BIG GROW -how practical is this?

[Hallucinogizer]

The upstairs room has a vaulted ceiling and is a pretty big room. I would probably have two rows of air cooled lights that exhuast out that window.

My main concerns are noise generated by the lights and fans, which neighbors might hear. My question is will I be able to remove enough heat to keep the grow room cool? And if I use appropriate materials, can i eliminate the chance of neighbors hearing fans?

I feel that a townhome grow could be safer than a house grow because the landlord is less likely to pay attention to me.

[redneck1]

ok, how big is your room. i currently have a room with five thousand watts, vertical lighting going. i use a two and a half ton ac to keep the temp down. this time of year i am only using four one thousand lights, for the simple reason i can pull outside air and keep the room low to mid eighties while flowering. dark time, room is around seventy. its hydro as well. i have one intake fan that is about a 200 cfm pulling air in from a window. the fan is attached to a blackout board and is about a foot from the window that is cracked open about three or four inches. if you stand next to the window outside you can hear it run. you can not hear it from any neighbors yard. the best way to set your room up, if you have a pitched roof. build a black box for your window. make it baffled with acoustical foam. make sure you leave full curtains and blinds on the window. this will look normal from the outside. install your fan on the inside. the fan will pull the air through your baffle and will cut the noise way down. on the exhaust side, cut a small hole in your ceiling where you can install an exhaust tube. put your exhaust motor, inside the attack. hang the motor from the trusses, will keep noise down. install a carbon filter inline or an ozone generator. put a y into your existing bathroom exhaust . i typically when not using ac, have double the size fan on the exhaust side, than i do on the intake side. keep in mind, i need low low fifty's to keep four lights cool in my room. if your outside temp gets above that your not going to keep the room cool. good luck:pimp:

[Garden Knowm]

Hallucin....
Your real problem is going to be STANK.. You need to make sure you handle the oder.. it needs to be your main concern... that and temperature... you can do it.. but it will take filters, carbon scrubbers and great ventilation...

Lots of freaking stank

Fan tech makes a fan that is very very quiet and can cool down 30,000 watts.. it is a 2000CFM fan... I have used it and it is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!

I believe it cost about 400-600 dollars... worth every penny...

As for the sound of the ballasts... you can get ballasts that make ZERO noise and give off zero heat... well very close to zero..
Ithink EURO SYSTEMS makes them... Each ballast runs 2 lights.. they come in 600 and 1000 watts.. Very soon they are going to release a ballast that can use either 1 or 2 lights..

Finally... i would really like to come over and film your grow
LOL ---serious

You to redneck... I'd love to film your grow too!!!!! I can go anywhere in the world.. I have refernces if you need them..

cheers

[email protected]

[redneck1]

garden knowm is right. smell can be a huge problem, depending on the strain. i usually keep my rooms sealed, no ventilation. in that case i use a large carbon scrubber to recirculate the air in the room. inline ozone generators are decent, i'm just not a big fan of them. if you set your room up properly with three thousand watts, hydro, co2, and moderate your temp. you'll easily get 2.5lbs per light. three thousand wattts is much easier to control than four thousand watts. you can figure about ten degrees extra heat above ambient temperature for each thousand watts of light.

[Hallucinogizer]

Thanks redneck & gardenknowm.

Yeah I was considering the box around the window idea or either just boarding the window up behind the curtains, and cutting holes in the board. I'll probably go with the black box.

I have 2 questions about that. First off, the windows are going to be open. Regardless of the fact that the shades will be down and everything will look normal, the windows will be open 24/7 and people will be able to see that. Thats more of a concern than a question.

My other question is how do you connect the black box to the wall so that it's light proof, but so I'll be able to pull it down immediately if there's some sort of inspection. I'm sure I could ghetto rig something so that it works perfectly fine, but I was wondering if you had a method or knew of a method for attatching the box to the wall.

Garden Knowm,

Yeah I knew smell was going to be a problem that I was going to have to combat with some serious carbon scrubbers. That's why I asked the fan noise question. I'm going to need at least one additional carbon scrubber in addition to the one that I have on the exhuast.

I'll be sure to take your advice on investing heavily into quality fans that have low noise pollution. I don't think I can afford more than 2 of those $600 fans though.

GardenKnowm, I think it would be great if you could record my grow. I'm honored that you're even interested.

It would be exciting to pick you up from a location 2 miles outside the airport, where I would invite you into a van and put a blindfold around you, put a bag over your head...drive around for a half hour to make sure I'm not being followed, and then show you my grow.

The only problem is that if I get busted, I'm going to go away to prison for a very long time.

Seeing as how GPS could be concealed in your stomach, as far fetched as that is, I cannot take any chances.

I will say that I definately want to show off my grow in an educational medium one day though. That way I can give back to the community and also have my name live on in case I'm rotting away in prison.

[Garden Knowm]

LOL - GPS in the stomach... yikes...

all to bust one garden... : )

iloveyou

keep us posted on your grow.. please...

