Exhaust fan and air cooled light question

Pistols&Crystals

Pistols&Crystals

Active Member
Hey RIU farmers!

I'm planning out my first grow and I'm drawing it up on paper. I've read up a lot on here but I have a question that I can't find the answer to. A little background info- I'm going to grow in a shed outside and build a cabinet/room inside of it. I plan on using 2 400w air cooled lamps. The intake will be from outside of the shed into the cabinet. I'm confused on how to set up the intake/exhaust fans for the lamps.

Where should I get my intake for the lamps? Can it be from inside of the shed/outside of the cabinet, assuming it wont get too hot in there? Can it be from the inside of the cabinet through the lamps and out of the shed? (which would double as the exhaust from the lamps and cabinet)

All input appreciated!
 
H

hydro is best

Member
air cooled lights.jpg
Pistols&Crystals said:
Also is an inline booster fan a good idea between the 2 lights? Found here:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=6+inch+inline+fan&gs_upl=13003l16192l0l17125l8l7l1l0l0l2l323l1390l0.4.2.1l8l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1063&bih=680&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=15837863134232157138&sa=X&ei=8_SZTpvtB6aMigLM_725DQ&ved=0CFgQ8wIwAQ#ps-sellers
Click to expand...
I am new to growing indoors as well, but have done junkloads of research this past 2 months on the setup i am prepearing, plus i have a mech eng diploma. So i hope this isn't completely useless...

I live in BC where there is only one distinct outdoor growing season, so i decided to put together 4 scenarios for the different conditions and variables concerned with humidity and temperature changes.

During the spring and fall it will probably be okay to draw air directly from outside to cool the lights. But for the hotter seasons (70-110F) I plan to use a homemade air chiller, constructed out of an old beer cooler filled with cooling medium (ice) to mix and dehumidify the air. Winter time I will use a regular tote to mix the outside air that could be cold enough to crack or damage the light. Just cut out 3 holes in a tote and run your inlet ducting right thru it, one hole is for the air inlet fan (PC fan)

I got a single 600w HPS air cooled reflector on the way, and those inline fans are exactly what I'm using... except i live in canada so everything costs fucking 3x more...

If you plan to run an inlet/exhaust for fresh air and for your air cooled lights. (4 ducts in total) Make sure to have the hot air ones exiting above the inlet ducts, or else your gonna suck up all the heat you just discharged from the light. In other words use all 4 corners of your window.

Hope my attachment shows up and this was of some help,

Edit: note on the drawing i have 2 locations of 4" ducting rather than the 6" your using everywhere else, just to pressurize the system a little bit. you will need a T and a gate to dictate flow if you decide to use the air chamber

cheers
 
Pistols&Crystals

Pistols&Crystals

Active Member
Thanks for the reply, I'll definitely take that into consideration. With the homemade air cooler, are you planning on just running ducting straight through it, or have the inlet of the ducting sucking air from inside of the cooler?

Does anyone else have input on their setup what works/doesn't?
 
C

chasmtz

Active Member
your best bet is to draw air from the coolest source, either outside the cab or outside the whole area, whichever is cooler. Pull it through the hoods, into the fan, and outside of the shed. Straight forward and simple. Keep the ducting as straight, tight, short as possible. STRAIGHT is the key, bends have massive impact on air flow
 
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