Need help with cooling and fast! PICS

Heres what I have...

400W MH/HPS
a fridge...



I have tried computer fans, caged fans, and a bathroom fan... nothing works...

please help
Thanks,
natty

dude, how cold do you want these plants?

78 ish... if I could get it to 85 I will accept it..

they are upwards to the 98 to 100s with the doors closed...thats a big negative!

fans in there look fine 2 me. and the plants stems are supporting. nice grow fridge lol nd keg

You need an air cooled hood, and your problems will be no more.

Where do you live bro? Is it hotter on the outside than in your house?

Need to get one of these bro.

Do you have any exhaust ventilation in there first of all? If not, I would get a small 4in or 6in inline fan and cut a hole in the back of that icebox to allow for good air circulation, especially during the flowering stages! And all that electrical stuff underneath the plants worries me, especially if you're actually watering in there. I would keep all that mounted on the inner walls up and away from any danger. Those buckets are extremely big too I think for the little plants you have growing. I would have them in smaller containers until the roots reach a state to where you need to transplant them into bigger buckets. Also, do you have holes drilled in the bottom of those 5 gal buckets for drainage?

We need to know how you have tried to use all those fans.
1 where is the intake air holes/size
2 exhaust info. looks like you have been trying to use the hole in the top right, was it ducted or just an open hole
3 what CFM are the fans you have tried
4 temp of the intake air
5 the fans at the top of the cab are just blowing the hot air down on your plants, blow acrossed the plants

ND

Nicedreams said:

We need to know how you have tried to use all those fans.
1 where is the intake air holes/size
2 exhaust info. looks like you have been trying to use the hole in the top right, was it ducted or just an open hole
3 what CFM are the fans you have tried
4 temp of the intake air
5 the fans at the top of the cab are just blowing the hot air down on your plants, blow acrossed the plants

ND

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1.I now have a passive Intake right above the buckets about 4''x4''
2.It was an open hole with exaust fans pushing air out.
3. 50cfm bathroom fan, 4 80 cfm computer fans. and a cheap walmart cage fan with no cfm info on it
4. not exactly sure
5.I have moved them to blow on the plants already

Do you have any exhaust ventilation in there first of all? If not, I would get a small 4in or 6in inline fan and cut a hole in the back of that icebox to allow for good air circulation, especially during the flowering stages! And all that electrical stuff underneath the plants worries me, especially if you're actually watering in there. I would keep all that mounted on the inner walls up and away from any danger. Those buckets are extremely big too I think for the little plants you have growing. I would have them in smaller containers until the roots reach a state to where you need to transplant them into bigger buckets. Also, do you have holes drilled in the bottom of those 5 gal buckets for drainage?

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I gave the info on my fans up above. I am not watering them in there, but I have since cleaned it up for wire mangement. I dont want to transplant them to much to minimize shock. It can't hurt to have them in larger buckets. It only allows the roots plenty of room to grow.

keg

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thanks!

Need to get one of these bro.

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Please direct me as to where i can get one...If the price is right it might be an option

Where do you live bro? Is it hotter on the outside than in your house?

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It is definitly hotter than in my house, however, I have my lights turning on at night to counter act this aspect of temps....



Thanks for all your replies

View attachment 962110View attachment 962108View attachment 962107

The exposed wires are covered with wire caps now. 4 computer fans and a 50 cfm bathroom fan...

help, any ideas? I thought the bathroom extraction fan would work but it is not....

I use an ultrasonic cool mist humidifier to supplement my cooling. You can get these at your local Goodwill or St Vincent DePaul for just a few bucks. They drop the temps in my grow by 10 degrees. I have a lot of air moving from my intake and exhaust fans so my humidity tends to be quite low (16% - 20%). With the humidifier I get it up to 40%. I point the mist towards an oscillating fan which then blows the mist across the tops of the plants.

Something else you may want to try is getting a muffin fan and mounting it to blow air right under the light bulb. Then on the other side of the light bulb, mount an exhaust so that you get the hot air out of there before it has time to collect. You can get 5" muffin fans for cheap on eBay or your local electronics swap shop.

Instead of a hood you may want to look at a cool tube due to your space limitation. You can make these yourself if budget doesn't allow for purchasing. Look for DIY cool tubes instructions online.

Other things to consider...

Where is your ballast? Shouldn't be anywhere near your fridge. They are a heat source and have long cords specifically so that you can mount them far from your grow.
Are you venting the room your fridge resides in? The cooler you keep that main room the cooler your fridge will be. Vent hot air outside, not just to the room outside the fridge.

You can get a cabinet cooler (Noren makes them). They are a little pricey but they are a good solution to a full ac unit and can mount to the outside of your fridge.

Another option is to get one of those small window AC units at Walmart for $99 and use it to keep the room cool where your fridge is. The temps in your fridge are directly affected by the room temps your feeding it. Drop the room temps and the air in the fridge will drop as well.



Hope this helps

One more thing...you've got to cut holes in the fridge and mount some intake and exhaust fans. It doesn't look like you've got it set up to move a lot of air through your fridge (which you'll need).

I would do this if this was my setup...

