New loft grow - Need some help

G

George2324

Well-Known Member
Hi I'm new here and attempting to start a new grow in the loft.

I am in the process of getting a full loft conversion fully insulated and then lined with a membrane to
prevent dust. I am getting extra eave vents fitted to help with airflow.

I have a few things I could use help with from experienced growers mainly just if my setup is going to be ok and if i have to work about flir detection.

My loft conversion is going to be quite large, probably around 6m x 6m of total floor space that you can walk on.

My idea is to have a 3m x 3m grow tent with a 800m3/hour exhaust pumping air out into the other side of the loft maybe in a smaller tent and finding someone way to evenly distribute it near the soffits to help cool. I will probably have 2-3 1000w HPS lights in cool tubes vertically with another exhaust pushing air over the lights and doing the same with the exhaust. Would this output a lot of heat to make my house light up and be obvious?


I will have atleast 4 small rotating fans around the soffits bringing in as much fresh air as I can that will be my only way to get fresh air into the loft, then a passive intake into the tent. Would this be enough?

So my main issues are giving off a massive heat signature and air flow.

Any input would be great.

Thanks
 
Anyone got any input?

Would be ideal if anyone could give me some ideas I could possibly toy with for upgrades etc too as it's still in development
 
I have experience with loft grows , depending on your climate you may want more than just passive intakes ,i installed 2 extra eve vents each with ducting and fans bringing in as much fresh cool air as possible.. not to sure about your heat signature question i changed to led's to ruduce heat i have a fairly small space and a hot climate tho my space is roughly 2x3m x about 1.4h from memory
 
To cool air from tent do you think it might be possible to exhaust the air into a barrel of water that is topped up with cold water ever couple of days?
 
Climate is a big thing to where we may live in the world to how one may control it !

Temperature difference between summer & winter is an example...

But ye insulation is a question as that normally keeps the heat in reducing energy bills etc could be a problem in summer months when temps are higher as heat rises aka the loft.

May suggest an AC unit (air conditioning) to control temp out side of the tent if using passive venting but air cooled hoods with suggested bulbs would be essential which ideally needs to be vented from from the grow completely.

Other wise the barrel of water to cool exhaust air is only good as the temp of the water but a water cooler unit may help... kind of getting elaborated to say the least.


The big question is air flow as in intake to provide air for for the plants & they is little point in recycling air for em...
 
I can't seem to find any sort of AC units for sale in UK. Are there any portable ones that don't have to be fitted to pump heat outside just like a portable rad but instead a portable ac?

Also do you think I would need an ehaust on one of the eaves pumping air in from the eave vent into the loft?
 
I'm in the uk so I don't think I need to air condition the tent. The max temp we will ever get outside all year will be around 20 Celsius and that's probably a week a year.

What's a whirly vent on roof? Wouldn't the hot air all escape there showing obvious heat being pumped out to flir?
 
If i pumped in enough air probably a lot of air from the soffit vents upwards pointed my exhaust downwards towards the floor all the air from the soffits might just cool the air from exhaust before it rises to the roof and warms the tiles? I'm no expert at this stuff. But I know heat rises so if I force the heat out an exhaust downwards towards floor it then has to rise before it hits the tiles. Which gives a bit of time for the massive amount of air being pumped in to cool it
 
George2324 said:
I'm in the uk so I don't think I need to air condition the tent. The max temp we will ever get outside all year will be around 20 Celsius and that's probably a week a year.

What's a whirly vent on roof? Wouldn't the hot air all escape there showing obvious heat being pumped out to flir?
Click to expand...

If you think the temperature around the grow tent in the loft conversion will never exceed 20c that is a pretty all right & myself like to keep a base line temp around that area also !

2 or 3 1000w bulbs will need to be used with air cooled hoods but exhaust will be warm & if worried about flir helicopter units really need to be around 500 meter to 1000 meter away to work effectively & if ya in, ya gonna know about a heli above ya... even tho hand held units are in use being some what cheaper to use than the cost of a heli per hour/fuel etc

Well ye exhaust ah, Mmm i use my spare bed room it has got a chimney breast & my ducting/exhaust goes up it... what comes out of chimneys ?

