# Venting out Window - Light and Temp Control Help



## HazePhase (May 5, 2017)

Hey Friends,

I am looking for help in venting out my window.

My situation:
Ø  5x5 tent with 12 COB Vero29 V7s  setup is upstairs and has a mini clip fan + 18 inch fan on ceiling of tent + 6 carbon filter/fan combo.
Ø  I have another tent 3x3 with 2 x T5 ballasts (2foot 4bulbs) with 2 mini clip fans. 1 is blowing above down on t5s, other is blowing on mother plant.
Anything else please ask

Both of these are venting into the same room as the tents are in. My window is taped overtop with pool liner to keep all the light out as I dont have blinds. Therefore the window isnt opened which is a drag because I could vent out that window and allow fresh air in. 

I am looking for help with venting out my window but not allowing air in through on the side I am venting out or light. On the other side of the window there is another sliding window where I can let air in. 

Right now I cant open the window as it pushes against my pool liner and the tape starts coming off and so does my pool liner. 
I am only using masking tape and painters tape which hold up fine but wont if air is pushing against it.
I cant use stronger tape as I cant ruin the paint on walls.

I am looking for help on venting my tents and allowing air in while keeping all lights out.

Thank you!!!


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## Hackerman (May 5, 2017)

If you have a cold air return in the room you can run flex duct to it and adapt the grill to allow the rooms regular air flow to pass through on one half and attach the flex to the other half. Venting with no wall damage and no light issues. Just a little cutting on a vent cover. A few bucks at Home Depot. Keep the original for restoration later on.

Incoming air might be available the same way if there's a heat duct in the room and that temperature agrees with your situation.


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## HazePhase (May 6, 2017)

Hackerman said:


> If you have a cold air return in the room you can run flex duct to it and adapt the grill to allow the rooms regular air flow to pass through on one half and attach the flex to the other half. Venting with no wall damage and no light issues. Just a little cutting on a vent cover. A few bucks at Home Depot. Keep the original for restoration later on.
> 
> Incoming air might be available the same way if there's a heat duct in the room and that temperature agrees with your situation.



Can you explain this a bit better. 
I have a floor vent which pushes out my ac. 
What I did was take the duct extension in image and attached it to my floor vent. Now I have a 6inch circular end coming from my vent - I did this so if water spilled wouldn't go down vent. 

Not sure what you're suggesting but I had thought of two things but didn't know if it will work or do much. 
1 Keep window closed and vent my duct into my floor vent. 
2 attach 6" ducting to floor vent and lead to tent to push cold air into tent 
3 find a way to exhaust out window while still blocking all the light 

Let me know thx 

View attachment IMG_0884.JPG


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## The Hemp Goddess (May 6, 2017)

I would recommend venting out the window.  I am confused--if you have a tent, why does the room need to be kept dark?  When I need to cover a window, I find using a thin piece of plywood or hdf works well.  

I think you will find that it creates problems trying to exhaust through heating and cooling ducting.  The furnace or A/C will be trying to push air through the ducting while the exhaust fan is trying to push air in the opposite direction.  An air return and a heating and cooling vent are different things.


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## Budlight (May 6, 2017)

I would build a box about 6 to 8 inches  deep the same size as your window hang some curtains or  blinds in the front part of the box  run your ventilation  from your two tents into the back of the box  then you can open your window  nobody can get in nobody can get out no smell will get out no light will get out but you can bring all the fresh air you need and without looking like a heat bag   I ran this set up before it works well


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## HazePhase (May 6, 2017)

The Hemp Goddess said:


> I would recommend venting out the window.  I am confused--if you have a tent, why does the room need to be kept dark?  When I need to cover a window, I find using a thin piece of plywood or hdf works well.
> 
> I think you will find that it creates problems trying to exhaust through heating and cooling ducting.  The furnace or A/C will be trying to push air through the ducting while the exhaust fan is trying to push air in the opposite direction.  An air return and a heating and cooling vent are different things.



I have a tent but I have 3 vents on my tent that are open and when light shines into my room it can glare into my tent a bit and I want absolute darkness. 

I might do the box idea as it would give me a bit more freedom to have the window open and vent it out.


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## Hackerman (May 6, 2017)

I have these vent grills in every room. They are the cold air returns that take the air from the room and recycle it back through the furnace.

I guess in Florida, these would be hot air returns that take hot air from the room and recycle it back to the Air Conditioner. LOL 

Either way, it's the Return Duct. LOL

I was suggesting to cut a hole about 6" where shown by the red lines and venting the flex from your tent through the cutout into the return duct. 

View attachment grill.jpg


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## The Hemp Goddess (May 7, 2017)

HazePhase said:


> I have a tent but I have 3 vents on my tent that are open and when light shines into my room it can glare into my tent a bit and I want absolute darkness.
> 
> I might do the box idea as it would give me a bit more freedom to have the window open and vent it out.



