How to cool down my grow room cheap?

[Rick Sanchez]

Hi,
We're coming across summer pretty soon and I hope I'm not alone being scared of the heat that comes along with it. I live in California and last year during the summer in my garage (now where my grow tent is) it got to ~100 degrees. I don't have AC hooked up to the garage and I don't want to spend an extra $30 a month on electricity to keep it cool, am I screwed or is there a low power cheap cooler out there that you've had luck with?

[dontknownuttin]

I live in Arizona and we get to 114 in the summertime. I moved tent into AC controlled space.

[BuddMarsh]

If RH is not high during the summer where you live you could use a swamp cooler to cool down he tent. Any chance you could grow outside?

[DW2]

An evaporative cooler is the least expensive to purchase and operate, But remember, if Your tools and other stuff are stored in the garage, the higher humidity could cause rust to start and mold and mildew to grow. Evaporative coolers at best will reduce the ambient temperatures by up to 40 deg. F., but when the RH is high, they will not perform as well.
Good luck with Your grow.

[DW2]

It will do something, like drain Your wallet! If you need to de-humidify Your grow space and keep the temperatures down then a small window A/C unit (a refrigerant type) will de-humidify and lower the temperature, just be sure that the condenser fan exhausts to the outside so as not to heat up the area where Your grow is located. How one sets the cooler up is dependent on how and where their grow room/space is located and setup.

[Mr Pot]

I think that if I run a dehumidifier and a swamp cooler the only problem I'll have is that I'm gonna have to fill my swamp once a day with iced bottles. The price of buying a AC vs. the price of the dehumidifier and the construction of a swamp makes AC not worthy. Also the price per month it's high.. don't u think?

[Inuart88]

I don't know about your electricity cost. but an a/c averages on about 15-20 a month and thats 1500-2000watts so my light is really nothing.. my computer alone is 1000watt psu. so for me a/c cheaper cooler alternative. I got mine for free also!

[Potted]

Your screwed,as am I, my growing time is from fall til late spring I grow in a up stairs bed room hot as hell in summer. I gave up trying.I grow enough to last thru summer.Just my .02$

[alltatup]

Let's face it, Rick: growing weed has all kinds of additional expenses if we're going to do it right. In the situation you describe, I'd say the ac unit would be your best bet: $30 per month isn't all that much for protecting your plants and providing the conditions they need in order to thrive. If I had known about everything I would have to buy in order to do this right according to my environment... I prolly would have gone ahead...

[Inuart88]

I would say if my wife new all the expenses up to 850$ now shes not happy... but hey totally worth it to me. i will doing ac unit this summer i have a 10000btu or 15000btu for the livingroom that covers the whole first floor. and a 5000 for my bedroom where i grow. using a ac will just pull moisture out of the air is possible to keep a decent RH?

[alltatup]

Ac will definitely lower humidity. Get your wife a huge bouquet of flowers (seriously) and we won't tell.

[DrPhoton]

Swamp cooler is about the cheapest. They are cheap to buy, cheap to run. Most effective. Only as dw2 said, they are less effective at higher humidity and more risky for mold/mildew.

Past that, anything else will cost more for power.

[Sonnyhad]

One thing you could try is to swap you schedule around so you are dark during the peak heat hours. I'm going to do that this year. Good luck..

[alltatup]

I was thinking about that, but where I live, the ac stays on during the day and goes off at night unless it's real hot--which is unusual. So it's actually better for me to have the lights on during the day when I know the ac will keep temps controlled. Plus, it's right across from my bedroom and makes hella noise when it's on.