Your Garden Exhaust Fan Setup
Now for your exhaust fan setup. By now, you should already have an idea of the light you want to use from the light selector tool, and an idea of the fan you will need from the exhaust fan calculator, so let's get started!
Just like a good garden design, a good exhaust fan setup can be broken down into a few easy steps. The basic idea is to...
- make the run as short as possible
- make as few turns as possible
- pull in fresh, cool air from the bottom
- exhaust hot, used air from the top
The Exhaust Run
Easy enough...determine where you will exhaust your hot air and than design your garden so the garden grow light is nearby.
If the distance is greater than 20 feet, make sure the fan in your exhaust fan setup can handle the extra strain. Try to make the run straight from your lights to the exhaust point.
Airflow in the Garden
Since hot air rises, you will be removing much more heat from the garden by starting your exhaust near the top of your garden area. This creates a vaccuum that naturally pulls cooler, fresh air into the garden area near the bottom.
Use an oscillating fan on the floor to keep the cooler, fresh air moving through the plants, toward the exhaust.
Just One More Thing
Fans are much more efficient at PULLING air than at PUSHING air. With this in mind, the exhaust fan is usually placed right at the point of exhaust. From there, it will pull air through your light reflector, out of the garden area (up high).
Some Examples
If your garden is in a tight space, like this example, you may need to mount your exhaust fan outside the garden area. Keeping your ballast outside the garden area will help keep the temperature down.
This is an ideal exhaust run. The intake on the exhaust system (the carbon filter) is up high to catch the hottest air. The exhaust run is straight (no turns) and short. If you do not have a carbon filter, simply leave it out of the picture.
If you cannot attach your carbon filter to the ceiling, at least try to get it as high up in the garden area as possible. Milk crates might come in handy for this. The exhaust setup in this example should be fine.
One side note...the examples here are all shown with centrifugal fans. If you are not using a carbon filter, these examples will work fine with squirrel cage fans.
Leave the exhaust fan setup page and
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