These days, grow rooms are very well-liked because they are very effective at producing a variety of crops all year long. Any grow room needs a grow room air conditioner to stay dry and promote growth. Particularly during the summer, when warm, muggy conditions combined with heat from grow lights cause temperatures to rise significantly above what is suitable for your plants. However, maintaining proper humidity levels is a problem that growing rooms frequently face.
Air conditioners for grow rooms are useful for reducing the heat, and smart devices can be used to maintain the ideal temperature for plants. Continue reading to find out more about the air conditioners in grow room.
Table of Contents
Which Types Of Air Conditioners To Choose?
Your grow room’s temperature requirements may change depending on the plants you grow. Choosing a separate AC unit for your small plant room would therefore be practical.
Since the grow room is separate from the main house, ductless air conditioners like mini-split, window, or portable ACs are more appropriate. Furthermore, it would be difficult to install a central unit with long ducts.
Mini-split Air Conditioner For Grow Room
If you keep up with regular AC maintenance, mini-split air conditioners are quite energy-efficient, use less power, and last a very long time.
They have two units: one inside for blowing cold air and one outside for blowing heat. They are a practical option for places like grow rooms because they don’t need lengthy ducts.
Because of their sophisticated filtration technology, mini-splits are very beneficial for growing tents. The health of your plants will benefit from the clean air that various types of air filters provide by removing bacteria and mold spores.
Mini-splits are an expensive option because of all these features, but they come out on top if your expanding area needs an advanced system.
If you want to give your inefficient unit smart capabilities, you can either purchase a smart mini-split or use a smart AC controller like the Cielo Breez Plus. The smart features include phone-controlled air conditioning, programmable temperature settings, up to 25% energy savings, and many other features.
Portable Grow Room Air Conditioner
These independent units are portable and a great addition to a small grow space with few plants. If you need a quick cooling solution or you’re renting and can’t put in a permanent air conditioner, you can choose a portable air conditioner.
Installation is not necessary for portable units; all that is needed is to route their exhaust pipe out a window or a hole in a wall. They deliver clean, cool air and exhaust stale air through the exhaust pipe like any other air conditioner. Additionally, they have a dehumidifying feature, making them a fantastic choice for reducing problems with high humidity in your grow tent.
Window Or Through-the-wall Air Conditioner
Window units are installed in a vertical sash or double-hung windows. They are self-contained units made to cool a single space at a time. Window units are the most straightforward to install among ductless units. They are easier to maintain and less expensive than mini-splits. Furthermore, they free up floor space inside the grow tent, allowing for the addition of more planters.
Although they are viewed as an eyesore from an aesthetic perspective, you can always find inventive ways to conceal the window unit from the inside as well as the outside.
You can choose a through-the-wall air conditioner if your grow room is completely sealed off and lacks windows. Similar to a window unit, the only distinction is that a through-the-wall air conditioner is installed in a hole cut out of a wall.
You would need to pay close attention to any potential light leaks through gaps and boundaries in both of these units. Don’t forget to fill in all the gaps when installing the product.
Also Read: Grow Room HVAC Systems
How To Manage Heat In Your Grow Room?
In the summer, the temperature should always come first and be taken into account before anything else.
The best advice I can give you for surviving the oppressive summer heat is to buy an air conditioner, add CO2, and seal your area. You can create a “state-of-the-art” indoor gardening environment if you can regulate the temperature in a grow room that is tightly sealed and has CO2 added. When the summer heat is over and the temperature begins to drop, you can switch back to your “winter setup,” which includes exhaust fans on a thermostat or other atmosphere-controlling equipment.
Consider a portable air conditioner with two ducts attached if you need to run the air conditioning. For between $400 and $600, these are offered at big-box hardware stores. This should be a completely sealed air conditioner that will exhaust hot air through one 4″ duct while drawing in outside air through the other. This kind of air conditioner typically won’t draw air from your room through its exhaust duct, helping to keep CO2 in your room at a minimum. (Prior to making a purchase, you might want to confirm that this is the case with the specific model of air conditioner you’re interested in by speaking with the manufacturer.) With only one exhaust duct, portable air conditioners will draw air from your room and exhaust it outside with your CO2.
CO2 may need to be sacrificed if you need to run exhaust the entire time the lights are on in order to maintain the desired temperature.
Although you can add CO2 to the area where the fresh air is coming from and accept having a higher CO2 cost for the summer because it’s being exhausted out at a faster rate.
You could run your CO2 in the area without wasting it if you sealed the space up (apart from venting your lights separately) and added air conditioning so you wouldn’t have to exhaust out of the area. Sadly, I think that this is the best advice I can give you for surviving the summer heat.
Even if you run air conditioning, IF you’re using CO2, you can run into temps into the low 90s without stressing the plants too much.
85 degrees is the maximum temperature at which plants can survive without CO2.
If there is nothing else you can do and your temperature will exceed 85 degrees without the CO2, you might want to add a silicate product to help the plants cope with the heat.
Read More: Best Water Temp For Growing Weed
Automating Grow Room Air Conditioner To Maintain Ideal Climate
Your grow room is the ideal place for Cielo smart AC controllers that work with ductless units to maintain the ideal climate. To maintain ideal humidity levels, they also have humidity sensors in addition to temperature sensors.
You can modify settings using the global control feature on your smartphone from any location. You can also track your AC usage and keep an eye on the upkeep of your AC filters, as well as set daily and weekly schedules. The Cielo Home app on your phone always allows you to check the temperature and humidity. This eliminates the requirement to periodically visit your grow tent to check the temperature.
