Underground cooling Barrell

I am currently thinking of growing in an old refrigerater i came across. It is getting very cool when the lights are off and very hot when they are on. Since the location of the refrigerator is not bear any kind of climate controlled house, i will be forced to suck in air from the cold outside(nearing winter time). I was thinking that since temps underground are much more stable I was thinking aboit maybe burying a 55 gallon metal barrell and running two exhaust pipes from it( one running to the outside and one to my fridge). Would this give me stable temps in my fridge or is it just a waste of my thoughts. Any help or alternate ways of completing my task will be much appreciated.
 

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
You need thermal mass/inertia. A single barrel as an underground plenum won't ofer you much stabilization. Caves are excellent thermal sinks, but because they are large and deep. Now if you had access to an unused sewer pipe ... cn
 

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
Random thought ... does the fridge still work? How many watts of lights are you running? A 250-watt grow (ideal for a 2x2 space) should be within the operating ability of a typical fridge. cn
 

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
Sorry no. I don't think a plenum you can dig w/o heavy machinery will do much for you. What you might try is to have a fairly large water tank with a "radiator" type heat exchanger in your grow box ... or better yet, one of those water-cooled light fixtures. The water tank will give you a place to dump excess heat and buffer some of the cold. It all depends on how handy you are ...

I would strongly advise HIDs (MH, HPS) over LED. The other option is a 2ft x 2ft 8-bulb T5 fixture .... look up the "LED without LEDs" thread for some cool lamp science.

I don't know if this helped. I would seriously try to introduce variables one at a time ... do an indoor grow and get your bearings before trying something exotic like you describe. That way when (more likely than if) something goes wrong, you know what to fix. cn
 
Thanks, this is very helpful. I had my doubts about the one barrell, but now that you mention this water cooled light fixture. Do you by any chance know of a good site to purchase one? Thanks for helping out a fellow grower.
 
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