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Another thought is reducing the catalyst size even further to a size that only maintaing 1500ppm. For instance:
If 3000 BTU maintains 34,000ppm @ 1 air exchange per hr then it would only take 132 BTU to maintain 1500ppm CO2.
At 21,591 BTU/lb in propane a 15lb propane bottle last 200 days maintaining a grow room of moderate size at 1500ppm!
Should this thread be moved to the advanced growing section?
My window ac unit is 8000btu's.
Well I will sit back and watch and see how it goes then.
You are making assumptions but time will tell. CFL do not produce enough light for the plant to absorbed the extra amount of CO² in the air. I have been growing with CO² for many, many years and I do have quite a lot of experience growing as well both with and with out enhanced CO².
Only a blue flame will produce the desired CO². A red, green or even yellow flame will not produce measurable or usable CO² for growing.
Zandor - First on the lights I will be using HPS (600-1000 watts depending on what comes across e-bay in the next couple of weeks). That should do the trick. Just trying to get my CO2 down now so it will be ready to go in a couple of weeks when it is really needed. The atmospheric meter arrived in my town today at 7am, yet still not delivered. Maybe Monday?
Here is a clip from a science journal:
In the process of catalysis, the contaminant gas enters the pores of the catalyst and it is there that it reacts with the active phase. Water, carbon dioxide and a halogenated compound are produced as a result of this reaction. This last product is subsequently neutralised in a shower of caustic soda. Thus, only H20 and CO2 are liberated into the atmosphere.
- Note that this process is why you can put the heaters in your tent. Almost all VOC's are eliminated with the only tradeoff being higher CO2 levels but not anywhere close to toxic for humans. Even if the initial "burn" did not create the CO2, the catalist would reform VOC's into H20 and CO2.
UPDATE:
So DHL delivered my huge atmosphere meter this morning. I set it up and it was reading about 400ppm CO2.. I set the propane heater next to it and the readings went up to 2500ppm in a few seconds and then the meter displayed "O.R." (Out of Range maybe?). I shut off the heater and figured it was a good sign. Unfortunantly it never stopped reading "O.R." and I have reset it a bunch of times, taken it to a different part of the house and turned it on.. even took apart the case and vented it.. but no luck. I think the high level of CO2 fried the sensor. It is an obsolete model and the manufacturer does not make parts for it any more. Im going to give it another couple of hours before it hits the dumpster.
Wish I had better news :(
Sorry to hear about your bad luck.
yea the meter never came back around.. its toast
take the batteries out of it, put them back in, have you tried that?
sounds interesting
cheers all :)
got a new meter but it still needs to be cal'd.. it came out of the box reading outside air at 1000ppm.. i cal'd it at 400ppm outside then brought it in for some fun..
i tried dry ice first and it brought the room up nice.. then the burner.. which was nowhere close to a lb of dry ice sublimating under an hps light but it did work.. will be more specific when i get this meter actually calibrated with some real cal gas.