Exhausting out window in cold climate?

LewberDewber852 said:

What amendments you run? Do you have a “schedule” of kind of what u add when? I wanna build some as I used the city pickers which worked fine just my soil became very compacted after the 2nd run with them and I didn’t reuse it. Think I need a larger capacity like at least those 17 gals u got if not even bigger..

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I run earthbox sips which are 12 gallons but i probably only put 10 in. I run a water only soil as well that consists of compost, peat, aeration( rice hulls or perlite ) kelp meal, oyster flour, gypsum, langbeinite, fish bone flour, neem seed meal and milled malted barley. I went this grow style a few years ago and never looked back.
I move my plants into those, veg for 2 weeks then flower for 10. I never amend once things get going.

And i dont try to reuse/ amend my soil. It goes right into my compost pile once harvest. I've seen nothing but issues with people trying that with built soils.

I use dr earth, Dolomite, azomite, langbenite for a base. I add other stuff depending on the strain. Blood meal for aggressive stretchers, coast of Maine, Xtra bone meal, whatever else is laying around. I don't have a schedule, my base is enough to get me to the finish line. Those nets are bolted through the lids, so they don't come off until harvest. I've only had one strain need a tea around week 3 in flower, but that was my first run on that strain. Once you got the strain dialed in, you don't need to touch the sip. Only add plain tap water until you get a tinkle out of the overflow pipe. not ph to anything. Think it comes out around 7. Then I stick a pvc 90 on the end of the overflow to keep the runoff in the sip and off the floor of my tent.

natureboygrower said:

And i dont try to reuse/ amend my soil. It goes right into my compost pile once harvest. I've seen nothing but issues with people trying that with built soils.

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I reuse mine. About half of it gets replaced when the new clone is potted. I've run the same sips through 6 times now. They get a bit hot at first, but all good organic soil will be if it's cooked properly. By the time the clone hits the old reammended soil, it's big enough to handle it. Anything burned will be on the lowers and gets clipped before flower, and a defol at day 21. As soon as those roots spread out in that tote, they embrace the loaded mix and explode with growth and fat tasty organic deliciousness. Trust in the process

cannabiscrusader said:

I reuse mine. About half of it gets replaced when the new clone is potted. I've run the same sips through 6 times now. They get a bit hot at first, but all good organic soil will be if it's cooked properly. By the time the clone hits the old reammended soil, it's big enough to handle it. Anything burned will be on the lowers and gets clipped before flower, and a defol at day 21. As soon as those roots spread out in that tote, they embrace the loaded mix and explode with growth and fat tasty organic deliciousness. Trust in the process

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Sounds like you're onto it. I run a small grow so the cost of a new batch doesn't hurt, and my mix is so consistent, no matter what strain the plants finish healthy. I've tried amending, and it just didn't work out for me.

I don't know what the problem is. Sounds like without a vent it's getting too hot so retaining heat isn't really an issue?

I'm also in a very snowy and cold part of upper NYS. I run my tent exhaust out a window with a duct damper on the end. Closes if the fan is off, and as more air is pushed through it opens more to release it. If warm air is moving out, cold air isn't coming in. I use an exhaust fan that ramps up as temps get hotter, but is always on a little bit. Temps max out in the 80's and at light out the tent naturally drops down to the upper 60's...I use a small heater on an inkbird to keep the lows at 75ish.

LeastExpectedGrower said:

I don't know what the problem is. Sounds like without a vent it's getting too hot so retaining heat isn't really an issue?

I'm also in a very snowy and cold part of upper NYS. I run my tent exhaust out a window with a duct damper on the end. Closes if the fan is off, and as more air is pushed through it opens more to release it. If warm air is moving out, cold air isn't coming in. I use an exhaust fan that ramps up as temps get hotter, but is always on a little bit. Temps max out in the 80's and at light out the tent naturally drops down to the upper 60's...I use a small heater on an inkbird to keep the lows at 75ish.

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Yea I got an idea of what imma do sort of now. Imma get an ac infinity controller to hook up to my exhaust fans to get temp controls

SaHt420 said:

Yea I got an idea of what imma do sort of now. Imma get an ac infinity controller to hook up to my exhaust fans to get temp controls

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Yes, that's what I do. It's effective at controlling temps and also if you have high humidity. I like the AC Infinity duct damper too, if you haven't checked it out.

LeastExpectedGrower said:

Yes, that's what I do. It's effective at controlling temps and also if you have high humidity. I like the AC Infinity duct damper too, if you haven't checked it out.

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I haven’t. What does it do exactly

SaHt420 said:

I haven’t. What does it do exactly

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It has baffles that are spring-loaded but only in one direction, so when your fan is pushing air out it's open but if there's a strong backdraft or your fan isn't blowing, it seals off the duct.

LeastExpectedGrower said:

Backdraft Damper Ducting Insert, 6-Inch, Black Galvanized Steel

Your source to create smart growing systems with components including advance grow tents, inline fans, clip-on fans, LED grow lights, and UIS™ controllers.

acinfinity.com

It has baffles that are spring-loaded but only in one direction, so when your fan is pushing air out it's open but if there's a strong backdraft or your fan isn't blowing, it seals off the duct.

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Oh shit imma look into that see how it does if I can vent outside I will but I may not end up needing to but that’s sick!!!!

Drop That Sound said:

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I'm not an engineer or anything but I wonder if a person had an air to air intercooler off an over the road diesel, build a simple box plenum around it and ducted the air through it if that would allow enough volume to work?

I bet if you stacked/sealed up multiple intercoolers together into a way thicker core it might work. Have like 6 of them total, with 3 being the intakes, and the other 3 for the opposite flowing exhaust streams. They are already made with like 2-3” ports so I can actually see it working better than my other idea. I could probably make a real stacked plate crossflow core with corrugated aluminum for the cost of that many intercoolers though..

Rotary enthalpy wheel designed HRV/ERV setups seem to be the most efficient.

Its possible to recover upwards of 90% of the heat you would otherwise be venting into the atmosphere with a good recovery unit. Best to go with a dual core setup IMO. They cost an arm and leg though, unless you DIY your own. Then again, so does heating the outside in the winter time.

My latest idea for a hydronic type of HRV was to fill a big 55g insulated drum with as many junkyard heater cores as I can fit, and fill it with RV antifreeze. Then setup manifolds to connect the all the smaller hoses up to have the 4 bigger sized 6” ports like the regular HRVs. Pump air through like 15 heater cores submerged in liquid, that can’t freeze like regular air/air HRV cores can. Also position them in a way all the cores can drain any condensation down to the drain pump bilge, but not mix with the main res solution in any way. Hard to explain so I’ll have to draw up a diagram

Air to water to air!

The air to air is what is used at coal fired power plants to pre heat the intake air to get it warm enough for combustion.

Use the exhaust from the coal fire and pass through a big heat exchanger that warms the incoming air.

Some have an element made of thin metal sheets that is on a recirculating wheel. Intake passes through one side and exhaust through the other while the wheel constantly rotates through both sides.

Some are thin metal tubes that pass through the duct like a radiator sort of.

Air to water is used on the steam turbine side where water is pumped through tubes to condense the steam back to water.