Insulated tent? Let’s take it below freezing!

OldMedUser said:

When I have a lot of greenery going I'll burn a little alcohol lamp to add CO2 when it's too cool and dry to trigger my exhaust fan very often or at all in the winter. I have a CO2 controller that I used to see how much CO2 I got from it and was over 1500ppm in 20 min with version 1.0 so made a smaller one and it keeps it over 1250 to 1500 easy enough tho takes a bit longer to get there. A single candle can keep the levels up over 1000 so not a lot is needed. A 4L jug of 99% methyl hydrate is only $10 and is good for a whole flowering cycle if used daily and burns around 100ml/day.

Ver. 1.0 with 3/8" tubing and tiki torch wicks. Ver. 2.0 uses a single 3/8" tube and tiki torch wick. Kept in a stone crock while burning for safety.

View attachment 5023606

Ver. 3.0 uses a single 3/16" tube and a cotton shoe lace for a wick and seems just right. Much better mileage with this one.

View attachment 5023610

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That’s awesome! I’d be so worried to have an open flame like that but what a great way for CO2 production

GarageGardener69 said:

That’s awesome! I’d be so worried to have an open flame like that but what a great way for CO2 production

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I have a lot of open space in my grow room so can make sure there are no flammable things near it or especially above it. I also keep it in front of and below my 12" oscillating fan so the CO2 and heat are spread into the room and blown into the plants. Could be harder to do in a crowded tent tho.

I mainly only do it during the stretch period when the plants go thru a big growth spurt and can really use the CO2. I also turn up the heat to run around 85 - 90F and add extra light so all systems are redlined. After the stretch I go back to a normal temp of 75 - 80 and only use the CO2 if I don't have enough lights going to heat the room enough to cycle the exhaust fan to pull in fresh air from the greater area of the basement thru the filters.

I have a smoke detector in the room but want to get one of those fire suppression bomb units that will go off if excess heat triggers them. 18 years growing in there and nothing serious has happened yet, knock wood.

OldMedUser said:

When I have a lot of greenery going I'll burn a little alcohol lamp to add CO2 when it's too cool and dry to trigger my exhaust fan very often or at all in the winter. I have a CO2 controller that I used to see how much CO2 I got from it and was over 1500ppm in 20 min with version 1.0 so made a smaller one and it keeps it over 1250 to 1500 easy enough tho takes a bit longer to get there. A single candle can keep the levels up over 1000 so not a lot is needed. A 4L jug of 99% methyl hydrate is only $10 and is good for a whole flowering cycle if used daily and burns around 100ml/day.

Ver. 1.0 with 3/8" tubing and tiki torch wicks. Ver. 2.0 uses a single 3/8" tube and tiki torch wick. Kept in a stone crock while burning for safety.

View attachment 5023606

Ver. 3.0 uses a single 3/16" tube and a cotton shoe lace for a wick and seems just right. Much better mileage with this one.

View attachment 5023610

Click to expand...

Oldmed, great DIY. You have any step by step to recreate this?

When you say 100ml a day, is this 12 hour lights on usage? I would like to try it for the first 3 weeks of flower.

OldMedUser said:

I have a lot of open space in my grow room so can make sure there are no flammable things near it or especially above it. I also keep it in front of and below my 12" oscillating fan so the CO2 and heat are spread into the room and blown into the plants. Could be harder to do in a crowded tent tho.

I mainly only do it during the stretch period when the plants go thru a big growth spurt and can really use the CO2. I also turn up the heat to run around 85 - 90F and add extra light so all systems are redlined. After the stretch I go back to a normal temp of 75 - 80 and only use the CO2 if I don't have enough lights going to heat the room enough to cycle the exhaust fan to pull in fresh air from the greater area of the basement thru the filters.

I have a smoke detector in the room but want to get one of those fire suppression bomb units that will go off if excess heat triggers them. 18 years growing in there and nothing serious has happened yet, knock wood.

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Just curious about your air temperature, is that with LED or HID?

ComfortCreator said:

Have you ever had any reason to be concerned that you didnt have enough airflow when trying to control low temps? Just curious if CO2 level has ever been an issue when venting very little?

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It hasn't been an issue for me. In my small tent, very little air flow is needed to maintain a good co2 level. My tiny exhaust fan is operated by an Inkbird humidity controller and I haven't seen any low co2 with my logger. For me, the airflow needed to remove humidity is enough to maintain a good co2 level. As the plants grow and fill the tent they produce more co2 but also more humidity which runs the fan more.

The humidity control also operates a reptile fogger/humidifier when needed. An inkbird temperature control operates a heat mat in the winter and a window AC in summer.

Bottom line, you just don't know without a meter. I've seen 1200 ppm after working around the tent and 2000 ppm in my bedroom in the morning.
I see more stable levels in the lung room now that the forced air furnace has been running. I also scrapped the old gas stove with pilot lights and went electric.

Nrk.cdn said:

Oldmed, great DIY. You have any step by step to recreate this?

When you say 100ml a day, is this 12 hour lights on usage? I would like to try it for the first 3 weeks of flower.

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Basically drill a hole in the lid of a mason jar and solder a piece if copper tubing in then put in a wick.

I will rough up the centre area of the lid first with any rough sandpaper to get a clean area for the solder. Take your piece of tube about 3" long and find the drill bit that is just slightly smaller than it to drill your hole then jamb the tube in so it's about 1/4" below the top. The tube should be sanded at teh end to be soldered too. I use a little flux on the joint then heat the tube about half way down while holding the solder at the joint on the side away from the flame until the solder melts and flows around the joint. Then pull the flame away and blow on it to cool it quicker and it's done. Try not to heat the lid and melt the seal like I did with my first one tho it has to get hot for the solder to stick but gets enough heat from the flame to do that. Did a shitty job on that first lid but was my first try after years and it holds so fuggit.

Might be able to buy a small piece of a plumbing fixture that you can cut the tubing off but I had a 25' roll of the 3/16" I bought to build a DIY still. It turned out to be too small so had to buy a roll of 3/8" for the still and that worked fine. Use natural material for the wick and I had some black shoe laces kicking around that were all cotton and that worked fine. Leave the aglet on the end until you get it thru the tube then cut it off. Just a tiny bit up is lots so you can barely see the flame.

It uses about 100 - 125ml/12 hour day and I like to light it a half hour before the lights come on and put it out an hour before they go off if I remember but it's not critical.

You don't need a lot as I found out with my very first try. Lots of CO2 but the heat was hard to deal with.

1212ham said:

Just curious about your air temperature, is that with LED or HID?

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HIDs. Pretty cool down in the basement especially in winter when a 600W is barely enough to keep the room warm enough for the plants. Got a 400 going now and it's not even winter yet but it can't keep the room over 70F. Very dry here too so the RH never gets high enough to trigger the fan either. I have a heater on a thermostat to make sure the temp stays where I want it. I'd like to build a sealed room but may not be here more than another year or so it would not be cost effective to do that now.