Hot air :thumb:

I plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it & call it a fox... lol ( just need odour control )


Back to the barrel idea, ever wondered how coolers work ?

Lots of coils surrounded by the coolant agent or method.

Lets say 50 gallon barrel & spiral pipe system with in the barrel the more surface area of spiral piping the greater the cooling effect but will need a water cooler to chill the barrel effectively other wise the water will warm up making it less effective.

Just need a design idea, make it water tight etc


Ye you can get AC in the UK just need to look harder some units even deal with humidity an area not to be over looked ! i'm pretty sure small portable units can be purchased for the home and often found in DIY stores mainly being sold around summer time when one might want some thing like that...
 
Well if I can manage to get the temperature outside the tent to be ambient with enough cooling surely the roof tiles will be ambient too.

About the water cooling idea.

What could I use to cool the water in a barrel?

When I look for water coolers I just get those office type ones that dispense cold water
 
Oh they are good. So if I have a couple of those in a large barrel with plenty of ducting spiralling around the water. The heat should be cooled quite a bit before hitting the air in the room so there should be no thermal detection
 
I havnt used hps/mh before so I have no idea how much heat to expect. Anyone got any ideas as to how much heat will be coming from an exhaust that's pulling air from 3 1000w cool tubes? What would the temp of the air in the exhaust be? Are we talking like 30C or am I way out? Could it even be 70C?
 
George2324 said:
Well if I can manage to get the temperature outside the tent to be ambient with enough cooling surely the roof tiles will be ambient too.

About the water cooling idea.

What could I use to cool the water in a barrel?

When I look for water coolers I just get those office type ones that dispense cold water
Click to expand...

Roof tiles are a dark colour these darker colours tend to attract heat & warm up over the course of the day more of a problem in summer... bit like testing the warmth of a tar mac road in the middle of summer with your hand just as an example.


The loft insulation boards used between roof beams will help... but in general flir picks up heat signature from the areas of where vents are to where the warm air may escape etc


I would check some online hydroponic shops for water coolers as these deal with larger volumes of water from 250 gallon per hour plus, price will range from a couple of hundred to several depending size/volume of water treated.

As for the spiral cooling pipes standard upvc for house hold drainage from sinks etc could be used & might be a tad costly building, could look at 3/4 inch hose pipe but may be able to find larger piping from a builders ware house store etc, ya gonna need to look around & do price comparision check for best value.

The larger the diameter of pipe the more effective the cooling surface is & you may need quite a bit if pumping 800 m3 of air through it per hour cramp in a barrel for diy chiller...


Mmm lights ah & heat ye they do give off extra heat depending on wattage !

Its an old post but it may help out ?

Bulb heat - Watts to Btu to Celsius Calculation

Mmm extraction fan size per volume removed may adjust effective cooling to some degree depending on intake temp of air... it gets quite hard core maths dealing with this.

AC or air conditioning work reasonable the same on volume of air & BTU.



Its is a lot to look at to be honest but ya may need to way stuff up or best system to use adjust & adapt through the changes once set up & growing.
 
HPS and MH are electric heaters that just happen to give off light. If you run 2 or 3 1000W lights, your will have 2,000 - 3,000 watts of heat. FWIW, I think 2-3 lights will not be enough for the space you describe. I run nearly 1000 watts in a space less than 1M x 1M.
 
2-3 lights will be enough I think as I'm going to build a vertical grow with lights hanging vertically in cool tubes. directly on top of each other. Plants will be in a circle all around the lights. I could use more lights if need be though. I have some good designs in mind but I need to address the heat issue first. Would it be easier to vent the heat into the house below somehow? If all heat was vented into the house surely there would be nothing for flir to pick up. The only problem is I own the house and don't want to cause any damage to it. I'm not much of a builder so I have no clue how to safely make vents and asking a professional to come in and do it would surely spark questions

Maybe if someone has any simply ways I could vent into the house below. I have checked though and there isn't any bathroom extractions prefitted. The only extraction prefiitted in bathroom goes directly outside
 

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