Grow tent heating/insulation

I plan on growing in a non heated (semi insulated) detached garage using grow tents, since I'm going to be using LED's what would be the best way to heat the grow tents to proper temperature.

The winters where I live are pretty mild, average winter temperature would probably be around 5*C. Since the garage is pretty big with high ceilings it would be too inefficient to heat the whole thing, so would it make sense to place a small space heater inside the tent? How well insulated are the grow tents?

The tent I'm going to use would just be one off ebay most likely.

Grow tents have basically no insulation value, and you will be bringing in garage temp air constantly, unless you go with a CO2 system, then you will have no intake or exhaust in the tent. And this might be the way to go for you.

Any insulation will help you minimize the heat you have to put in it. If you are going to use a 4'x4' tent lets say, you could go buy 5 sheets of hi density construction foam 1 1/2" or 2" thick (4x8 sheets) and use some duct tape to hold it together. You get R 7 per inch of thickness.

For a heater it should be electric. In a small tent it's going to be problematic to find the right location to place it. You'll want it as low as possible, because heat rises.

If it were me I'd take a pallet and put it on legs or blocks with 8 to 10 inch of clearance under it. Then put an electric base board heater under there, then clip a small 6" fan to blow at the heater under the pallet. Then set the thermostat 4' above the top of the pallet.

I'd heat the tent with a thermostat controled air heater, but whatever you use to heat it with, it's going to effect humidity as well, so keep a close eye on that. Any tents insulation is not going to be enough, you could try 8'x4' insulation panels from builders merchant and make your own grow room (and they're coated in foil!) for around the same price, if not cheaper
Fuck.....I'm liking the sound of this, may do it myself....

WattSaver! We agree!.... Is this "great minds thinking alike" ?...or "idiots come in pairs" ?

fools seldom differ lol

...if ya do decide to add a heater into your room, I'd suggest an oil filled heater, they're pretty fire safe.

...here's a link to get a visual and additional info ---> http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=oil+heater&hl=en&rlz=1I7DLUS_en&prmd=ivnsb&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1440&bih=795&wrapid=tlif131404485111010&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=3286591995528470304&sa=X&ei=mbtSTp2kM_H9sQKdt6XkBg&ved=0CMYBEPMCMAk#

The tent size will probably be around 10x5x6.5', the foam insulation sheets sound like a good idea as well the pallets. I actually have quite a few pallets I can use and even if I didn't shove the heater under them at least it would insulate the tent a little bit from the cold cement floor. If things got too cold there's actually a commercial sized natural gas heater hanging from the ceiling, but it's expensive to run so I would like to use that for emergencies only.

How important is root water temperatures? For a DWC setup is there an ideal temp? I know I've read of people having to use chillers, but obviously my problem isn't going to be that the water is too hot.

trichome fiend said:

...if ya do decide to add a heater into your room, I'd suggest an oil filled heater, they're pretty fire safe.

...here's a link to get a visual and additional info ---> http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=oil+heater&hl=en&rlz=1I7DLUS_en&prmd=ivnsb&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1440&bih=795&wrapid=tlif131404485111010&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=3286591995528470304&sa=X&ei=mbtSTp2kM_H9sQKdt6XkBg&ved=0CMYBEPMCMAk#

Click to expand...

I'd agree the electric oil heater is the best, but it will take of 2 sq ft of floor space and I wouldn't want my plants growing into the heater, which would mean giving it even more floor space. Unless the tent is big enough to have a light on each side and an isle down the center for working access & the heater.

I do like the idea of building a small room using R-panels instead of a tent.

My grow room is a framed off section of my un-heated garage (4'x13') R19 in the walls & R 30 in the ceiling. Winter temp -10 C & lower. One little electric oil heater keeps it warm even with 100 cfm air flow.

And its Great Minds DRINK ALIKE which leads to a pair of idiots

What type of lightinf are you planning on using. If it where me I'd set the tent up. put a thermometer on the floor and record a temp. work the thermometer up to where your gonna keep it to insure the canopies aren't getting to much heat. Before you start growing get the temp you desire.

cutaftacut said:

What type of lightinf are you planning on using. If it where me I'd set the tent up. put a thermometer on the floor and record a temp. work the thermometer up to where your gonna keep it to insure the canopies aren't getting to much heat. Before you start growing get the temp you desire.

Click to expand...

I plan on using LED's

And Wattsaver, the tent I plan on using should be big enough to just squeeze in a heater, since there would maybe be around 1-2 SQ/F of spare floorspace because of the dimensions of the plastic bins

Edit- how much should those foam panels cost? If I insulate a tent with foam, I might as well like you said just get rid of the whole tent and just build a room. Me and my friend were going to weld a steel rack out of angle iron anyway for a tiered setup so I guess it wouldn't be that much more work to just build a whole room out of foam and then it would cut down on the costs of buying the tent and we wouldn't have to be stuck with the dimensions they make them in.