Rockin_Da_Ganja

so i live in arizona, and want to have an attic cab but have one problem. of course HEAT! i want to use an oil drum with the top cut off, with 3-4, 45w cfl's and cut 4 holes in one side for 4x 80mm pc fans to pull air out, and have a passive intake some how pulling air in from my house, which never get over 76 degrees,. would that keep it at an acceptable temp considering it probably gets to 140 in that attic?

another idea was to tap into the air conditioning vents my only problem i think would be it would get way too cold and they would all freeze and die.

so, any ideas appreciated i really want a micro grow because currently i have access to some indoor only romulan, hippy crack, and cheese clones that wont durvive in arizona heat. thanks

ecs24soldier

I really think growing in an attic in Arizona is going to be a bad idea. It may be theoretically possible with a huge amount of cooling but you don't want to go there. With an outside temp of 140 you would have to have some kind of insulated cab with it's own AC plus CO2 and even then I doubt you would keep the temps below 110.

I don't mean to be a downer but to make this ever work would require a huge amount of money and work. The only way I see to make this work would be to make the attic into another room of your house. I believe you would spend atleast 10 times the amount of $ on electricity to cool the attic then you would on lighting the cab.

How about a closet? Or a basement?

biggdoc12

growing in the attic is a bad idea. if you have a basement, use that. but there's just no way to control the heat in an attic like that, except a/c, and that would be way to expensive. i have a two closet set up in my basement with a 5000 btu a/c, co2, and 2 1000 watt lights and 5 fans. i'm expecting it to cost about 200 or more a month to run it. but thats still less than what it would cost to buy me and my wife weed. and that's just mids, i'm growing killer danks from dj shorts. one is a 4 x 4 x 6 for flower and 3 x 5 x 6 for veg. they share the same air by channeling it threw the walls. an a/c in an attic would never stop running. if it's gonna cost more to grow it, than just buy it. growing must be takin very seriously. weather your growing in a 55 gallon drum or a nice 3 x 3 ft space it's still illegal. try one of those grow boxes, i see them in hightimes. they are costly but look well worth it. before you do anything, educate yourself on growing first, it's free and will help make your new growing adventures easier and much more successful. i educated myself as i was growing and it wasn't easy. many problems could have been avoided. "if i only knew then what i know now."

Xgone.

With a setup like that you would spend more money in electricity to cool the cabinet than you would yeild . Ya gotta find a more reasonable environment to work with. How's about a cabinet in the basement or any furnished(a/c) room in your house?

Rockin_Da_Ganja

i cant do it any other place due to room mates, they know i smoke but would probably mind if i was growing. although the rental of the house is under my name, they still pay rent so they think they have some say in wether or not i grow. so growing in the attic is my only option,

sucking air in from the house with 4x, 80mm pc fans in an enclosed container wouldnt cut it? what if i tapped from one of the ac vents to draw in some cool air?

im also either considering a 70w hps mounted on the lid. or if heat is an issue i will use 45w flourescents.

Rockin_Da_Ganja

also, im not completely sure but do attics really get alot hotter than the outside temperature, i wasnt for sure it would be 140 but i guessed that because of the nearly 120 degree days for like a week.

toastybiz

Sorry Rockin but give it up. If you don't have any other place to grow then you don't have any place, period. I abandoned my attempt at an attic grow. I'm where it gets pretty damn hot but not like where you are. My experience was that on a sunny day the ambient temp inside the attic was at least 10° above outside (high of 80° meant 90°+ in the attic). I had a sealed grow box up there and inside the box with the light going the temp was another 10°+ hotter than the attic, so I was well above 100° inside my box. I tried venting air up from the house and pumping it out of the box, didn't do squat. I have a lot of humidity here so that might change the numbers a bit, but there's no way it's going to change the general principle.

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toastybiz

Rockin_Da_Ganja

what about tapping into the ac for the house?

Pesci

I have grown in an attic before and it is a bitch. But there are some things you can do to help if you absolutely have to grow in the attic but beware! They all cost lotsa money!

1. buy a portable a/c with a manual thermostat. You can get these at sams or some hydro stores. They are costly but will keep the temp down. Make sure you enclose the grow area and have a place to vent the hot air. Also, keep the smell in mind. You may want to have a carbon scrubber that the vented air goes into before it is vented either outside or in another part of the attic

2. remember to put your hps or m.h. ballasts outside the grow area. If you can afford it, you may want to look into the new t5 flourescent ballasts. They will help reduce your electrical costs and do not put out much heat.

3. make sure you have a good sized fan to help circulate that cool air coming from your a/c in the attic grow area. No matter that the a/c has a fan that is pushing out the cold air, a supplemental fan will help relieve some of the burden.

4. Try to keep the temp below 100 if you can. Preferably, below 90.

5. Make sure to use c02. This will help the plants deal with the heat easier. Go to a propane or gas place and purchase a 20 ib co2 tank. Find a nice regulator from a hydro shop. They run around $150. Place it on a timer and shazzam! The plants will grow faster and healthier.
Refills run around $25 every month and a half depending on how high you set the regulator

Good luck! No one ever said growing indoors was cheap

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Gossamer

Hello Rockin,

Dude, heed what most say and abandon the idea of the attic.

Tapping into the AC vent works only when the AC is runnig-so, when the AC shuts off-so does the supply of cool air since the AC is governed by the termostat in the house.

Building a seperate enclosure specifically air conditioned with a window unit in the attic for yoru grow can be done but expensive.

Also, what are you going to do when you have to go and tend to yoru plants but your roommates are all watching tv and you can't get to the attic. Unless the access is in yoru room or something-how are you going to keep them from hearing.

Next question- how are you going to water? Where are you going to drain any access fluids.

A small stealth cab perhaps would be a better option.

Just my to duckets,

Good luck friend,

Goss

aka minds_I

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