CubanPete Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 OK, I know have little bit of an issue with the temp side of things. My grow box is located in the shed, which is now really starting to drop in temp. over night. I have been trying to over come this in a number of ways. 1.) Make sure there are now gaps in the joins of the box, except where the extrator and intake fans are (for obvious reasons) 2.) Put down a bed of straw in both the flowering and vegging chamber to help insulate the base of the box, as it rest on the cold concrete floor. This is to prevent the pots from getting too cold. 3.) Have warm air from the vegging chamber being blown into the flowering chamber. As it is during the 12 hours of darkness that the flowering chamber takes a dive on the temp front. However this is not really working to well at the moment, the temp in the flowering chamber is dropping far too much at night and this is going to become a serious issue soon. We had frost out here this morning and the water pipes to the shed freeze on a regular basis during the winter. The temp in the shed can drop to as low as -10C which spells certain death for the plants and my growing efforts over winter. Does anyone know where I can get a small fan heater, ideally I would use a couple of them, one in the flowering chamber and one in the vegging chamber. They need to have their own thermostats so that each part of the box run at the optimal temp. And I do mean small heating fans, the box is on 2' by 2' by 1m so the conventional fan heaters will take up too much space. A hairdryer might work but then it might also burn the damn thing down as there is no thermostat on the hairdryer. Your thoughts, help and advise most appreaciated. CP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pd666 Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 cant u buy a small fan heater with thermostat take ducting and insert a hole into ur grow bow ? or something then u can have ur heater outside ur box and a smaller hole taking the ducting in ? just a thought proplly pish and uve prolley altready thought of that peace pd666 hope ya solve this one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BushDoctoR Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 2Kw Fan Heater - £14.70 hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pd666 Posted September 24, 2003 Share Posted September 24, 2003 yipp thats similar then make a baffle to fit ur ducting then add into grow room ? sounds ok but will it work and be safe ? worth a think tho i mean if space is the problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CubanPete Posted September 25, 2003 Author Share Posted September 25, 2003 Thanks guys, the only catch is that the thermostat is going to be outside the box then which means that the temp in the box is not going to be properly regulated. Although this is definate option. On doing some searching on the net last night for greenhouse accessories I came across bedding heaters, look a lot like underfloor heating systems. These come with thermostats that can be placed into the soil in the pots with the mats below the pots, this means that the roots are kept at the right temp which is probably the most important bit. I'll let you know what I choose to go with. CP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlad (the impala) Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 tlc do a 60w tubular heater for about £12 -its small and safe - wire it up with a thermostat - warm plants! - if you tried to confine the output from a 2kw fan heater in a small box it'd be forever overheating and cutting out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleche Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 Hi mate I have the same problem as you and have been trying to come up with a solution for the last week. If you have a look in the argos catalogue page 917,bottom right corner digital climate controller....looks like that would help eh? Im gonna get one and plug my convector heater into it...sorted LC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMH Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 I have one of those from Argos, and it does the job fine. I have it hooked up to a cheap 2kw fan heater, and my room rarely gets too cold. Those damn heaters don't half suck your leccy though. If you can find an alternative (growth gas generator - gives off C02 as well as heat), or an oil filled radiator, then it would cost you less in electricity bills. As for the other stuff - thick polystyrene sheeting (at least 2cm thick) is great for insulating your floors. I would use it on the walls and ceiling as well if you could get away with it (do it between your crops). The other thing is have your light on at night (mine goes from 7pm to 7am), which should keep you warm during the coldest part of the day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pd666 Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 how much you talking for ur soil heaters cuban might be worth the money i could imagine they cost a bit tho ? ill have to deal with these problems next winter when my grow is transplanted into my shed but i have one of those argos heaters and they suck up energy they do keep it at a nice temprature tho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detritus Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 Guys, I've bought a miniature oil filled radiator from b and q for £20 - it's only 700kw so doesn't use much electricity but packs out a fair bit of heat(much more energy efficient that fan heaters) - it's REALLY small - like 30cmWide x 10cmDeep x 30cm High - perfect if you've got more of a growbox than growroom - plus a lot safer to run in a wet environment than a nasty fan or convection heater! Det Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CubanPete Posted September 25, 2003 Author Share Posted September 25, 2003 (edited) I think I am going to be going the heating mat route for a couple of reasons. Space, they take up no additional space as the pots rest on top of the heating mat itself, and the fact that it will be to long for the base of the box means that it will be possible to run it up one side of the box thus creating a wall of warmth too. With the thermostat then in the soil the box should be kept nice and warm during the big chill which is about to happen. I am also planning on insulating the box better with poly boards just to retain as much heat as possible. A 120cm by 60cm heating mat with thermostat is around £60 which is not bad, rated at 60W means that it will not draw a hell of a lot of juice either. Again thanks for the ideas and will keep you posted. CP the pic attached shows what I am looking into Edited September 25, 2003 by CubanPete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pd666 Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 ahh niceone 60 quid aint too bad worth the money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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