Hey everyone just had a question if anyone has ever used a window fan in place of an ac in the winter time. Currently I have my ac hooked up to an inkbird controller that is attached to 6” duct running into my intake fan. ( not my carbon filter:in-line fan). So the ac turns on whenever my tent temps go above 75. Now I’m always trying to bring mt electric bill down, electric is so expensive in New York where I live, no joke my bill was 900$ over the summer to run a 5x5 and a 2x4 with the ac on pretty much full time. I was thinking about using a window fan in place of my ac in the winter months and hooking the inkbird temp contolller into the fan instead of the ac. It’s 32 outside so I feel silly running the ac. Has anyone done this?
@Outlaw @BigCat420 @HappyHydroGrower what are y’all’s thought? I should have just put this in my other thread lol.
Depends on what humidity you need, ac dries out the air. Winter air is usually dryer than summer air but ac will wring even more water out. So if you are having mold issues ac probably better but if you are also running a humidifier window all the way.
I’m actually running a dehumidifier because my tent is constantly having humidity issues. So I think I’m gonna give the window a try. I already ordered it, right!
I don’t think I’m gonna do irrigation on the next one, just hand water. Or maybe try another irrigation system. I can’t get this one to distribute evenly to the last plants in line.
It’s a rain point from Amazon. Not bad though
I can understand what you mean @matty777 but the highest my bill has ever been was $560 a month and we live in Missouri. I would say field of dreams has a decent setup but it needs to be more refined to get the most airflow. If you were going that route i would probably run the biggest size tubing your tent has a hole for (6-8 inches typically) to capture more air going into the tube intially as by looks it seems your losing a majoirty of your airflow and a bigger tube could solve that easily. I would say in the winter you could probably get away with drawing in air from the outdoors as means of cooling and then in the summer switch back to ac. Another idea is you can run the 4 inch tubing and just run an adapter to the size you’d like to catch more air
I have splitter for the ducting (6inch) I’m gonna run one of them to the window and one in the room so I’m getting better airflow through my in-line fan. I’m off from work todya so that will be my project for the day.
My tent sips on outside air by the cheapest ac infinity 4" (no electronics.just speed settings) it’s hooked up to an auto trip thermostat…so its forcing air, like yours…but cuts out when reached…the tube is very, very close to a slightly cracked door…its the ONLY way outside air can come in…the overall room the 4x4 tent is in is 5x5 … so it has no one has no other choice but to pull air into the lung room and up the pipe
I impressed myself with this set up I came up with. Window fan connected to ductwork which is connected to a splitter, then some ductwork attached a can fan to the splitter with one end pulling in air from the room and one from the tent. The reason I did this was to connect it to and inkbird controller. Now the intake fan ( can fan attached to the splitter) is running 24/7 but the window fan will only kick on when my temps go above 75. This is it before I put it on the top of the grow tent.
This goes into the top of the 5x5 which is my flower tent
thats a sweet set up,
It works better than my ac, holy moly.
Thanks @BudzMS , whatever it takes to keep Marie off my back lol.
So the ac turns on whenever my tent temps go above 75.
Is your house above 75? The thing I like about winter indoor grows is that heat is not a waste (thus the reason a lot of times I go old school and use MH and LPS lights) I just pump it back into the house through a carbon filter to lower the house heating bill, and suck the cooler house air back into the tent. Of course if the tents are causing your house to exceed 75 degrees that isn’t going to work, and in that case I would probably use a fresh air draw from outside to temper the tent down. My tents are in an unfinished basement, so there is plenty of cool enough air, I also have a passive floor vent above the tents that allows heat to rise into the bathroom above, no one complains that the bathroom is nice and toasty during the winter, win-win.
I’m definitely getting one