Sealed Room Question

Is building a sealed room (6ft. x 5ft.) worth the effort? I realize it would help with controlling the dankness of flowering buds, but is there any other reason to bother doing it? My partner insists that it's the only way to go - making a chamber with no inflow or outflow for air, setting up a portable A/C to control temps, and providing only a CO2 atmosphere from a regulator/solenoid/timer on a 20# bottle, and setting up a can filter to "clean" the air inside the chamber. I have to say that I disagree, and think that putting a couple of inlet fans in the wall and handling odor control through a can filter that vents outside the room sounds more realistic, but when I try to debate, it enevitably results in a disagreement (which I'd like to avoid). In fact, the sealed room idea sounds to me like a recipe for failure (despite the fact that plants breathe CO2 and not "air"). I'm hoping that someone can maybe help to clarify the issue, because I don't want to buy all the crap to make a grow room, and then spend time setting it up, and have the effort/expense be all for naught... I would appreciate some input from some folks who have grown - especially those who have used this approach. Thanks!

I have never grown that big but both ideas have merit. Yes a sealed room with an a/c will do the trick but the a/c will run almost 24/7 to keep the lights cool if your using MH or HPS. And the 2 fans have merit to if you dont want the a/c inside room and want to use "outside room" temp to keep it cool. But to me the best solution would be to put a ducting fan "outside" the room and use it to cool the lights through ducting than use an a/c to cool the plants. This solves both sides inthat it is still a sealed room and the co2 will stay high for yeilds but the a/c will not run 24/7 to keep everything cool.

Whats up mojomonkey?

I can say that it will work just fine either way, but there are a lot of things to take into consideration. Just this year I built an 8x8 room. I set it up with passive intake and an 8" vortex fan pulling air through a charcoal filter and then pushing it through two air cooled hoods and out of the room. This setup worked great but the room I built is in a backyard shed so in the summertime it would be incredibly hard to cool when pulling 105 degree air into the room constantly with the two 1000s running inside. so thats the first thing I would look at if I were you. Do you have a cool air source to pull air into the room or is it outside air that gets hot? If you dont have cool air sealed might be a better option.
Once I finished one run with the room as I first built it I decided to seal it and build a veg box inside with 3 400's in it and co2 enriched it also (necessary in a truly sealed room) So now I have all lights pulling air from outside through the sealed hoods and back outside so no air is transfered out of the room. You could also not cool the lights at all and rely on the ac to do the job. Depending on what you decide it could be expensive. When you decide to go sealed it means a lot of money spent and for a small grow as you are planning it may not be worth it. You need to get an ac that can cool the room and it has to be one that doesnt exchage the air. Most window units will work, portable acs will work only if they are dual hose, or the newer style mini split are awsome. Also you will need a dehumidifier for a sealed room and when you exchange the air a lot with an unsealed room you probably wont need one depending on your climate. You will need co2 enrichment with bottle and a controller. You can use a timer instead of the controller but it wont work near as well.

The other thing is what size lights you will run because that will greatly change temps and how things need to be handled. Also your experience as a grower plays a big part. If you dont have very much experience then I would keep it very simple to get used to the plant itself and what it likes. No matter what dont let your friends talk you into anything if you do alot of reading on here and make an educated decision on how you will set up your room and what style room you want to grow in. You will have a much easier time getting good results later.

Ill tell you what my room was much easier to deal with when it was unsealed and had no veg box to worry about. It is a lot more work now but also higher yielding and with faster growth. It also cost a lot of money. You never mentioned the hieght of the area you have but assuming its at least 6 feet tall Id do this....
Id get two 600 watt hps ballasts (very efficient more bang for your buck) and 6" sealed reflectors. Get a medium sized charcoal filter and a 6" inline fan to cool the lights and exchange air in the room also. Get one oscillating fan to blow in the room and have passive intake twice the size of the exhaust. So with the 6" do like two 3" diameter holes for intake. I would do soil to start cause it is the most simple and will work well. Id buy a window ac off craigslist and spend 50-70 bucks which could buy about a 10000 btu model which should do the job. They are very affordable new also. I think a setup like this could get you rollin for a lot less than a sealed room and be a much easier room to get things down. I hope this helped you out to make a good decision. If you have any questions check out my shed grow in my signature and ask there cause I wont check back on this thread, but I would be happy to help out. Happy growing man!