Do you know of any formulas to calculate what size/how many radiators to cool a certain amount of BTUs
Most minisplits cant work properly under 10f.
That’s why I havent upgraded to a ms yet. Michigan winters can get cold, real cold (0f to -10*f. But I have figured a way to utilize a single hose (exhaust) portable ac and use co2 with minimal loss of co2.
I’ve also tried making a run (fan/insulated duct/dump into flower room) with outside winter air. It didnt work so well. The 1/2 gap at window to fan/insulated duct created condensation. The insulation fibers sucked up the water and FN dripped on the floor 3’ past the fan.
I go thru about 9x 20# tanks a flower run. 20/refill =180 in gas total. With co2 I’m +4oz vs no co2. I’m profiting +3oz just for co2.
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if you scroll down to the radiators section it has a list of common PC radiators and their thermal dissipation capacity, I’d imagine there are similar resources for vehicle radiators as well. PC hardware isn’t going to be very practical unless you run a single light. A 9x120mm radiator would be ~1800w of cooling capacity. TBH, with a big enough system you could probably just run passive one the outdoors side with a large enough(and conductive enough) reservoir
I think it could handle whatever you throw at it if you scale properly, but it’d take more research than I care to do atm
@Demontrich, this would definitely create some condensation if you exchange heat with the outside, with a dwelling it would probably be manageable. Add a drip pan/drain and a dehumidifier and you’re set
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I have a rdwc 6 light HLG 300w setup. I kept all heat sources besides light out of the room and have issues staying warm. I got a carrier mini split was 2500 but has auto mode and is great in low temps in winter.
Air conditioner with low ambient kit will cool your grow all year long, probably even past -10F, our chillers go down to -22F before we get alarms. 15K is going to take minimum of 8 tons.
i bet there are a million other ways to potentially cool the grow using cold outside air but unless you have chillers and dry coolers theres really no way to efficiently use a DX system to capture the cold energy from the environment.
using homemade radiators with water/glycol is cool but at that point you have basically made a hydronic cooling system, which is undoubtedly more expensive to piece together with computer components vs buy off the shelf per ton. hydronic is never going to be cheaper than DX for initial install but is way cheaper running long term. surna offers a sweet 8 ton unit designed for home grows, but that one will not do free cooling in the winter for you.
bringing fresh air into a room constantly is not ideal, loss of CO2, humidity swings, temp swings, pests, condensation, etc.
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