Design advice?

jake.snake83

Well-Known Member
I have a basement room that is 15x10. In it 9x9 is sealed off for flower and an ac unit mounted in the window of the room. It blows constantly just to keep it semi-cool, mid 70s, 80s at the canopy "/

I have 3 600w and 1 1000w light. Im only using the 1k to flower for some reason, and a 600 for veg in a 3x3 tent seperate from the 9x9. (Kinda confusing). Anyway, what would you do in your opinion? I am thinking i cannot keep the temps down enough to fill the flower room like i wish i could....would you make a sog setup with ebb tables and clone tons off mothers? Bc a 3x3 veg room is too small and suxk for that....anyone have any idears?
 

Marty Wanna

Active Member
What I would do is pretty much what you have going already If I have it straight,

You have a veg room , a bloom room, and a nursery for moms and clones. The nursery should only have some Florescent tubes going. maybe a shelf with a small t5 fixture for clone humidors. The bloom room might be pumping 1 Kw beastie in 12/12.the 600w can be used in the veg room on 16/8. I've seen pretty respectable results with straight T5s too.

I usually grow from seed everytime. That;s because I'm a sucker for the lifecycle of cannabis plants. So many cool things happen to the plant as it matures. the coolest phenomenon so far is the clear evidence of Prime numbers in the fractal geometry.of the plants structure. Another very odd phenomenon that I have observed, tested and proven, but still can't believe, is the effect of different forms of sound on the plant's growth. Freakin weird!

now filling the room just for the sake of filling the room IMHO, is a waste of the potential of the plants to fill the space like THEY want to. these plants get HUUGE if you let 'em. try just doing like four or six plants at a time in your rooms, you'll have less stress, less work, and can play closer attention to the individual plants.

peace

MW
 

nobody important

Active Member
JIJI got it right. Vent out lights out of the room using an intake and exhaust. I would slap the (2) 600 watters right side by side instead of the 1000 watt unless if you are growing trees. right now the best you can do is a minisplit though. your window unit will leak smell out and will leak your co2 if you ever add any
 

jake.snake83

Well-Known Member
I have air cooled hoods, they just are still cooking hot.....indoor growing just isnt made to be easy i guess....
I was worried about the ac leaking smell, as my neighboring house is only 20 ft away...it runs constantly too, even when it is 32 deg outside. It has a closed vent option on it, hope its working...
I noticed 600s are way cooler and still penetrate pretty nicely, i ran 2 600s few months ago and only yielded 20 oz dry off 10 plants. Thats not enough bud imo....i am trying co2 bags this time, maybe they are worth it. Also switching to ebb/flow hydroton tables from soil; hope the yield increases with lolipops.

I may sing to my plants and see if they dance, yelling at them doesnt make them grow faster tho....what is a mini-split good for?
 

nobody important

Active Member
I have air cooled hoods, they just are still cooking hot.....indoor growing just isnt made to be easy i guess....
I was worried about the ac leaking smell, as my neighboring house is only 20 ft away...it runs constantly too, even when it is 32 deg outside. It has a closed vent option on it, hope its working...
I noticed 600s are way cooler and still penetrate pretty nicely, i ran 2 600s few months ago and only yielded 20 oz dry off 10 plants. Thats not enough bud imo....i am trying co2 bags this time, maybe they are worth it. Also switching to ebb/flow hydroton tables from soil; hope the yield increases with lolipops.

I may sing to my plants and see if they dance, yelling at them doesnt make them grow faster tho....what is a mini-split good for?
you said earlier that you are using 1 1000 to flower. ( 2 ) 600 watt side by side (touching) will give you a lot more light in your areas than 1 1000 watt ever will. Even if you are growing trees. Do not try CO2 bags. they work about as good as you singing to them. Even a CO2 tank will be leaked out of your window unit. Ive never seen a window unit that is fully sealed off (dividing outside from inside). there is always going to be somewhere the smell will leak out. A minisplit divides your 2 AC components. It places the condenser(compressor) outside, while leaving you the evaporator (part the cools air) inside. With this setup, you drill one small hole 2-4" (depending on models instructions) and run all the copper tubing and water drain out thru this hole. Then you seal hole. Nothing escapes. Well almost nothing. Technically smell can escape thru the water drainage port. you can always leave this inside of run dripping into a huge bucket. Just change bucket often or you will have a huge mess in your room if you dont. also get one with an inverter compressor (usually $100 - $200 more). This is for energy efficiency and you will recover the additional cost after just 2-3 grows from the energy saved. Do not go to hydro until you feel like youve "mastered" soil. most never master soil and simply think switching to hydro will help them. IT WONT. It will simply set you back even more. And for crying out loud DO NOT get a stand up unit.
 

