As I posted in another thread just moments ago, my wife and I are building a house and I've set aside a space in the basement for my yet to become a reality hydro project.
The room will be roughly 8' x 7'.
What I'm interested in are ways I can prep the room for future stuffs. I've already had the builder rough in a drain for a utility sink that will go in a corner in the room. I'm guessing I'll be able to run at least two setups in the room. Perhaps a green growth area and a flowery/fruit growth area with some sort of divider in between the two so the lighting isn't all messed up. I have 2 400W MH fixtures and recently bought a Hortilux Blue MH bulb for one of them. Thinking I might get a conversion bulb for the other. I hope to put in the metal shelving racks to place plants on or build shelving (or tables).
How would I best heat this room? Will two 400W MH's keep it plenty warm? I'm also considering coring through the wall (one is a foundation wall that is exposed to the outside but will be under the front porch). So I could run cooling for the lights if I felt I needed it. I could also install a small unit heater on the wall if I needed to.
How many receptacles would you put into the room if you had the chance to rough it all in yourself? Would you finish the ceiling or just leave it open to the studs? How would you handle humidity? do you think I need the purple moisture resistant drywall? What would you paint/coat the walls with? Should I paint them silver or wallpaper it with mylar or equivelent? Stuff like that are the things I'll have to sort out over time as well as collecting all of the equipment. I also had a 350gph pond pump from another project and found another one recently that will do around 300gph. I think those would be plenty for two E/F setups. But I also haven't decided on the method I'll use. I figured E/F to start and then maybe move to other things, like DWC and whatnot.
Anyway, any suggestions would be fantastic regarding the initial fit out of the room.
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fintuckyfarms
- Full Member
- Posts: 41
- Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2012 8:37 pm
- Location: Southeast Washington State
My only concern would be mold with so much humidity. I would make sure that you use a bathroom grade sheetrock and lots of moisture barrier. I would talk with the HVAC people about what to do with an air return so the mold does not grow in the ducts and infect the rest of the house. I have seen picts of "grow houses" that are basically destroyed by the mold from the high humidity.
Personally, if I was starting from new I would just build a green house that was attached to the house, maybe from the porch area.
Good luck and let us know what you went with...
Personally, if I was starting from new I would just build a green house that was attached to the house, maybe from the porch area.
Good luck and let us know what you went with...
Okay, the construction of the house is progressing. We think we'll be in by the end of July.
I spoke to my builder about the room I'm integrating into the house. He suggested I put a 4" PVC pipe from the room to the exterior of the house. My lights are Ericson Hi-Bays, Metal Halide, that I put 400W Hortilux Blue's into. The 'reflector' is not a true HID lighting reflector, but more of a shroud to keep the light from blinding you and focus the light downward more.
It looks exactly like this:
[img]https://ericson.thomasnet.com/Asset/1004-MH-R16.jpg[/img]
I was thinking that I could just cut a hole in the top of the reflector, as close to the top as possible, that I could attach ducting to on both lights, then connect the ducts to a "Y" with a fan on the single leg of the "Y" and then attach that to the PVC pipe (duct) leading outside the house.
Would this work? I was thinking that the fan would draw air from the room into the reflector and any heat generated from the light would be evacuated along with room air and be vented to the outside.
The only thing this lacks is a specific forced air source. I don't think this would be a problem since the in-line fan doesn't really draw that much air (1500 cfm or so). The room is around 6 x 8, so it wouldn't create too much negative pressure in the room and even if it did, it wouldn't matter...or would it?
Is it necessary to put a pair of 4" PVC pipes to the outside so that one could be used for incoming air and one for outgoing? The issue I have with this is that in Virginia, the summer can get REALLY hot. Last year we had 45 days or more with 90+ F temps. While the light would get much hotter than 90F, resulting in a net cooling effect, it seems like the house air in the room would always be cooler than that in any case.
Eventually I'll get around to posting a floorplan with some mark-ups so you can get the gist of the room layout and such...
Thoughts?
I spoke to my builder about the room I'm integrating into the house. He suggested I put a 4" PVC pipe from the room to the exterior of the house. My lights are Ericson Hi-Bays, Metal Halide, that I put 400W Hortilux Blue's into. The 'reflector' is not a true HID lighting reflector, but more of a shroud to keep the light from blinding you and focus the light downward more.
It looks exactly like this:
[img]https://ericson.thomasnet.com/Asset/1004-MH-R16.jpg[/img]
I was thinking that I could just cut a hole in the top of the reflector, as close to the top as possible, that I could attach ducting to on both lights, then connect the ducts to a "Y" with a fan on the single leg of the "Y" and then attach that to the PVC pipe (duct) leading outside the house.
Would this work? I was thinking that the fan would draw air from the room into the reflector and any heat generated from the light would be evacuated along with room air and be vented to the outside.
The only thing this lacks is a specific forced air source. I don't think this would be a problem since the in-line fan doesn't really draw that much air (1500 cfm or so). The room is around 6 x 8, so it wouldn't create too much negative pressure in the room and even if it did, it wouldn't matter...or would it?
Is it necessary to put a pair of 4" PVC pipes to the outside so that one could be used for incoming air and one for outgoing? The issue I have with this is that in Virginia, the summer can get REALLY hot. Last year we had 45 days or more with 90+ F temps. While the light would get much hotter than 90F, resulting in a net cooling effect, it seems like the house air in the room would always be cooler than that in any case.
Eventually I'll get around to posting a floorplan with some mark-ups so you can get the gist of the room layout and such...
Thoughts?