Want to save electricity/upgrade exhausts

Indoor Growing Climate
1

@Hellraiser @BobbyDigital @Covertgrower

Good evening everyone!

Thank you for all of your help!

Just upgraded from burples to (veg) HLG 300L Bspec & (flower) HLG 600Rspec.

I have been trying to cut down some electricity usage as well as improve my setup… I believe I could save a bit:

I currently have a 70pint dehumidifier in the room, with my 3 tents (veg, flower, dry) all 4x4, set at 45RH.

For heat control in the veg & flower tents (each has):
A) Inkbird temperature controller hooked to a small radiator heater and a 4" 190cfm exhaust with 4" filter(vivosun).
For humidity control each has:
B) Inkbird humidity controller hooked up to another 4" exhaust and filter(vivosun) and a humidifier(coolmist).*

*my reasoning: on controller… humidifier to add humidity when necessary, exhaust on dehumidifier side as I am pulling in dehumidified fresh air do to the 70pint keeping the room at about 45rh.

My questions are:

  1. Do I need the 4" filters on my veg tents 2 exhaust systems?
  2. On both tents… can I get rid of the heat controllers and double exhausts per tent?

Thought being that changing them by buying one 6" ac infinity s6 per tent and increasing my ducts & intakes to 6" and leave them running all the time… Keeping the humidifier connected to an inkbird humidity controller to add humidity when necessary.

I have multiple bluetooth govee temp/humidity hygrometers in the tents at different levels(soil, canopy, & above the light) which i check from my Surface Duo(i love it) …so keeping track of those won’t be an issue without the controllers readouts handy any longer

2

You can connect the two tents and run one filter. Just expect reduced airflow in the veg tent. Don’t need a lot for veg anyways.

But those heaters are what’s using most of your energy.

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3

I agree with @Covertgrower - your fans will be no more than about 100 watts - equal to a single domestic light globe. Each heater will be 10-15x that wattage. :sunglasses: :+1:

4

In the cooler months, here up north, my basement is 40F-55F so the heaters unfortunately are a bit necessary at dark time.

So you are saying to duct the two together and have the filter in the flower tent with one inline fan sucking air out from there?

With reduced air flow in the veg would that make gnat issues worse? I have had gnat issues in the past but always in veg… Got it controlled by flower.

Heaters:

5

Running your lights at night will help keep the temps up. Then you won’t have as much time during the day to play with them, but is great if your still working & its the day shift you can play all night long.

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Correct.

8

Will going to a 6" exhaust help Or should I keep it 4"?

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@Covertgrower @pillsbury @Budz420

Does a veg tent even need a carbon filter? My first grow the veg and flower was in one tent… So i had a filter… But now have two separate tents and need to replace the old filters.

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No. Not usually needed in veg - and really only needed in the back end of the grow & dry. :+1: :sunglasses:

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11

My carbon filters have a shelf life. I wont use then until I can smell the plants. I run only 1 tent and veg in a closet. I switched to marz hydro led lights and I am saving 80 dollars a month on electric. As for heaters I live up north and only run 1 in the room not in my tent. Still good result. And remember to take the cover off your carbon filter and clean it to help with air flow. It sounds like you are pretty dialed in. Just need to make a few adjustments like we all do. Good luck

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12

Not really, but if you connect the two tents together, you can run one fan, one filter from the flower tent.

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13

I would go with a 6in exhaust fan and carbon filter after connecting two tents together to maintain negative pressure in both tents. I do the same in second tent for drying .

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