How To Cool a Grow Tent? – [11 Proven Ways Step by Step]

If you’re planning on creating a grow tent and thinking to cool a grow tent, don’t forget to give this article a read.

Nothing makes gardening more hectic than the hot temperature! This is why you see gardeners sweaty and in a bad mood.

Not to worry because after reading it here, you will know all the possible causes and best choices to make your tent worth gardening.

How to cool a grow tent? Once you’re clear about the causes of heating the tent and the size of your grow tent, you can easily choose among the alternatives to cool it down. However, on an urgent basis, if you don’t have a budget then you should use fans instead of Air conditioners.

With advancement, new techniques are being introduced so before buying any accessories, it is necessary to do some research. This way you would not regret later. 

Factors That Make Grow Tent Hot

If you are a newbie in the field of gardening then you probably don’t know the vitality of grow tents. Once you are into it, you would thank the presence of grow tents. Besides many, grow tents help us in various ways such as:

  • Protection from pests
  • Privacy for plants
  • Better growth
  • Locks carbon filter’s smell inside

However, the accessories we use to stimulate plant growth in a tent often end up warming the tent. A moderate heat does help plants to grow well but excess of it is harmful even for the plant. 

Let us now discuss in detail the major causes of heating grow tents so we can minimize them to the maximum.

1. Grow lights

Advancement comes in handy with new opportunities. One of the most common reasons for a hot grow tent is because of improper lighting. Here are some of the issues grow lights bring with them if they are not bought after proper research.

  1. Unknowingly, we use old-style lighting such as Sodium lights with high pressure which work opposite to LED lights in terms of emitting heat.
  2. Using grow lights that lack heat vents is troublesome. Such lights get the produced heat stored in them which damages the light itself alongside increasing the temperature of the tent.
  3. Installing lights which don’t have fans in them to kick out the produced heat.  Depending on the power of each light, they can also be accompanied by 4 to 5 lights. You heard me right!
  4. Not setting proper timings for grow lights to be turned on because plants do need darkness as much as they need the light.

2. Carbon Filter

Carbon filters come in handy with removing bad odors and hot temperature out of the grow tent. The activated carbon deals with the bad odor and overcomes it.  The air that comes out of the carbon filter is comparatively hot. This hot air tends to increase the temperature of the grow tent as it moves upward. In the case,if there is no inline fan, it may even cause an explosion.

3. Outdoor temperature increase

Seemingly, it is the outside environment but it has a direct link with the indoor temperature. If the temperature decreases, the plant growth will become slow. In the same way, if the temperature reaches the freezing level then it can even make the plants go dead.

On the other hand, an increase in temperature can weaken the nutrient intake of the plants and it will make them prone to diseases.

4. Fans Setup

Grow tent is all about managing an artificial environment for the sake of plant growth. When the plants are in an open environment, they are taken care of by nature most of the time but when they are confined in a grow tent, you are the parent.

To maintain temperature inside a grow tent, Inline fans and Exhaust fans and Clip-on fans are “Must-haves”.

However, a combination of best inline, exhaust and clip-on fans( discussed further in the article) can do wonders for the temperature and growth of plants.

11 Easiest Ways  to Cool Grow Tent

No past experience of managing a grow tent? With these tips and tricks of a few seconds, you will have a better insight at this task and you can easily choose for yourself the best accessories to cool down the grow tent temperature.

Inline Fan Setup

Is your tent without a fan? It’s not good for your plants than. The air inside the tent will get hotter with time and only hot air will circulate throughout the tent as no air from outside can come in. For this, it’s essential to install inline fans. These fans will help to oscillate air and even they are also helpful in pushing warm air outside if connected to ducting that vent outside.

Below are the steps you should follow to install inline fan setup:

  • Connect fans through the carbon filter by ducting
  • Provide outside vent of the fan through a hole in a duct to extract warm air outside that is coming in through carbon filter
  • Keep the fans on all the time as they are necessary to circulate fresh air within the tent
  • The best place for inline fan installation is inside the roof of the tent. In this way, they can extract more and more warm air. As you know warm air is lighter and moves upward in the tent.

Best Inline Fans for your Grow Tent:

Still confused which type of fan is the best fit for your grow tent. Don’t worry, we’ve separated a list of the top inline fans that can do the right job for you. Before moving on,I would suggest always buy less noisy fans with more extraction power.

Inline FanNoiseAirflowDuct Size
AC Infinity CLOUDLINE T6 Inline Duct Fan32db351CFM6Inch
iPower 4-inch 190 CFM Inline Fan48db190CFM4Inch
Formline Supply Quiet 6 inch Inline Duct Fan52db390CFM6Inch
Hurricane Inline Fan 12” 1060 CFM>58db1060CFM12Inch

Exhaust Fan Set Up

Just like Inline fans, it also functions to provide fresh air to the tent and secondly to take out the hot air. They are commonly called air extractor fans. Below are few points to consider for exhaust fan set up:

  • Always provide outside vent to exhaust fan
  • Keep the opening below the area of the tent to let the fresh air come in
  • If you want to attach an exhaust fan to a carbon filter, it must attach an inline fan too. Otherwise, it will exhaust all fresh air that comes from the filter outside. Plants need fresh air
  • It’s better to ensure the oscillation of air along with exhaustion.
  • It can be installed along the wall of the tent or along with a filter setup.