Smart AC controllers like the Cielo Breez have a “Comfy Mode” that automatically modifies the setting when the temperature or humidity veers off the set value. For instance, your preferred temperature range for the day is 70 to 75 F. In this situation, Comfy Mode will activate to keep the temperature within your predetermined range if it drops below 70 or rises above 75.
Factors To Consider When Purchasing Air Conditioner
When purchasing an AC unit for your grow tent, keep the following things in mind:
1. Cooling Capacity
Your AC’s cooling capacity is measured in BTUs, which is per hour in British Thermal Units. More cooling capacity is indicated by a higher BTU value. However, the cooling capacity should be determined by the size of your room. You will struggle to reach the desired temperature if you purchase a unit that is not powerful enough for your grow room. A high BTU unit, on the other hand, won’t short cycle continuously, which is a waste of energy, and will fit inside a small grow tent.
To find out which one would best suit your needs, refer to this air conditioner sizing guide.
2. Energy Efficiency
High energy costs are a result of building a grow room with an air conditioner. This issue can be resolved by picking an energy-efficient unit. Select an air conditioner with high SEER/EER ratings. Your AC’s efficiency is determined by these ratings, and units with higher ratings will cool more effectively while using less power.
3. Installation Requirements
Take into account your floor space and whether you have windows before purchasing an air conditioning unit. You can’t use a mobile freestanding unit if your room is cramped and there isn’t much floor space.
Before selecting the best air conditioner for your grow room, keep these requirements in mind.
4. Brand Reputation
Do read reviews of various brands before buying any cooling equipment. Don’t let the cheap prices that some brands may be offering fool you; you might end up sacrificing quality. Instead, check out online consumer reviews of various brands and choose the one with the most favorable comments.
5. Warranty & Customer Service
When purchasing an air conditioner, look for brands that offer an extended warranty and a money-back guarantee. Check to see if they offer good post-purchase support, such as prompt assistance with installation or troubleshooting queries.
Other Cooling Solutions
Here are 10 methods to regulate the temperature in your grow tent in case you can’t use an air conditioner there or if you have a serious heating issue and want to combine several methods:
1. Use Led Lights
Your grow room’s artificial lighting system, which you use to replace natural sunlight, generates a lot of heat and interferes with the room’s internal temperature.
Switching to LED lights is one remedy. Compared to other lights like HPS or MH grow lights, they have the same output but generate significantly less heat.
2. Insulate Your Grow Room
To lessen the effects of the weather outside, your grow room needs to be well-insulated. Without adequate insulation, you won’t be able to maintain the temperature.
Use foam board insulation because it is effective at stopping heat transfer. By reflecting the heat from the outside, radiant barrier insulation can also cool the area. Spray foam insulation can be used to seal up cracks and holes in the walls or windows to keep hot air out.
3. Use Evaporative Coolers
Evaporative coolers use water evaporation to cool the grow room. They do a good job of lowering the temperature, but they also make the air more humid. Therefore, you shouldn’t select this option if high humidity is your problem.
4. DIY An Ice Box
Ice will be needed; regular, salty, or dry ice will all do. The container should be shaped like a chestnut. Get an air duct hose to pump cool air into your grow room and use a fan to blow air into the space.
It is a low-cost method of cooling your grow room, but it will only function in a small space and needs to have its ice replaced frequently.
5. Use Grow Lights At Night
Consider using your grow lights at night when it is cooler outside if changing the entire lighting system is not an option. In this situation, since you’re reversing day and night for your plants, you would need to seal your grow room tightly to prevent letting the light in. A little bit of light can stunt the growth of some flowering plants, which need 12 hours of total darkness.
6. Focus On Ventilation
The temperature inside your grow tent fluctuates if there isn’t enough airflow. The heat produced by electrical devices will continue to build up in an environment with no airflow.
Use fans to ensure air circulation. You can use one of two types of fans in your grow room:
- Oscillating fan: This device aids in moving air over and around plants.
- Exhaust fan: This device circulates clean air while removing stale air. High humidity levels are reduced in part by the exhaust fan.
7. Use Air-cooled Lights
Utilizing air-cooled lights is another way to reduce the temperature in your grow space. These lamps, which also go by the name air-cooled reflectors, run on duct fans. Over the lights, the fans distribute cool air to dissipate the extra heat.
You won’t have to worry about your grow room heating up excessively with this option.
8. Use Light Movers
Using lights in fixed location results in uneven hot spots and changes the temperature of the grow room as a whole. Try light movers as a solution to this issue. They oscillate the lights in your home, distributing them evenly and getting rid of hot spots.
9. Use Opticlimate To Cool Your Grow Room
The goal of Opticlimate, a fully automated climate kit created especially for grow rooms, is to maintain ideal temperatures and humidity levels. The air in your grow room is cooled, dehumidified, filtered, and circulated by Opticliamte. In addition, it has cutting-edge features like a slow cool-down function and preheats function to gradually introduce plants to the day and night cycle.
The downsides of this climate kit include its high cost and the need for professional installation.
10. Lower The Humidity Levels
The secret to reducing the temperature in your grow room is to lower humidity levels. Install an air conditioner or a dehumidifier to reduce the air’s moisture content. Connect a smart controller, such as Cielo Breez, to keep your plants’ ideal humidity levels between 40% and 60%.
Read Next:
