Planning My Second Grow

dmykins · January 11, 2018, 7:24pm

Good Afternoon All,

I am planning my second grow, my first grow came out ok but there is always room for improvement.

I set up my tent in the basement just to check temps down there since it is winter here in good ole NY…

My temps are between 55 and 65 degrees, what are some economical ways to get that temperature up? The tent is in the basement and will just vent into the basement so I know that will slightly help.

Any input is appreciated. I did a search and found people use oil filled heaters…how expensive are they to run?

I know they make heating mats for seeds, would that be an option?

Thanks everyone for any input!

MAXHeadRoom · January 11, 2018, 7:35pm

Is that with your lights on?

I also have the same dilemma, cold temps in basement. I was thinking about buying a small electric heater from the dollar store for around $30. Its plenty hot with the lights on but the temp fluctuation between day and night is to great. So I would just run it with the lights off.

3high5you · January 11, 2018, 7:54pm

I’ve been using this little guy to raise my temp from roughly 61F to 70F when lights are out. It’s running about 30% of the time on high to maintain that temp in my 4x8 ft tent.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00NXZ7UMA?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd&th=1

Controlled by this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000E7NYY8?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd

Tylan · January 11, 2018, 9:08pm

I use something similar to @3high5you in conjunction with this… Might be overkill but I had it lying around so I used it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V4TJR00?tag=greenrel-20

3high5you · January 11, 2018, 10:51pm

An example of the temperature and humidity in my tent. Note that the heater and controller were installed Sunday evening.

AmnesiaHaze · January 11, 2018, 10:52pm

First off welcome to the forum glad to see another gurella grower from beautiful NYS! I am also from NY

@MAXHeadRoom @3high5you and @Tylan have pointed you in the right direction. I’ll also add, enclosing the tent in a room you would have to build walls, but if you plan on being permanently growing this is your best way to keep heat in your tent in lights off, also putting your tent on a pallet with foam insulation or building an insulated box to put your tent on will help temps when lights are off happy growing my friend

dmykins · January 11, 2018, 11:34pm

Thanks everyone for the replies, I will check out the links in a bit

@MAXHeadRoom

Those temps are with the two main LED lights on. I usually have a couple CFL’s also that may raise the temp a couple degrees.

@Tylan @3high5you

Are the heaters place in the tent or outside by the intake?

@AmnesiaHaze

Good ole NYS, amazing how cold it was here last week!

Tylan · January 11, 2018, 11:37pm

I place mine in the tent. It’s my 2x4 veg tent and works great there.

3high5you · January 12, 2018, 12:08am

Mine is also located inside the tent. It is blowing hot air at my recirculation fan, so it gets mixed around right away.

AmnesiaHaze · January 12, 2018, 3:26am

Be careful doing that, even though you have a thermostat that your plug goes into, the internal thermostat will be off, and where is your thermostat plug located? I hope inside the tent lol @3high5you @Tylan

AmnesiaHaze · January 12, 2018, 3:27am

I would say it was too cold

Tylan · January 12, 2018, 3:40am

My thermostat plug is located at canopy level

dmykins · January 12, 2018, 1:20pm

@Tylan @AmnesiaHaze @3high5you

How worried are you about fire safety when unaccompanied?

Tylan · January 12, 2018, 2:00pm

I’m not worried. I keep it at least 6 or so inches from anything and I have it pointing to dead space so it’s not pummeling anything with direct heat. It has a safety turnoff if its tipped over, but being in the tent I’m sure that’ll never happen but say there’s an earthquake (unlikely where I’m at) and it tipped I’m covered by it’s auto shutoff feature.

dmykins · January 12, 2018, 2:55pm

@Tylan

Have you seen a dramatic increase in your utility bills?

Tylan · January 12, 2018, 3:35pm

My electric bill is so out of whack I couldn’t tell you. December is completely crazy with my kWh usage but I suspect that’s from the negative weather and running the furnace constantly. if I use November as an example I used 1583 kWh in November 2016 (I wasn’t growing) and this past November I was full on growing my usage went to 1900 kWh. The cost difference from 2016 to 2017 was $20.