That is a very good question. Most of the time it is too warm in the garden area while the lights are on to allow the fans to slow down too much to be an issue. But always be sure that the temperature sensor is placed in such a way to give you an accurate reading in order to control fan speed accordingly. Stephen recommends pushing the sensor through a small square of styrofoam(2″ X 2″) so that the sensor sits just below the styrofoam out of direct light. Let us know if you have anymore questions by sending them to support@hydroinnovations.com .

Thanks,
Lucas

WW

Just a few tips to help you get the most out of your system. The Ice Box should always be after the light and will not cool as efficiently if placed in front. Typically we have found also that the fans do better pulling air through the reflector than pushing (as I think you also found–you tend to get better air flow this way). The air temperature exiting the Ice Box is determined primarily by the water temperature, but flow rate for both air and water will also play a role.

Condensation can be eliminated if you’re experiencing it. Condensation will happen any time the water being used for cooling is lower than the dewpoint temperature (dewpoint temperature is a combination of relative humidity and ambient temperature, there are free calculators online). This could be from running the water at a colder temperature than it needs to be, high humidity in your garden, or a combination of both. We recommend using our system at or below 55% humidity which will stop any condensation problems from occurring. If you have higher humidity than that adjustments have to be made by either running a dehumidifier (as you mention). If humidity can’t be controlled, you can raise your water temperature to above the dew point temperature. If doing so results in warmer than desired garden temperatures, you can increase the efficiency of the system by adding another Ice Box on a fan wall-mounted for example. Doing this will result in better performance at a higher water temperature.

Next, I set it up to pull the air through the reflector. This set up worked even better. Exiting air temps run to 75 degrees when pushing the air but I was able to cool the exiting air to 67 degrees by pulling the air. However, after about 1 hour condensation became a huge problem. So, I set it up again to push the air.

I assume the reason I encountered so much condensation was because the air being pushed was about the same temp as the being pulled.

The system was working too well, if you will. I also assume that by adding other controls, ie: fan control and/or a dehumidifier. That I will be able to control temps so that condensation will be less of a problem or nearly eliminated.

I’m sold on water cooling. This is my third summer and I’ll have fewer headaches because of heat. Nothing worse than walking in to your grow space and seeing temps in the 90s.

Wish I’d discovered this cool idea sooner.

Now, I’m saving for a chiller.

Good Day!

If you need to add a cheap, dehumidifying solution, don’t reinvent the wheel and don’t get a fancy gardening dehumidifier.

Get a dehumidifier from $25 (333 cubic feet) to $40 (for the 500 cubic ft version) from EvaDry.

http://evadry.reachlocal.net/products.html

Small, simple, and should work for 10 yrs or so.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hydro+innovations&search_type=&aq=0&oq=hydro+in

We appreciate your feedback and honestly I hope the advice that we posted here for you will help anyone else who may be having a similar issue.

High humidity is the nemesis of the water-cooled setup and is basically the only problem that you will run into in certain gardens. I think that you could have added an extra Ice Box ($150) to the fan that you already had OR added a small dehumidifier ($150) and it would have worked fine. There are certain steps that may need to be made if there is high humidity in the growing environment. For only a little bit more investment, though, you could have had complete control over your garden and would have overcome the condensation problem you were having. For me it seems like a small price to pay to have optimal conditions (considering the increase in yields). Sounds like the condensation was more of an annoyance than a problem since the remedy was simple and wasn’t worth it to you.

As far as the plastic thickness…it’s all about weight. We could have designed the plastic to be twice as thick and it would have only cost pennies extra but we wanted the lightest product possible since it was mounting to reflectors. The Ice Box ABS plastic has UV inhibitors and is very strong. We haven’t had a single returned unit (out of sales over 3k) for any reason so honestly we feel like the design is perfect!