Question on grow room in barn

[Psychoshawn]

Hey I'm looking for some info or suggestions, I'm working on a room in a pole barn, the room is a old walk in cooler 6×8×10. 3" thick insulated walls and ceiling but it will be in a pole barn, I live in Midwest, very cold winter's so I'm wanting to know if I'm pulling clean air into the walk in box, the temp of the cold air in the barn will affect plants, so I'm wondering how I could accomplish this. Any suggestions or info is much appreciated. New to indoor.

 

[Qwertywill]

Hey,

My suggestion would be allow the winter air comming in to heat up prior to going into the box. Space heater or something along thise lines. Frost / Winter air will kill the plants or at very minimum wreck havoc.

When you punch a hole in either wall dont have them anywhere near each other.

Is it possible to just pull air from the surrounding area?

 

[Toker1]

The intake will be too cold in the winter. You can always run the lights 24/7 in Veg. This will warm up the place a bit. If you run a veg room and a flower room inside the walk in cooler, you can harvest more often and gain heat from the veg lights.
Or just run autos in the winter. Autos will still flower under 24/7 lighting.

 

[DW2]

Howdy Psychoshawn, If You get a small electric heater (sometimes referred to as a milk house heater, and place it in a box (out of heat resistant materials) beside the fresh air intake. Make an outlet (sized to match the intake hole) and place it around the heater (it will need to be removable or accessible for adjusting the temperature controls on the heater), this should allow the outside air a chance to warm up before entering the grow area. Another solution would be to provide an other enclosure (or a grow tent) inside the larger area which would allow the heat from the lamps to keep the temperature up. My grow space is similar to this setup, I have the plants in a closet (air circulation from the room) and the fresh air inlet is an slightly open window on the far side of the room. Ibought a milk house heater, but found out that it was not necessary with my set up.
Good luck with Your grow.

 

[Canuck147]

Grow enough in the summer months so you don't need to grow in the winter months.

 

[Toker1]

The space heater idea will work, only I would recommend a natural gas or oil powered over electric if you go that route. Just from an efficiency stand point, electric heaters are the most expensive way to heat a space. After creating heat to generate electricity, energy losses will be greater when tapping into electric. When burning oil/gas, you minimize those losses by being closer to the source.

 

[DW2]

Toker1, that is a good point considering the efficiency of gas, also, there is the benefit of producing some CO2 (and H2O) for the plants. It is less expensive and easier to run an extension cord than to put in a gas pipe. I guess that One could put in a propane (or LP) tank, regulator, hose, ignition system, etc., but electricity is less prone to exploding on You! (LOL!)

 

[Toker1]

The gas ones are fairly safe if you are using them properly. I mean, electric ones catch on fire more often than any other models do. Those have safety concerns as well.
A good alternative is an oil burning one. Uses a limited amount of electricity to burn the oil, and doesn’t require a gas line.
Any heating device (including grow lights them selves) can cause fire or explosions. Depending on how it’s used.
According to the NFPA electrical malfunction fires are the leading cause of civilian death and property damage.
https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Data-research-and-tools/Electrical/Electrical