Portable Aircons for grow tents

[S420]

So its been a daily uphill battle controlling the temperature where I live with temps going above 30s daily.  If anyone has some experience with this , what are the pros and cons of using a portable aircon unit to cool these plants ?

[Pvt_sToNeR]

Could possibly mess with your RH if you don't have a dehumidifier 

[greenkush]

2 hours ago, Pvt_sToNeR said:

Could possibly mess with your RH if you don't have a dehumidifier 

Portable aircons actually dry out the air with their internal dehumidification function. 

I currently run my lights at night, but I will be bringing on my other 600 watt panels so may find heat and issue and as such will be investing in one. Ideally I'd like to connect to to a humidistat. I will be building a make shift air scoop over the AC and run it into one of the vents, I won't actually keep the AC inside. 

Edited December 5, 2018 by greenkush

[Budwizer]

Get LED lights 

You have to run 30+ degrees for optimal growth, and transpiration.

Much easier and cheaper to control humidity than fighting hot temps.

Seriously, these are the same plants as my SOTM entry. Record flowering time, and looking to be my best yield ever.

[S420]

7 hours ago, greenkush said:

Portable aircons actually dry out the air with their internal dehumidification function. 

I currently run my lights at night, but I will be bringing on my other 600 watt panels so may find heat and issue and as such will be investing in one. Ideally I'd like to connect to to a humidistat. I will be building a make shift air scoop over the AC and run it into one of the vents, I won't actually keep the AC inside. 

I have seen this mod on some setups on youtube. I am of the feeling that this will work out extremely inefficient cost wise since the air outside the room will be sucked into the system. I am not an expert but my line of thinking is that when placed inside the tent the unit will have to work less since the air inside the tent will eventually get cooler over time running the AC. The intake air will be cooler and less power will be required on the long run. I havent worked out what I am going to do but i think it will be something along the lines of running the exhaust hose into the interior carbon airfilter or directly outside the tent. Ive read that the downside is that this may effect the back pressure in the system but I will try to equalise it using the exhaust fan to suck the air out faster. I can guarantee that if I run the AC from the outside of my tent  t will draw maximum power all the time that the AC is on. Give or take at full draw this should be an extra 1000 watts to the setup if not managed. 

 

[S420]

4 hours ago, Budwizer said:

Get LED lights 

You have to run 30+ degrees for optimal growth, and transpiration.

Much easier and cheaper to control humidity than fighting hot temps.

Seriously, these are the same plants as my SOTM entry. Record flowering time, and looking to be my best yield ever.

Wow they are looking lovely. Im not sure if the info I am reading is incorrect cos it seems I have it all wrong if what you are saying is true. I read that flowering temp shouldnt exceed 28 degrees or it effects thc yield. I dont want to have all my hard work ruined by temperatures that are too high. Also I am already using LED lights , 2 x appollo 8 360w. 

 

[Budwizer]

There is a lot of info on the net regarding growing this plant. Much of that info is outdated, but regurgitated as gospel.

You could run 30 deg with HPS and not have major issues. Trick is balancing the most important factors- heat, humidity, light intensity, substrate EC, substrate moisure level, substrate pH.

LEDs don’t radiate much infrared, which HPS ( and the sun) does. That infrared energy (heat) is one of the drivers of photosynthetic processes, used by the plant to manufacture sugars. You need to achieve a LST (leaf surface temperature) of 27 deg plus or minus. If your cab is running at 28 ambient with led, your probably only hitting 24 deg LST. Your plants aren’t performing at their best. 

I’m still getting my head around a lot of this myself, but my results are proving this new info correct. I have pretty good control of RH, which is an important factor. 

I have lowered my daytime ambient temps from 31 to 29 for the last two weeks of flower, nighttime ambient temp from 25 to 24. RH from 60 to 40 day and night. My system runs +-5 points from those goals.

I’d say it’s working.

[S420]

2 hours ago, Budwizer said:

There is a lot of info on the net regarding growing this plant. Much of that info is outdated, but regurgitated as gospel.

You could run 30 deg with HPS and not have major issues. Trick is balancing the most important factors- heat, humidity, light intensity, substrate EC, substrate moisure level, substrate pH.

LEDs don’t radiate much infrared, which HPS ( and the sun) does. That infrared energy (heat) is one of the drivers of photosynthetic processes, used by the plant to manufacture sugars. You need to achieve a LST (leaf surface temperature) of 27 deg plus or minus. If your cab is running at 28 ambient with led, your probably only hitting 24 deg LST. Your plants aren’t performing at their best. 