The windows are on the second floor?
There really is no need to keep them open... Are you doing that so that people wont be suspicious? What if it rains.... ?


Spray foam is the greatest shit in the world..It not only is air tight but it will actually BOND and can hold a lot of weight!!!!!

I probably won't fly to your house... I am tired of flying.. driving is my modality.... : ).... unless of course you live outside northwamerica.... which I doubt cause only americans are as "safe" as you...

iloveyou

[Garden Knowm]

EASILY get 2.5 lbs per 1000 watt bulb...... hmmmmmmm

WOW!!!

Hallucin - if you can get 1lb per 1000watts on your first grow.. you are headed in the right direction.. more than 50% of the gardners in this world cannot even do that.. did I say 50%.. i ment 80%

5lbs from 2200 watts is definitley doable (witnessed by me www.seemorebuds.com)... but your shit best be TIGHT

iloveyou

[Hallucinogizer]

The windows are on the second floor?
There really is no need to keep them open... Are you doing that so that people wont be suspicious? What if it rains.... ?

There are windows on the 2nd floor bedroom and 3rd floor (master bedroom). I was going to vent the 3rd floor (4,000 watts) out the window.

Where else could I put all that heat? Into the attic which also happens to be on the same level? It wouldn't have anywhere to go from there and would just backup. If you think otherwise then please explain, as I'm extremely open to suggestions.

Spray foam is a good idea. Can spray foam be cleaned up quickly if need be? I suppose it's going to at least leave a residue on the wall isn' it?


if you set your room up properly with three thousand watts, hydro, co2, and moderate your temp. you'll easily get 2.5lbs per light. three thousand wattts is much easier to control than four thousand watts. you can figure about ten degrees extra heat above ambient temperature for each thousand watts of light.

redneck & Knowm,
I hadn't planned on using C02. Seeing as how this isn't going to be a sealed grow. Not that I wouldn't mind doing a sealed grow, I just think it would be far too hot.

I never planned on this being the most efficient grow. I think there are some real impressive and efficient grows on here, but I was going for overall yield. My general idea was that if I add another 1k, and it heats the room up, sure i may get less per watt, but overall as long as I get more weed.

I'm definately open to suggestions as far as not venting out the window and making my grow more efficient because, if I can save space, then I'll use that space to grow something else that doesn't need light or take up electricity. :dance:


Thanks for calling me "safe" and not "paranoid." I don't think anything should be considered paranoid for a grower over here. :D

[Garden Knowm]

: )

In your attic isn't there a vent that goes outside?.... If you are pushing the heat outside and you have a SOURCE of cool air.. like the basement or the crawl space under the house... you can use as many bulbs as possible.. and I commend you on going for over all yield...

Drawing air from the basement into your grow room and them pushing it into the attic and out a vent is an AWESOME method.. OH YES IT is...

if you watch the trailer at www.seemorebuds.com (i normally don't plug so hard) LOL you will actually see this kind of setup.. you can actually get an idea of how it works just by watching the trailer... That room had 7000watts in a 10x12 room.... when the 2000CFM fantech fan turned on, it could lower the room temperature 20 degrees in 30seconds (no SHIT!)... BUt it needed a source for cool air... using fans of this size will also create havoc with chimmy's and over all air flow in your house.. these fans WARP doors because they SUCK so hard.. WARP DOORs!!!!!

The main factor is going to be controling the heat.. and keeping the lights as close to your canopy as possible (this is assuming that you already know how to GROW)

Spray foam is the horribly messy and a pain in the ass to clean off of many surfaces... : (


: )
excercising the body is fantastic.. if you feel like shit and you take a walk, you will always feel better!!

iloveyou

[Krogith]

air from the basement or under house craw space $$$$

[bongerstonerd00d]

In my house I have a gas forced air furnace that is vented from my basement to my roof, so it does not kill me off as I sleep. Now, what I am wondering is if I were to tap into that vent line in the attic on its way to the roof vent could I blow that "wasted CO2" into my grow room in the winter and not kill myself ?

I know that some CO2 generators use natural gas to make CO2, so I am curious if I have a free source of it and not realizing it. As far as cost, I may need to spend 300-400 bucks at the very most. All I would need is a "T", another length of flexible duct, and probably 2 inline fans. One to suck it from the vent line, and one to keep it moving into grow space. Could hook a probe from grow room to CO2 monitor thingie with both fans hooked to it and only have them suck if level drops below 1500 ppm. If furnace isnt on, it gets cool air, if it is, it gets CO2. I like this idea.

In the summer I would use the bottled CO2 of course, but I could probably get 6-7 months worth free if y'all think the concetration would be enuf in the emission from the furnace.

Maybe many of us are sittin on a source of CO2 that we didnt even know about.

