Basement in winter... Heating advice

ZiggetyZagg

ZiggetyZagg

Member
This is our first grow. We're growing in a 4*4 tent in the basement. Our temps are great right now. We're at 24/0 so we have to vent the tent to keep us at a comfy 75. Our basement ambient temperature is about 68 right now, but in cold weather ambient gets down to the 50s. We know we're going to need some heat when the weather starts to get cold. We have some floor squares that raise everything off the concrete by a half inch. Right now those are under our seedlings in the drip liner of the tent. When we repot into our 7gal fabric pots, @FluffySquish is leaning toward putting those under the liner with a couple of 20x48 seedling mats on top of those and then the liner on top of the mats to raise the temps. I'm curious if that's a good option. Is it going to be hard on the plants to have their soil sitting on heat mats? Will the seedling mats raise the ambient temperature enough? Is there a better option? I've seen people using oil heaters, but I don't like the idea of those being left running while we're out, and it seems like it would be too close to the kids unless we figure out how to hang it somehow so it's not near anything green. Thoughts? Opinions?
 
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Alphonso OG

Well-Known Member
I run my lights at night time no heater needed for the winters. I do run small electric space heater in the daytime during their dark period. Its just cycles on for short periods. I also i have Govee hygrometer. So I can observe and get alerts about your temps.
 
FluffySquish

FluffySquish

Well-Known Member
Alphonso OG said:
Is your area enclosed?
Click to expand...
No the area is open, tent ~1 ft from nearest wall (that I'm thinking to insulate). And for winter temps think the low 50's. There is furnace vent that can be opened, but I have little faith in our furnace being able to make a big dent at raising the ambient room temp.
 
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Cannabinuck

Well-Known Member
a thick slab of styrofoam under your tent will keep your roots from losing heat and having your air inlet at the top of the tent and outlet at the bottom will pull the waste heat from your lights down through your plants.
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
I assume your house is relatively warmer in winter than your basement?
So run an intake fan from under your ground floor and pump either into basement or direct to the tent.
Some nice chrome vents in your living room floor in 4 corners and draw that air .

If you have the money then insulate the basement
You can insulate the tent so it loses less heat through the walls.
 
Kingsblend420

Kingsblend420

Well-Known Member
ZiggetyZagg said:
This is our first grow. We're growing in a 4*4 tent in the basement. Our temps are great right now. We're at 24/0 so we have to vent the tent to keep us at a comfy 75. Our basement ambient temperature is about 68 right now, but in cold weather ambient gets down to the 50s. We know we're going to need some heat when the weather starts to get cold. We have some floor squares that raise everything off the concrete by a half inch. Right now those are under our seedlings in the drip liner of the tent. When we repot into our 7gal fabric pots, @FluffySquish is leaning toward putting those under the liner with a couple of 20x48 seedling mats on top of those and then the liner on top of the mats to raise the temps. I'm curious if that's a good option. Is it going to be hard on the plants to have their soil sitting on heat mats? Will the seedling mats raise the ambient temperature enough? Is there a better option? I've seen people using oil heaters, but I don't like the idea of those being left running while we're out, and it seems like it would be too close to the kids unless we figure out how to hang it somehow so it's not near anything green. Thoughts? Opinions?
Click to expand...

This $47 space heater from amazon works awesome in my 4x4. Easy to dial in what you are looking for.

 
Oakiey

Oakiey

Well-Known Member
Run two tents opposite of each other so they can can keep each other warm.

That way your not throwing money away running s heater
 
FluffySquish

FluffySquish

Well-Known Member
Cannabinuck said:
a thick slab of styrofoam under your tent will keep your roots from losing heat and having your air inlet at the top of the tent and outlet at the bottom will pull the waste heat from your lights down through your plants.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a decent start, I can drop the scrubber to the floor and have it pull from there but, we'll still need help keeping the heat up during the dark hours.
I like the idea of the seedling mats providing a baseline temperature. Would we need to worry that the roots would get too warm?
 
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