How can I make my grow tent setup more efficient?

[Zeke92]

Hey fellas,

Im having an issue now that the weather is getting warmer in my country, at first it was enough to keep the window open but now the temp in my tent starts to hang around 86 F. Thats not good I need to get it lower. Especially when the summer's comin and the weather's only gono get hotter.
I just read that having bends in ducting is bad for airflow, but theres no way I cud put carbon scrubber-->ducted to-->aircooled hood-->ducted to-->inline fan--> ducted outside of tent from top hole and into other room, in a straight line, there just aint no space for that in my 3.280 x 3.280 x 6.56 feet grow tent. Any suggestions?

 

[Zeke92]

Anyone??

 

[greenlikemoney]

If the inline fan is INSIDE your tent you are adding heat to your tent. Move that inline fan outside your tent, less heat and more room.

 

[cflGROWERanon]

Hi, I'll try and help you out there but I'm gonna have to be blunt and might need further answers from you but here we go.
Firstly (blunt time) your setup is horrible and highly inefficient. The inline fan mentioned above created little to no heat so that is not your problem.
What size is your tent?
Do you have an additional inline fan?
Are you still veggin or in 12/12?

Basically, your tent looks small and all those bends in your ducting result in little air flow making it highly inefficient, you need to run the carbon filter to it's own inline and your aircooled hood through it's own inline also.
Also, you need to vent out of a window or into the chimney, not back into the same room the tent is in.
If you are in 12/12, run lights on say between 7pm-7am so you miss the hottest parts of the day.

you could even be better off just connecting your carbon filter>ducting>inline fan>ducting>out of tent>window
and not cool your light till you have the means and space.

 

[Zeke92]

I only have one inline fan and dont have the means to buy another one atm. In the hydro shop they said my scrubber 425m3/h and inline fan 380m3/h is enough for my ~10 sq foot tent which is bout 6,5ft tall. And I only have the ducting shown in the pic and one 3,2ft piece outside the tent which is lead to the other room. So im not exhausting in the same room. I live in a two room apartment.
Not having anything pullin air outta my 600w hps is gono produce a whole lotta heat?

 

[Zeke92]

And Im on early veg, 18/6 schedule. I "main-lined"all of my 4 girls so they're gono take more time in veg than normal.

 

[rollajoint]

Hi mate . You asked a question & to be honest he's correct you got soo much going on it will not work it's best . I have a 6 inch blockbuster hood with a 6" fan on top of my tent just sitting there blowing that heat straight out from the hood & out the window . I have 5" intake coming into the tent which is a must . & then outside my tent in the room I have an 8" fan with carbon filter attached just doing its thing . Which will only be used later on in flower .

 

[Zeke92]

U have an 8" inch fan attached to carbon filter which is ducted to inside of tent?

 

[Zeke92]

All I want to know is if I can have enuf airflow with one inline fan, dont have bucks to buy another which costs more than 200$ here.

 

[Zeke92]

N my intake is just the tent flaps near the floor

 

[cflGROWERanon]

Zek, you can accomplish this if you stop doubting so much. As you said, you have a tall tent, so the majority of the heat will be at the top, If you run your light uncooled and have it say 1.5ft away from the canopy and run your inline and scrubber alone, you should see better temps than your getting now.
Also, I need to call you up on your inline and scrubber which now also seem inefficient, you say your scrubber needs 425m3/h while the inline fan pulling it is only 380m3/h. This leads me to believe that your inline is not powerful enough to pull from your tent and also your filter, it cannot and is not possible or efficient. If you are not in flowering, remove your carbon filter and just let the inline run by itself. You need a more powerful inline to pull through your filter and create the negative flow needed, you can then use your current inline to pull your hood.

 

[Zeke92]

What I meant was that the maximum air it pulls is 380m3/h and the carbon scrubber max is actually 350-360m3/h not 425 (got that wrong). Didnt mean that those r the numbers they Need to pull. Before starting my grow I researched that a 350m3/h inline fan is the minimum for the tent I got, so 380 shud b enuf?

 

[Squidbilly]

What are the temps in the room that the tent is in? Is it in an air conditioned room like a spare bedroom or something?

If your ducting hot air into another room and your fans/air cooled hood are working properly, it should be fairly easy to keep the temps in your tent about the same as the room it is in, maybe a few degrees hotter.

Someone else already said it but you should really have a fan for exhaust, and a fan for your air cooled hood. An intake fan doesn't hurt either, in fact an active intake is much better then a passive one, and in my experience forcing fresh air in the tent as opposed to just sucking it through the screens seams to keep temps down much better.

I had my tent set up the way yours is; scrubber>fan>duct>hood>duct>out the tent. It is horribly inefficient but I know many people who run the exact same set-up, using 1 fan for both their carbon scrubber and hood.

I was having the same issues you are until I brook down and bought another fan just for my air cooled hood-that was years ago and I'll never even try to run my scrubber and hood on the same fan.

Every tent should really have a fan for exhaust, a fan for your air cooled hood, and a fan for intake-all of them on fan speed controllers so you have complete control over your environment.

P.S. AN ACTIVE INTAKE WOULD ENABLE YOU TO POSSIBLY SUCK AIR INTO THE TENT FROM A COOLER ROOM IN YOUR HOUSE, if that was an option.

 

[Squidbilly]

I would get the most powerful fan you can and put it on a fan speed controller. Don't skimp on your fans and always get a bigger one then you think you need-as soon as you hook duct up to it, create bends in the line, attach a scrubber to it, the cfms droop dramatically.

 

[Squidbilly]

Shit, is your fan AFTER the scrubber and hood? If so it should go...

Carbon Scrubber>Inline fan>hood>out of the tent. You should be sucking air through your carbon filter with the fan almost attached to it, then blowing air through your hood and out of your tent, not sucking air through the filter, then through the hood, then through the fan and out of your tent.

People may disagree with me but you should always be blowing air through your hood, not sucking it through. Also, you don't want the really hot air from your light going through your fan constantly-it will shorten the life of your fan.

So, I would change your set up a little bit and see if it helps. Scrubber>fan>hood> (>=the direction of air flow)

 

[Squidbilly]

And instead of making an 'S' with all your ducting, move your carbon filter to the other side of the tent and make it more or less a straight line out of your tent, does that make sense? Turn your carbon filter around, put your fan almost immediately after it, run duct from your fan to your hood, and duct from your hood out of your tent. Everything should make a 'U' rather then an 'S'

 

[Zeke92]

Thats the optimal setup, to have a fans for all of them separately, buying all that is a different story lol. I considered buying an intake fan that'd blow air in the tent, that doesnt cost that much. But I got a long way til flower so I think I'll have the means to get more fans by then.

 

[Zeke92]

Oh thats better? Yea the site I got the setup idea from said that sucking air thru the hood is better than blowing thru? I gotta take more pics of the whole tent for u to get a better idea.

 

[rollajoint]

I thought blowing over the light & out is better ? I can't see it making mch a difference anyway the fact is mate & I know it's not ideal for you but you need another fan mate . Don't get me wrong it's not essential well actually to me it would be . Hope it works brother .

 

[justugh]

here is the best tricks i know so far

1 like they say always have the carbon filter ducting hood ducting fan ducting to ejection point
2 u can make a filter box for a powered intake .....this helps alot cost is 50 bucks with 18 bucks for replacement filters every 90 days

to make your system give u better stuff look into adding C02 ..............join your local beer brewers club and use mash buckets for that/wine/moonshine...............but the best is to get a Co2 tank for a small tent if it was a bigger room a burner unit is the better choice