Any thots or ideas are appreciated.


b0nger


Dont be part of the problem, be the one who finds the solution:rasta:

[redneck1]

you may be much better off just using a refrigerated window ac unit. then you can keep your room sealed. figure about 3500btu of heat per thousand watts of light. the other thing you need to consider when doing a grown that large in a room in a house, is the electrical supply. how are you going to supply juice to all of your equipment. with that type of grow, lights, fans, etc, your probably going to be in the neighborhood of about 45 to 50 amps of electricity. none of this is a problem if you run a subpanel from your main panel. my room has a hundred amp sub panel in it. with all the lights, ac, circulating fans, hydro, going i'm pulling roughly 68 amps when flowering. i'm getting ready to order enough lights to set up two more flowering rooms. this time around i'm switching to the electronic digital ballast lights. i'm going to use six hundreds all the way on the outside, and a couple thousands in the center. i'm still going to keep the same amount of wattage. i've been screwing around with a six hundred watt, and a thousand watt light, for the last couple of weeks. both of these are the new electronic digital ballasts. so far, they are consistently using about 28% less juice than the conventional ballasts i've been using. not to mention, they're light as hell compared to the others. i'll try to steal my buddies digital camera this weekend and i'll post some pics of my room if you want. my plants right now are thirty eight days into flower and are about six and a half feet tall.:pimp:

[Garden Knowm]

HEy Bonger...

Let me see if I understand this...
You want the exhaust from your furnace to pass through your grow room as it travels out of your house....

Now it just travels from your basement out the roof.. but you wish for it to enter your grow room first and then out the roof...

Is your grow room sealed?
Air tight?

SOunds doable.. sounds like you better do it right..
LOL..

: )

[redneck1]

hey bonger, your theory is correct, but there is no way for you to regulate the amount of co2 your pumping into your room. most modern furnaces burn fairly clean, but i'm not so sure i would take the chance of offing myself like that. also keep in mind your also pumping a shit load of heat into the room. spend the money on a good co2 set up, much safer. also, make sure your room is sealed real good, and install a carbon monoxide detector somewhere around where you sleep. i use two seperate monitors just because i'm a little paranoid. :stoned:

[Garden Knowm]

he said the "P" word...

: )

[bongerstonerd00d]

I agree with both, I thot my idea over while having a cocktail, and I soon decided it wasnt worth a shit......I am with y'all, I'll do the CO2 setup and forget trying to poison myself with CO2 from the furnace.

Red, and a great idea from you on the secondary monitor, I will add one to my bedroom "just in case". Good insight bro.


Chill the Stoli, and have one on me:rasta:


b0nger:dance:

[Hallucinogizer]

: )

In your attic isn't there a vent that goes outside?....

No.



If you are pushing the heat outside and you have a SOURCE of cool air.. like the basement or the crawl space under the house... you can use as many bulbs as possible.

I don' t have a basement.

Did you see the attatched image with the floor prints? I'm attatching it to this post also, and adding some pictures I took of the room. I'm not currently living in it, but it's possible to get more photos so let me know.

No way to pull air from down below without drilling holes in the floors or something.

Plus, below the 4k watt flower room is the 1k veg room. Why would I want to pump heat from my veg room into my flower room.



Drawing air from the basement into your grow room and them pushing it into the attic and out a vent is an AWESOME method.. OH YES IT is...

Are you abondoning the sealed growroom idea?



if you watch the trailer at www.seemorebuds.com (i normally don't plug so hard) LOL you will actually see this kind of setup..


Being the "safe" American that I am. I recommend you put your trailer on youtube for a couple of reasons.


You can see what websites referred a person to the link and possibly get an IP address.
It's better (and cheaper) advertising for you. It gets the word out better. You can probably find people to link to your clips very easily if they are the least bit informative.


Hope you don't take my suggestion as being the typical "arrogant" American. :cool:

[Hallucinogizer]

The pictures above are both of the 3rd floor (4k).

[Garden Knowm]

Explain the IP address thing to me?

It is free to have video on google..

I will also put it on youtube..

definitely dont pump heat into your flower room.. I did not look at the floor plan very thoroughly.. my bad..

LOL

[Hallucinogizer]

definitely dont pump heat into your flower room.. I did not look at the floor plan very thoroughly.. my bad..

LOL

Thanks for the great advice then that doesn't apply to my situation. :what:

[LaRRyLuvsPot]

[That room had 7000watts in a 10x12 room.... ]

Garden Knowm how did you run 7000watts without a spike in your power bill. I ask cause i am looking to keep electricity down on a grow of about the same size. any tips would be appreciated.

[jamstigator]

What I would do is scale up over a period of time. Obviously, there is a point where you cannot go any farther, because of heat problems, or electricity usage or whatever. Estimate where that point is as pertains to the number of lights, cut that number in half, and try that to start. If you think you can handle 4 1k lights, try 2 to start with and see how it goes, then reassess. If all looks good, add a third 1k light and continue, and so on. That way you shouldn't have too much wasted expense, and when you do pass the point where you start to experience problems, you will know exactly what you need to remove (whatever you just added), to eliminate the problems.