Exhaust Dilemma

dbkick

Well-Known Member
I don't know that anyone has hit on this but with a portable AC it has an exhaust and that exhaust pulls odor and if you're running co2 (which I am) it also pulls any co2 out of the room. Heres a photo of my villian(portable ac), I didn't realize it was pumping co2 right out of the room until well into flower when I noticed it was pulling a strong odor out of the room that I recirculate a scrubber in. I've since made an inline carbon filter but haven't tried it out yet since I'm not to that point yet, the ac still runs but as of right now there are no odors in the room(maybe in a few weeks! just started my second grow).But my point is really that a portable ac like the one pictured is gonna pump co2 out of the room, dunno how much but if the exhaust picked up odor it will surely pick up co2.
 

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1mikej

Well-Known Member
I don't know that anyone has hit on this but with a portable AC it has an exhaust and that exhaust pulls odor and if you're running co2 (which I am) it also pulls any co2 out of the room. Heres a photo of my villian(portable ac), I didn't realize it was pumping co2 right out of the room until well into flower when I noticed it was pulling a strong odor out of the room that I recirculate a scrubber in. I've since made an inline carbon filter but haven't tried it out yet since I'm not to that point yet, the ac still runs but as of right now there are no odors in the room(maybe in a few weeks! just started my second grow).But my point is really that a portable ac like the one pictured is gonna pump co2 out of the room, dunno how much but if the exhaust picked up odor it will surely pick up co2.
thats not a duel hose unit thats why!!! so your ac unit is venting out your room sending your co2 and the smells out your ac's vent hose while cooling it's condencer. convert it to a duel hose and i promise you your temps will drop and your electic bill will drop and you wont need the dehumidifier. so many guys have your exact set up, in fact i did until i set up a second room and got a duel hose unit for it. the difference is so huge i converted my older 2 single hose units to a duel. its so big of a difference i wish i could go to each and every guys house and fix it. google " compair single hose to a duel hose ac". if you covert i promise you you will be sending me tons of thank you's and rep
 

dbkick

Well-Known Member
convert? how do you do that? So basically it looks like I gotta isolate the air used to cool the condenser from the room air and then run a hose and possibly add some type of booster fan pulling air from outside the room that cools the condenser? Errr , I just said the same thing twice in different ways. I may just look into that this winter when I won't be needing the unit, I do work in a hvac sheet metal shop so fabbing parts won't be a thing. Sweet, its all done from the outside of the unit , all I gotta do is figure out what duct size to run, too bad 4 inch probably wouldn't be big enough since I already have an extra one of those run, I'll just y off the 8 inch light cooling intake. So then, I haven't even looked at what I'm gonna do in detail but already know this is gonna be a breeze, thanks for the info man.
 

1mikej

Well-Known Member
its easy. there are 2 intakes on the back of unit. 1 is for condencer and other is for evaporator. the one you want is the condensor. since you know sheetmetal this will be a walk in the park for you. just fab a box with a hose adaptor on one end. on the other end shap it to fit over and around the lower intake(condenser) and make it air tight. now attach a hose vent to the other end onto the adapter and run hose to a source of fresh air outside your grow room. a booster fan is recomended if you use 6in diameter or smaller venting or if you have alot of bends causing static pressure
 

methias

Well-Known Member
If you don't provide a separate air supply for the condensing part of the AC (pull in, condense the refrigerant, and exhaust the heat) it would be like putting a small fridge in there with the door open. it would just pump heat:fire: from one side of the box to the other side while the compressor and fan motors create additional :fire:heat for the room.
1mikej is right on with his suggestion. and if the A/C works well you could create a closed system with a scrubber and pull the cooled air right into the filter area and cool the lights while right back into the room on your babies as inside fan.:shock: No CO2 loss no smell no over heating. Good luck on all that.
 

dbkick

Well-Known Member
So without taking this thing apart I can't decide which is the condenser intake and which is evaporative, I'm guessing the smaller one on the side is the condenser.
Then again I quit thinking about it after I looked at the roots on 3 of my plants, turns out the kid(he's 21) didn't wash the new hydroton very well it appears
 

1mikej

Well-Known Member
turn ac on . completly cover 1 vent so absolutly no air can get by. now if the cold air completly stopped comming out the vent that blows the cold air out your blocking the evaporator side which is the wronge side. you want the one that stops the air from comming out exhaust hose
 

dbkick

Well-Known Member
Yeah I'm gonna investigate further when the thing isn't in use, gonna pull the back cover, the two intakes appear to be one actually seperated by a small easy to cover opening.
 

methias

Well-Known Member
:idea:Or move the lever over to recirculate and turn the fresh air off just like in your auto A/C.
Assuming it has that option.

When all else fails RTFI :twisted:

Good luck
:peace:
 
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