Anyone use an air conditioner to cool grow space?

This is a crazy question, but i was wondering if anyone has ever used thier in home AC to cool down thier small grow area?

i was thinking of routing one of the vents into the closet for some cool air flow to off set some of the heat/burn i am getting.

good or bad idea?

I've seen window air conditioners blowing right into the grow room. The room had three, 1000 watters going. No problem with heat.

Vi

yes 10,000 btu in 12x10 with 3k of light is no heat issue

killertomatoes, are you not already having trouble getting rid of heat from your CF lamps?

Aircon units only move heat from one place to another- and generate quite a bit of heat on their own. They do not make heat disappear. The heat must be put somewhere, normally into the airmass outside the building you are trying to cool.

Where were you planning to put the heat from both your CFs AND an aircon unit?

KT, your solution is to vent heat by moving your grow room air into another airspace, like an adjoining large room (which is itself well ventilated) or an attic. You might indeed need to cut a hole for a fan & ducting, hopefully so you can dump air into an airspace like an attic.

You just can't grow in a sealed closet, simple as that. A grow needs a really rather large amount of fresh air, much more than you can fit inside the building you live in- unless you live in a blimp hangar...

Your grow needs a ventilation system which is capable of moving about 3-5x the room volume worth of FRESH air in 3-5 mins max. It needs ducting which prevents re-drawing 'used' air back into the grow.

If I recall correctly, your room temps are running at 85F. TOO HOT! Your growth will be stretchy and buds will be fluffy and sparse. Must bring those temps down to about 80F max, more like 75-77 as an average.

Your problem is both where you are getting your fresh air from and where you are dumping your warm, moist air. Your temps are too high because you're re-drawing your warmed air into the grow.

Remember, fans move air- but they don't cool anything. People say they feel cooler when a fan is pointed at them because we warm-blooded people generate body heat and evaporate moisture from our skins. The evaporating water takes some heat with it, giving you the perception that you feel cooler.

If, in a sealed room, you point a fan at an object which is not generating heat (like a plant), it will remain at the temp of the air going through the fan. The fan's motor will actually be adding heat to the air in this sealed airspace.

Requirement #1 for any grow op is the ability to vent heat and draw in fresh, cool, CO2-rich air that cannot be cycled back through the grow.

Returning to the aircon question for a moment, yes- lots of grows use aircon, especially those which employ CO2 enrichment. However, even a very small aircon unit will use quite a lot of power- haven't seen any which draw much less than about 5 amps. When used for many hours per day to cool a grow op, aircon can get VERY expensive.

al B, that was some deep shix. thanks for the explanation. I was thinking, rather than putting in an AC unit I would rig the house AC unit to blow from the cieling vent into the closet, thus filling the space with cooler air and saving me money and effort. however, from your explanation I might find that running the AC a little more into just the room could help with the circulation of hot air.
your explanation hit on point about the need for circulation, these damn lights make the room hotter and since the door to the room is always shut, the closet can heat up the room in only a few hours.
I have some homework to do with this... ill post my solution its found.

"A grow needs a really rather large amount of fresh air, much more than you can fit in buliding you live in- unless you live in a blimp hangar..."

Sup Al B,

Man you had me cracking up when I read that, as a matter of fact when I got down to reading that part I was taking a hit from my pipe and launched the bud on the floor ( luckily I recovered most of it ) when I started laughing and I almost choked to death on weed smoke, well I'm gonna go finish this bowl off!

peace
k-town

No but yes im going to this summer one of thos portible ones

Sharing the cooling system with the rest of the house will work to keep your temps down, but it will also make the rest of the house smell like a grow op. If that's no problem, have at it. I'd be piping some cool air directly into the grow rather than trying to rely on an open closet door.

yeah but for some ppl they have a room for growing so its more convenient for a seperate conditioner like your op

cali-high said:

No but yes im going to this summer one of thos portible ones

Click to expand...

Portable a/c units still need to dump the heat they remove from the air. They usually do this with a roughly dryer-vent sized duct run to a nearby window.

