Hydrohut Ventilation

Just got a Hydrohut Mini (39" x 39" x 6.5') and wanted some feedback about ventilation from you guys. I have a 400w HID with a cooltube, a 6" Vortex 465cfm fan and a 265cfm Dayton squirrel cage fan. My latest plan (they change a lot it seems) is to vent the cooltube from outside the hut, pulled by the 6" Vortex, and exhausted out a window through a flange in the back of the hut - that way the 400w light is completely sealed off from inside the hut. Then the smaller Dayton pulls air from the hut and out into the room (scrubbed when its needed). Intake is passive. Whatcha think?? Will this work well or will I need a bigger fan for the hut exhaust?

Tha fans are all in use in my closet grow area right now or I'd just experiment some. As it is, when I make the move to the hut I need it to be just moving it all over and hitting switches.

That better work just great, because bghydro recommends a 4" centrifugal fan, just one, for the HydroHut standard or the mini, and both of your fans are more powerful than that. I'm gonna be using just one 4" fan (170 CFM) in a HydroHut standard, with a 1000-watt light in an air-cooled hood. I may have probs, we'll see, but YOU certainly shouldn't have any! ;)

Ok good. The Dayton that I'll use to exhaust the room is a 4" and I was worried if it would be enough. The reason I'm a little weary is that I'm using those fans in a closet now but they are less than stellar at cooling it...I think the problem is all the ducting with lots of turns & bends I run to and from the closet. In the hydrohut my ducting should be under 6 feet or so for the cooltube and 2 feet or so for the exhaust.

Thanks for the reply...I'm looking forward to seeing your hut setup..I'll be working on mine today (the last pieces are supposed to get here today, fingers crossed) so if it comes together I'll post pictures tonight. My seedlings are only a week old tomorrow so I'll continue to use a 125w cfl for another week or so then switch to the 400w.

Jam, I don't think that fan will cool that light enough for that hut, IMO, I have a 172 CFM vortex on a 1K air cooled hood and I had to add fart fans to get the temps down, but maybe you'll have better luck. If your not pulling the fan threw a scrubber then the fan will be at max potential and you may pull it off. If you toss the scrubber and use one of those air neutralizers that I posted about in the in door section that you read then you could go without the scrubber.
As for this Hydro hut mini, I would just use the 400 plus on the light and the whole hut as the main exhaust and the Dayton for an active intake, if you try to use both I can imagine that the negative static pressure will want to cave that little guy in, but the Dayton blower will off set some of that pressure and balance out the air flow giving you a good negative pressure, but not over kill.
Adieu.

Well the Mini Hut is set up but haven't made the fans switch over quite yet as I still need the 6" flanges for the cool tube. I think I read somewhere you can put a hydrohut together in 20 minutes ....hahahahahahaha roflmao. :D Not even wired on 10 cups of coffee while distorting the fabric of the time/space continuum. Took me an afternoon to do it and wire a cool tube & ballast. This thing is bigger than I visualized...glad I got the Mini!!

Good overall build quality and it's easy enough for one person to set up. The instructions are a bit hazy (or maybe I was) but the photos filled in the blanks. I'll probably switch over in the next few days as I get the final details down like where to cut the two holes for the tube, etc.

You're scaring me, doco! I'm not good at putting stuff together, was hoping it'd be easy. Yeah, I dunno about the 4" fan either. I only plan to use the big light in the winter, and at night, and I'll be putting the hut near some windows, so maybe it'll be okay. It is definitely getting colder here, dropping below freezing at night here and there already. I figure the 1k light will be the primary heating unit on this floor at night during the winter (and run the 400w light during the day). Two birds with one stone! By the time the weather gets hot again, I'll either get a 6" fan if I need it, or just not run the 1k light during the summer at all.

That odor neutralizer you posted about looks very interesting, BlueBear; one of those is on my list of things to get when I have the moolah to spare. I'm a little skeptical about the 20,000 square feet of coverage, but even if it works on just a tenth of that area, that'd be enough for me.

