basement grow, air circulation help.

mattisreal420

Well-Known Member
i just started a new crop in a diffent location in a basement. But i live in a really cold climate and i cannot open the basement window because the air is way too cold comming in, already like 15-25 F. Hade it open a little for a little while and started to give me crazy humidity problems.
I have always hade fresh air vented comming in, in previous grows, but this grow looks like i`ll have to leave the window closed at all times.
Just wondering will this be okay for my crop, with no air from outside comming in?> it is a pretty big basement, and i have an oscilating fan in their and am about to put another one in soon. Can nayone give me some advice if this will okay for my grow? any and all comments and/or suggentions will be greatly appriciated and defiently earn some rep.:hump:
 

nordowell

Active Member
if you air cool the lights bring in from outside over those and it will be warmer air. and what do you consider a humidity problem? do you have a decent exhaust?
 

mattisreal420

Well-Known Member
if i would just leave the basement window open for like 1-2 hours a day would this be sufficent air flow? The crop is only like a few feet from the window.
 

fatman7574

New Member
Bottled CO2 and use a window air conditioner sitting in the room up on concrete blocks as cheap high capacity demumidifier (do not put it in the window as you want it to exhaust indoors).. As long as you do not get rediculous with the CO2 venting will not be necessary, but definitely use a ppm controller reather than just a flow meter/timer/solenoidset up. Remember also that CO2 is demnser than air so the CO2 will sink to the floor so fans should actually sit on the floor and point upward to use the CO2 that has not beeen used. Plus t you want a higher O2 level at the f loor level for your plants roots. The dense CO2 will not rise upstairs as long as the ppm is not grossly high or your homes furnace is not pulling its main circulation air from the basement. Hopefully you have hot water baseboard heat instead. Reads sorta like you live some where like Fairbanks, Alaska.
 

fatman7574

New Member
There is a noted accent, but don't Icelander's normally refer to temperatures in units of degrees celcius instead of degrees farenheit?
 

mattisreal420

Well-Known Member
i am somewhere in the far northern U.S., and the temps get as low as 40 below 0 F here. And BTW i do not have baseboard heat here, i do have a furnace, an oil furnace down in the basement. I plan on making some DIY co2 bottles and buying a co2 bucket, but for now i am leaveing my basement window open for like an hour or 2 a day, and with an ocilating fan in their, i would like to leave it open all day, but like i said when i leave it open for awhile, mixed with my warm air from inside makes my humidity go way up, and my temps go way down.but in anyone`s opinion will this be suffecient air circulation Leaving it open for just an hour or 2 a day? and the crop is just a fwe feet away from window.
 

cheezer

Member
i have the same problem, i'm drawing air into the room threw the basement, drawing the warm c02 rich air in, and blowing it out the basement wondow i have open a crack, i built a box around the window with 4 inchs of foam inside of it, and that has my 6 inch hole cut into it, for the exhaust duct, of course. this is my first go with it like this, i'm hoping i dont get a back draft, it shouldnt, as long as i dont lose power. :^(.. its been pretty cold and so far its working really well, i leaned my fishin boat over the window well for added protection, and if need be i can build something under the boat, i have a lot of that white foam sheets that work great for this stuff.
 
Iv heard Supplying additional CO2 is a hoax and really doesn't do much, your best bet would be to insulate the window so that you can still pump air through it and get one of those bathroom exaust fans and simply draw air from somewhere else in the house. That way you will get warm co2 rich air that isnt too humid and no smells will spread through the house.
 

fatman7574

New Member
Iv heard Supplying additional CO2 is a hoax and really doesn't do much, your best bet would be to insulate the window so that you can still pump air through it and get one of those bathroom exaust fans and simply draw air from somewhere else in the house. That way you will get warm co2 rich air that isnt too humid and no smells will spread through the house.


Ha, ha your funny.

Plants need a constant source of CO2 in order to carry out photo synthesis and for transpiration to be carried out in a normal manner. The higher the temperature the higher the amount of transpiration that must be carried out.

Ambient room air (as well as outdoor air) usually has less than 400 ppm of CO2. A constant CO2 supply od 400 ppm is adequate for low intensity lighting at most. HID lit plants can utilize extra CO2 even at pretty low temperatures. For good grow at temperature above about 65 with intense HID lighting they absolutely need more than 400 ppm of CO2 for optimal growth.

The higher the temperature above that the higher the requirements for more CO2. Bringing in air from other rooms will not supply additional CO2 above the 400 ppm level unless the home is nearly air tight and there are people and animals creating CO2. Studies done in elementary schhols full of childre n show without outside air being drw\awn inyo the buildings during the winter a schools average c CO2 level can rsie to about 1400 ppm by the end of the day. However that is many chilg dren abnd teachers staff etc without a maesuarble percentage of the rea being occuo pied by many growing plants under intense lights. So CO2 might be a good idea depending on the other paramters in the plant growing area.

CO2 supplementation a hoax. Ha, Ha that is funny.
 

mattisreal420

Well-Known Member
well, for now i don`t have any kind of fan in the window pushing it out. i just moved here from over 2,000 miles away and coulden`t bring all my grow supplies, just the basics. I plan on getting more fans, exaust ducts and whatever, but for the next few weeks all i have is just one ocilating fan, as far as fans go. And i get all backdraft in the room from my basement window, i wojuld like to just leave it open for like an hour to 2 hours a day. Anyone know if this would be enough to properly circulate the air? Should i have my osclating fan blowing twords the window when it is open? or turn it off to let fresh air come in? any help would be greatly appriciated. I have always hade a steady supply of fresh air comming in, and going out in all my other grows, but this is the first grow where i have to do something a little diffent. So everyone can see my delima, but if anyone could help me i know it is people here on RIU:hump:
 

mattisreal420

Well-Known Member
have you thought about moving?
movng? moving what, i just moved to this house. And i can`t move just because i am haveing air circulation problems with my grow.
All my past grows have hade excellect circulation, in a much warmer climate, just need advice on my current delima.
 

fatman7574

New Member
In cold climates CO2 supplementation is often used for simple reasons. Heat is money in a cold climate so once you create it you use it unless you have money to throw away. Using this heat means not exhausting it out doors. Not exhausting means no appreciable amount of new air entering the grow area. In cold climates it is also very common to use many water containers in the grow area as heat sinks. This means the heat increases less during the day and drops less at night. Other than HID lighting CO2 is one of the greatest advances for indoor growing economically as it frequently means all the heat produced by growing can be used by the building for heating. I, for an example, live in a very cold climate but use almost no fuel oil for home space heating as nearly all my space heating needs are provided by the grow room. For an example. I use multiple airconditioners. They start out as simple cheap small window air conditioners. I convert uno its for water chillers and also units that typically just run through the summer and occasionally during the winter. There condensors and copressors are out side and they have an electronic unit that governs the condnsor fan so the units can work at up to 45 below zero F. What most people seldom notice is in the wall of the plant room there is also mounted on a shelf. The air conditioner exhausts into the house when that unit runs. It over rides the airconditioner thermostat that has its condensor outside. This simply means that the cooling and dehumification of the grow room supplies heat to the house when the house need it but other wise exhausts rthe heat outside through the regular airconditioner. There is no odor. This costs less to install than a carbon can with fan and thermostat, but yes a 6000 btu widow airconditioners uses more wattage. However the air conditioner dehumidifies, passes no odor, uses no carbon and exhausts none of the CO2.
 
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