Cheapest heating for grow tent?

currently have a 5x5 and a veg tent beside it 4x4. just got a space heater in the 5x5 problem is power bill came $550 lol
my tents are in the garage in colder temps in canada and its winter.
would it be cheaper for me to crank my garage heater since it uses natural gas?
how are the tube heaters can they handle 5x5 and 4x4
i heat the 5x5 and it blows into the 4x4 but still not enough heat.

Gas heat is always gonna be more effecient, but that means heating the whole garage and will depend how well its insulated. On the plus side since it would be inside a larger heated area the temps would be more stable in the tent I would have to assume.

could i get away with temps at 21 degrees? i feel like my garage heater only kicks in for 2-3 minutes for the whole garage where these 500watt and 1500watt space heater seems to almost always be on trying to reach 25-26degree temps

hoots123 said:

could i get away with temps at 21 degrees? i feel like my garage heater only kicks in for 2-3 minutes for the whole garage where these 500watt and 1500watt space heater seems to almost always be on trying to reach 25-26degree temps

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You can get away with 21°C. 18°C - 26°C is your safe zone. A couple minutes of gas heat vs constant electrical heat is obviously going to be cheaper. Does Canada have R ratings for insulation?

if you heat the garage to 21 I would bet your lighting will take care of the rest in the tent. Depending on lights and ventilation I suppose. But I am a newb. I am keeping my house around 22 and with one T5 I'm at 24 in the tent.

This is getting me by....

Here....Warming air for flower room intake using an oil filled heater. Gentle breeze across radiator with small fan.

are the oil heaters still expensive to run? old lady wants to kick my ass for the power bill the last 2 months

if you are using LED, switching to Hps might let you get away with just turning your exhaust down
... "canada and its winter" ooooooh i hear that gets below zero. maybe not

1k de

hoots123 said:

are the oil heaters still expensive to run? old lady wants to kick my ass for the power bill the last 2 months

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All heaters are considered 100% efficient since all energy is going to heating.
Its just a case of what is cheaper to run per kilowatt hour, usually its gas.

Typically space heaters are 1000-2000w, oil filled rads are 300-1000w , tube heaters wouldn't touch the sides in your situation , 30-150w.
Depends what you need.

Insulation is a must, even on the floor if its concrete. Running multiple lights at different times can help, having veg tents running 20/4 and venting into your flower space will keep it warmer. I have done that for years and it didn't cause me any humidity problems. But that's my climate and not yours.

Switching to HPS lighting in the cold season would have to be the cheapest way wouldn't it?

Might be using HPS already?

Theres a pretty neat trick where you have the tent thats on exhaust through the tent thats off to help keep it warm. if both tents are 12/12 you have 2 fans that switch on/off when each tent goes to sleep to pull the heat from the on tent through the off ten

also some people put big sheets of foam board under their tents and big heating pads on top, under the tent

if you could directly duct the ports to your house would be ideal! I would worry about condensation if the garage is very cold though

you could frame a room in the garage or insulate it better too.

any heating bill is expensive when the heat is flying out that leaky garage door/ uninsulated garage walls. If the garage walls arent finished start by insulating. I wonder if a temporary "zip" enclosure would be the easiest

Infra red quartz space heater if u want efficiency.

I keep my garage at 15c, I have a gas stove,gas bbq, two house furnaces, all NG and Im in Canada.My bill is $140 a month avg in winter.Yes turn your garage heat up and get rid of the elec heat.

You can also change out your thermostat in the garage so it runs longer between cycles.More efficiency this way,Cant remember what its called but theres a bar you can slide up/down to space the cycles.I have mine on max so my temps swing more rather then run only for 3 minutes off for 5 kinda thing.

coreywebster said:

having veg tents running 20/4 and venting into your flower space will keep it warmer.

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This is exactly what I do. In my veg tent, I've got a 400W cooltube running 24/0 with a 6" duct with pantyhose at one end, and the other ducted to the bottom of my flower tent. My inline fan, through a carbon filter pulls air through the flower lamp via passive intakes in the tent, one of those passive intakes being the 6" duct from the veg tent, then expels it outside. I do not heat the surrounding room, which is a consistent 50F.

When lights are off in flower, the heat brought in from the veg tent keep the flower tent a nice 62F.

Currently I run HLG- 600 LED in summer its too hot. I vent the flower tent into my veg tent but seems like it cools down too low on the veg side. maybe i will try Styrofoam under the flower and veg tent to keep it a bit warmer. it looks kind of funny. the flower tent is sucking inward and the veg tent is bloating outward. i have a 6 inch inline fan but setting is on lowest i can go and honestly feels like its too powerful still. im using a 5x5 tent but have it extended to the 9'6 hieght.
could I maker the inline fan take a 30 minute break then 30 minutes on? maybe gets the heat up a bit in the flower tent rather then both tents running space heaters?
my last go will be frame in the tents to there own room I guess. taking up enough of my garage as it is.