I’m still getting my head around a lot of this myself, but my results are proving this new info correct. I have pretty good control of RH, which is an important factor. 

I have lowered my daytime ambient temps from 31 to 29 for the last two weeks of flower, nighttime ambient temp from 25 to 24. RH from 60 to 40 day and night. My system runs +-5 points from those goals.

I’d say it’s working.

Looks really good nice and frosty. It looks like I am mostly worried for nothing , my day night temps are almost the same as yours just a bit higher 32 degrees or so atm during the day with the lights off (the new ac arrives this weekend so that should help bring it down during the day). Would u recommend i set the AC to 29 degrees to regulate it at that temp ? Also would you mind please posting some pics that show ur light distance from your plant tops , I am busy trying to figure out the sweet spot and Im not seeing many led setups that show the actual light distance. Love the results I see on your picture though. 

[S420]

Out of interest I have chosen this AC unit (was on special with 37% off). I like the self evaporator ( means no draining of water, better power efficiency and hopefully no issues with dehumidifying). 

 

Russell Hobbs - 10000BTU Portable Aircon

The Russell Hobbs Portable Aircon has a self-evaporator for energy saving and high efficiency

 

Features:

- 24 Hour Timer

- LED display

- Self-diagnosis function

- Four-way castor wheels

- Cooling and heating options

- Breeze mode for quiet operation

- Self-evaporative for energy saving and high efficiency

 

Specifications:

- Weight: 22kg

- Assembled Dimensions: 37 x 32 x 88cm
- Material: Plastic

- Colour: White
- Power: 1110W 

- Noise Level: 65dB

- High airflow: 335M3/H

- Warranty: 24 Months (12 months Retail + 12 Months extended upon registration at www.russellhobbs.co.za)
 

What's in the box
x 1 Portable Aircon
x 1 Remote Control
x 1 Exhaust Hose
x 1 Window Kit

 

[Pvt_sToNeR]

Was no joke about to send you the link 

https://www.takealot.com/russell-hobbs-10000btu-portable-aircon/PLID41125397

[Budwizer]

7 hours ago, S420 said:

Looks really good nice and frosty. It looks like I am mostly worried for nothing , my day night temps are almost the same as yours just a bit higher 32 degrees or so atm during the day with the lights off (the new ac arrives this weekend so that should help bring it down during the day). Would u recommend i set the AC to 29 degrees to regulate it at that temp ? Also would you mind please posting some pics that show ur light distance from your plant tops , I am busy trying to figure out the sweet spot and Im not seeing many led setups that show the actual light distance. Love the results I see on your picture though. 

When I say day temps, I mean lights on. Doesn’t matter whether that’s real nighttime or daytime. Your system will run more efficiently if you run lights on during the daytime. Use the heat of the day while the lights are on, set the aircon to 30, cooling.

At night drop the aircon to 25, still cooling.

On cold days, set the aircon to heating.

During the winter months, my aircon will run heating permanently. 

Don’t ignore my advice regarding RH. In veg and early flower, you need to be above 50%.

I have a PAR meter, to set the distance for my lights. They’re at approximately 30cm, and I have multiple overlapping. Your lights are different to mine. You can’t run the same distance I am. I’d recommend 45cm for yours, without knowing your setup.

 

[S420]

2 hours ago, Budwizer said:

When I say day temps, I mean lights on. Doesn’t matter whether that’s real nighttime or daytime. Your system will run more efficiently if you run lights on during the daytime. Use the heat of the day while the lights are on, set the aircon to 30, cooling.

At night drop the aircon to 25, still cooling.

On cold days, set the aircon to heating.

During the winter months, my aircon will run heating permanently. 

Don’t ignore my advice regarding RH. In veg and early flower, you need to be above 50%.

I have a PAR meter, to set the distance for my lights. They’re at approximately 30cm, and I have multiple overlapping. Your lights are different to mine. You can’t run the same distance I am. I’d recommend 45cm for yours, without knowing your setup.

 

I hear u about the RH thing. In dry climate it takes both a humidifier and aircooler running in humid mode to keep it at 40-50 / waiting for the aircon to arrive then ill deal with the RH issues. I bought a backup pond ultrasonic fogger to add more humidity that I can try. With regards to the temps, If i run my lights during the day the temp will go over 32 degrees. hopefully the AC is going to be the answer to that then I can switch my light cycle.  I will give 45cm a try on my lights ( i ended up going into the grow tent at like 2 am and raising them back to the 90 cm they were set to , just so afraid of burning them or stressing them). 

