Grow tent heating / strains for winter

[Goonie Goat]

Maybe the two bar heaters that i purchased we're crap. Tried them both for couple of days, but there wasn't any noticeable difference in temp in a 1.5m tent. Went back to using a small oil heater.

That's interesting. My oil heater pulls between 300w-1000w depending on the setting but ive just got it cranked up at 1k which turns on for a few mins to reach 20°c which surprisingly keeps both 5x5 and 4x2 at a stable temp.
Probably wasting as much electricity as the bars anyway especially if the bars are running most of the day..

 

[ED-209]

My consideration was how much juice I could pull from the available circuit - I'm already getting close to the limits. So, rather use a constant low draw rather than cycling a higher draw unit at random times. Depends on limitations etc as well like that

 

[Old fox]

Maybe the two bar heaters that i purchased we're crap. Tried them both for couple of days, but there wasn't any noticeable difference in temp in a 1.5m tent. Went back to using a small oil heater.

Smaller and shorter(height) tents are easier/cheaper to heat. I also found the need to run an oil heater when I was winter flowering in a Gorilla tent 1 5 x 1 5, with 1 foot height extension. Smaller 60cm 60cm veg space at 1 metre height, only requires LED light warmth and a 30w heating pad. Fine for us in nsw, but maybe not enough warmth if growing down south. Ive since built a custom melamine grow box( insulated)for flowering and it seems to regulate the high and low extremeties a bit better, compared to a tent. It's also now under a fully insulated garage roof, so I think external/ambient grow room environment also plays a part.

 

[Goonie Goat]

My consideration was how much juice I could pull from the available circuit - I'm already getting close to the limits. So, rather use a constant low draw rather than cycling a higher draw unit at random times. Depends on limitations etc as well like that

Had those issues too before I moved my tents into a different room.. first room only had 1 powerpoint and had the lights, dehumidifier, fans etc all on it which was probably well over 15amps.. the lights would hog the current and when they'd switch off you could hear the fans and dehumidifier run louder.. not ideal but got through the grow I suppose

 

[Indy]

@Old fox Yep, all good tips. But as a grower who leans towards Sativa-Dom's, I'm chasing all the headroom I can get.

 

[ED-209]

Had those issues too before I moved my tents into a different room.. first room only had 1 powerpoint and had the lights, dehumidifier, fans etc all on it which was probably well over 15amps.. the lights would hog the current and when they'd switch off you could hear the fans and dehumidifier run louder.. not ideal but got through the grow I suppose

Hah yeah. I checked all the circuits in the house and annoyingly 2 bedrooms and the lounge are all one the one circuit - meanwhile the front bedroom is on its own and is the least used room in the house *sigh*. It's all good, I have enough headroom with things but yeah, just gotta monitor any spikes which might pop the breaker

 

[Indy]

That's interesting. My oil heater pulls between 300w-1000w depending on the setting but ive just got it cranked up at 1k which turns on for a few mins to reach 20°c which surprisingly keeps both 5x5 and 4x2 at a stable temp.
Probably wasting as much electricity as the bars anyway especially if the bars are running most of the day..

The 700w one I've got here operates intermittently too, when it's maxxed out. But yeah, I had much hope in the bar ones because it wouldve tidied up the tent nicely, but they just couldn’t cut it.

 

[thefullspectrum]

I got a cultiv8 60cm 80 watt bar in the little veg box with seedlings atm (being 700mm high by 1500mm x 500mm) perfect size bar for this space, handling it well on these freezing nights. Came with a cultiv8 thermostat for free to plug into, so it just switches on and off as it needs. Set to its minimum 20c to balance warmth and power usage in there. exhaust on 15 off 45 every hour.

I'll move it into the bigger (insulated) flower box soon, see how it goes in there over the Winter. May even need to fire up the 30w heat mat in there as well. Think it also has its own thermostat. Bit over wasting time with the tiny winter plants I usually grow.

I feel my bigger issue is the exhaust rate in the colder months. I generally have my exhaust and fans running for 1.5 hours on then 5 mins off 24/7, 365, during later veg and flower No science or even guidance behind that, just what Ive done.

Never had a heater until now so would be far more efficient with the exhaust running less to limit the heat being removed. So my question is. Whats the balance to still get ample air changeover without removing heat all the time?

 

[Indy]

@thefullspectrum When it comes to ventilation, thats where AC Infinity kit comes into its own. At the moment, the extraction fan is running constantly at its lowest speed (1-10), then once it gets above 26C or 90% humidity, it goes up to 4 to dump it. Once it drops below those settings I have, it drops back to 1 again. No guess work, just a great self managing unit.

 

[ED-209]

It's tempting to get a fan controller for that... I think I can run my fans through the AC infinity controller but need to check (Phresh fans)... but Phresh have their own controller which is probably much the same... though the AC infinity can do other stuff I think.

The nifty thing is the V2 controller can control two in and two out fans, so I could use it for both tents, would just have to take the temp from one as I'm not gonna buy two!

At the moment I haven't got them running at all, but that's fine for early veg... gonna be an issue in a week or two

 

[Kneeko]

I'm in Tassie so cold as fuck here...
I run the light over night to make the most of the heat generated..
Have insulated the room with those silver windscreen pads for cars from tipshop.
And also run a very small oil column heater thru the (heat) plug of the inkbird....
And vent heat thru the same inkbird (cool socket) when temps rise too much with exhaust fan thru carbon filter..
Fuck all power use from the oil Heater it v ery small and the room warm as from insulation anyway....
Stays from 19-25ish...

Have just ordered an AC 4" infinity with controller....
Some awesome programing options on them...

 

[Mellow oldfark]

I left the east coast to get away from all that.no more heaters,no more cutting fire wood.,no more mould

 

[Mellow oldfark]

Thinking erdpert and bhangi haze both descent wet cold weather strains bred in northern spain.