Mini Fridge Grow Box- Help Please!

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hifibry

Member
Hey guys. I'm a longtime lurker but I have some questions now.
My fiance had the brilliant idea of using our mini fridge as a grow cabinet...

here's the refrigerator:
Click each pic to see it in full size











This will be my first grow.

What else do I need? I plan on eventually drilling a hole in the top left side and one on the bottom right for two fans... I'm about to go buy some 2700k and 6500k CFL bulbs that I have no idea how I'm going to mount.

Should I buy mylar? I've read where if it's a flat white paintjob (like what I have) then that should be enough.

What would you do to the fridge to make it the best grow box it can be?
 
vh13

vh13

Well-Known Member
Glass heat shield with a 250w HPS, no paint or mylar, exhaust fan and an oscillating fan... a growing medium... plants.
 
Xiphos

Xiphos

Well-Known Member
Ive tried growing in a mini fridge just like that one before. I put in 4 cfls and it got super fucking hot in there killed my first batch of plants!

You're gonna need ventilation for sure! A duct booster would do fine for some cfls. If youre gonna put a HID light in there you're gonna need to cool tube it for sure!
 
ibitegirls

ibitegirls

Well-Known Member
Xiphos said:
Ive tried growing in a mini fridge just like that one before. I put in 4 cfls and it got super fucking hot in there killed my first batch of plants!

You're gonna need ventilation for sure! A duct booster would do fine for some cfls. If youre gonna put a HID light in there you're gonna need to cool tube it for sure!
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lmfao, i could just picture that haha. good lucky with the fridge dude, i would advise just using a uhaul box instead of that..
 
H

hifibry

Member
vh13 said:
Glass heat shield with a 250w HPS, no paint or mylar, exhaust fan and an oscillating fan... a growing medium... plants.
Click to expand...
That sounds perfect... minus the money. I'm sure it gets old to hear but I'm unfortunately on a budget (thus the DIY). I just did some scouting and found a 55w 2700k at walmart for about $12 each- not sure how good of a deal that is but at least I have a source for my 2700k's. Going to HD tomorrow.

Xiphos said:
Ive tried growing in a mini fridge just like that one before. I put in 4 cfls and it got super fucking hot in there killed my first batch of plants!

You're gonna need ventilation for sure! A duct booster would do fine for some cfls. If youre gonna put a HID light in there you're gonna need to cool tube it for sure!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tips! I'm definitely going to put two big computer fans on either side, one at top left and one at bottom right. I think that sounds okay.

When you put in 4 CFLs, did you use two 2700k's and two 6500k's?
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
Ive recently started a grow in an old chest of draws. I have had some heat issues using pc fans. A few days ago when i added my bigger cfls (85watt) the small fans couldnt handle the heat been produced and the temps went up to 130s which has obviously shocked my plants, they should be ok but you need to make sure you have plenty of air circulating. I have changed the larger bulbs for smaller bulbs which give off less heat but i have also had to take out my home made carbon scrubber because the outlet pc fan cant pull enough air through the carbon because it just isnt powerful enough. This isnt a problem now but will be when the plants stink, i think i will have to build an inline fan carbon scrubber by adding another fan to push the air through the scrubber while the original one pulls from the other end. Sorry im going on a bit, just woke up and smoked one so im pretty stoned!
Anyway this is what im getting at, use a bathroom extractor fan for your outlet if you are going to use a carbon scrubber (i should defo use one) save the hassle if having to upgrade it later, you can use a pc fan for your intake if you want but with pc fans you will have to buy a transformer to run it because it will be 12 volts, a bathroom extractor fan can be wired to a plug easier. Also i would try and use more small lights than less big ones. the 30watts 6500 spectrum lights i got on an auction site are great for light output and reasonable for heat. the bigger bulbs are worse on lummens per watt and give off too much heat.
People talk alot about grams per watt so you gota figure the more bulbs you can add the better buds and yeilds your gona get, its just finding a balance of how many bulbs you can use without getting too high temps.