I think it may work if you plase it by some windows, for mine, I have a $90 Dayton 200 plus CFM pulling in the winter breaz from outside as an active intake, and the active goes off with the light, because they are on the same timer and it stays in the 70's in the light cycle and the dark cycle.
I posted a bunch of quotes that I got from IC Mag in the In Door section titled, "Dag nabit I am going to try it" about all kinds of people using that neutralizer on their grows from closet, cabinet to spare rooms, may want to check it out.
Adieu

Yes, I saw all the rave comments. Absent those, I was unsure. But after reading all of them, well, it was pretty convincing and that's what swayed me. Thanks for posting that, btw! Have you got one yet? If so, how is it working out? The discs aren't really cheap, but now that I'll have TWO boxes and TWO carbon filters, the discs seem more reasonable to me.

Jam, The Huts are not hard to put together, it just took me awhile because I had ordered a whole bunch of new grow gear and I was playing with it along the way. You'll get it up in an hour or two I'm sure.

One thing I am a little worried about though is that the passive air intakes are not completely light proof, particularly not during the day (which is the dark period for me since I like to run the lights at night to balance the temperature variations. I'll be looking at ways of addressing that - maybe fishing weights on the flaps??

BlueBear: thanks for your comments too!! I don't mean to only chat up with Jam, but he is going to run a hydrohut too and wondered about his experience with it. I've read a lot of your threads and you dispense great advice and creative solutions!!

Hmm, not lightproof, that kinda sucks. Well, worst case, I'll put some ducting through the intake, bend it 90 degrees, cover it with a stocking and duct tape it. Anything can be done if you just use enough duct tape! I'm not all that concerned with visual stealth. I mean, a gigantic humming...thing...more than 4 feet wide and 4 feet deep and 7 feet tall, if that doesn't arouse suspicion all by itself, what would? ;)

Hey Jam, I didn't get to order mine, had to get 2 new ballasts because the 2 1K's were fried and a month ago we had to get a new vehicle because the trainy went south on the last one and we pay cash for everything and I am at a low point in my financial existence . Luckily the shack is paid off or else I would be doing this in a cave.
Adieu

Sorry to hear that, was hoping I was the only broke person around! Well, UPS shows the hut and a little carbon filter out for delivery this morning. The second order, the light/reflector/ballast/knick-knacks, that all shipped EXCEPT the ballast, which is back ordered. Obviously, I can't use the light without the ballast though, so bleh, kinda bummed out about that. The ballast I ordered is this one:

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc....10SSVI&eq=&Tp=

No MH bulb for it yet, but I wanted the option, and I hate when cheap stuff croaks on me, so I invested in a good ballast with a 5-year warranty. Guess I can get everything set up except the ballast and be patient waiting on that. Maybe it won't be long - shows they have 7 of those in their inventory system, so maybe they just got some in.

I had some male plants so I cooked them in the crockpot last night and made some oil, and started some brownies baking this morning; that'll cheer me up! ;)

HydroHut got here. I ran into a problem: it's too big! The place where I want to put it has sloping ceilings, so it was kinda hard to measure precisely. It would just exactly fit, height-wise, with just the poles alone. Soooo...I grabbed my trusty ol' hacksaw and cut about five inches off of four of the poles, to lower the height. That may create some problems later, depending on where I put the slack in the canvas, but I'm pretty sure I can make it work, one way or another. So, basically what I have is the square footage of a HydroHut original (52" x 52") and a little bit more than the height of a HydroHut mini.

Not much else I can do at the moment, since I'm still waiting on the other stuff, so time to boke a smowl and relax! ;)

Wow that kinda sucks that its too tall. It should still all come together ok, it will just have some play in the canvas, no big deal. I know what you mean though, this one is bigger than I expected too and like you said, stealth is pretty much out the window. If somehow, someone sees it and asks, I'm going to say it's my photo darkroom, lol. Actually, I'm a medical marijuana patient so the legalities are not a serious issue but I still like to fly under the radar and maintain a low profile.

