High Loft Temperatures - water chillers

[Minty]

Hi Guys,

I searched the forums for this but couldn't find anything apart from proof other people are also suffering with the same problem (looking at you Bulls) which is high loft temperatures.

My loft is seeing temperatures in the 40℃ and that is without the lights even being on. With all fans on full I got it down to 34℃ but that is still way too high. I have a water chiller on order so should be able to keep the roots cool but will this be enough to cover these high air temperatures?

I obviously need to resolve this issue and can only think a full on air conditioner will do it but that introduces all sorts of other issues especially in a tent in the loft and noise wise would need an outside condenser so installation probably required.

Wondered what you guys also growing a tight space, or hot climate do to control the temperatures?

Kinda hit a real issue here and this temperature is going to mess me up unless I can come up with a solution. Even now it has cooled down outside the tent is still reading a temp of 33℃ with the light and all fans running.

Cheers

[MrNice]

Get a big fan suck in cooler air from out side with a filter dont want any bugs or freeze lots of bottles of water and blow the fan over them

cheap ass ac


or leave the loft hatch open to convex some air need some hole in the loft space to create air flow heat rises

plug and play air conditioning

https://www.cooleasy.co.uk/categories/e ... nditioning

may help dude

[seymore_budz]

It's one of the things us growers all suffer with this time of year. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do other than air conditioning and beefing up the extraction. Air coolers are a thing but they also add humidity.

You can get the portable aircon units but if you do go down that route, make sure you get a dual hose model buddy.

You could also knock one of these up for cheap but you will need plenty of ice :)

https://youtu.be/FS2YaJkkHQY

[Minty]

Get a big fan suck in cooler air from out side with a filter dont want any bugs or freeze lots of bottles of water and blow the fan over them

Current build has the air being sucked in directly from outside via a 4" Intake fan and phresh air filter. Extract is via a 6" extract fan with a carbon filter

or leave the loft hatch open to convex some air need some hole in the loft space to create air flow heat rises

These temps were recorded with loft hatch open and the air conditioner running downstairs and my house is real small (the loft hatch is top of the stairs, in front of the airing cupboard):-

plug and play air conditioning
https://www.cooleasy.co.uk/categories/e ... nditioning

Was literally looking at these from that same site (couldn't find any cheaper) and the only problem I had was that the pipe lengths are 4mtrs where I would need at least 5/6mtrs to fit it where it needs to go. Other than that they seem pretty good and is pretty much the route I will be going in terms of having an extract outside the loft and cold air being pumped in.

Hash Tag 'the money pit loft grow'. Wouldn't mind but we only have this temp about 3 weeks a year god damn it...

[Minty]

Thanks Grumpy

Air coolers are a thing but they also add humidity.

Humidity is also a problem for me at the min because as soon as I turn on the extract the humidity drops like a bomb so my little DIY humidifier is not up to the job with the fans runnings (not actually sure if this is possible to humidify while extracting?)

You can get the portable aircon units but if you do go down that route

I have a 'portable' / free standing which has a pipe vent out the window etc. but it's so noisy I couldn't put it in the loft so the best I could do is place it under the loft hatch and hopefully let the cool air flow up. This I think might be worth a try tomorrow as like I say we don't currently have to deal with it 'forever'. I would love a full blown air conditioner but if I am going to have to spend on one of those I would rather get a dual split one so I can at least benefit from it myself and justify the box on the outside with a visible unit on the inside - if you know what I mean ;o)

You could also knock one of these up for cheap but you will need plenty of ice :)
https://youtu.be/FS2YaJkkHQY

yea, but I'm trying to automate shit because I can't be arsed with shit like driving to buy ice, keep filling it up, etc. so I would end up with a ice making machine dropping ice into the home made air conditioner, etc, you know where this is going ;o)

While I have your experience mate can I ask from another perspective of worst case scenario. I.e. I have ordered a water chiller which should be able to control the water temp to the recommended levels so my question is would the plants be able to survive this temperature if the roots/water remained at the ideal temp?

[Donkey222]

From my own personal experience my loft is dog shit Haha both my rooms are currently hitting upto 37 average is about 30, I remember a few summers ago we had a mega heat wave and my room hit 40 and I thought they would die but they didn't and touch wood I've never lost a grow to high temps , p.s my extraction is shit aswell only 4" and no intake although I have a new extraction system coming this week , basically from my own experience dw to much

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Donkey222]

These babies /clones are also siting in a ridiculously hot tent with no extraction hope this puts your mind at ease abit bud

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[seymore_budz]

Thanks Grumpy

Air coolers are a thing but they also add humidity.

Humidity is also a problem for me at the min because as soon as I turn on the extract the humidity drops like a bomb so my little DIY humidifier is not up to the job with the fans runnings (not actually sure if this is possible to humidify while extracting?)

You can get the portable aircon units but if you do go down that route

I have a 'portable' / free standing which has a pipe vent out the window etc. but it's so noisy I couldn't put it in the loft so the best I could do is place it under the loft hatch and hopefully let the cool air flow up. This I think might be worth a try tomorrow as like I say we don't currently have to deal with it 'forever'. I would love a full blown air conditioner but if I am going to have to spend on one of those I would rather get a dual split one so I can at least benefit from it myself and justify the box on the outside with a visible unit on the inside - if you know what I mean ;o)

You could also knock one of these up for cheap but you will need plenty of ice :)
https://youtu.be/FS2YaJkkHQY

yea, but I'm trying to automate shit because I can't be arsed with shit like driving to buy ice, keep filling it up, etc. so I would end up with a ice making machine dropping ice into the home made air conditioner, etc, you know where this is going ;o)

While I have your experience mate can I ask from another perspective of worst case scenario. I.e. I have ordered a water chiller which should be able to control the water temp to the recommended levels so my question is would the plants be able to survive this temperature if the roots/water remained at the ideal temp?

While cooling the water you're going to keep the DO levels up, you're not going to offset any of the heat stress. The trouble with those freestanding ones with a single pipe is that the exhaust is hot, they take forever to cool the room, they are only good for about a 15C drop and they cost a bomb to run. And they're noisey. They will survive for sure but run your EC slightly lower, turn the light down to as low as you can get it and ride it out. There is also the co2 route but that's a big rabbit hole you don't want to go down trust me. If it's really hot also try and keep the humidity upto around 65%, that will help. Silicon will slow transpiration and help with heat stress too. Good luck dude!

[Minty]

Thank you so much Donkey.

From my own personal experience my loft is dog shit Haha both my rooms are currently hitting upto 37 average is about 30, I remember a few summers ago we had a mega heat wave and my room hit 40

I really wanted to get some feedback from loft growers in the same boat. My main problem is that I have only been monitoring the stats within the loft from today and already they are sky high with higher temps forecast for the next couple of weeks.

I am kinda panicking while still wanting to be in limbo because getting up in the loft to finish the build is not pleasant in this heat!! I did go up there today and fit the 4" air intake, sorted out some bugs (with my software, not spider mites thank duck);-

with the drainage and filling module (it would turn on the fill pump and the drain pump after the single command - really annoying when your 'automatically' fecking 'draining' every thing your 'pumping in').

[Minty]

Still not got the chiller active but this is why I think it is needed:-



Over night the air temp has come down but the water temp is still holding high. The volume of water and movement I guess just holds the heat more in terms of environmental influence?