Tent Heater

[Aqua Man]

If we're talking about effects on plants yes there are benefits to the fact that LED's can produce more light per watt. If we're talking strictly about a BTU/watt relationship I'm pretty sure it all equals out. The one caveat that I would put to that is that I'm not sure how plants absorbing heat goes into that equation. But in an empty tent with no light leaks I'd argue that a light will use no more or less electricity to heat that tent than a space heater would.

Yes but thats not the case because we have plants that absorb photons and convert it to energy not heat. You right for that scenario but as i said this is never the case because we are growing plants.

 

[Scotty 420]

For the record a closed system never happens

For sure, it's definitely a theoretical discussion if we're talking about 100% accuracy. However the amount of light that's being lost in a decently sealed grow tent is going to make such a small difference I can't imagine it would make a noticeable difference in real world costs. If we look at the wattage of Bandit's light at 905 watts x 3.4121416 btu/watt = 3087.99 btu. It's rated at 3065 btu, (I used the wrong number earlier 3412.1416 is for a kilowatt) I would bet the remaining 22 btu are from light. Higher efficacy lights would have a higher ratio of heat produced by the device itself vs light that would convert back to heat later. And again as growers yes producing more photons vs direct heat is definitely beneficial, but theoretically from a purely heat load standpoint there is supposedly little to no difference. Scientifically 1 watt=3.4121416 btu my understanding is that any electrical device follows this, LED's are not immune.

But this is just something I've always found interesting & something that we debated going back to trade school, "does turning off lights in the winter save money vs. an electric furnace?"

 

[Aqua Man]

For sure, it's definitely a theoretical discussion if we're talking about 100% accuracy. However the amount of light that's being lost in a decently sealed grow tent is going to make such a small difference I can't imagine it would make a noticeable difference in real world costs. If we look at the wattage of Bandit's light at 905 watts x 3.4121416 btu/watt = 3087.99 btu. It's rated at 3065 btu, (I used the wrong number earlier 3412.1416 is for a kilowatt) I would bet the remaining 22 btu are from light. Higher efficacy lights would have a higher ratio of heat produced by the device itself vs light that would convert back to heat later. And again as growers yes producing more photons vs direct heat is definitely beneficial, but theoretically from a purely heat load standpoint there is supposedly little to no difference. Scientifically 1 watt=3.4121416 btu my understanding is that any electrical device follows this, LED's are not immune.

But this is just something I've always found interesting & something that we debated going back to trade school, "does turning off lights in the winter save money vs. an electric furnace?"

Yeah i agree with that. Honesty unless your electricity is sky high it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference for one light

 

[TomH]

The thing is the tent is already warm so the heater only needs to raise temp a few degrees and maintain it. It'll never see sustained high heat. Because it's instant hot due to its ceramic element it can raise temp fairly quickly then just turn on when the temp drops a few degrees to top off the temp but even with that I checked how hot it got and it never got past slightly warm. This was with it running for around 6 hours.

The unit itself will run for around 2 - 3 weeks for every run. I don't think running a heater for 2 -3 weeks every 3 months is going to melt it.

I like the idea, I even like that ceramic seems to be more dehydrating than an oil heater, great for flower if humidity is your problem.

I'm scared to death to leave something like that going without someone close by.

Be safe and certainly let us know how it works!

 

[Rootsruler]

I like the idea, I even like that ceramic seems to be more dehydrating than an oil heater, great for flower if humidity is your problem.

I'm scared to death to leave something like that going without someone close by.

Be safe and certainly let us know how it works!

The unit is CE/FCC/RoHS certified. Before I bought the unit I searched on the web for any complaints in regards to fire. Haven't found one yet. Whatever complaints that have been lodged were mostly about reliability.

 

[Pipecarver]

I have to disagree. Heat is a waste byproduct when it comes to light. The more efficient the conversation of electricity to light the less heat produced. LED put off way way less heat per watt than HID and especially halogen

incandescent lights are inefficient lighting devices with more energy going out as heat than used for lighting. Not to say they're inefficient up north where we can use every watt of heat we can get for 8 months of the year but south where heat is not needed its just a waste and cost more in cooling costs.
Led's put out less heat per watt used for lighting so they are a better light provider.

I'll have almost 1000 watt of lights in my 5x5 and that's the same square /ft a 1000 w hps is supposed to cover. With the led's I'll need to add a heater, I'd have to vent heat out with my hps..

 

[Rootsruler]

incandescent lights are inefficient lighting devices with more energy going out as heat than used for lighting. Not to say they're inefficient up north where we can use every watt of heat we can get for 8 months of the year but south where heat is not needed its just a waste and cost more in cooling costs.
Led's put out less heat per watt used for lighting so they are a better light provider.

I'll have almost 1000 watt of lights in my 5x5 and that's the same square /ft a 1000 w hps is supposed to cover. With the led's I'll need to add a heater, I'd have to vent heat out with my hps..

I wish I had your problem.

