Ventilation

What is the best way to give my plants fresh air?

It depends on the individual situation. Circulating the air in your house is usually the easiest way, but not necessarily the best way. Some people like to enrich the air with CO2 to increase growth rates. Some people prefer an exhaust/intake air exchange method. If you seal your room you must enrich with CO2. With an intake/exhaust system you can enrich with CO2, but it isn’t necessary.

How do I seal a grow room and enrich with CO2?

Good grow rooms will have completely finished walls and ceilings with a door. By completely finishing a room it is mostly sealed. You can also fill any cord holes, hose holes and so on with sealing foam. Also use this foam to seal any other seams or cracks that may leak air from the room. Next, the most efficient way to deliver the exact amount of CO2 would be to get CO2 Tanks, a regulator, and a monitor with a controller. There are other ways of enriching with CO2, like CO2 Burners (great for winter months), CO2 dissolving pucks, and mushroom compost buckets.

How can I create an intake/exhaust system for fresh air?

You can create one that uses the air in your house or the air outside of your house. The air outside is preferred and will affect the temperature of your grow space, so a temperature controller will be needed. To do this you will need to create two ventilation holes in different locations in the windows, walls, ceiling or roof of the house. One will be the intake hole and one will be the exhaust hole. You can use a single inline fan to move the air. Simply hook the fan up to the exhaust hole and the vacuum force of the fan will pull fresh air in from you intake hole.

How can I keep my sealed room cool?

HID lights are the biggest heat generators in a sealed room. Air-cooling them is the best option. Make sure you have sealed reflectors. You will need to create ventilation holes and use a fan to move the hot air out. Make sure all the ventilation connections and holes are also sealed. If this doesn’t do it, there are also water chillers for reservoir water and water-cooled air conditioners that would not exchange any air. You would have to plumb the air conditioner into your space.

It too cold outside for my plants, how do I get fresh air?

Change your intake from outside to inside air. Or, close the intake and start enriching with CO2. You could also do a combination of these options. Sometimes it is useful to use a CO2 burner in situations like this because of the extra heat that is generated.

It’s too hot outside to cool my room. How can I get fresh air and cool my room?

Air-cool your reflectors. If it isn’t essential that your room be sealed you can add a conventional air conditioner. You can get mobile ones or the window type and mount it in the wall. If this doesn’t do it, there are also water chillers for reservoir water and water-cooled air conditioners that would not exchange any air. You would have to plumb the air conditioner into your space.