I put the small 265 fan in last night and it seems to move the air pretty good. I wont put the 400w light and cooltube in till this weekend but I'm moving the seedlings and cfl over tonight. Good luck with the rest of your hut!

Now they show 6 of the ballasts in stock, so maybe one is winging your way!

Woohoo, you're right, glad you told me that! They didn't email me when the ballast shipped, but I checked my order status and it had. Won't be here this week, but should be here next week sometime. 44 pounds just for the ballast, pretty crazy.

This will be my first time using this HID lamp. I got it from HTG via eBay and it was pretty inexpensive ($119). If this grow goes well I will probably invest in a digital ballast, efficiency being the biggest draw. I've heard or read somewhere that cheap HID ballasts can perform as poorly as 50% efficient...which means your 400w lamp is actually drawing significantly more from the wall.

Hope you have fun with your new toys. You'll be including this hut in the thread you started for the Durban, right?

I just got a 1K and a 400w from HTG, except I don't buy off EBAY unless I am extremely desperate and then if I do I don't use PayPal.
Adieu

Yep, was gonna post an updated pic or two once I move Big Mama to the hut. She's doing okay under the 400w light, but it's getting pretty cramped in my original flower cabinet now. Everything is here except the ballast now, and it's en route. I think I might need another 6"-to-"4" reducer though, so I hope Home Depot or Lowes has those.

Yes, they'll have them - saw them last night while I was getting some ring clamps. Can't wait to see how the mama does in there. Durban has always interested me but knowing how big it can get has kept me off it so I'm glad you can be the lab test!

BlueBear, I know you are right about maintaining anonymity...if I knew then what I know now, I'd do it differently. I'm a registered medical marijuana patient so that keeps the local authorities off my back and hopefully I'm way too small a fish for the Feds...I only grow for personal use and never to sell so I just hope if I don't cause too much of a blip on the radar I'll be safe. Isn't it crazy to have to worry over growing a plant that has been used medicinally for thousands of years???

Your absalutly right. So much craze over a plant that has been used since the don of man as far as history can tell.
Adieu

What's up jam, did you get your ballast yet? Also D, how is your mini comeing along?
Adieu

No ballast yet, but should be any day now!

Sounds good, I want to know how that ventilation works out so keep us posted. I have a 1K in a new room and another one about to go in, and the room is 5 x9, but the hoods are 4ft in diameter and are open, they are parabolic hoods, kind of like huge satellite dishes. They give fantabulous coverage, but no way to really vent them, so I will find out how my heating situation will be in a few weeks when I throw the second light in.
Adieu

The Mini hut is doing great, thanks for asking. I just got everything switched over on Sunday and reppotted my seedlings yesterday. The temperatures in the hut with the 400w cooltube are a marvelous 1 degree above the outside room temps so the fans are doing their job just fine! There is more radiant heat from the bulb than I expected but if I keep it 15" - 20" away, it should be fine. At this time, I'm more like 36" away because they are just seedlings and actually they are struggling seedlings at that. I think I had them in too "hot" a soil for seedlings and a few appear near death. I transplanted them into some Fox Farms Lite Warrior yesterday so hopefully they will live despite my best attempts at murdering them.

I'll post a pic or 2 of the hut tonight when I get home...

Ok, here are a couple of pics of the new Hydro Hut Mini with everything in place. The temps stay at or slightly (1 degree) above the ambient temps of the room it's in with the 400w Metal Halide light running 18/6. The cooltube is exhausting out a window that is behind the hut. :thumbsup:

My only real complaint is that if you use the passive air intakes like I have been, it is not at all light-tight...a lot of light gets in the intake vents which are just holes covered with a screen mesh and covered by a flap inside. Naturally when you are running the fan and air is coming in, the flaps raise up an inch or two and light poors in. I was planning on running the exhaust fans in the hut 24 hrs a day so I have to work on an active intake and tape those vents shut. I wonder about acousticly transparent foam??? Like for speaker grilles? It's dense and dark but yet passes sound??

