Heat Issue in Sealed Room

6 - 1000 hps lights with 2 fans air cooling lights by sucking air from a sub room.

room size 12 x12

12,000 btu a.c. unit installed but not out a window but into the sub-room only. Grow room gets up to 88 degrees and has a hard time cooling. I can blow fresh air into the grow room via a chimney vent but since air outside is so cold right now the ducting on the intake fan condenses and water is everywhere. I would like the max temp to be 85 degrees MAX in the grow room. I tried building a box on the back of the A.C. and venting it out of the chimney but still only 'cool' air was coming out of the A.C. and not cold. The A.C. is only a week old and has freon. It is set to 60 degrees. Kenmore told me that it needs outside air. Currently I'm blowing in outside air into the sub room with a 188 cfm inline fan.

Questions:
1. How else can I cool the room? larger A.C.? 15,000 but?
2. Is it bad to blow cold outside air into a sealed grow room c02 system?
3. Why doesn't the AC blow COLD air instead of COOL air?
4. Would having a 10" or 12" exhaust fan in the sub room (where the hot ac air exhausts into) exhaust into another room in the house help the temps?

Are you running all lights at once?

One way you could cool it is to set up some dividers to have like 2 flower areas and only run 3 lights at a time on like flip flops 12/12 or something. That right there will reduce 1/2 of the heat your lights are putting out at any given time.

I also run a sealed room, but I only have 4 600Ws. It's about 8' wide x 20' long with 2 flower areas each 4'x8' seperated with a simple wood fame and sheets of panda film. My lights are on flip flops, so for 12 hrs one side then 12 on the other side. This makes it super easy to control temps because the same amount of lights are on at any given time so I am always working with the same amount of heat.

Also be sure your lights are vented good.

To answer your direct questions:

Questions:
1. How else can I cool the room? larger A.C.? 15,000 but?
-Reduce the amount of lights on at once as explained, OR yes, a bigger AC should do it.
2. Is it bad to blow cold outside air into a sealed grow room c02 system?
-As long as your C02 in not on at the time it is fine. You will simply waste your C02 if it is on and you are blowing fresh air into it.
3. Why doesn't the AC blow COLD air instead of COOL air?
-It depends on the source of air your AC is getting. The warmer the air the AC is trying to cool the less it is going to cool it.
4. Would having a 10" or 12" exhaust fan in the sub room (where the hot ac air exhausts into) exhaust into another room in the house help the temps?
-What temp is the sub room? Depending on the AC unit you might be able to simply cool the sub room and create a “cold intake” for your AC.

oh, and you can probably emilimate the condensation on the fan and duct by insulating it.

This will make the "outside" of the fan the same temp as "inside" the fan and thus eliminate the condensation. It will however create humitity in your room because the moisture will need somewhere to go.

Thanks JediSmoker!

1. Doesn't outside air have lots of CO2 so it would actually be adding CO2 when adding fresh air to the grow room? Or will the generated CO2 in the room escape from the air being blown into the room?

2. The source of air is in the sub room and that temp can get up to 86 degrees when AC is on.

3. Won't the insulated ducting condense on the inside of the duct instead of the outside?

4. Is AC having a hard time cooling because the sub room temps are high and the grow room temps are high and 'being heated' by lights? A normal roomi n a house would not have lights continuing to heat the room like a grow room does and therefore can be cooled by AC.

5. The only way I seem to be able to manage the heat is to blow outside air into the room with a 400 cfm fan and having the AC on at the same time. Do you think the CO2 will escape from the fan blowing the air into the room?

6. Are there any other downfalls to forcing fresh air into a sealed room besides possibly losing cO2? My controller seems to be ablel to keep the ppm's at 1500 when fresh air is being forced into the room.

1. Doesn't outside air have lots of CO2 so it would actually be adding CO2 when adding fresh air to the grow room? Or will the generated CO2 in the room escape from the air being blown into the room?

Outside air usually has a ppm of 300-350. You will indeed be adding CO2 into the room if its sealed and you do NOT have CO2 injection of some kind. What will happen is you pump fresh air in there (300PPM) the plants use some (200PPM) and then you pump more air in (back to 300PPM). You will never reach "optimal" 1500PPM with fresh air.

2. The source of air is in the sub room and that temp can get up to 86 degrees when AC is on.

If you can cool your sub room, depending on your AC, you may be able to fix your problem. Have an intake fan blow cold outside air into your sub room when you AC is running and see what happens.

3. Won't the insulated ducting condense on the inside of the duct instead of the outside?

No. Condensation takes place with temperature variance. Image this - If you insulate your ducting and the cold air is going through it. The cold air makes the duct cold. If the outside of the duct is exposed to the 80' room and it’s WARM on the outside of the duct, the cold air will hit that variance and you will have condensation. If the duct is insulated then it will be COLD on the "outside" of the duct (because it is wrapped in insulation and the insulation will keep it cold) too and thus the moisture has no way to escape. When it hits your room it will warm the cold air and cause humidity.

4. Is AC having a hard time cooling because the sub room temps are high and the grow room temps are high and 'being heated' by lights? A normal roomi n a house would not have lights continuing to heat the room like a grow room does and therefore can be cooled by AC.

Without seeing your setup, that it what appears to be happening. I would definitely try to cool the sub room and leave the grow room sealed with AC and see what happens.

5. The only way I seem to be able to manage the heat is to blow outside air into the room with a 400 cfm fan and having the AC on at the same time. Do you think the CO2 will escape from the fan blowing the air into the room?

It will not escape from the intake, but imagine this. Fill a cup with coffee, and then let water drip in it. The water will overflow and eventually the cup will be nothing but a cup water. The CO2 will eventually "seep out" through other means.

6. Are there any other downfalls to forcing fresh air into a sealed room besides possibly losing cO2? My controller seems to be ablel to keep the ppm's at 1500 when fresh air is being forced into the room.

If you can keep temps in line and still have the ability to use CO2 then no - there is no downfall to using fresh air.

I'm thinking about buying one of these where I can exhaust the hot air instead of a window unit that heats up the sub room:
http://edgestar.com/products/portable/airconditioner/index.asp

Any ideas on this?

Or maybe one of these:
http://www.thermoplus.com/dev/html_en/page_2_001.asp