Insulated tent? Let’s take it below freezing!

GarageGardener69

Well-Known Member
Are we in a bloom situation? cause if were not then close that exhaust off and let the warm air just flow in there and push out through the seems/zippers. Throw a peice of plastic over the top and down each side, then a blanket down each side, then plastic then blanket. Use clones pins to pin the edges. With the 2 layers of alternating plastic/blanket should be decent insulation with warm air blowing in the tent. Try and blow the air in the bottom. Thats where I would start. I have loads of blankets, clothes pins and rolled plastic laying around. If that didnt work, im just running a space heater out to it.
It’ll should hopefully go full circle. Currently at an end of a seed pull (2nd ever run) and im getting insane colors. I’ve given a chop date of 10/31 Idk if they’re deficient or locked out or what but after reading. Definitely changing
 

GarageGardener69

Well-Known Member
My grow room is not in a garage but in a underground concrete bunker in northern Alberta that we can't allow to freeze but in the almost 20 years I've owned the house have never had to apply heat tho it has got down to just a couple degrees C above freezing. Even this last summer with the heat domes it never got above 65F down there either so have never needed A/C either.

Couple things you should have is a temp/rh controller for your exhaust fan so it only runs when needed to reduce the heat or rh and a heater with a thermostat to make it come on when it drops below your set temp. I bought a 120/240v baseboard thermostat and wired it into a metal electrical box like the kind you would use for a light switch with cords on each end so I plug the heater into that with it's control on high and let the thermostat turn it on and off as needed. The climate is controlled in a very narrow range whether the lights are on or off. Also wired up a speed controller like the thermostat so the fan runs at 60W instead of the full 120W at full blast. Air is pulled into the room through filters from the rest of the basement and not directly from outside as it gets to -35C and up to +35C out there.

To keep tent walls from getting sucked in some cross bracing with string, rope or strong fishing line to prevent them bulging inwards will do the trick. Heavy blankets, comforters or sleeping bags from a thrift store will do the job pretty cheap too.

:peace:
a bunker would be sweet! And I do have my eye on some controllers and monitors But for now I’d prefer the constant air exchange
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
a bunker would be sweet! And I do have my eye on some controllers and monitors But for now I’d prefer the constant air exchange
Then you can never maintain an optimum temp and growth and yields suffer. With just a candle burning in my 7x9' grow room I can keep the CO2 around 1250 with the fan off. With my little alcohol lamp it goes over 1500 in 20 min. Burning 99% methyl hydrate from the hardware store. Dirt cheap CO2. Getting CO2 is the main reason to bring in fresh air constantly. Fix that and you will enjoy the results.

:peace:
 

GarageGardener69

Well-Known Member
Then you can never maintain an optimum temp and growth and yields suffer. With just a candle burning in my 7x9' grow room I can keep the CO2 around 1250 with the fan off. With my little alcohol lamp it goes over 1500 in 20 min. Burning 99% methyl hydrate from the hardware store. Dirt cheap CO2. Getting CO2 is the main reason to bring in fresh air constantly. Fix that and you will enjoy the results.

:peace:
Nice, thank you for sharing those methods of co2.
only will be my third
Little advanced at the moment.

but my options are either air from the space which will be too cold

or air from my conditioned house, pulled through the tent. For now

I feel I’d have to figure out scrubber things if I where stopping air from moving in and out of tent (moving air in tent with clip fans np)
 

GarageGardener69

Well-Known Member
You'll need to make a high CFM kit for your tent to keep the walls from sucking in. There are a ton of examples here on how to go about it.
Here's how I did it for a 4'x4' vivosun tent for an example...
This is great btw. Next mod lol
 

GarageGardener69

Well-Known Member

lakesidegrower

Well-Known Member
Hope you growing some Indicas. Sativas wont like that temp range. A hardy Indica will grow like the fucking honey badger.
This seems like something basic over never considered… jacked up temps in my room recently and my white widows are loving it, but my blueberrys are showing some head/light stress - indicas should prefer the cooler temps, or am I out to lunch?

Temperature update of the space; outdoors.

Windy high of only 59*F (14.4C) outside

tent low at 6am was about 58*F.
temp with lights on hit only 68*F
Probably complements of the mean well driver on full blast
So just for comparison - my outdoor temps we 14C yesterday, running 450w on meanwell drivers without and my fan was still running ever 10 minutes to keep temps under 87, this is in a sealed/insulated 4x8x6 room
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Very worried about a heater in the space
You shouldn't worry too much. One of those small heaters that can be dialed up and down are really safe to use and you might have to fiddle with the built in thermostat a bit but if you have a cheap digital thermometer that shows the highest and lowest temps you can get it to keep the temp right where you want it. They have a switch on the bottom so if they tip over they shut off and if you have a soft floor you might need to set it on a piece of particle board or tin.

