goforGUSTO starts a room.

first off, the room is just about 8X12 with a 8 feet high ceiling. what kind of cfm carbon filter do i need and what kind of cfm squirrel fan do i need to completely ventilate/cool the room with taking the 4 sealed reflectors and carbon filter and hepa air filter into consideration? im guessing that they will restrict airflow by more than 20% but does anyone know forsure?

so heres a crude drawing of how my room will be set up. i have a couple of questions regarding ventilation and electricity. i do not have a crawl space to bring in fresh air.

whats the next best thing in regards to bringing in fresh air? window? another room?

i have an attic that i will be using for the exhaust. once i do find a good air intake, i was thinking about attaching a 6'' Y fitting to the exhaust and air intake. 1 6'' tubing would start from 1 air intake hole, provided by the Y, going into every 600w reflector and leading out into 1 of the holes for the exhaust, provided by the other Y (shown in pic 2).

id leave 1 air intake hole open just to bring fresh air into the room. id use my 2nd exhaust hole for my carbon filter (shown in pic 2).

the idea is to use a separate tunnel to cool the lights. is this really needed? could i cool and ventilate the room with everything connected together (shown in pic 3) with no problem?

i have a question about electricity too. i havent checked the breakers but ill have a electrician working on them when i do tweak them. lets all assume (cuz i dont know) this is a regular room in a house with regular electrical wiring. i think i heard that a room allows up to 15 amps of energy? or is it 15 amps of energy into 1 wall outlet? could someone clarify this for me and help me plan out how many amps i need to run this grow room with no problems? refer to picture 4 please

ill have (ball parking electricity use)
4x 600w lights running
8x 394gph water pump
4x water circulator pump thingy
2x wall fans
2x squirrel fans
ceiling fan
environment controller (co2,temp,humid)
ac/heater unit
cfl or t5 lighting to support minimum of atleast 30 plants in veg

i may have missed some small things but thats the chunk of the electricity usage. if you look at picture 4, i have labeled each outlet with a corresponding letter. when rerouting energy, would i be rerouting more amps into an individual outlet? or am i rerouting energy into the whole room divided by outlet A B and C? how many amps would i need in total for a setup like this?

i know its a ridiculous amount of questions, but this is my first grow "room" and i want to do it right.

oo and i was wondering. is it efficient to use a ceiling fan? or does it pull too much energy?

kk a quick update. figured out the cfm stuff and am currently reading up on amp usage but i would very much appreciate any input on the ventilation set up and if running a ceiling fan is a good idea

You should do a bit more reading on the subject of air flow and exhaust set up. I think you have a good list of equipment there, but snaking the plumbing like it is in your diagram would not be advised. This is the best resource I've seen for explanation anywhere http://www.jasons-indoor-guide-to-organic-and-hydroponics-gardening.com/exhaust-fan-setup.html

Since your room is about 768 ft^2 the basline would be a fan that can pump roughly 160 CFM. That would be assuming no ducting or light reflectors/bulbs in the way, so you will want more than that. What I would suggest in keeping with your diagram, is to have a 6" inline fan for each pair of lights that way you keep the flow in a straight line. Any 6" inline fan (not squirrel cage) will have enough power to keep things cool. You should definitely keep the airflow for the lights separate from the room if you can. Should you decide to use Co2 you don't want these fans sucking it right back out of your grow room, but if you have a separate intake/exhaust for the lights that's not a problem.

As for the power, each outlet is usually on it's own circuit, but not always. Each circuit (not outlet) is also usually 15 Amps. What it boils down to is that with your set up you should be able to run everything without an issue. It is certainly a good idea to have an electrician check that of course.

Oh and the ceiling fan is definitely not needed. With proper set up the inline/squirrel cage fans are much more appropriate and will be more efficient. You can use standard room fans to blow across the plants to keep them strong and aid in air circulation.


Any chance you're a Frisky Dingo fan?

you should check out sub cools thread on venting your room. its in sub cools old school organics, "venting grow room efficiencey (get your ducts in a row)". i used his design and works awsome. i use 8" in line fans. 590 cfm. also for your electrical you should have a 220v breaker installed. you can run all your lights no problem. if you dont have the means, you could always tap into your dryer circuit. you just cant do your laundry while your lights are on. and you should have somebody who knows what their doing do any electrical work.

those lights use about 6 amps each if ran on 110 volts. they use about 2 amps each if ran on 220 volts. thats a big electricity savings and less of an electrical fire hazard. just an electricians warning.

swayze said:

those lights use about 6 amps each if ran on 110 volts. they use about 2 amps each if ran on 220 volts. thats a big electricity savings and less of an electrical fire hazard. just an electricians warning.

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It's a common misconception that a 220v circuit will save you money. The following info is not my own but useful for the purpose of explanation;

Watts Cheaper 110 or 220 Volts?

How much will I save on my electric bill if I run my lights on 220 volts?

A quick answer: Probably nothing.