jake.snake83

Well-Known Member
I use a 6" 440 cfm fan, but i just have a carbon filter attached to it and it just lay in the floor facing up. Its not even connected to anythin....i want to up wattage to 2k or even 2800 watts light but idk if i could swing all that.. a window unit shouldnt leak smell, i mounted it in and caulked/sealed everything up...i wonder how strong the smell actually is bc when one is around it all the time it just misses the radar to be honest.

I want to try hydro bc i heard it just makes a stronger/pinier smelling bud; id like to achieve medical quality like the commercial stuff i always see... if it can handle all those ppms and not burn up. That or i havent mastered my organic soil grows yet. It was good quality, but a darker green/muskier smelling dank.

Thx for the advice, if i could afford a mini split id get one, but ill just see what happens with everything.
 
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TubePot

Well-Known Member
this will build up massive amounts of heat. IF room is enclosed, it will eventually ruin compressor
I'm assuming the unit in his window isn't that big.
I ran 2 - 33,000 BTU Ac's into a NON enclosed 10x12 room for 4 years with no problems. Common sense goes a long way.

How big is the Ac in your window?
 

nobody important

Active Member
I use a 6" 440 cfm fan, but i just have a carbon filter attached to it and it just lay in the floor facing up. Its not even connected to anythin....i want to up wattage to 2k or even 2800 watts light but idk if i could swing all that.. a window unit shouldnt leak smell, i mounted it in and caulked/sealed everything up...i wonder how strong the smell actually is bc when one is around it all the time it just misses the radar to be honest.

I want to try hydro bc i heard it just makes a stronger/pinier smelling bud; id like to achieve medical quality like the commercial stuff i always see... if it can handle all those ppms and not burn up. That or i havent mastered my organic soil grows yet. It was good quality, but a darker green/muskier smelling dank.

Thx for the advice, if i could afford a mini split id get one, but ill just see what happens with everything.
as in raising eyebrows, find out if you have a smart meter that can constantly communicate back with the utility company. My smart meter does not do this. The utility company has to send a driver that parks on the side of the road. he then runs a software program on a special laptop that communicates with all the houses within a mile radius. The software program just uploads all of the peoples power consumption for that month and then he moves on. its all automated. No human being ever sees my power consumption and the laptop only alerts for abnormal use. I personally know my utility guy. He says the red flags come in at around 4xs what they believe you should be using and their first assumption is faulty equipment (meter, transformer, etc). I have run a 3 bedroom house before at 3k flowering and 600 watt veg. power bill was coming at over $500 during summertimes while all neighbors may have capped off at $200. did this for years. However if you have a smart meter that can constantly communicate I would be scared as hell to even run 2k total As in caulking to seal ac unit, take that ac units entire housing apart. You will see many areas where anything can leak inside of the ac units housing between outside and inside. wires have to be ran from lcd display to back compressor and fan (this is just one example of where smell will leak out. there will be plenty others). after years of growing, Organic soils suck. before doing hydro, try promix bx (pure peat with some perlite and myco and nothing else) and use hydro nutrients due to promix having no calcium. add a lot more perlite. This is basically passive hydro and will help you transition better to full blown hydroponics. Organic soils are hard to control. You are the mercy of the company who mixed your soil
 

nobody important

Active Member
about power consumption... wanted to add a buddy of mine really pushed the boundaries with this. He only got caught because the transformer blew up twice in a month from his over excessive draw. transformers feed multiple houses. he forgot this evidently.
 

jake.snake83

Well-Known Member
Ya my bill is usually around 300, but its all consolidated into one cmpny (water,gas, elec). I read some about those smart meters, i wont worry unless im hitting 5k watts or more...ppl mining coins use more than that...lol ya blowing a xformer definitely not good practices there or something....
 

jake.snake83

Well-Known Member
I'm assuming the unit in his window isn't that big.
I ran 2 - 33,000 BTU Ac's into a NON enclosed 10x12 room for 4 years with no problems. Common sense goes a long way.

