Indoor Controlling my Environment

[soccerdad]

Hey AFN ! I am needing some advise on how to better control the environment in my grow space.

The space is a rectangle shaped box...3.5 ft long, 2.5 ft tall, and about 2 ft deep for a total of about 17.5 cubic ft.
I am using 4 curly cfl bulbs at 65Weach for about 260 W of lighting mounted horizontally in a aluminum reflector
I have a 6" passive intake letting outside air in on the floor on both sides of the box (12" total of out/in venting)
I have a 6" oscillating fan blowing through the box but pointed twards the lighting fixture and a 92mm fan pulling air at the top of the box out into the room ...it cycles at 38 CFM.

so when my lights are off and the outdoor temps are reasonable....all seems to be fine, but when the lights come on..even when the outside temps are like 50f the temp in the box can get upwards of 100F...
when the lights are off and the outside temps get hotter...like 80-90 F even with the fans, and the dark, the space gets blazing hot. my fear is when the outside temps reach 100F ( and they will in my part of the world) im screwed with the lights on or off.

I have experimented with not running all 4 of the cfl's (like 2 at a time) and that did help, but i was afraid that wldnt be enough light for the 2 plants i run at any given time?

so this is my dilemma...any thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Rock on SD

 

[namvet25]

The only thing I can think of is you need a larger exhaust fan or another outlet fan and outlet hole.

 

[soccerdad]

Thanks namvet25, what are your thoughts on running half the lights to reduce the heat? i know it will affect yield on some levels, but i may have to trade some yield for the over all health of the ladies...i am going to try adding another 92mm fan and put some vent holes in the top of the reflector that houses the lights to see what that will do. and your saying perhaps something bigger than my 6" oscillator? i may give that a try too.

 

[namvet25]

I forgot to ask how hot your incoming air is.If the room where the grow box is real hot and you draw that in then that will make it worse.

 

[cocolopez]

CFLs don't kick out all that much heat. I would focus on fixing ventilation before reducing lights.

I'm also a little worried that your space is only 2.5 feet tall, unless you're training your plants to grow short and fat.

 

[soccerdad]

namvet25, the inbound air is just whatever the ambient temps outside are, and that does make it tough, cause when the outside air gets hot ...as it will during the summer... the inside will simply bring that in...i gotta figure this out before then for sure.

cocolopez...these 65w lights get pretty hot i think its made worse due to the small space, and I do have to lst all my plants on every run..i am getting lots of experience tying them bitches down...i try hst from time to time too, but lst seems to be more effective. i am gonna try some more ventilation for sure..

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[Muddy]

I run an outdoor grow box where I also have to contend with incoming air temps. I tried a variety of solutions and finally hit on something that is working pretty well. I have a 4", 150 cfm in line fan hooked up to one of these controllers: http://www.qcsupply.com/commercial-...mount-variable-speed-controller-110-volt.html. The controller automatically speeds up or slows down the fan to maintain the set temperature. This works very well in the winter, holding in the little heat I get from my LEDs. I do live in the South where summer temps can often reach the mid to high 90s, sometimes higher. With no air conditioner I just shut it down for the summer.

 

[soccerdad]

Thanks muddy! Thats what I had to do last summer..as far as shutting down..the box temp hit 112+ and my ladies did not take well to that at all :-( can you give me some info on where to get the kind of inline fan like you use? or just something like a bathroom vent fan like home depot sells..

thanks again all you AFN peeps, for the great responses...im gonna have a better grow cause yall are sharing what you know!

 

[Muddy]

Here's one similar to mine. Looks like they aren't carrying my model anymore. http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/hurricane-4-inch-inline-fan-171-cfm-p-3801.html. My box is a lot bigger, which does make it a little easier to control. There are some pics here if you're interested. https://www.autoflower.org/members/muddy-albums-outdoor-grow-box.html. That was my original setup, I've changed it a bit since.

 

[Larky.Derry]

WTF???