Edited December 6, 2018 by S420

[S420]

2 hours ago, Pvt_sToNeR said:

Was no joke about to send you the link 

https://www.takealot.com/russell-hobbs-10000btu-portable-aircon/PLID41125397

Great minds !!

[Budwizer]

8 hours ago, S420 said:

I hear u about the RH thing. In dry climate it takes both a humidifier and aircooler running in humid mode to keep it at 40-50 / waiting for the aircon to arrive then ill deal with the RH issues. I bought a backup pond ultrasonic fogger to add more humidity that I can try. With regards to the temps, If i run my lights during the day the temp will go over 32 degrees. hopefully the AC is going to be the answer to that then I can switch my light cycle.  I will give 45cm a try on my lights ( i ended up going into the grow tent at like 2 am and raising them back to the 90 cm they were set to , just so afraid of burning them or stressing them). 

You sound like a first time grower. Nothing wrong with that, we were all first timers. The common thing amongst first timers though, is that they all ( me included) make way too much of everything. I guess pretty much like first time parents do. 

90cm is quite far, unless you’re running very powerful lights. If you’re worried about it, try 60cm. For the wattage you stated, I’m comfortable recommending 45cm.

[S420]

20 minutes ago, Budwizer said:

You sound like a first time grower. Nothing wrong with that, we were all first timers. The common thing amongst first timers though, is that they all ( me included) make way too much of everything. I guess pretty much like first time parents do. 

90cm is quite far, unless you’re running very powerful lights. If you’re worried about it, try 60cm. For the wattage you stated, I’m comfortable recommending 45cm.

Yeah never grown like this before ( We used to grow some plants in between crops on our farm ). Its been totally new growing indoor were things like lighting, ph, temp and humidity are all controlled. Ive set it to 45cm and changed the light rotations to lights on during the day to try it out. Today was rough I saw temps of about 33.5 even with the aircooler running on full with icepacks in the water tank. My AC arrives Saturday (Cant wait !!).  I am noticing what u mentioned about the angles as I lower the light. I see why you changed your lenses. The spread is not really great the lower you go.  Oh and btw I dont think the true wattage is 360w per light. I believe its more like 256w. 

Edited December 6, 2018 by S420

[Pvt_sToNeR]

12 hours ago, Budwizer said:

You sound like a first time grower. Nothing wrong with that, we were all first timers. The common thing amongst first timers though, is that they all ( me included) make way too much of everything. I guess pretty much like first time parents do. 

90cm is quite far, unless you’re running very powerful lights. If you’re worried about it, try 60cm. For the wattage you stated, I’m comfortable recommending 45cm.

If you can give a first time grower a ease of mind to be cautious of certain factors but not over compensate for them, What would your advice be ?

[McB]

43 minutes ago, Pvt_sToNeR said:

If you can give a first time grower a ease of mind to be cautious of certain factors but not over compensate for them, What would your advice be ?

understand why deficiencies occur, don't panic when they do. keep it simple, nature is simple, we are emulating nature.

water on a schedule, not "every now and then", dont cheap out on nutes, soil or fans, shit, dont cheap out, period.

as in life " dont sweat the petty stuff and dont pet the sweaty stuff"

 

lastly, failure is also a result, learn from mistakes, thats how we all started

 

Edited December 7, 2018 by McB

[S420]

4 hours ago, McB said:

understand why deficiencies occur, don't panic when they do. keep it simple, nature is simple, we are emulating nature.

water on a schedule, not "every now and then", dont cheap out on nutes, soil or fans, shit, dont cheap out, period.

as in life " dont sweat the petty stuff and dont pet the sweaty stuff"

 

lastly, failure is also a result, learn from mistakes, thats how we all started

 

Its like with all babies , us daddys get excited quickly  

[S420]

ok so update to my thread. I have fitted the aircon into the tent and it works like a charm. I have rigged it in such a way that I can run with or without the aircon while still keeping both exhausts through the carbon filter. I tried the aircon exhaust without the carbon filter and it just caused the place to stink up. The unit works 100% heating or cooling the tent to whatever I set it to.  The heater mode is cool for those cold nights cos it automatically switches on and off when needed.  So far I can see the effect on my plants they really were struggling with the heat. 

