Hey everyone,
As mentioned in the thread title, I am having heat issues right now in my grow tent. I have my inline fan running, and 6 - 42w spiral cfl bulbs. The temperature is 88F in my tent right now. Please tell me what I'm doing wrong. Here is some info on my setup with pictures attached.
I bought
HTG 400w 2'x4' Hydroponic Grow Tent Kit
You are right around 52 cubic feet.
I am using
GrowBright 4" Inline Fan & Carbon Filter Combo to get rid of the hot air. I drew a bad picture attached below. I have both mounted on the inside, top of my grow tent. The Inline fan is pulling the air through the filter and it exits through the top left hole which goes directly outside my house window.
I lifted the window up, put 2" thick foam insulation, cut a hole for the exhaust to go out. It is perfectly sealed so none of the tents hot air can make it back into the house.
I had a look at the advert, and just to let you know, the fan should cycle the air 3 times per minutes, so disregard what they say about cycling the air once in 5 min, that's not true. Good news it if the fan is ran at full power (quoted at 170cfm) you will be a bit over 3x per minute cycling.
This vent you have going to the window, what are the exact dimensions? It is important there is no resistance on your air flow. It could cause problems like higher heat levels, carbon filters not working, and general low air circulation.
I purchased a
HTG Supply 400 Watt HPS Grow Light and have it hanging inside of my tent. I am not even using it right now due to the heat issues using 6 - 42W 6500K 2700lumens Spiral CFL bulbs. I can't even imagine the temperature it would rise to if i were to use an HPS.
400 watts of thermal dissipation is the same for hps, cfl, your pc, or refrigerator. Thermal dissipation is a science of it's own. Heat is simply a by product of wasted energy, and thus why some lights (led/cmh) do not put out as much heat. In my experiences any light will put off heat, what makes the difference is how fast you can get rid of that hot air. The open hood design is going to take a bit longer to cool, but should be manageable once you figure out the current issue. For HID lighting the best oprion would be an air cooled hoos. If returning this and getting something different is a reality, I'd be happy to help you find an affordable air cooled system. Maybe $20-40 more with a digital ballast, which will also reduce heat.
I do have an oscillating fan going inside the tent on setting 2/3 -
Project Source 12-in 3-Speed Oscillation Desk Fan
. I also have a little clamp fan that came with the tent attached toward the top of the tent.
Try taking this, attaching it to the cfl fixture, and blowing it across the bulbs. To go with the thermal dissipation, by blowing the air on the bulbs it helps keep heat from pooling right around the lights.
There are two, 4" holes that can be used on the bottom corners of the tent for passive intake, and in between them there is a long rectangular screened in flap you can open - but this really leaks light when opened.
Where is the tent located? In a closet, open room (bigger than closet), basement? I personally am in a closet that measures 7' square'ish. The closet was getting a bit hot, so I ran 6" (4" for you) ducts from the circular holes out of my tent, and in to the hall the closet is in. This allowed me to direct cool air from the AC to the intake ducts. I have sense changed that idea, but it worked pretty good.
Now I've read on the forums here that CFL bulbs do get hot, and i totally understand that. But 83-90 degrees in a tent with the inline pulling the hot air out?
Heat is heat my friend, nothing you can do but get rid of it. How many watts are you using?
My house is air conditioned almost 24/7. The temperature outside the tent in the room is 70.8F right now.
This is a good temp. Can you get a reading of the actual air entering you tent, like in the actual vent.
I've attached some pics below and the one of my shitty drawing. Please help me out here I would really appreciate it.
Let me know what you got bud, we'll get ya off to a happy tent here soon. 
Thank you!