Get a vented hood and mount at least one inline fan to move air across the light. Make sure you are exhausting the heat from the light OUTSIDE (not just in the same room). I have the intake on my hood open so that it helps exhaust the hot air out and into my attic with duct tubing.
Get 4 x 5" muffin fans
Cut 2 holes towards the bottom of the fridge to mount 2 of the muffin fans to blow air into the fridge.
Cut 2 holes at the very top of the fridge and mount the other two muffin fans for exhaust (hot air rises so you want you intake at the bottom where it's cool and your exhaust at the highest point where it's the hottest)
Get an ultrasonic humidifier (if you still need to drop the temps) and run it inside your fridge at the bottom.
Get a small OSCILLATING fan. I use a 12vdc fan. Have this blowing across the tops of the plants. You just want to breeze them, not blow hurricane force winds across them. That'll stress them.

Once you get those temps way down there then you should be able to get the light closer. My plants sometimes touch the glass on my hood (with a 600w HID) because I get the heat from the light out of there as quick as I can. It doesn't have time to accumulate.

Seems to me like using a fridge for a grow is a lot of hassle. You might want to consider a grow tent or putting up a couple plywood walls somewhere where you can run your exhaust right outside or into the attic.

A real fan, a 4 inch can-fan for instance and a real hood that is sealed. With that running you might get away with the otherwise useless fans you currently have venting the remainder of the heat.

My suggestion to anyone is that you don't cheap out on hoods, and don't listen to people when they suggest bathroom and computer fans when any wattage of HPS or MH is involved, especially in an enclosed area.

Dude,
Buy some real fans and your heat issues will go away, I gave you a link to my old journal maybe take another look at it

Drill some 4 inch holes and get some fans, I use a 65 in and a 165 cfm out

That and a hood will reduce temps

pallaromp said:

A real fan, a 4 inch can-fan for instance and a real hood that is sealed. With that running you might get away with the otherwise useless fans you currently have venting the remainder of the heat.

My suggestion to anyone is that you don't cheap out on hoods, and don't listen to people when they suggest bathroom and computer fans when any wattage of HPS or MH is involved, especially in an enclosed area.

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My guess is that a $300 can fan is a little overkill for this guy's grow.

Computer fans, inline vent fans (from Home Depot), muffin fans, oscillating fans, etc...all move air. Yes, the more money you spend the more air you'll probably be able to move using a much more expensive fan. But, if you're growing in a fridge then chances are that it's going to be put together with various parts found here and there.

Nattyhead, don't listen to anyone who says you have to use ANYTHING expensive for your setup. Buy it all used. Rip fans out of junky computers and power supplies. Go to Goodwill and find appliances for a buck that have parts you can use. Look at alternative ways to do this (after all, you're growing in an alternative box).

My box resides in my bedroom closet. It is constructed from leftover plywood and 2x4s. It is 4'w x 2.5'd x 9'h. I have an 8" duct fan at the top of the box (we'll call it a "box") for an exhaust and a 6" duct fan mounted to my enclosed hood. The intake to the hood is open to help exhaust air from the box. The 6" and 8" fans have ducting that join up to a homemade carbon scrubber in the attic for odor control.

I'm using a 600w MH/HPS with my lumatek ballast mounted in the garage (the other side of the wall)

I have my ultrasonic cool mist humidifier ($4.99 at SVP) misting air directly at my 6" oscillating fan ($2.99 at SVP). I have two more oscillating fans higher up for when the plants grow bigger.

I have a 6" duct fan bringing air into the box at the bottom. I need to add another because it's not keeping up with the exhaust.

I cut up a cheap air conditioner filter and attached them to the fans (just used rubber bands to keep it on the fans). This helps keep dust and critters out.

With this setup, my six plant harvest from two weeks ago produced 22oz. I grow in hydro using a homemade 6 x 5-gallon bucket + 30 gallon sterlite reservoir DWC accompanied by 15 min incremental on/off sprayers. I got the 15 min mechanical timer from Home Depot online for $4.88. I had to search around for this because there was no way I was going to spend $80 on one of those hydroponic specific incremental timer that does the same thing. Home Depot doesn't sell these in their stores so you have to get them online.

Point is to try things with stuff you have around before you start looking at expensive solutions. Chances are if you get creative enough you can solve your issue and have some cash left over to buy a vaporizer or something

Good luck

Ok...so you say to cheap out on the fans but your spending more money in the long run. The three fans that your running for your exhaust are pulling a fair amount of power. You already told us that that you have that many and still need to add another one.
I have a canfan that draws well under 1 amp and it can cool my 600w and pull through a carbon filter with air to spare. The four fans you are going to be running likely draw five times more power and still might be enough. And im sure you are spending more than my $165 canfan by the time you get it dialed in
Do it right the first time and be done with it or keep adding em till you get there, your choice
ND

What up yall,

I must agree with ND about the long run perspective. Buy a real fan pipmpin. Like a 4'' or 5".

Curious to see the solution to this one lol

just bought a bake a round. Im gonna try a diy cool tube I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

Thanks for all the responses...

Tcurtis I couldnt find the inline fans at homedepot or lowes!!

Hydro store is where you will find them