Window Venting Questions

I am currently running one 216W SunBlaze 44 (4x 4' T5 Fluorescent) and one 400W MH in a 6" Cool Breeze inside of tents. The other half of my 9' x 14' is one 600W electronic HPS in a Sun Systems XXXL reflector.

I have built 39" x 57" x 10" boxes over both windows in the room--one for intake, one for exhaust. There are flanges hooking my ducting to the boxes. The windows are left open with a set of wooden blinds preventing anyone from seeing the boxes from the outside. All of my charcoal can filters are ducted to exhaust odor-free air out of the exhaust box. All of my reflectors pull outside air from the inlet box and expell it through the exhaust box.

Inside the exhaust box, my ballasts are hanging over the window so that the exhaust air picks up the heat of the ballasts before exiting the house. The boxes are hinged to the wall at the top, so that I can lift the boxes to view all of my ballasts.

My question is: since I am running 1200W of lights, is it safe to vent the heat from this grow room out of an exterior window? I'm sure the window lights up on an IR photo, although the rear of my house doesn't face the street. If I increase my setup from one 200, one 400 and one 600 by adding one or two more 600's, I will be running 1800 or 2400 W of lights. Is this a safe amount of heat to vent out of the room through the window? Would it be safer to vent this air into my attic space?

If I were to put the exterior shell of a window unit air conditioner in the window, would that justify a hot exhaust window?

Ive heard that venting to the attic is much safer. Also try getting cold air from the basement for intake

I have just discovered that the attic space above this room does not connect well with the attic space of the rest of the house. Apparently this room was a porch or add-on, and the volume of attic space above this room is small, and goes nowhere. My fear is that if I duct into this space through the sheetrock ceiling, I will heat the whole volume above my room.

Another concern is that I rent. Although this hasn't stopped me from running 6" ducting through sheetrock walls in the past, I do have to patch them when I move in a few years.

I'm back asking the same questions.... can I duct out the window without being concerned of my heat signature? Should I put an empty shell from a window unit AC in the window to explain the billowing heat stream coming out?

To give as much info as possible: If I duct into the rest of the house, my whole house quickly heats up to 88-90°F (31-32°C). This is without running the central HVAC, which I typically only do in June, July, August when outside temperatures are 90°F+ in the day, 80°F+ at night. With the HVAC keeping the house at 78°F, the room typically hovers around 80°F. However, I don't have a temperature on the outbound air, which is considerably hotter than the house, the room, and probably even the outside. When that information is available, I will post it.

Ambient house temperature (we don't run our central HVAC): 78°F
Ambient growroom temperature: 82.0°F
Ambient temperature inside tent: 82.9°F
Canopy temperature: 83.6°F
Maximum temperature near reflectors, in corners, and poorly ventilated deadspaces: 86.0°F
Temperature of expelled air inside exhaust box: 89.5°F

Decanthas said:

I'm back asking the same questions.... can I duct out the window without being concerned of my heat signature? .

Click to expand...

So you are worried that the FBI is going to happen to fly-by in a helicopter and by using thermo-imagining, they will see that the window is hot...therefore they will acquire a warrant and raid your house?

is this correct? Is this your concern?

Yes, that is my concern. I am not in a compassionate state.

Correction to previous post: my exhaust air is 93°F.

And maybe not the FBI, but state LEO is another concern.

There is some noise, but not as much as a window unit AC. An empty AC shell in the window should cover it up. I certainly don't want to re-run all that ducting!

I am very concerned. My exhaust air has hit 97°F.
Average canopy temperature is 85.2°F.
Ambient temperature near reflectors and ducting is 88°F.
Ambient house temperature is 77°F.

I am considering shutting everything down and waiting until winter months. Can anyone give suggestions?

Thank you.

** Bump **

I would just exhaust it out the window. If any law enforcement really were to scan your place with infrared imaging, it would detect the heat from the main source, the bulbs, not the exhaust coming out of the window.
you could also get a portable AC, which also exhausts its hot air outside, which makes it less suspicious. a window unit would also work, it would just have to be pretty powerful

i would not be concerned. not sure how many officers patrol with thermal imaging