Some have two ducts, one for an air intake to cool the condenser unit and one heat exhaust. If the portable a/c unit has only a heat exhaust, it's using some of the air-conditioned indoor air to cool itself, which will get blown out the single duct hose. This reduces efficiency quite a bit- two duct portable systems are preferable.

Portable type a/c units are really quite inefficient compared to a standard window-type aircon unit. However, in the last few years, I've seen some new 'split system' portables in the shops which are much more efficient than the traditional single-unit portables with duct hoses. The indoor and outdoor units in such portables are permanently connected together, but the function and efficiency is more like a typical permanently installed aircon unit with outdoor compressor unit. They're just about double the cost of a permanent system, though!

I bought a porta aircon that workED quite well, i need to send it in, it's a factory defect, motor stopped running. uses the power of water evaporation to cool, 75watts, and depending on factorys you need to fill it probobly at the least every 3 days if running it 12 hours per day.

killertoms , great thread

albfuct, great info on cooling grow area

im using home a.c. venting from celling to bottom corner of grow room, then fan to move across plants

o.k. for me....check out my gallery and grow let me know what you think

russ0r said:

I bought a porta aircon that workED quite well, i need to send it in, it's a factory defect, motor stopped running. uses the power of water evaporation to cool, 75watts, and depending on factorys you need to fill it probobly at the least every 3 days if running it 12 hours per day.

Click to expand...

If it only drew 75 watts, it was not an air conditioner. 75 watts would not run an a/c compressor. It was most likely a device called a 'swamp cooler,' which evaporates water into the air to lower the air temp a few degrees. However, swamp coolers also raise the humidity a LOT... not so good in a grow room, which will already have more humidity than it needs.

In swamp coolers or aircon units with water evaporator assisted cooling, make SURE you always only use distilled water in them. Minerals in tap water will kill those coolers in short order (don't ask how I know.... )

i have a wall unit in my room but no vent do i need one. I have pics if you wqant to see and please ...............what venting should I do??

Al B., where do you suggest to get COOL FRESH air from if you live in a hot climate....especially in summer?

I am going to exhaust into a insulated attic with a filter, and also have a UV bulb on in the attic.

I have central air in the 9x8 area. Need an intake for 2 1000w (flower) and 1 600 W (Veg)

I can take from either outside or the attic. The attic is where the system exhausts into also, after going through a carbon filter and having the Ozone on in the Attic. Also have a vent fan in the attic to exchange air which is definitely worth mentioning.

I was going to put a AC in the room to assist if needed. But I guess I see my problem as being where to get fresh AND cool air.....outside or the attic. I could try to pull from another room in the house but Id prefer to limit the construction to the attic and grow room.

Soooooo...what do you think?

Is there a system to determine how many BTU"s you need per light or sq ft. I have a room 20 by 15 with 7 1k lights, and I want to a run a window ac into the room next door and then cirlculate that air into grow room. THanks

7 1k's? I am having a hard time with cooling 2. I have to see how you work this out.

Iam running ducting from my window AC unit into my grow closet. Should my AC ducting enter my grow closet at the top of the closet or the bottom of the closet. My exhaust fan is at the top of the closet so Iam concerned that my exhaust fan will exhaust my AC air as soon as it comes into my closet at the top.

abudsmoker said:

yes 10,000 btu in 12x10 with 3k of light is no heat issue

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We actually sell split air conditioners, which a lot of people use as a semi-permanent setup, for ventilation, heating and cooling. Because they are equipped with a heat pump and air conditioner, it makes it really easy to control indoor temperature, regardless of outdoor temperature. A lot of growers pick these up for their rooms, and typically 12000btu is very popular for small-mid size room. Others on larger scale have even gone as far as multiple 24000btu, but that is more industrial.

You can check out this split unit, usually runs for $699 which is a great price when you compare to other portable or window products, at least if you want something good. This is what a lot of our customers install for their rooms http://www.sogoodtobuy.com/senville-leto-9000btu-p/senl9000.htm