So I wanted to be proactive as I live in a humid area during the summer and cold during the winter, right now my plants have just started veg and I want to keep the climate as consistent as possible, I have a small humidifier that kicks on when it needs to and my ac infinity 6 inch fan and filter are inside drawing the air out through a duct to a window.
I had a portable a/c unit from Toshiba in the grow room but I couldn’t ventilate the heat out as I was already using that window for the tent exhaust and so I bought a duct splitter from ac infinity thinking I was being smart by combining both exhausts.
I also ran a duct to the intake at the bottom of the tent straight from the ac to make sure the cold air was getting in.
The problem is that the hot air from the a/c seems to be blowing back into the tent exhaust and I can feel heat coming out of the filter inside the tent even when the fan is running.
Am I being a dumbass here, would that splitter have never worked because of the heat or do I need to look at a blowback valve for the tents exhaust duct?
Do I not need the a/c at all or can anyone think of a better way to setup the exhausts?
Any advice appreciated! Tent is about 26c, 65% without the a/c but can climb up to 29c on a hot day (79f - 84f) also without the humidifier that would probably sit at around 50% naturally at the moment.
You need this kind of “Y” connector and the connection needs to be close to the window with the airflow aiming towards outside. Your air pressure is apparently lower towards the tent so hot air is pushing in there.
No, I just have a little experience running duct work. Its all about air flow and pressure.
The airflow path to your tent is easier than out the window so the heat flows there. This type of “Y” connector keeps the air flowing in the right direction. And the shorter the length after the “Y” will give less back pressure and vent it outside.
I appreciate the artwork! Does it matter which one I connect to the straight part of the Y? Perhaps the a/c being the stronger pressure it should be that.
Personally I think you should look at putting a second exhaust at the window for the A/C. As soon as you start Y’ing things together, it complicates things & introduces more potential for issues.
But you could do the ‘Y’. However if you do the ‘Y’ vent & it has two 6" diameter intakes, you’d probably want the exhaust tube of the ‘Y’ to be 9" or 10" diameter, or it will probably be restrictive when both a/c & tent exhaust fans are flowing.
Looking at the intake hose from the A/C cold air, is the hose itself the only intake port that the tent is taking air in from, or are there other open intake ports as well? May be room for improvement on the intake side as well.
Im not sure how that would work with a splitter but id place it on the end of anything exhausting hot air out so its only being exhausted out not pulled back in. I guess if your running hot air to a splitter and the splitter itself is exhausting out then id throw one on the end of the splitter exhausting out. Just a wild guess. Also is it a dual unit ac unit or single? Single hose units will exhaust the hot air and ac thru the same area. Dual hose exhausts heat out one hose and pulls in cool air with another one. Keep in mind that even when your ac is off if your tent is under negative pressure it will still pull air from that hose as well which is why i just hooked up my house HVAC to my portable ac unit intake and when its not in use i have a plug for it. Definitely helps keep the ac unit from turning on and off all day
Can you fit another 6" exhaust tube next to the existing one in the window? Or maybe use a different window if there’s one close-by & you can’t open that one any further. It looks like the one in the pic could slide open around twice as wide as it is now, but maybe that is a security issue.
The more I think about it, I’d rather see you put in a second dedicated exhaust instead of a ‘Y’ fitting, just to keep everything with the airflow as simple as possible.
You know, I thought the same thing after all this research today and that really comes down to cutting a frame for the second exhaust and I wouldn’t be able to climb through that window if I tried so not too worried about the security part of it.
I did order the Y connector and backdraft dampener as neither were too expensive so I will try out of curiosity at this point but create a second frame otherwise.
Thanks for thinking about a stranger’s problem as long as you have!
