To Vent ... or Not To Vent ... That is The Question

[Runzamuk]

Thank you to whoever is responsible for adding me to the forum. I am a new medical grower. My question is ..... I have a 2 x 2.5 tent to grow 1 plant. Must i vent the exhaust out of the room the tent is in? I am not concerned with the smell. but i was wondering about the quality of my intake air and the humidity level in the room with no outside exhaust. I thought i would get some thoughts on this matter before i went much further. Thanks!

[FunkyButtLovin]

Venting the tent into the open room that houses the tent is perfectly fine.

[Tersky]

Ok so you dont need to BUT....

So let me preface saying i dont vent outside the room i grow. That said, if i could without going to jail or destroying part of my house i would as it makes it easier to control heat and humidity in the tent. The problem with venting directly into the room the tent is in is that it usually sucks that hot air back up and puts it back into the tent. You wont have issues if you are in a cool enough climate but in hot climates in the summer keeping temps down is difficult and for me requires me to run the lights at night and have a portable ac unit in the room ( i live in TX btw). It works but is not ideal. So you can do it but i would recommend if possible to vent outside the room the tent is in.

[Runzamuk]

Thanks for the replies! ... I too can not alter the house with holes where none previously existed. I have an ES180 LED from the Green Sunshine Company which doesn't seem to create an immense amount of heat. I'd like to avoid putting in a window AC unit if i could, as the room is air conditioned already, and i suppose i could run a dehumidifier, if necessary, as well. ..... Thanks again, i feel confident that i can start up and see how it goes and make any adjustments if or when i have to.

[Tersky]

I dont have a window unit and i do have ac in the house already. Even with home ac it was not enough but i'm not confident that the home ac was designed correctly when the house was built. I got this almost 3 years ago and it still works great. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[CaptainWiese91]

I just open my tent every time the light is on. Never in my life used an vent or exhaust.
mid the smell is not the problem, just open the tent in the hours the light is on👍🏻 Money saved also.

[Tersky]

lol wish i could do that. It gets too hot in texas and my home ac doesnt work well enough..plus the whole legal thing....

[bboyfromwayback]

Must be nice lol I currently have 3 going in 7 gallon pots and for the last month the exhaust fan has been on 10 every time I’ve checked my plants just to keep humidity under 60. In a couple of weeks when the start to bud I’ll be emptying the dehumidifier twice a day.

[CaptainWiese91]

It’s get hot here in Portugal also. My basement is bigger than the house almost. So I can vent the whole garage every time the light is on. And then I have 2 big fans in the tent, and a humidifier for the night when the tent is closed. Mine is around 40% all the time.
It is nice. But in the Middle of the day I still have like 26 Celsius in the tent

[ellz]

Is there any way you can vent out of a window? That is what I do so that my air in my grow room doesn't go back into my garage but rather goes outside. I bought a 90º 6" duct and blocked off the rest with a sheet of galvanized metal and it works great.

You could also go with a dehumidifier but just be sure to empty the bucket before it gets too full or it may shut off on you.

[Willyd]

I just switched from a home made grow room to a tent and I dont vent at all my tent is a 5x5 with 2 2000 watt LED and a 1200 I was concerned about heat myself nut found that by closing all my vents and adding another small humidifier and its worked out great. adding the little bit of extra humidity got the temps right where i wanted them and wasnt able to get anywhere near what I wanted when venting

[bboyfromwayback]

It depends on where you live honestly. I’m in the humid AF American South East and always had a issue with humidity until I vented the air outside. Temperature was never a issue because I grow in our basement and there’s central air. If you’re only growing a couple small plants and smell isn’t a concern you may not need to exhaust your tent at all depending on the weather where you’re located. If a exhaust is needed you could probably route the duct to a different room since outside isn’t a option. That way you’re not recirculating the same air to your plants. Once I got that old air outside instead of just recirculating it the plant growth really improved.

[UndergroundFarmer]

Certain stand-alone room air conditioners come with a vent hose and adapter to fit in a window. If you can find those parts, you can vent out a window without it looking 'spicious.

[homegrown]

Hey UndergroundFarmer, i used one of the room A/C's in my first garage grow.. Vented out the window, It was beautiful im my garage all summer..But my back yard smelled like a grow-op LOL! So much for stealth..It's not good when your grand daughters playing in the back yard and says..Grampa..It stinks out here.. WTF

[UndergroundFarmer]

Yeah ellz , it's tough trying to get things not made for your particular purpose to all mesh together.

That's hilarious homegrown. Too bad you can't get a carbon filter that fits the intakes for those A/Cs! Perhaps one could be improvised? I assume you've moved on though.

[bboyfromwayback]

Could try cutting the filter down one side then folding it flat to fit inside the ac frame. It may work if you can keep everything together afterwards. Even if it filtered 50% that would be better than nothing.

[Runzamuk]

It's funny that i had not even considered the possibility of just simply opening up the tent when the light is on. Seems i was just so focused on the need for an exhaust fan and OMG! THE HUMIDITY ...THE HUMIDITY ... As i'm completely new at growing weed i may be overthinking it all just a bit.

[homegrown]

hey @Runsamuck, are you running any sort of fan at all? Any exhaust fan/filter? or air circulating fans? If your having humidity issues your gonna need to exchange the air in the tent. OR put a dehumidifier in there but your limited in space. Personally i would get a decent fan/filter combo, set it up outside your tent(save you some room and that'll exchange your air), and get one or two small fans for air movement in ur tent. That should bring the humidity down in there.

[bboyfromwayback]

Sprouts and young plants love high humidity but as they get older high humidity will stunt their growth plus it brings on a host of other issues. The bigger your plants get the more they contribute to the humidity level so it just gets worse if you don’t get it under control early.