You are not going to see heat stress in indicas at anything under 90F in your grow room. I keep mine between 75 - 80 most of the time but when I flip to flower and want to add CO2 to support the growth spurt during the stretch I let the heat go up to 90 max and will switch a 600W out for a 1000W then back to 600 after the stretch with my normal temps.

Leaf temps can get too warm from radiant heat from either HID or LED lights so an infrared temp gun is handy to check that.

:peace:
 

DaFreak

Well-Known Member
Depending on how cold it gets for how long, I might think about just framing a a box around the tent and blue board it with an oil heater in there. Or, if you got enough room in the tent throw one in there. I feel like your costs would be more by exhausting from your house.
 

GarageGardener69

Well-Known Member
You shouldn't worry too much. One of those small heaters that can be dialed up and down are really safe to use and you might have to fiddle with the built in thermostat a bit but if you have a cheap digital thermometer that shows the highest and lowest temps you can get it to keep the temp right where you want it. They have a switch on the bottom so if they tip over they shut off and if you have a soft floor you might need to set it on a piece of particle board or tin.

You are not going to see heat stress in indicas at anything under 90F in your grow room. I keep mine between 75 - 80 most of the time but when I flip to flower and want to add CO2 to support the growth spurt during the stretch I let the heat go up to 90 max and will switch a 600W out for a 1000W then back to 600 after the stretch with my normal temps.

Leaf temps can get too warm from radiant heat from either HID or LED lights so an infrared temp gun is handy to check that.

:peace:
Yeah I just found a lasko one for like 30$ but it’s still 1500 watts and rated for 300sq foot.
Where I am pulling the air from actually runs really hot while the heat is on so i also did it in hopes of kind of balancing that extra heat in said room. Sucks it’s going into the unconditioned space but I’m also losing a lot of heat else where in the house anyways On the list to fix too lol

heat shouldn’t be a problem given the light I have and winter coming.. this summer I had it hit the 90s a bunch of times in both phases of this bag seed which I seeded the shit out of too

won’t upgrade my light situation until I get other things dialed in; like environment and even the means of what they’ll go into I.e FFOF plus perlite etc. found a dope thread with a top dress and water only for autos
 

GarageGardener69

Well-Known Member
Depending on how cold it gets for how long, I might think about just framing a a box around the tent and blue board it with an oil heater in there. Or, if you got enough room in the tent throw one in there. I feel like your costs would be more by exhausting from your house.
I have 1.5” R7.5 ridged foam board cut to size to make the box Hoping to assemble tonight.
if this idea doesn’t pan out I’ll probably look into a heater option. But I’m confident in the draw from the conditioned room to be enough to keep temps in range
 

lakesidegrower

Well-Known Member
You shouldn't worry too much. One of those small heaters that can be dialed up and down are really safe to use and you might have to fiddle with the built in thermostat a bit but if you have a cheap digital thermometer that shows the highest and lowest temps you can get it to keep the temp right where you want it. They have a switch on the bottom so if they tip over they shut off and if you have a soft floor you might need to set it on a piece of particle board or tin.

You are not going to see heat stress in indicas at anything under 90F in your grow room. I keep mine between 75 - 80 most of the time but when I flip to flower and want to add CO2 to support the growth spurt during the stretch I let the heat go up to 90 max and will switch a 600W out for a 1000W then back to 600 after the stretch with my normal temps.

Leaf temps can get too warm from radiant heat from either HID or LED lights so an infrared temp gun is handy to check that.

:peace:
This is great info / sounds like your the guy I need to talk to about dialing in when running CO2 :eyesmoke:
 

DaFreak

Well-Known Member
I have 1.5” R7.5 ridged foam board cut to size to make the box Hoping to assemble tonight.
if this idea doesn’t pan out I’ll probably look into a heater option. But I’m confident in the draw from the conditioned room to be enough to keep temps in range
I'm sure it will. I used to vent my basement even in winter because it was the easiest thing to do. First year I stopped I saved $600. I'm just thinking you're going to be losing money if you exhaust it out.
 

lakesidegrower

Well-Known Member
I'm sure it will. I used to vent my basement even in winter because it was the easiest thing to do. First year I stopped I saved $600. I'm just thinking you're going to be losing money if you exhaust it out.
Funny, this is exactly what led me to
sealed room with CO2
Sorry.. getting back on topic, I totally agree that capturing that heat instead of venting it right outside would be ideal, I can only imagine how much cash I’ve blown out of a hole in the wall….
 
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