NOTE: please read Part 2 for the update, which corrects the set-up mistakes made here.

The winter time is when indoor gardening shines. Bright lights, CO2, and enclosed spaces all make for a potentially hot environment for any plant. Some plants thrive in hot environments. Most do not. Winter is when the outdoor ambient temperatures help reduce, depending on your location, the effect of those heat factors.

Winter is one season in four. For the rest of the seasons, you may need to cool your environment. If you don’t, you risk lower yields and heat stressing your plants. Or, you must limit yourself to hot-thriving species.

Two kinds of cooling exist today for grow rooms: ambient air cooling and liquid water cooling. Ambient air cooling requires an air conditioner and ventilation to exhaust the hot air from the grow room. Water cooling requires the same and focuses on providing a cold solution near the heat source (typically, the grow light). Where air cooling pushes cold air to every aspect of the grow area, water cooling targets just the heat-producing areas of your grow area (typically, your light and reflector).

Let’s talk about Hydro Innovations’ ChillKing & Ice Box. The ChillKing is Hydro Innovation’s liquid chiller solution. I received both the 1/2 HP ChillKing and Ice Box at the beginning of the summer growing season.

Ideal temps for indoor gardening are an ambient 72-75 degrees Fahrenheit. Every grow room maintains different ambient temperatures. My grow room, in the summer, runs as hot as 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Talk about plant heat stress.

That was, until I installed a 1/2 HP ChillKing and a 6″ IceBox from Hydro Innovations.

Hydro Innovations offers their ChillKing in 1/2 HP through industrial-engorging 10 HP. The IceBox is available in 6″ ducting and 8″ ducting sizes.

The ChillKing is a essentially an air conditioner with liquid cooling plumbing for the water path. On the side of the ChillKing is an electronic temperature control which will power on the unit—thus cooling—when the water flowing through its input/output flows in above the temperature set by you.

The 1/2 ChillKing can either be mounted through a wall or window sill (as with traditional window A/C units). I used an 1800 gph submersible pump and 35 gal water reservoir for my cooling. With the ChillKing, I believe that you could use an even smaller water reservoir (25 gals even) for chilling–depending on your lighting setup. The cold water response from the ChillKing is near flash-instant, from hot water to cold.

This unit is completely different from the cheap plastic units currently available. The ChillKing is built like a brick s***house. Not a single cheap component. Metal components throughout and metal hose connectors.

My only suggestion for improvement for the ChillKing would be at the hose-connections.  Instead of screw-on, fixed hose connectors on the unit, I would like to see garden-hose free-spinning connectors or even quick-connectors.  Without this, once you connect your water lines, you may be twisting the entire hose to manipulate it onto its receiving connectors (water reservoir connection, pump connection, IceBox or Fresca Del Sol connections, etc…).  Depending on your setup, this can be a pain.

Add the IceBox.

With a 6″ IceBox and a 440CFM 6″ Can-Fan fan connected to my 600W light and reflector, the pair worked wonderfully! The temperature dropped dramatically from summer months scorching my grow chamber. My grow chamber dropped from 100 degrees F day / 85 degrees F night to 74 F day / 70 F night. Previous to installing this, I had to focus on temperature resilient and heat-thriving plants. After implementing this setup, the plant kingdom is my oyster and I will grow what I want.

However, the ChillKing & 6″ IceBox could not and cannot drop my grow chamber temperature below 68 degrees even with the light off (flowering darkness). If you’re a grower who needs to drop their lights-off flowering below that temperature (some growers would like to hit around 60 degrees F), I would recommend stepping up to an 8″ reflector and the 8″ IceBox for more CFM air flow.

Worm-gear clamps cinching the connections to the IceBox.

My only improvement suggestion for the IceBox is the same as for the ChillKing—quick connect connectors. I had to wrap tape around the input/output connectors and cinch the connections water-tight with small worm-gear clamps. Especially useful would be quick-connections which would also retain the water in the hose when removed from the IceBox. Otherwise, moving/reconfiguring the IceBox will lead to a watery mess.

The ChillKing and IceBox allowed me to increase my yields, avoid heat stress, AND expand the types of plants which I can grow. I will not return to a chiller-free setup.

In case you missed them, Hydro Innovations offered complete setup deals (chiller, hoses, IceBox, water reservoirs, and and everything you would need) across this past summer. Look for their current pricing and any promotions at: http://www.icehousedistribution.com/.

NOTE: please read Part 2 for the update, which corrects the set-up mistakes made here.

Please note: blog posts are the opinions of independent growers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Urban Garden Magazine or its affiliates.