Not enough heat

[bigfanofpj]

I know everyone always has the problem of venting heat from their spaces...I've got the opposite problem now that it's gotten cold outside.

My growspace is about 2x4 by 5 feet tall. It is in an unheated storage room built on the back of my house. I'm in flowering, and the lights are off at night. During the day, the CFLs give enough heat to get in the 70's, but at night, it's getting into the 40's in there. WAY too cold I've read.

So, I'm wondering about my options. I'm not comfortable leaving a heater unattended in there because it's such a small space -- AHH FIRE!! I tried sticking a few quarts of boling water in there b4 lights out, but the effect was minimal.

I ran across these Heating cables, and was wondering if anyone had any experience with these.

I wonder if I could "snake" the cable around the plants and throughout the grow box? These just seem much safer than the typical space heater for $30...

Thoughts? Thanks guys...(and gals)

 

[CustomMX6]

Wow.. I didn't know they made anything like that..


It's only $25 shipped..if you don't feel you can keep it heated in a better way, then I would pick it up.

I have the same problem as you.. But I just keep a heater on, unless I'm gone, then I just keep the door to my closet open and my room locked up.

But yeah...if you think you'll get your moneys worth out of that thing..why not, you could be the first and tell us how it goes!

EDIT: and is it only important for the soil to be the right temp? What about the rest of the plant? Good luck!

 

[tazman1996]

I had the same problem.

Get a oil filled heater from any hardware store. imho they are the safest. Heated by the same type of heater as your coil heater. They run about 20-30 dollars and only cost about 2-4/month. Try this, it will work fine.

 

[MadameCrash]

I've tried a shorter version of that same cable system before, and it's a bit tricky to use. The wire is very stiff and the whole thing is one big loop, so it's kinda hard to get it where you want it. Plus, it is really meant to be used under soil beds or some other large volume of material to spread the heat out evenly.

If you can put it under some plastic or rubber sheeting, and then put the plants on top of that, you'll probably get better results than trying to snake the cable around the pots.

Good Luck...

Peace
MC

 

[Akornpatch]

That temperature difference is similar to a Fall season. It would be more important to keep the root ball warm than the branches. The cool temp will cut production a bit.

The first thought I had was an oil heater to keep the whole cab warm, but maybe a seed gemination heater under the pot would be sufficient. Or a heating pad...waterproof one at that.

Let us know what you're up to.

 

[Racefan]

My first thought is for you to reverse your lighting schedual. lights on during the coldest period. That would be the first thing I did. Then if still needed, a small space heater of some sort.

 

[bigfanofpj]

Thanks for the advice folks, I love this place

After MC's description of the cable, it's not looking so good to me.

Racefan, I had also thought about switching the light schedule to have lights on at night, but I didn't wanna freak out the girl.

I'm thinking that endo's cinderblock firewall is exactly the theme I'm running here...use what I already have. So, I'll be setting something up in the next few days, and let you guys know the outcome.

Thanks again to all that responded.

 

[Paladin]

Race fan's idea works for me . My room is 10 X 8 with a 8 foot ceiling in an old small animal barn with a concrete slab floor With a 1000 watt halide. With a little insulation on the walls , floor and ceiling I can raise , and keep the temp approximately 35 to 40 above outside temps. This allows an extra 3 months of growing ( flowering )in the fall , and earlier start up time in the cold late winter - early spring time ( veg ) for me.

 

[Lilstinky420]

i know you said you were not comfortable with the space heater but you can get relativly small ones for about 15 dollars now adays.. then maybe find a good size cement cinderblock or something similar that you could surround the heater with. kind of like a makeshift fire wall.. that way.. nothing around it is flamable.. .

Heya Endo, how you go about making a firewall? I need to construct or set up something for my ballast similiar to what your talking about. Im just not sure how to go about it. It's on cinderblocks at least 2 feet from anywall now, but i'd like ot put it somewhere else and just make a firewall.