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Grow lady

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Just now, Grow lady said:

@Military Grademy electric was around £2 a day before and now its jumped up to £6 a day i have a smart meter so I can see from one day to next the costs but the electric radiator is on 24 hours so that's the costly thing but when seedlings bigger I can use my hps 600w and hopefully the heater won't be needed so long 

My grow is in my bedroom along side me and a gaming pc so it's in the warmest place in the home. Lucky i don't need no heaters apart from heat mat's for the roots.

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Edited by Military Grade
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2 hours ago, Grow lady said:

@growinggold energy prices have gone up loads recently I was paying around £8 a day running 2 areas but hermie wiped them out so started again with 1 area still.costs around £4 a day with just 600w led that pulls 125w and heating on 24hours but when seedlings can cope I'm switching back to hps lights to help heating the area 

only problem is your 125W led then increases to 600W with hps

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Just now, RUFUS HOUND said:

only problem is your 125W led then increases to 600W with hps

@RUFUS HOUND yes but I'm hoping that the heater will be on less has the hps will get hot

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Ive never used hps, I know they get very hot but dont know how hot they make a tent - you might not need heating fingers crossed.

 

I think the best/cheapest option is, have the tent in the house - your heating it anyway,

Edited by RUFUS HOUND
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It does sound like you might be better investing in a small tent that you could keep in the house rather than the loft, at least whilst they are small. February is usually the worst month, it might work out cheaper.

 

@RUFUS HOUND They do make a bit of heat but it's nothing compared to the equivalent in heat a oil rad could produce.

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A 600W HPS light is basically a 600W heater that lights up lol

 

The light emmited is because it gets hot, 

not the other way around :)

 

Atb 

 

 

:yinyang:

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The heat from my tent (3 foot by 3 foot by 6 foot high, with 2x125W enviros, I know they are shit but it's what I've got lol and a couple of tube heaters) has kept my flat warm so far this winter :) Only put the heater on once or twice so far :)

 

What I mean is that the residual heat from my grow tent in my room makes my electric cost less, cos the heat from the exhaust from the tent makes the flat warm without putting my expensive electric heater on :)

Edited by Boojum
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1 hour ago, Shumroom said:

A 600W HPS light is basically a 600W heater that lights up lol

 

 

 

 

how old are you? lol that's all we had for a good while

 

 

led is great, had some stunning results from them, but if you have to start heating a space significantly then hps/cmh rule in my world, i will add an led back i during flower though

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everything has its pros and cons depending what season you run em in - in summer hps would cause no end of temp issues without out major fanage.

 

sorry got off track there 

 

or move to spain, no heating bills and you can grow outside under that big yellow thing people call a sun for free :yep: utopia

Edited by RUFUS HOUND
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80W light for 13 weeks, 60W tube heater for 13 weeks, 20W fan for 15 weeks = 356 KWh per harvest all running 24/7.

About £70 a harvest at 20p per, or ~£23 an ounce for me. I ran heaterless for a couple of years at 250 ish KWh, but it's central heating, modern wall insulation and latitude that enabled that in winter.

 

Pretty sure I could get that down just by upping the tent size, but many of us don't get an ideal space. I'd imagine many people are doing it for less.

 

 

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Hi all. In a 1.2x1.2x2 I've gone from high 30°+ using 600hps to a nice 27° using leds, got a 1630w oil filled radiator next to tent, can be expensive yes but here's the money saving tip, I've got a box slightly larger than the rad covering it, with a little inspection flap to get to the controls, ducting runs from the top of the box into bottom tent vent for passive intake, thermostatic control on rad means all I'm paying for is to heat a small  box, takes a few minutes every now and again and gives me to the degree temperature control and eco setting keeps it cheap, and my garden, sorry, bedroom, isn't too hot for sleeping.  :)

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33 minutes ago, Should Know Betterer said:

Hi all. In a 1.2x1.2x2 I've gone from high 30°+ using 600hps to a nice 27° using leds, got a 1630w oil filled radiator next to tent

 

why are you heating the tent if leds are cooler and work better?

 

a 600 hps in that tent should get you 27 at most with very low extraction, i'm doing it now

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@ratdog I live in a small flat, bedrooms just big enough for tent and a single bed, just about, winter was getting 30°+ summer could reach into the 40°'s. Ambient temps now are around 18 to 20, light off garden drops down to that, light on can be 25 to 27 depending on weather, so rads really just to keep lights off temp around 20-21, and lights on around 27, all weather dependant. Box over it  means rad hardly needs to come on, I keep it set to around 20° which is enough to supplement the tent heat. If you've got any advice I'm definitely open to it :)

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I'm currently knocking up an "external radiator housing" aka a rad box - I cut holes on opposite sides, one at top, one at bottom. put the radiator inside and taped all the joints.

Attached 4 inch ducting from inside house to lower inlet hole and 4 inch duct from upper exit hole to the tent. Going to fit an 80mm pc fan from the box top exit to the tent to help the air flow in the right direction. We will see how it performs over the next few nights.

 

P.S. for reference Im running 170W led light (tested operating at 40'C ) with a 4 inch extractor fan and filter  

 

I think the best setup would include some sort of extractor fan speed control to reduce the extraction of all that lovely warmed air that weve spent so much money heating.

I have a temp controlled 6 inch fan waiting in the wings to be fitted for next grow but I do have a variable fan speed controller that I can fit to manually reduce the speed.

 

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