I was running 550w in the tent and was struggling to keep the tent from breaching past 80*. I just added another 150w light. I'm thinking I may need to add a coldbox to help reduce tent temp.

 

[MDK]

I really wanna try a green house heater. Little tube like heater that sits low, problem is most are European and I don't wanna pay that shipping along with having to get adapters n shit

Good ole trusty oil heater plugging along for me

 

[Bandit420]

incandescent lights are inefficient lighting devices with more energy going out as heat than used for lighting. Not to say they're inefficient up north where we can use every watt of heat we can get for 8 months of the year but south where heat is not needed its just a waste and cost more in cooling costs.
Led's put out less heat per watt used for lighting so they are a better light provider.

I'll have almost 1000 watt of lights in my 5x5 and that's the same square /ft a 1000 w hps is supposed to cover. With the led's I'll need to add a heater, I'd have to vent heat out with my hps..

Regarding heat output, this was my LED when it came to heat output vs my old HID lights



I don't miss having duct work in my room but the heat output from my LED is nothing to be ignored without consequence.
My LED lights can send temps soaring up to 110 degrees in the room if I left it unchecked. I probably use twice the fan power and exhaust CFM to remove it than I did with the same amount of watts of HID.
One reason why I love Winter grows is because I can bring in air at 50 degrees and these lights will take it up to mid 80s in minutes. The cold air is like free AC for me since during Summer I have to use AC due to my hot lights

 

[MDK]

@Bandit420 you running those CLWs? I can't remember if I saw your light but damn that's some heat I'd have no chance with that even in my basement...crisper

 

[Bandit420]

@Bandit420 you running those CLWs? I can't remember if I saw your light but damn that's some heat I'd have no chance with that even in my basement...crisper

Yep all CLW. The small blurple SolarSystem 550s are not too bad but they do put off some decent heat. All of it's in the heat sink and it has built in fans to move it away.
But the massive Spectramax is just all heat sink and diodes with the drivers on one side inside the rails. There's no fans to cool it or anything and it gets super hot like an iron if I don't have air blowing on it. The underside with diodes isn't bad but the side rails and heat sinks could easily warm up a pot of cold coffee

 

[Max]

My lumatek zeus won’t even get to room temp in like fucking ages and by that time my humidity has gone way up,can’t turn extraction fan on as I lose the heat..with the finned heater im exchanging air every minute, minute 20secs before humidity goes up…..Bingo..winner winner chicken dinner…

 

[Bandit420]

4'x4' fixture and this is the operating temp. It don't make growing ez but if you can tame the dragon she does perform

 

[Rootsruler]

Did you say you had A/C in the room or no?

 

[Rootsruler]

Welp....been running my little heater in the tent and set it at 75* as my low temp set point and 77* as my high temp set point. Set my circulating fan to medium and I'm getting could leaf movement. So far the tent hasn't seen much fluctuation of temp with heater in there. I've been running it to see if it can keep temps constant in the tent. The app data is showing a 2* fluctuation in temp tent in the last 24 hours which is the time I have been monitoring the performance of the heater and any associated hazards from running it. So far it has worked flawlessly and upon touch the heater itself has never gotten above slightly warm.

I shut off the humidifier as I can keep 60% humidity stable from the HVAC. It also has not moved more than 1% in either direction.

I'll keep an eye on it for now and when it comes time to flip I'll reschedule the timer so that it raises temp at lights off.

 

[Stoneyluv]

Roots, are you still using this heater?

 

[Rootsruler]

Yep

 

[LJFarming]

I tried running a small 1000w ceramic heater I acquired from a fellow grower in my 4x8 veg tent last winter. I bet he was laughing at me when I opened my power bill the next month. When it’s cold as hell on my little mountain it only brought the temps up about 10F and the power bill went up almost $200.

I bought a 2x4 tent and put 2 levels in it and put it in my shop that’s heated by a wood stove for Veg ASAP.

I’m sure mine was an old technology high power consumption POS electric heater but I can cut or buy a ton of wood for $200.

Just my take !

Peace

 

[Scotty 420]

I tried running a small 1000w ceramic heater I acquired from a fellow grower in my 4x8 veg tent last winter. I bet he was laughing at me when I opened my power bill the next month. When it’s cold as hell on my little mountain it only brought the temps up about 10F and the power bill went up almost $200.

I bought a 2x4 tent and put 2 levels in it and put it in my shop that’s heated by a wood stove for Veg ASAP.

I’m sure mine was an old technology high power consumption POS electric heater but I can cut or buy a ton of wood for $200.

Just my take !

Peace

I'm pretty sure all electric heat sources are virtually the same efficiency (technically they're all 100% efficient, but efficiency isn't the same thing as cost of operation). I know regarding furnaces the only thing that really decreases cost of operation on a modern electric furnace vs one made 40 years ago is the blowers are more efficient. However the blower is such a small percentage of the total electrical output that it makes a very small overall savings. The caveat to that would probably be that because space heaters use such small heat elements that loss of efficiency from the fan may equal a greater percent of total power.