to create a fire hazard
 

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
I used a pelonis mini electric and it really impressed me. Those oil ones have worked too. neither has failed me
 

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
Are you using that in the tent or heating the area around the tent?
Neither for years, I built a dedicated steel building with grow rooms inside.
When I did use these heaters they were inside of the tent. if the space that the tent is housed in ....is not insulated..
these heaters will be useless..outside of the tent.
 
Neither for years, I built a dedicated steel building with grow rooms inside.
When I did use these heaters they were inside of the tent. if the space that the tent is housed in ....is not insulated..
these heaters will be useless..outside of the tent.
Wouldn't it be a fire hazard in the tent?
 

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
Wouldn't it be a fire hazard in the tent?
yeah, thats what made it so exciting !:fire::P I'd suppose sparking a 1000 metal halide light and ballast inside of a plastic tent would be hazardous too. I wouldnt store my balled up news papers in front of the blower, but thats just me.
back to the safest way to heat......insulate your garage, professionally install baseboard heaters or a furnace if able. i'm partial to electric heat, but bias too, my whole estate is electric, no gas, no propane. some solar, small propane for c02 gen.

or build a smaller subspace with those amenities, put your tent in there, like a corner of the garage
 

Jaybodankly

Well-Known Member
A small electric heater that has a thermostat plugged into a GFI circuit. Use a heavy extension cord if you need one. As a further safety device my lights and fans are plugged into a Inkbird thermostat with cutoff switch. I set the high temp @ 90 degrees. As soon as the sensor reads 90 degrees power to the room is shut off. You could do the same with the heater.
 

brewbeer

Well-Known Member
Insulate the space around the tent with thick foam board and the light might provide enough heat.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
One big problem with a tent in a cold space is when you have to have the door open to work on your plants. All your heat is lost immediately and depending how long you have it open your plants aren't going to like it.

If your light is enough to keep the temps right then you could veg 24/7 but when it comes time to flower you are going to need a heater for the dark period. Any electric heater will work and aren't that dangerous as long as you keep flammables away from it and have your circulation fan going all the time. Some heaters can be hung from the roof but many have safety switches built in and have to be sitting on a hard, level surface to work. Even ones that don't have that feature still have a tip-over switch in them and must be level to work. Oil filled heaters take a while to warm up so the instant on types are better for something like a tent.

Another consideration is how your exhaust fan functions. If it's on all the time you may not be able to keep the tent warm. It needs a heat/RH controller on it so it only comes on when the heat or RH gets above the settings you put it on. Your electric use for the tent will double without one. A speed controller helps too so the fan isn't blasting full on when it runs. It will suck in cold air so fast that the temp will go too low, too fast and the heater will kick in.

You can buy a baseboard heater thermostat and build one to plug your heater in if it doesn't have a thermostat of it's own. Even if it does they don't work so great so having one that you can have some distance from the heater works a lot better. I use all that stuff and it works great to keep my grow room temps nice and even with the lights on or off.

My speed controller is the little box on the left of the heat/RH controller box and I made a similar one for the baseboard thermostat that controls the heater. Pick up the parts at any hardware store. For the speed controller you need a ceiling fan controller and not a light dimmer.

FanControl.jpg

It would help if you can insulate the tent or build a cheap particle board, (OSB), room around the tent so you don't get a blast of cold air into your tent every time the door is open. And don't vent your exhaust into an unheated attic as the moisture will condense up there and melt in the spring. I tried it so I know not to do that. :)
 
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