Noopin’s fridge conversion

[Noopin]

It’s nice to be back and reacquainting myself with the site...we’ll see what this year’s Kawasaki Binmen turns out to be!

Since last year’s learning curve was a rather steep scramble, the next one was always going to be a little less frantic and I’d always been taken with the idea of a repurposed fridge.  All the issues I had last year were about environment - temps, humidity, light - largely brought about by having too bloody many plants of unknown sex at the outset.  30, I was trying to manage, having germinated all the seeds I found and expecting to end up with  a handful of mature females.

 

Growing temps were never above 22 and fell dramatically during the dark hours but they all persevered and flowered, despite my zealous cropping, training and manifolding.  I was compelled to make an early harvest but they’d all looked gorgeous at the time, in a range of autumnal reds, purples and greens, and the resulting bud has kept me in pocket since September.  More than acceptable, but I’ve no idea about grams per Watt etc.  It was seat of the pants indoor farming and I’m indebted to many members for their advice, patience and humour.

 

As far as I was concerned, a fridge offers all that you want of a compact growing area - waterproof/easy clean, reflective interior, well insulated, unobtrusive, fully sealing doors, shelves & door racks.  An upright double gives two zones which can have different temps and lights.  I used a 20yo LG which had one small cooling unit at the bottom, with air ducts between upper and lower sections, which are handy.  
 

Previously, I hadn’t been able to keep my growing area under enough control, within the bigger (basement) room.  I was determined that the first grow would be through scavenging and making-do with diy feeds, growing media, lights and I maintain that the reason the plants did so well (considering) is because it was not only low-tech but low stress on the plants which made them less fragile.  Anyway, the lessons of balancing temperature, humidity and pong have been learned.

My one seed, from last year, germinated mid-Jan and came up like so -

which was something of a novelty.  It was at this point that an upturned box with an LED dangling inside began to seem a little cramped.

 

 

 

 

Next up was a redundant wall unit that had heat loss issues.  

Solved that, at a cost of no fresh air and 85%RH.

 

Long and short is that I sourced a F/F (was given a better one than mine, so used mine) and gave it a once-over.  Wired in 4no. batten mounts for 6500K 10W LEDs, installed 4-way sockets and got down to ventilation routes and temp maintenance.  Finally, I accepted that the only feasible option was for the filter (a reduced diy one and refilled) to take up the compressor space and the fan to be inside.  This meant that the low-level extractor would be fighting the buoyancy of the warm air but also that the heat would be drawn through the lower chamber.  A 2” hole in the top seemed enough for intake;

              At this point, I’ll acknowledge that I never understand why intake fans seem so important in a sealed environment.  If the main extract fan is maintaining negative pressure, as checked at intake point, why do you need an intake fan?  Mine’s now drawing fresh air down past the lights, across the plant, down the freezer vents and, presumably, through the filter (the cabinet otherwise being airtight).  I’ve connected my WAC1 to the generic in-line domestic extractor fan and adjusted it down to the point that it still sucks a piece of paper at the intake hole but doesn’t overcool.  Job done.

 

                                                      Start of training for manifolds.  Being triplets, 4 nodes will provide 12 bud sites and keep the plant compact.

 

 

This filter, albeit 50% longer, served well last year ventilating 8 flowering plants in a leaky room with a 5”RVK.  Reduced, refilled and off we go.

 

Here’s a detail of the triple nodes

 

Before I forget, I’m relying entirely on worm compost, wormery seepage etc for nutrition.  Brilliant, the worms, bought a thousand last year, probably doubled now and when you handle the harvested casts, you just know that stuff is going to be nutritious.

 

That’s where things are in this corner of East Lancs, exactly a year since I found a tin of seeds at the back of a drawer...

[mister phlegm]

Love it, makes a lot of sense.

Can't see you needing an intake fan, I assumed it was needed for bigger spaces than ours.

[Mullet]

Brilliant idea using the fridge for a grow box. 

[Noopin]

When I took the opportunity last year to see if my seeds would germinate and, thereby, embarked on an unstoppable farming experiment that kept threatening to overtake my scavenging efforts, I first saw videos of some hi-tech self-contained grow box that looked more like a transporter pod or something.  Pricey and sleek, I looked at it and thought - that’s basically a sculpted fridge cabinet, which I can pick up on a local backstreet.  I can’t help being pricey and sleek, y’know.

On discovering this site, I spotted a couple of fridge conversions and became a fridge convert.

All the boxes were ticked and, whilst I wasn’t doing it to create a clandestine grow - some I’ve seen are like cyber-fridges with ducting and control boards and fans attached externally - aesthetically, I wanted it to be invisible and self-contained.  My filter proved itself last time and I’m hoping that the basic fan will cope later when I have to turn it up, though I fully expect to have to replace that at some point and there’s a spare ready.

Incidentally, having the upper compartment at waist level is a boon and means I can trim and turn and tend with ease, without removing the pot or squatting at floor level.  Says the 63 year old...

[stu914]

6 minutes ago, Noopin said:

I can’t help being pricey and sleek, y’know.

 

Comes with age bud...here's a couple of shots of my fridgegrow...served me well over the years....

 

 

 

[Shumroom]

Great way to grow

 

Following along. 

 

Atb 

 

 

[Noopin]

Lovely job Stu, and still room for shelves if nec.  We’re thinking on the same lines and you’ve gotta use whatever you have to work with.  I suspect we both enjoy a bit of ad hoc problem solving and mancave engineering.

I still miss the Great Egg Race.