You do need absolute darkness.  But you could put ducting or pipe in the vent holes and create light traps. I would think this would be easier than never going in the room when the lights are out and trying to lightproof the entire room.  

Hackerman, maybe it is a regional thing, but I have never ever in all my years in construction ever ran into a house that had air returns in every room...and I would remember as this would complicate the plumbing a bunch.

I think a piece of wood over the window would accomplish the same thing as a box over the window.


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## Hackerman (May 7, 2017)

Yeah, you might be right. My house was custom built by the builder who developed this area so he might have done a better job on his house than he did on the normal ones he build for other people. The house I lived in before this didn't have them in every room but that house was over 100 years old so..... LOL I thought all newer homes had return ducts in every room, now. Return air is vital in making your house comfortable and allowing your HVAC system to work right. It's also very important in determining if you house "sucks" or "blows". Excessive positive or negative pressure in a house can cause all kinds of problems.

Another odd thing about my house is that you can tell he was a 'snow bird' and spent his Winters in Florida because all my return ducts are at the top of the wall near the ceiling. I am in the Midwest and around here we put the return ducts down low or on the floor because we are heating a lot more months than we are cooling so we want the system to take the cold air on the floor and return it to the furnace for re-heating. In Florida, I more often see return ducts at the top of the wall so they can return the hot air that rises to the top of the room and allow it to circulate back through the A/C coil in the furnace. I assumed he spent only Summers here and didn't use the furnace as often as the A/C.

I just saw a show on TV about how people in my area should have closable return vents high and low in the house so we can reverse them in Summer and Winter. Totally makes sense but I don't recall ever seeing a builder do that.


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## sopappy (May 9, 2017)

Hackerman said:


> Yeah, you might be right. My house was custom built by the builder who developed this area so he might have done a better job on his house than he did on the normal ones he build for other people. The house I lived in before this didn't have them in every room but that house was over 100 years old so..... LOL I thought all newer homes had return ducts in every room, now. Return air is vital in making your house comfortable and allowing your HVAC system to work right. It's also very important in determining if you house "sucks" or "blows". Excessive positive or negative pressure in a house can cause all kinds of problems.
> 
> Another odd thing about my house is that you can tell he was a 'snow bird' and spent his Winters in Florida because all my return ducts are at the top of the wall near the ceiling. I am in the Midwest and around here we put the return ducts down low or on the floor because we are heating a lot more months than we are cooling so we want the system to take the cold air on the floor and return it to the furnace for re-heating. In Florida, I more often see return ducts at the top of the wall so they can return the hot air that rises to the top of the room and allow it to circulate back through the A/C coil in the furnace. I assumed he spent only Summers here and didn't use the furnace as often as the A/C.
> 
> I just saw a show on TV about how people in my area should have closable return vents high and low in the house so we can reverse them in Summer and Winter. Totally makes sense but I don't recall ever seeing a builder do that.



So, just like toilet bowls, ceiling fans in the south rotate opposite to ceiling fans in the north. That must mean they have to label that season switch differently depending where it's being shipped.

I think it'd be easier to just seasonally reverse the blower on the furnace rather than operate all those vent levers.


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## Hackerman (May 9, 2017)

sopappy said:


> I think it'd be easier to just seasonally reverse the blower on the furnace rather than operate all those vent levers.




You can reverse the blower on your furnace?

I imagine that residential HVAC systems are designed pretty different depending on the climate you live in. Odd, though. When I got out of school, I went to work for some residential architects for a few years before I went into the commercial end and then more civil and structural stuff. I did that type of work for over 10 years and I don't ever recall giving it all that much consideration. I guess you live in one place and you forget there are other places that are different. LOL

Back to the OP, I vent all my tents into my return air vents. Heck, they're already installed and they are designed to take air away. LOL And, all my tents use carbon filters so the air is not stinky or skunky.


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## sopappy (May 10, 2017)

Hackerman said:


> You can reverse the blower on your furnace?
> 
> I imagine that residential HVAC systems are designed pretty different depending on the climate you live in. Odd, though. When I got out of school, I went to work for some residential architects for a few years before I went into the commercial end and then more civil and structural stuff. I did that type of work for over 10 years and I don't ever recall giving it all that much consideration. I guess you live in one place and you forget there are other places that are different. LOL
> 
> Back to the OP, I vent all my tents into my return air vents. Heck, they're already installed and they are designed to take air away. LOL And, all my tents use carbon filters so the air is not stinky or skunky.



Reversing the blower was a joke. Sometimes they work, some fall flat... I heard the thud from here. 
I'd go crazy doing HVAC... I frankly think it is simply IMPOSSIBLE to balance a heating system.
about your return:
Do you just let the returns draw from the tents or do you blow in to them?
Passive steady draw doesn't sound like enough fresh air ventilation for the tent. Nice thing is you're saving heat, I exhaust to my basement floor drain. I hate doing that in the winter.
You sure your whole place doesn't smell like a grow?
Frig, I notice those last 2 weeks of flower almost every time, new filtre or not.


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