[Budwizer]

Interested to see how you rigged the intake and exhaust. Any chance of a picture?

[S420]

4 hours ago, Budwizer said:

Interested to see how you rigged the intake and exhaust. Any chance of a picture?

The setup didnt work well. I originally bought a 6' Y piece and moved the carbon filter to outside the tent. I then fed both exhausts into the Y piece. This turned out not to work so well when temps got really bad, it was fine during the few days of rainy weather but total failure when temps got over 32 (turns out the AC exhaust blows out with so much power it forces hot air back into the tent even against the extractor fans backpressure ). The only viable way forward that I can see , would be too buy another carbon bed filter for the AC. I am not willing to make mods to the AC It cost too much to mess around with. I tested feeding the AC exhaust directly into the tent exhaust and this is working fine for me atm. The downside is that I have to disconnect the ac exhaust when im not using the AC. Until I get another carbon filter I will have to do this manually else my neighbors will smell it. 

[Budwizer]

I duct the ac waste to an outside box. My carbon filter and exhaust fan sit inside that box. I have a separate air filter box and another duct fan pushing in fresh air.

The aircon runs permanently, either heating or cooling, depending on the outside temperature. 

Only problem I have, is that the combination of ac fan and exhaust duct fan, overcomes the ability of the intake fan to keep the pressure more or less even, so my tent sucks in a lot. I use fan speed controllers on both the intake and exhaust duct fans,  but even when I’m running the exhaust at low speed, the aircon still overpowers the intake. I’m going to work on heavily modifying the AC for my next run, so I can have it outside my tent. I’m losing a third of my grow space with the aircon inside the tent. 

The Ac will become part of the intake system, with its waste air out of the grow environment circuit. So, intake air will flow from my filter, to the aircon, be warmed or cooled, and on to the tent. All I have to do is build a plenum for the aircon intake, and extend the temperature sensor into the tent ( and find a place to put the damn thing).

This way, I’ll have more control over the inlet pressure, and can balance it out better with the exhaust speed controller.

[S420]

4 hours ago, Budwizer said:

I duct the ac waste to an outside box. My carbon filter and exhaust fan sit inside that box. I have a separate air filter box and another duct fan pushing in fresh air.

The aircon runs permanently, either heating or cooling, depending on the outside temperature. 

Only problem I have, is that the combination of ac fan and exhaust duct fan, overcomes the ability of the intake fan to keep the pressure more or less even, so my tent sucks in a lot. I use fan speed controllers on both the intake and exhaust duct fans,  but even when I’m running the exhaust at low speed, the aircon still overpowers the intake. I’m going to work on heavily modifying the AC for my next run, so I can have it outside my tent. I’m losing a third of my grow space with the aircon inside the tent. 

The Ac will become part of the intake system, with its waste air out of the grow environment circuit. So, intake air will flow from my filter, to the aircon, be warmed or cooled, and on to the tent. All I have to do is build a plenum for the aircon intake, and extend the temperature sensor into the tent ( and find a place to put the damn thing).

This way, I’ll have more control over the inlet pressure, and can balance it out better with the exhaust speed controller.

My tent is also sucking in alot. (even without the AC it sucks in if i turn up the damn extractor) These AC's are extremely strong at extracting air they completely overpower the extractor fans. For me ducting the AC outlet to the intake is a no go because the garage collects too much dust from the ceiling and this will clog it up eventually. Also the air outside the tent is always hot in the garage so I am sure I will be running an extra 1000w all the time. In my case I got lucky the 10000 btu unit is about the size of my carbon bed filter (just taller) its even smaller than the air cooler I had in there ( Half its size) so space is not an issue at all. I myself do not run an intake fan , I have sealed up the tents vent holes and allow it to intake air from a duct i have running to the outside. 

Edited December 12, 2018 by S420

[S420]

On 12/5/2018 at 1:28 PM, greenkush said:

Portable aircons actually dry out the air with their internal dehumidification function. 

I currently run my lights at night, but I will be bringing on my other 600 watt panels so may find heat and issue and as such will be investing in one. Ideally I'd like to connect to to a humidistat. I will be building a make shift air scoop over the AC and run it into one of the vents, I won't actually keep the AC inside. 

This unit has the option to switch the dehumidifier off or on I thought that was pretty neat.

[greenkush]

Mind linking it here please