Grow room vs tent

In my basement I have a large mechanical room that houses the hot water heater and central air. The room is 20 x 20 with its own door. I only want to grow 2 plants to start. Do I need a tent or can I just use the room as is and keep the leds on top of the plants? I don't think its practical to seal the whole room off. But do I need to? What if I had a carbon filter just recirculating in the room?? I don't want to spend a ton of money but don't want it to stink like weed in the adjoining room or the room above.

You can use the room as is, just clean it up well. the only issues would be environmental control of heat and humidity. You may actually have to add heat since you will only be using a small LED setup.

Awesome and thanks! Any advice on odor control in such a leaky environment?

A carbon scrubber will help a lot.

The smell will get into your Hvac and blow it all through your house.
You’ll need carbon scrubbers and vent it out side. The key is negative pressure. so a room or tent inside your mechanical room is ideal.
If you don’t mind the smell then ya a scrubber in the room will work for most of it.

Enoug carbon scrubbing and the room the weed is in won't even smell. Thing is for a big room it will require more CFM of scrubbing power. In my rooms, just a little larger than yours and full of plants, I run two scrubbers with 12" vortex blowers and 48" tall carbon filters. You can hardly smell the weed standing in the room. It would sure save a lot of energy and equipment costs to run in a smaller area.

Well if he grows 2 of your plants......Or is he growing 2 average plants.

I can smell your room and Im 1000 miles away,lol.

i would go for a simple tent set up.
4x4 will give you lots of room for 2plants .
then a 4" inline fan with a carbon filter and a fan speed controller
works great on a led set up.

for a hps or cmh set up use a 6" in line with a air cooled hood

If you can manage the conditions inside that room, it will work fine. As mentioned above the odor factor will be determined by scrubber size...
The advantages the tent inside the room will bring, is a smaller environment to manage conditions within, and the reflective material will condense whatever light would be "wasted" in an open space....

Surfmore72 said:

I only want to grow 2 plants to start.

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What might the future hold? If you're sticking to only a few plants, then a tent (or sectioned off area of the room) and a appropriately sized charcoal filter/fan will suffice and be easier to maintain... but if the future plan is to fill the room, then spend the money on the larger appropriately sized charcoal filters and fans. As far as "just recirculating in the room", it can be done if, as Chip Green said "you can manage the conditions inside that room". For more info, need more info. Are you in an area that allows growing? Do you have close neighbors, any windows? i.e. Could you exhaust to outside the room/house?

One concern, are there any gas appliances in the room? If there are, be careful with you application of negative pressure to the room as that can pull CO or carbon monoxide into the room. If you exhaust to outside the room, provide an inlet vent to allow make-up air to enter the room.

Good luck with your grow.

Timezone said:

One concern, are there any gas appliances in the room? If there are, be careful with you application of negative pressure to the room as that can pull CO or carbon monoxide into the room. If you exhaust to outside the room, provide an inlet vent to allow make-up air to enter the room.

Good luck with your grow.

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The more reading on here I do the more I think about a tent. I don't plan to expand very much. And am concerned about odor through hvac and floor as well as winter time Temps (in North Eastern USA) . I do have a gas burning hot water heater and furnace in the 20 x 20. Any advice on how to go about this safety? I don't have a window in this room either but the door on the room doesn't have weatherstripping. Tile floor with plenty of room between door and floor. I was hoping to vent right back into the room but the more I read the more it seems like the plants need lots of fresh air. Any thoughts or idea are greatly appreciated. To help focus the process .. Let's assume I go with a tent. 4x4 probably. Thank you all so much!

Surfmore72 said:

The more reading on here I do the more I think about a tent. I don't plan to expand very much. And am concerned about odor through hvac and floor as well as winter time Temps (in North Eastern USA) . I do have a gas burning hot water heater and furnace in the 20 x 20. Any advice on how to go about this safety? I don't have a window in this room either but the door on the room doesn't have weatherstripping. Tile floor with plenty of room between door and floor. I was hoping to vent right back into the room but the more I read the more it seems like the plants need lots of fresh air. Any thoughts or idea are greatly appreciated. To help focus the process .. Let's assume I go with a tent. 4x4 probably. Thank you all so much!

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you could dump back to the room and keep it recuritulating. i dump a 3x3 into a 12x8 room in the winter to keep temps up. plants dont seam to care. also the room dose not smell. my 4" carbon filter works great. even the up tite in laws went in the room and couldt tell. in the summer i vent directly out side.

Bookush34 said:

you could dump back to the room and keep it recuritulating. i dump a 3x3 into a 12x8 room in the winter to keep temps up. plants dont seam to care. also the room dose not smell. my 4" carbon filter works great. even the up tite in laws went in the room and couldt tell. in the summer i vent directly out side.

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What filter and fan are you running? So many options out there and Amazon reviews have gone to shi* (can I curse on this forum? Never read the rules) ! Lots to deal with. Looking for suggestions on fans and carbon filter. The tent I was looking at (3x3 Mars hydro) has a 6" ceiling vent but Im open to changing it up.. Once I get a better idea of plan I'll post a new thread and or journal... I really appreciate the help given here and want to give back. Planning on strip leds. ~30watts per 1sq ft.

I’d advise to install a 4” vent. Like a dryer vent. Figure out what your house furnace uses for return air. Go from there.

Surfmore72 said:

What filter and fan are you running? So many options out there and Amazon reviews have gone to shi* (can I curse on this forum? Never read the rules) ! Lots to deal with. Looking for suggestions on fans and carbon filter. The tent I was looking at (3x3 Mars hydro) has a 6" ceiling vent but Im open to changing it up.. Once I get a better idea of plan I'll post a new thread and or journal... I really appreciate the help given here and want to give back. Planning on strip leds. ~30watts per 1sq ft.

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I am using Fusion Breath fan and filter. The fam has been running 4+ yrs almost non stop. I was on my 3rd filter in 4 yrs.

I am going to try a different filter i think.
AirBox stealth edition 1 with replacement filter.
Also gets the filter out of my tent.

Leds Are great.
I am running 61watts per sq/ft of COBs in my 3x3

Surfmore72 said:

In my basement I have a large mechanical room that houses the hot water heater and central air. The room is 20 x 20 with its own door. I only want to grow 2 plants to start. Do I need a tent or can I just use the room as is and keep the leds on top of the plants? I don't think its practical to seal the whole room off. But do I need to? What if I had a carbon filter just recirculating in the room?? I don't want to spend a ton of money but don't want it to stink like weed in the adjoining room or the room above.

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Why not stick a brand new tent down there? DEFINITELY a cleaner, more sterile environment.
If you only want to grow 2 plants, especially.

I say simple tent set up. I’m growing in the utility room like you. Tent is the way to go. Very easy to control that environment. And I’m running a 400watt MH for veg.

Get the inline fan, the duct booster ones dont push enough.400 cfm with a speed control.

myke said:

Get the inline fan, the duct booster ones dont push enough.400 cfm with a speed control.

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Booster fans don’t do a lot at all. Helps. My temps don’t go over 28.5C but would like a tad lower for sure.

I had to buy a 195cfm to push the air out of a 32x32.