How big is the Ac in your window?
Its really big whatever it is....it came w/the house, it was meant to cool the whole basement, it must be high btu.
Ya the heat id say is the hardest part of the whole thing...especially for reserviors, starts getting expensive to cool it all...
I envy those lucky peeps w/huge greenhouses going...
100 sq ft to flower in gets feeling small after a few wks
 

nobody important

Active Member
Ya my bill is usually around 300, but its all consolidated into one cmpny (water,gas, elec). I read some about those smart meters, i wont worry unless im hitting 5k watts or more...ppl mining coins use more than that...lol ya blowing a xformer definitely not good practices there or something....
LMAO when you mentioned bitcoins. believe it or not I have huge magnetic stickers on the sides of my truck advertising a nonexistent bitcoin consulting company that just has my cel number on it.. I do still own a few BTC i never cashed in and i do get calls once in awhile in which I explain to people what bitcoins are. The sticker is simply on my truck in case if I did draw attention to my self. :) As in my buddy, he was only at around 8kw, My guess is that there were just too many houses drawing off that one transformer and both times they blew around peak consumption times (dinner time)
 
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jijiandfarmgang

Well-Known Member
:) As in my buddy, he was only at around 8kw, My guess is that there were just too many houses drawing off that one transformer and both times they blew around peak consumption times (dinner time)
8kw isn't all that much, or at least shouldn't be blowing transformers. Sounds strange that he did it twice. Could you tell us what he got caught means?

High ppms don't equal medical quality. Medical quality can come from soil or hydro. Medical quality IMHO comes from good genetics, healthy plants, and a good cure. Stick with soil or soiless mix until your environment is good. You don't even need to use that A/C, if you could draw a couple diagrams of your setup I think people could help you more.

- Jiji
 

nobody important

Active Member
8kw isn't all that much, or at least shouldn't be blowing transformers. Sounds strange that he did it twice. Could you tell us what he got caught means?

High ppms don't equal medical quality. Medical quality can come from soil or hydro. Medical quality IMHO comes from good genetics, healthy plants, and a good cure. Stick with soil or soiless mix until your environment is good. You don't even need to use that A/C, if you could draw a couple diagrams of your setup I think people could help you more.

- Jiji
his 8k alone would have not done it. it was the combination of him running 8k with neighbors most likely cooking (ovens) and possibly washing clothes(dryers) and god knows what else. The transformer was already feeding too many houses. the first time it blew the power company didnt think anything of it. When it blew again shortly after they know knew something was wrong. with our counties type of smart meters, it no longer takes 2 people to do hot checks. It only takes one. A hot check is used to find power thieves. We are a county of only 85,000 people but had over 70 grow houses get caught back in 2007 alone. Ever since then our utility company does random hot checks throughout the county constantly (even today as we speak) catching the idiots that think they can not be caught stealing power. When people steal power they think they can not be caught. Most of the time this is not true. If you diverted power say from your weatherproof cover that goes thru the roof by cutting out an access in the attic before it hits meter (99% of the way people steal power), the way they catch you is by checking the load being drawn at the transformer and checking what the meter registers. If the numbers do not match up you are toast. My friend was hot checked and found to be drawing way too much. He was not stealing but just the draw was enough for them to alert the authorities. From here they basically assumed he was growing. They couldnt secure a search warrant for this alone. They staked his house and pulled over people coming out of it until they popped and squeezed one of his distributors... Wanted to add that we are in a nonmedical state, and for some reason our county in the middle of nowhere has somehow attracted a lot of growers in the last 10 years. About every 2 months you will read of someone stealing power and getting caught. Sometimes its not even a grower. I have set a deadline for myself of relocating out of state this summer because I feel I have overstayed my welcome after all this time. My secret: No one fucking knows my business. They simply think Im well connected and I always stress I have nothing and have to make a call and get it for them. I even pretend to dial out and speak to myself sometimes
 
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nobody important

Active Member
the only way to steal power is to get you a utility subcontractor sticker on your truck. Quickly and stealthily climb up the pole where transformer is located and run you a new set of lines wrapped around your existing feed (in attempts to hide the fact that you have 2 feeds going to one house). you can get away with this as long as you have communicating transformers. IF you dont have communicating transformers, the lineman who goes up the pole to check transformer output during hot checks will see your 2 lines and will still get you in trouble. Also if you are not an electrician DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS
 
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