Cool Tubes

[Guest guest]

To give the plants intense light is always a problem indoors,

as a 1000 watt HID light gives off near as much heat as a 1000 watt electric heater.

Giving the plants intense light, but controlling the heat from the lights without an air conditioner, in some climates can be a real problem.

If you are using co2 enrichment, then as the room must be sealed to keep in the co2, this adds a further problem as regards controlling the heat from the lights.

Artificial light loses its intensity very quickly;

every time the distance between the light and the plant is double,

intensity is reduced to one quarter of what it was before the light was lowered.

The plants need intense light for rapid growth and to yield well.

This is particularly so, if you are using co2, as the plants need a lot of intense light to be able to metabolize the gas.

Cool tubes are great for exactly this;

and it is possible to have the plants almost touching the glass of the cool tube, with out the light burning the plant.

What are cool Tubes?:

They are a reflector, which encloses the bulb in a glass tube, and air, along with the heat from the bulb can be blown through the tube out of the grow room.

All HID bulbs should be totally enclosed, as if for some reason a bulb busts, then glass and extremely hot metals are blown everywhere and at the very least can cause a serious fire, or if some one is near when it busts, then even death.

Cool tubes are an excellent innovation for controlling heat in the room as well as they can be very close to the plant tops and this ensures strong intense light.

Some pictures:

and here you can see where the ducting goes to run air through them and then out of the room:

If you are using co2 gas, then air is drawn outside of the room, flows through the tubes, taking the heat with it, and then is expelled outside of the room. This , therefore, does not effect the levels of co2 in the room as the tubes are sealed.

The air can be drawn from the room and expelled outside of it, along with the heat if you are not using co2.

If it is winter and it is cold, then the cool tubes can be used without an exhaust fan pulling air through them, as I am doing in the above pictures.

They are very SAFE, as the bulb is totally enclosed and I do not have to worry about coming home to a fire, if for some reason the bulb is faulty and it bursts while I am not there.

happy and safe growing,

john

[Romeu9]

Excelent post, John!

You drive so much of your time to post about every aspect of growing, that I think it will be perfect if all these informational posts of yours should have a forum for them in the "Grow Area" section.... I will propose that in the "General Info"

Thank you, my friend

[anguscr]

Good info John...thanks!

[Guest superbluehaze]

hi tokage,

It is true that for the cool tubes to be effective the air flowing through them should be as cold as possible.

Some people use an air conditioner, and have the intake for the cool tubes drawing cool air from the a/c outlet, other alternatives

are to use various forms of water cooling which is around 5 times more efficient at absorbing, and removing the heat, than air.

I live on the ground floor, so I intend to draw the air up from under my flat.

There is a very large well venilated space under the floor; the air is cool and fresh.

I shall cut a circle in the floor boards, and suck air up from there, and run it through the tubes, which must be in a line for maximum effeciency , and then back down again to the space below my house. It is locked crawl space.

I shall also need to use an a/c in the summer, but because a lot of the heat is taken out of the room through the cool tubes, then it will not need to be on as much to controll the environment, as a/c really use some wattage - about the same as a 1000 watt light, if the a/c is 1h/p.

happy growing, my friend,

john

[Guest superbluehaze]

my pleasure, Anguscr.

happy growing,

john

[Guest samuelo]

I am really thinking seriously about getting a cool tube - I have a small space - thats fine but i am currently running a 400 hps and a 250cfl in the same room - and the heat that they produce is just about bareable, my next considered purchase is a 600watt ballast and obv 600watt bulb - The cool tube will enable me to run such a wattage in my small space - thanks for the valuable information john

[Guest superbluehaze]

Hi Samuello,

As long as the air moving through the cool tubes is cold, it will work very well.

Consider buying a certified digital ballast and use the new sunpulse bulbs. They burn very very cool, as they as a specially modified halide, and halides do burn much cooler than HPS.

If you can affort it;

You will be more than happy, i am sure of it, and will be pleased you waited to you could get the best.

I did my friend, and I will now use nothing else.

The bulbs are expensive, but they are guaranteed for 2 years;

normally a halide only last 6 to 8 months, so that makes the bulbs more affordable, and they come in different Kelvin ranges.

see my post on them;

happy growing, my friend

john

[Rustaman]

You can use the cooltube in a closed setup as well, just build a box in the box that you have some space around, so the cool tube can suck the hot air from your room into the space... then he is working pretty good

PEace Out

[Guest superbluehaze]

Cool tubes do work very well, as long as the air moving through the tubes is of a lower temperature than you wish to have in the room.

happy gowing,

john