[stu914]

2 hours ago, Noopin said:

 I suspect we both enjoy a bit of ad hoc problem solving and mancave engineering.

 

It's part of the attraction for me...have a look at my 'shed build' thread and you'll see what I mean...

[Noopin]

Very entertaining, in a variety of ways @stu914

Thing is, when the fan’s running, they often sound like a fridge.

 

I presume the asbestos survey was fine - there was someone last year getting panicked at an impending valuation visit and contributors ranged from “best get the shed cleared, mate; early harvest, salvage what you can, it’s bad luck but too much risk” to “they’ll barely get out of the car, nothing to worry about, forget elaborate cover stories, it’s just a shed and you can say no”.

Never did discover the outcome, I think it was an early chop but you can’t fault folk for over-caution.

[stu914]

42 minutes ago, Noopin said:

sound like a fridge.

 

Exactly......I built mine some years ago and it needed to be really stealthy so that worked perfectly.

Still no survey but I'm not too concerned, latest crop is drying and the main room is turned right down, the fridge has some starters in for the next crop.

Notice the feckoff big hasp and staples on the doors...couple of padlocks keeps nosy people out...just in case.

My growbud's mum lives close and she's had a visit from the asbestos removal...they phoned first and were in and out in 2 mins,

quick poke in the shed walls with a screwdriver and done, saw their van in the road but they came nowhere near us.

I've heard most of the scare stories over the years and while most can be discounted as paranoia, a little of that keeps you on your toes.

Once the door comes off the first (and last) time it tends to make one cautious.

[Noopin]

Very entertaining, in a variety of ways @stu914

Thing is, when the fan’s running, they often sound like a fridge.

 

I presume the asbestos survey was fine - there was someone last year getting panicked at an impending valuation visit and contributors ranged from “best get the shed cleared, mate; early harvest, salvage what you can, it’s bad luck but too much risk” to “they’ll barely get out of the car, nothing to worry about, forget elaborate cover stories, it’s just a shed and you can say no”.

Never did discover the outcome, I think it was an early chop but you can’t fault folk for over-caution.

[Noopin]

The last time I visited the site, I had a laptop.  These days, it’s an iPad and I’m blaming fat fingers for artificially inflating my post numbers (and not getting my pics quite right).

[Noopin]

A fortnight on and things are moving steadily.  I had another go at pruning and managed not to amputate anything important, so I’m still looking at 12 growing tips.  My efforts were a) to keep them horizontal until they crossed the rim of the pot (for separation); b) to ensure that they all started at pretty much the same level (to reduce shading); c) to keep the overall flowering height as low as possible.

I got into manifolding last year and my approach is fairly severe in terms of stripping everything but the absolute tip.  In stages, I’ve stripped 5 nodes on each branch (unless that would leave bugger all at the tip), adjusted the training wires and let it recover for a few days.  Some of them will always be ahead of others but it balances out when they start reaching up.  As it happens, I turn the plant a couple of times a day to optimise light access and to allow the spirit of the plant to engage in an atavistic, yet vicarious experience of its antecedents’ diurnal solar nourishment in its tropical native climes.           Oops, what happened there?

We’re at the point of letting them go vertical now - space considerations and a comparison with last year’s grow tell me that it’s not too far off pre-flower, so it’s time to let it get on with things without any more surgery beyond the occasional trim.

 

I realised that, depending on my timing, there was likely not to be the headroom to complete flowering so, a puff of inspiration later, the solution was a round pvc washing-up bowl, set into a hole jigsawed between the compartments.

Currently sitting on a paint can

 

Also on display, the irrigation system - plastic milk bottle funnel screws onto it, fill the bottle and that’s a litre delivered.  Alright, possibly a brainstorm too far...

 

The bowl hardly intrudes below and it’s another 6” to play with and, if things get out of hand, I’ll just drop the pot further through.

oh, and I thought I’d try to clone from a couple of young stems that I’d let grow for the purpose.  And a couple of leaves and a tiny tip, just to see what happens.  Not quite poundshop rooting gel but probably similar.  They’re on one of the shelves below.  
And I moved the fan speed controller with its double socket to the bottom, which has tidied up (and ensafened) the top compartment.

 

It IS a word, ‘cos I’ve used it!

 

 

Seemed rude to finish a post with a picture rather than words.

Edited March 21, 2021 by Noopin
I’m a klutz.

[Noopin]

After much hoo-ing and hah-ing, I decided that it was beginning to resemble last year’s plants around preflower time.  Realised that I wasn’t letting it settle and mature, cos I kept stripping and training to get it wide and symmetrical.  Largely, because 12 main tips in a fridge needs a bit of discipline.

 

Following some discussion elsewhere, I abandoned my gradual, hour per day, drift into autumn light and have changed the lights and switched to 12/12.
 

In further efforts to keep height down, I made a screen which I installed today.  Had to lower the pot, so swapped the bowl for a bucket and gained a bit more room.  Once the screen’s in situ, that’s it - no more turning or moving the pot.

 

 

Dropped the lights 5” for now, but there’s a maximum 15” of growing room above the screen.  If I have to, I’ll cut out the bottom of the bucket and drop it all another 6”.  Meanwhile, I think I’ll direct the small fan to swirl around the pot, as it’s a close fit in the bucket and I don’t want the pot standing in a sump of damp, stagnant warm air.  Probably a better idea is to drill a few 1” holes around the bucket.

 

It’s nearly bedtime, so I’d better check that the readings have settled down again after a lot of being fussed with today.

[silvester growdrobe]

I'm enjoying this, good luck!