Sorry again, i am pretty wrecked... you need to use a mix of both light frequencies but peoples opinions differ as to wht the correct ratio is. Some people grow with equal 3x 2700k and 3x 6400k other people suggest using 2/3 6400k when vegging 1/3 2700k and then swap that to the opposite when you change your light cycle.

hope theres someuseful info there?!? finding it difficult to keep a straight train of thought!
Good luck!
 
H

HSA

Well-Known Member
Hifibry: I've seen it done but by the time he finished and after all the work he put into it I wondered if it was worth it and not a waste of good beer cooler. He gutted the inside, removed the hump in the back, (the compressor), fiber glassed in a relatively square corner and painted it to match. He stripped the door shelving inside and lined it all with a reflective textured material similar to Mylar. He left the weather stripping in place to seal the odor. The empty bare box weighed next to nothing and from the front it still looked like a fridge. He too had heat problems so he left the door ajar to compensate and put a hole at the top of the back side and installed a little fan over it. I understand it was real noisy but that's not what got him kicked out of the dorms, it was the stink. What do you expect? He was only a first year engineering student but I thought it was pretty ingenious.
 
H

hifibry

Member
coreywebster said:
Ive recently started a grow in an old chest of draws. I have had some heat issues using pc fans. A few days ago when i added my bigger cfls...
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Thanks for the influx of knowledge! Can I get a hit of that god damn :P
I'll be running it inside a closet inside a room that has a door that can be closed... if the smell gets too bad, I'll invest in the carbon scrubber/distribution. Your tips on the lights sounds excellent to me, and might even be cheaper.
Would you use 3 30w 6500k/2700k or would you use a different wattage? What lumen amount am I trying to get here? I'm about to grow a strain of afghan kush that's autoflowering.

doncarloss said:
haha im trying to use my old mini fridge aswell Ill have pictures of my set up later
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sounds good brother, let's have an adventure together LOL

HSA said:
I've seen it done but by the time he finished and after all the work he put into it I wondered if it was worth it and not a waste of good beer cooler....
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Ah, I see... however, I think I'll be avoiding the problems he made by:
using my fridge's white paint as the reflector
installing proper ventilation (PC/bathroom exhaust fans)
putting it in an area where the smell can't escape (or just getting a carbon filter/air fresheners haha)
 
E

el hefe

Active Member
seems like a really small place to grow, why not use the closet this thing will be in as your grow area?
 
H

hifibry

Member
el hefe said:
seems like a really small place to grow, why not use the closet this thing will be in as your grow area?
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Yeah, it's pretty small. Not looking to get massive yields and sell just yet, more for personal use and to make my noob mistakes... that I hopefully wont make because of you guys ;]

GerryJarcia said:
reminds of this... https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/131013-master-kush-scrog-150w-hps.html

Follow this guys grow and you should have similar results.
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Hm!!! I'm considering that. Damn. That's fukken gorgeous lol
 
TCurtiss

TCurtiss

Well-Known Member
Here is my old grow cab

a full size fridge with a 400w HPS unit


grew some serious dank in there





Good luck

T
 
Farfenugen

Farfenugen

Well-Known Member
If you want stealth and have space issues, I'd try looking for a small cabinet. A fridge is just too cumbersome and may take a lot of reworking to retrofit into a grow box. Plus a fridge is cause for thirsty prying eyes if they think there might be beer in there.
 
H

hifibry

Member
TCurtiss said:
Here is my old grow cab...
Click to expand...
So, did you just wanna drop off some pics? Uh...


Farfenugen said:
If you want stealth and have space issues, I'd try looking for a small cabinet. A fridge is just too cumbersome and may take a lot of reworking to retrofit into a grow box. Plus a fridge is cause for thirsty prying eyes if they think there might be beer in there.
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Well, it's going to be in a closed closet in a closed room.
 
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