This is a common misunderstanding about how electricity works and how the power companies charge you for it. The point often noted for the money saving argument is that the amperage is half as much when running grow lights on 220 volts instead of 110 volts. This is true but the utility company doesn’t charge you for amperage, they charge you for wattage. They bill you in kilowatt-hour units. A kilowatt-hour is 1000 watts of usage for one hour or approximately equals a 1000 watt light running for one hour. There’s a nice formula for this: Wattage / Voltage = Amperage. If we plug in the numbers for a 1000 watt sodium grow light, you can see that although the voltage and amperage can change, the wattage always stays the same.

1000 Sodium Grow Light
On 110 Volts: 1100W / 110V = 10A - On 220 Volts: 1100W / 220V = 5A
Note that a 1000 watt sodium ballast draws 1100 watts.

Right about now is when I get the question "well why do they make stuff to run on 220 volts then?" Usually large machines and appliances that draw lots of power run on 220 volts (or more) mainly because of the size wire you would need to use to run them on 110 volts would be very large. The gauge and length of the wire will determine the maximum amperage it will handle before it melts! On a 220 volt circuit, the load is split between two 110 volt wires. This allows you to run smaller wire. This brings us to the "probably" part of the answer. There is another factor, it’s the voltage drop or the voltage lost when the power travels down the wire. The lower the resistance on the wire, the less the voltage drop. If you are running one or two lights in a typical home with the breaker box a short distance away, the efficiency lost due to voltage drop may not be significant enough to justify rewiring your grow room for 220 volts.


So it wouldn't hurt to rewire to 220v, but you wont see a savings by doing so. I would not recommend tapping into another circuit either, especially if it's shared with a high load device. In the best case scenario if you accidentally turn on the other device (like a dryer) then you'll trip the breaker and everything will turn off. You don't want that.

Potato42 said:

You should do a bit more reading on the subject of air flow and exhaust set up. I think you have a good list of equipment there, but snaking the plumbing like it is in your diagram would not be advised. This is the best resource I've seen for explanation anywhere http://www.jasons-indoor-guide-to-organic-and-hydroponics-gardening.com/exhaust-fan-setup.html

Since your room is about 768 ft^2 the basline would be a fan that can pump roughly 160 CFM. That would be assuming no ducting or light reflectors/bulbs in the way, so you will want more than that. What I would suggest in keeping with your diagram, is to have a 6" inline fan for each pair of lights that way you keep the flow in a straight line. Any 6" inline fan (not squirrel cage) will have enough power to keep things cool. You should definitely keep the airflow for the lights separate from the room if you can. Should you decide to use Co2 you don't want these fans sucking it right back out of your grow room, but if you have a separate intake/exhaust for the lights that's not a problem.

As for the power, each outlet is usually on it's own circuit, but not always. Each circuit (not outlet) is also usually 15 Amps. What it boils down to is that with your set up you should be able to run everything without an issue. It is certainly a good idea to have an electrician check that of course.

Oh and the ceiling fan is definitely not needed. With proper set up the inline/squirrel cage fans are much more appropriate and will be more efficient. You can use standard room fans to blow across the plants to keep them strong and aid in air circulation.


Any chance you're a Frisky Dingo fan?

Click to expand...

(never watched it)

cool. i will stick with grow room 2 pic but modify it so theres less corners. ive read subcools thread on venting and i wrote that the exhaust and intake were all in hypothetical positions. i really dont know where to put in the air intake because i do not have a crawl space. any suggestions?

goforGUSTO said:

1. what kind of cfm carbon filter do i need and what kind of cfm squirrel fan do i need to completely ventilate/cool the room with taking the 4 sealed reflectors and carbon filter and hepa air filter into consideration? im guessing that they will restrict airflow by more than 20% but does anyone know forsure?

2. whats the next best thing in regards to bringing in fresh air? window? another room?

3. the idea is to use a separate tunnel to cool the lights. is this really needed? could i cool and ventilate the room with everything connected together (shown in pic 3) with no problem?

4. i have a question about electricity too. i havent checked the breakers but ill have a electrician working on them when i do tweak them. lets all assume (cuz i dont know) this is a regular room in a house with regular electrical wiring. i think i heard that a room allows up to 15 amps of energy? or is it 15 amps of energy into 1 wall outlet? could someone clarify this for me and help me plan out how many amps i need to run this grow room with no problems? refer to picture 4 please

ill have (ball parking electricity use)
4x 600w lights running
8x 394gph water pump
4x water circulator pump thingy
2x wall fans
2x squirrel fans
ceiling fan
environment controller (co2,temp,humid)
ac/heater unit
cfl or t5 lighting to support minimum of atleast 30 plants in veg

5. how many amps would i need in total for a setup like this?

i know its a ridiculous amount of questions, but this is my first grow "room" and i want to do it right.

Click to expand...

Question to you, how much you thinking about spending??

