Air Conditioning - Sealed Room

[Nitt]

Hey people.

I wanted to ask around to see what those of you running a “sealed” room (whatever degree of properly sealed you achieved, doesn’t need to be a perfect, lab environment.) are using for air conditioning - how much cooling (btu or tonne).

If anyone is up for sharing their setup, including at least some detail of the major loads, and how much cooling they’ve installed and how well it does for their situation, I’d appreciate it.

-Size of room (L x W x H)
-Wattage and type of lighting
-Amount of dehumidification (pints/day, or watts, or amps, something)
-“Climate” or general region (country, or just a general idea of if it’s cold there, winter, desert, humid, etc?)
-Maybe you need it to heat (heat pump option) in the cold months, you can share that if you want.
-and/OR an overall BTUs you calculated for your room and for the AC to need to deal with (and how did you arrive at the number, did you multiply the total watts by a constant? 3.5, 4?)

Thanks for anyone who takes the time to share any info about what’s worked for them. I’m trying to get an idea of what others have gone with and what’s worked for them, in a similar situation as me.

Thanks.

[TestOfOath]

I run a LG 6000 BTU small portable AC in my 10ishx10ishx10ish grow room along with 2 box fans and an 8 inch carbon filter exhausting into a 2x4 veg tent. I originally bought the unit for a 4wx7hx8l tent but switched rooms with my 2 and a half year old son so he had a larger bedroom as he grows up.

Temp is set at 75 to keep it around 78. I live in Michigan and temps and humidities fluctuate fucking violently on a daily basis, during winter I couldn’t get OVER 30% RH. Window the AC exhausts out of is covered with reflective bubble insulation but I’d like to upgrade it to some foam board one day for the structural integrity and rigidity, floppy things and duct tape make bad seals when the AC starts to draw, anything soft in the room flexes from the pressure change.

I run 450 true watts if LED in my main flower area, 200 true watts cranked down a bit for young plants in the veg tent, so at worst I deal with 650watts of heat being produced from my LEDs, if you want to get SUPER technical I’m around 1000-1200 true watts being pulled (fans, filter, AC, dehumidifier, etc.) 18/6 of every day unless I’m flowering photoperiods.

I do have to have a dehumidifier for the most humid of days if we get a week of rain or something and the whole house is wet, it’s a small one like 20 pints or something which doesn’t take up much space at all but does make for 2 times a day emptying on the worst days. Usually I forget about the thing though honestly, it never fills up unless it’s a downpour.

Hope I helped a tiny bit, feel free to ask questions I wasn’t clear enough on!

Also, I’m out of “likes”, sorry

[ReikoX]

-Size of room (L x W x H): 11x11x7.5
-Wattage and type of lighting: ~1200W LED
-Amount of dehumidification: 40 pints/day
-“Climate” or general region: high desert
-Heat: oil filled radiator
-BTUs: 5000 BTU window unit on an inkbird temp controller.

[Nitt]

Thanks for sharing your setup.

I know you didn’t ask, but, If you’re under LEDs, I’d check the temps of the actual plants with an ir thermometer. I doubt they’re warm enough at 78* air temps.

Is that the coldest your lg unit will get the room if you tried? Just curious.

[Nitt]

Thanks, ReikoX.

Is this room sealed (co2)?
High desert climate, but you need a heater, I’m guessing this is my ignorance - it must get cold (enough) at night in the “winter” or something?

That 5000btu cooling does the job for that room? Would you get a 12000btu if you upped the lights around double the wattage?

[TestOfOath]

No that thing will turn it into winter in there if I wanted it to.

While LEDs may not put out as much ambient heat from the diodes as opposed to large bulbs, watts themselves DO put out a specific amount of heat, in LEDs case moreso from the drivers than the boards themselves.

Also, I was mistaken about the 75°, it’s actually set at 77 and the room stays 78.

Here’s a watt to BTU calculator, in case it helps you.

https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/power/Watt_to_BTU.html

I’m still under my threshold of 6000 even at full power

[Nitt]

Yea, I know, those drivers get hot.

I was just trying to tell you that there’s a good chance your plants aren’t warm enough with that ambient temp. Because they’re not being directly heated from infrared from a bulb. If you get a chance, measure them with an IR gun. If they’re below 81-82 (they will be), they could be warmer.

Might help

[ReikoX]

Yes the room is sealed and I run CO2 (first run with it).
Yes it gets quite cold at nights in the winter.
Yes that little unit keeps up, the room is very well insulated and I Ramp up/down my lights so I’m only running full power for half the cycle.
Yes I would double my AC if I doubled my lights.

[TestOfOath]

[Webfish]

I have built several successful rooms tell me what equipment and size room your planning and I can tell you what you need for your cooling needs.

[Nitt]

I realize this is years ago, but, and just for my own sake: BTU Calculation for AC + Mini Split Thoughts

[BigE_BWG]

Yooo! What’s up brother! I’m planning a build could you message me bro to help out with the build? It’s pretty much from scratch elec and all size it to be determined along with lights and ac. I have close to 2000w of led on hand and a couple of portable air conditioners that are 9-10k btu I also have a couple 1k hps se with sealed hoods. I have a couple 400w hps/mh with wing style reflectors I could use as well. I can run Sealed or open loop but sealed seems like it would work better, And I could keep the room cleaner if I made sure everything was caulked and I controlled intake and exhaust of air. The power is off there now there is a meter and a box on the pole and the spot has electric but I don’t trust it. What’s easier to mitigate the smell in a sealed room or with an open loop system? I would really like to do 5x15 canopy space so 8x20 room or something just because the width of from wall to wall is 24ft but they’re is a few ft what of slanted ceilings to the wall about 3ft up. The center of the ceiling is probably 7.5 ft and 8-10ft across that area is flat and the rest is angle to the wall like an octagon. Any help would be appreciated.