BTW, when I was inside light-testing the hut I noticed millions of tiny pinholes of light coming through the ductwork! The wrinkly aluminized stuff must wear as it is flexed - I reused this same venting from my closet so maybe I need fresh ducts so as to minimize the wear and maintain the opacity. Maybe its not enough to worry about on the ducts but the damn passive vents are a real problem....now I'm looking at even more $$$ for fans and electricity unless I come up with a crafty econo-solution...:confused:

Dude, i had the same problem as you did. I just tucked some cardboard under the hut and folded it upward. It creates a barrier to catch the light. I have vents on all sides x-cept the door side. Check it out. The fifth pic is the way i'm dealing with your light problem. It doesn't stop the airflow, but it stops the light, which is good. The first pic is the AK-47 mom and second my Ultra Haze #2 we grew from seeed.

About the ducting leaking light...I extended my ducts outside the hut as well, so light doesnt get in. The 4th pic is the top exhaust vent. I used the moveable joints to make hade bends in the ducting which i hear is important for good air flow. The 5th pic which is the 6" vortex connected to the 1000k hps, you can see I used a reducer to shrink the 6" to 4" for easier ventilation out of the room. I'm using the vents in the walls to disperse the air in other rooms. Sometimes I get a whiff of dank in my bedroom. Its kinda nice.

We got some troublemaker with our order from dr chronic. None of the seeds grew tho. I'm ordering bogglegum f2 from mastergrow. Hopefully they aer sweet.

How is the negative pressure from the squirrel cage? You see on the last pic how the canvas is sucked in, Its like the 4" vortex is pullin out more air than can come in. Is this bad?

I like you setup. I would like to get some more side CFL's to add in the mix. I would also like to try two 600 hps cooltubes or the same case i have now just 2x600w instead of 1000. I wonder If the 6" vortex would cool two 600 HPS? I dont know. Right now our second grow is going ok. The plants look a bit hurting, but are doing fine. MAybe I'll throw some pics up soon. They are starting to gte some nicve buds. Im lazy so im not fixing my typos anymore.

Peace good luck. I'll keep in touch.

Doco, In my HH if you are looking at the hut from the front, on the left side on the bottom, more towards the door, there is a 4" hole for using an intake fan. Does you hut have one of these hyoles? Thats the pic below. You can again see how I am dealing with the side flaps.

Hey guys
At home depot you can get air condition flex duct.It's insulated and has a outer cover over the insulation.No light will get in at all.Or you can take 4" duct and run it inside a 6" duct.Like a duct in a duct.That should stop light too.Well thats all I can think of right now.Please keep us posted on how you deal with the light. Peace

Thats a good idead about the duct in a duct.

Yeah, that is a good idea...Ill check it out.

I have the same negative pressure Dusto2k3...the sides of my hut are kinda sucked in. I think once I put the carbon scrubber on it it will equalize quite a bit. I love the setup you have with your ducting. I'm going to have to do some serious planning about next summer if we have another July like the last one. I got my cardboard in place for now to block the light. :thumbsup: Im still searching for some good acoustically transparent black speaker foam...

I have some new hut guests. I picked of some Mango clones today and they joined the family. I thought they were going to be smallish semi-rooted clones but these are like 10" - 12" and bushy with big rootballs. I've never put a plant from rockwool into soil before so I hope these survive ok. I just shook all the hydroton balls off as best I could and put them into Fox Farm Light Warrior, misted & watered them. I'm hoping that the transplant and the fact that they need to reveg a little more will slow them down a few weeks and let my babies catch up. Guess time will tell. BTW, Thanks dude, you know who you are! ;)