1/3. With running that many lights i would not put the carbon fillter on the same line, another is to take all the bends out of the ducing dont do the snake ducking to the lights only stright shots best way. Maybe this fan or somthing like it just use reducers for the lights, and then get this fan with this carbon fillter hooked up to your attic

2. Window fresh air is the best gives you clean air plus little co2, are you going to have a AC in there ?

4. Learned this the hard way, depending on your house wires can be going from room to room on one breaker each room does not have its own breaker, well not all the time. Unless you can ask you electrican to check it out no one can really tell you on here. We do not know how many outlets each breaker has we could guess but dont know for sure. And how much each breaker is already being used. Only thing i can say it to plug a small light into every empty outlet, then turn on almost everything in the house, and go shut off all your breakers then make a list of the breakers as you turn them back on one by one go inside and see what came back on lable your breaker box and this will give you a idea on how much power is being used on those plugs. OR if you have a empty spot or to in the breaker box where breaker can be installed then go do that and run a new line to the room dedicated a breaker or two just for the room, but then you would need to stall plugs and all. blablabla lots of typing

5. Spend some time checking out all your equipment most of the stuff will tell you watts, volts or amps on it or look up the product online and the info should be on there website, totaly up the watts and do some math to see how much room you have or if your over the limit. haha i dont remeber but i believe 15amps is like 1500 watts, 20 amps 2000watts hahaha not sure though would have to look it up agian

Asking question is great but there is tons of info on this great site that can help you out,

There are a few setups like what your trying to do out there, i believe Boomer, Cropalot, SOG, they are not just like yours but you can get some ideas look for a room your size or bigger

Hulk Nugs said:

Question to you, how much you thinking about spending??

1/3. With running that many lights i would not put the carbon fillter on the same line, another is to take all the bends out of the ducing dont do the snake ducking to the lights only stright shots best way. Maybe this fan or somthing like it just use reducers for the lights, and then get this fan with this carbon fillter hooked up to your attic

Click to expand...

thanks a bunch!

how bout this picture? i was thinking by getting rid of all the corners and bends, it would be enough to just run 1 valueline 12 inch 1060 cfm centrifugal inline fan for BOTH lights and carbon filter.

i would use a 8 inch 745 CFM inline fan for the intake.

OR would this second picture also be viable?

OR do i need to just suck it up and buy 2 inline fans for the exhaust? id prefer 1 fan lol.

Here you go man this is what i came up with real quick, pics of the room are helpfull to see what you really have to work with.



There are a few other ways i can see how to work the lights just dont know how much your looking to spend.

But i would say three fans at least for the room how it is.
intake fan
outtake fan
light outtake fan

You could try and set it up with just two fans and just a 8inch hole (passive intake) see how the temps and everything runs. If it gets to hot then add a 8 inch fan to the intake hole. Still heat problems AC, or chiller and ice boxes

any input on if my previous ventilation setup would be viable would be great.

i have to set up this grow room by the end of this month. i need to order the right inline fans asap.

is there a piece to convert 12'' tubing to a 6'' tubing? some type of flange?

Hulk Nugs said:

Here you go man this is what i came up with real quick, pics of the room are helpfull to see what you really have to work with.

There are a few other ways i can see how to work the lights just dont know how much your looking to spend.

But i would say three fans at least for the room how it is.
intake fan
outtake fan
light outtake fan

You could try and set it up with just two fans and just a 8inch hole (passive intake) see how the temps and everything runs. If it gets to hot then add a 8 inch fan to the intake hole. Still heat problems AC, or chiller and ice boxes

Click to expand...

my man, i didnt see this post before i posetd my previous post lol.

damn. 1000 cfm for just the lights!? its not overkill?

on the other end of the lights where the air flow is coming IN into the lights. would i need to attach a hepa filter to it (if air was coming from outside source). or could i leave it open if coming in from another room?

goforGUSTO said:

my man, i didnt see this post before i posetd my previous post lol.

damn. 1000 cfm for just the lights!? its not overkill?

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Running that many watts overkill is never bad if it is overkill, not really sure but i have learned the hard way trying to cool lights with little cfms and not using a inline fan

goforGUSTO said:

on the other end of the lights where the air flow is coming IN into the lights. would i need to attach a hepa filter to it (if air was coming from outside source). or could i leave it open if coming in from another room?

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i would just so the cooltubes stay clean i have one on mine, only thing i am not to sure is if you will be taking air from the veg room or another room. The veg room should have no smell since they are all in veg but it is in the flowering room.

another thing is you can put a fan dimmer switch on the 1060 so if it is to much power you can lower it

Hulk Nugs said:

Running that many watts overkill is never bad if it is overkill, not really sure but i have learned the hard way trying to cool lights with little cfms and not using a inline fan



i would just so the cooltubes stay clean i have one on mine, only thing i am not to sure is if you will be taking air from the veg room or another room. The veg room should have no smell since they are all in veg but it is in the flowering room.

another thing is you can put a fan dimmer switch on the 1060 so if it is to much power you can lower it

Click to expand...

brilliant. thanks a bunch and +rep to you :]b