Homemade 1000w cool tube!

[Mellow Man]

Also take note in the same picture I cut about a inch or so into the duct so I could slide my cord into the duct, so when I hook the airbooster up to the end of it won't interfere with the cord,also take note,I wrapped up the cord where it begins to enter into the duct on both sides kinda built up tape on both sides of the cord so the cord can't move back and forth ,as well prevents you from pulling the cord out of the duct in case you dropped it or something,you don't want that cord moving around inside the duct while your adjusting your lights might cause something to wiggle loose so make sure you tape both ends of the cord up until you have a spacer made between the duct and the cord.................................

[Mellow Man]

So now we have the socket re-wired up! and the air booster wired up to the exstention cord,as well we have the tube taped to the 1ft duct......so before we begin to join the air booster onto the back of the duct lets screw in the bulb and fire up the ballast!....and see if the light works...

[Mellow Man]

Now hook up the air booster to the 1ft duct and make sure the fan is pointing in the oposite direction of the bulb,join the air booster to the duct and tape it with foil tape!......at this point wrap steel strapping around the air booster and 1ftduct secure the strapping with a nut and bolt....these strappings will be used to hook up to a reflector hood or if you don't use a reflector you can still use the strapping for hanging the light from chains! it's all good either way youl'l need something to hang the light over your grow!..

So once you tape both ends of the duct to each other then hang your light into postion in your grow area ..............once hung then do the final step hook up the flex duct,this should be done once everything else is in place and lights are hung because the flex duct once streched out is hard to get into your grow box or the grow area do to tight spaces or what not lol I learned this the hard way!................so last step hook up flex duct and run other end to wherever you want to dump your heat!...........I should also mention make sure all the duct is taped up with foil tape because any air leaks,or holes from where you screwed the hardware on may take away from the air flow,which prevents this setup from running 100% effectively........

[Mellow Man]

So there you have it your very own cool tube! and it cost me just under the $100 range,thats a savings of over $300 bucks or more,by the time everything is said and done.............

This Homemade cool tube is very effective! thats a 1000w HPS bulb burning inside that glass tube and we all know how hot a 1000watter can get before I hooked up this cool tube I had huge! heat! problems but once this system got up and running I was shocked on how well it worked! it is completely cool in the grow room now so cool infact,I might have to turn on the heater from time to time to take the chill out of the grow room it's almost to cool now lol...but thats a good complaint.............

It works so well infact I can touch the glass tube with my bare hand and leave it there probably for as long as I wanted too,there is absolutly no heat coming from the glass,infact I can even touch the actual 1000w bulb with my fingers without burning them before this cool tube though I would have burned my finger as soon as I touched the bulb! note: DON'T TOUCH BULBS! LOL I only did because I wanted to see how well the system worked......I must say I am completely happy with my results...............

I should also mention there are arguements out there that the glass tube takes away from the lumens that reach the plant,other words cool tubes can cut back the actual light out put of your lamp by 20%,note this is still debated by many,but I will add that the glass tube I used is just a glass cover for a candle probably a big roman candle and the glass is very thin perhaps a little thicker then a standard house hold bulb!..........don't know if the glass would be even thick enough to hold back any amount of lumens from the plants and if so I would say it would be alot less then 20% thats for sure.........................

Note in the pics I am actually holding the cool tube in my hands while the 1000w bulb has been on for more then 6 hours....and not even close to hot,maybe as warm as the top of your dryer after drying a load of cloth's.....

[Mellow Man]

Now just a couple of pics of the light and cool tube happily hanging over my garden! growing my babys without any heat stress....now of course people cosmeticely speaking the cool tube and set up don't get any points for good looks! but it serves the grow room really well besides it's the plants you want winning the good look award!...............

So I hope this was good information for everyone.....I know for sure I'm happy lol :rasta:

[Garden Knowm]

wow, nice job mellow man.. i really really like the posts...

I think I will try something like that but I will put the light vertical and grow plants around it... they can touch the glass without getting burned..

bravo dude bravo!!!

[Slimpickuns]

Yes, good job!

[indicloset]

Wow...thats a great idea...good job (on the write up as well, very detailed)...but if you had a problem finding a glass tube big enough, then damn, I got a huge Gavita enhanced spectrum 400w bulb...probably about the size of your glass cool tube and the shape of a MH bulb.

Would this work for the single source of exhaust in a smaller room? (along with an intake of course)

[turtle420]

Mellow Man,

Congrats on a very well written FAQ... Hopefully, it can get turned into a thread over @ the FAQ section. Nice!

-turtle420

[Mellow Man]

Wow...thats a great idea...good job (on the write up as well, very detailed)...but if you had a problem finding a glass tube big enough, then damn, I got a huge Gavita enhanced spectrum 400w bulb...probably about the size of your glass cool tube and the shape of a MH bulb.

Would this work for the single source of exhaust in a smaller room? (along with an intake of course)

The air booster itself probably wouldn't vent out or exaust say a full grow room,but certainly would help,could be used to bring fresh air to the plants,but to use that air unit for just exaust may not be powerfull enough..perhaps a small grow box!

The air booster is powerfull enough to vent the heat from a cool tube set up because where it's a tight space,and the volume of space is small therefore the air pass over the bulb quickly where it's a small place and the heat comes with the air being sucked.................grow room exaust I say no! grow box perhaps it would..................About the glass tube or candle cover or what ever we want to call it lol,come in many sizes and length's....the one I bought fit the 1000w hps bulb perfectly,and there was many more glass tubes(candle covers) there that were much bigger! and many that where smaller...You could defentialy find one to fit your bulb,they even had the huge fat candle covers that would fit a 1000w mh bulb........man you wouldn't believe how plenty full this stuff is,it's everywhere once you get out and have a look around.