Best Exhaust Fans for Grow Tent:

If you’re in a hurry, our list of top exhaust fans will assist you to choose one for your tent. All of these fans are high-quality products.YOu can trust our top picks for your grow tent.

Below is  the table  of top exhaust fans with detail:

 Table of Top Exhaust Fans for Grow Tent

Exhaust FansCFMNoiseImage
iPower 6 Inch 442 CFM Inline Duct Ventilation Fan HVAC Exhaust Blower for Grow Tent,
442CFM<65db
SAILFLO Inline Duct Fan 6 Inch 110v 18w Grow Tent Exhaust Fan HVAC System Greenhouse188CFM320m/h
AC Infinity CLOUDLINE T4, Quiet 4” Inline Duct Fan with Temperature Humidity Controller – Ventilation Exhaust ,205CFM28db

Air Conditioner installation

Installation of AC to cool down the temperature can save you from putting more hard 

work into the task but the problem is that it is one of the expensive ways. Below are a few key points to consider before installing AC:

  • If you have a small grow tent then you can manage its temperature with a single AC. Otherwise, you need to invest in industrial level cooling methods.
  • Ductless mini-split unit is the best option to install in your grow tent instead f window AC or Split AC
  • Choosing the right size AC for your grow tent is a game of mathematics. There are many sizes available. Check the BTU written on each AC and weight and apply the formula 
  • That is (3 BTU’s) X (1.2) X (total watts of HPS light) = total BTU’s of AC needed.

Best AC for Grow Tent

The best cooling products always come up with humidifiers. In this way, you can note down the humidity level in your grow tent accordingly.

Below are the top picks of Best Air Conditioners for grow tent:

Name Of ACPictures
Honeywell MO10CESWK Compact 3-in-1 Portable Air Conditione
Pioneer WYS012-17 Ductless Inverter Air Conditioner
Best PortableWhynter ARC-14S With Activated Carbon Filter

But before we move on,I would suggest choosing those AC units that come up with carbon filters and humidifiers. 

Ventilation

Ventilation all about letting fresh air in, bad odors out, and letting the hot air out. This doesn’t only need fans but also vents in a grow tent. 

Consider the key points below to provide well ventilation to your grow tent:

  • Always buy tents with vents on all four sides of the tent. The hot air is lighter and goes up in the environment and extractor fans help in emitting it out.
  • Fanning also increases ventilation and oscillation of air.
  • Ventilation setup comes up with inline fans, exhaust fans, and carbon filters. It’s best to get a combo instead of buying things separately.

List of Top Well Ventilated Grow Tents

To fight with the issue of ventilation, manufacturers are producing well-ventilated tents these days. They would either have vents below on the four sides of walls or somewhere near the fans

Well Ventilated Grow Tents Images
Supergrower Indoor Grow Tent
iPower GLTENTXS3 Hydroponic Water-Resistant Indoor Plant

iPower Hydroponic Water-Resistant Grow Tent

Using a Clip Fan

To ensure better growth and overall health of plants, Clip-on fans maintain the heat in a room as well as provide a light breeze. Not just that but it is really affordable as well which can be clipped to the bars of the grow tent.

Below are a few points to consider for the right installation of clip fan:

  • Place the clip fans in the center of the grow room
  • In the case of bigger grow rooms, install 2 clip fans on each side to ensure good air circulation
  • Larger grow tents need higher CFM.So read these values before buying fans
  • It’s also good to buy mount oscillating fans 

Best Clip Fans For Grow Tent

Installing clip fans is the cheapest way to cool down a growing area.YOu can buy these fans online or from shops nearby.

Here’s the list of top clip fans good for grow tent:

Names Of Clip FansImages
Genesis 6-Inch Table-Top & Clip Fan
LORELL 6″ Clip-On Fan
Comfort Zone 2-Speed Clip-On Fan 

Using Water Cool lightening System

This may look strange to you but its benefits should not be overlooked. The water cool lightening system reduces heat that is caused by the lights themselves. Since lights are the major causes of heat in a tent so water cool lightning assists in controlling it.

Below are the benefits of water cool lights:

These are environmentally safe products

  • Maintain the temperature in grow tent by not producing extra heat
  • Keep the grow area cooler even in the summer.
  • For ideal setup, attach one end of water lights to inline fans and another to a duct that vent.
  • These eyes are very soothing to human eyes.

Best Water Cool Lights For Grow Tent

There are so many grow lights available according to tent size. If you cant sort out best for you, we’ve separated a list of best water cool lights that you can buy without any hesitation.

Here’s our list of the best water Cool lights for grow tent:

Water Cool Light NameImage
King Plus 4000W Double Chips LED Grow Light
BloomGrow New Tech 1200W LED Real Full Spectrum
Meijiu Dimmable Water Cooled Top Bin Led Light

Using Light at night time

Can you see it coming? Actually, the temperature is comparatively low at night. Since you are the controller of the environment inside the tent so it is not a big deal to turn on lights at night and not in the day. 

Remember:

  • Keep the lights off in the day time
  • Turn on lights at night with fanning set up
  • For tightly sealed grow tents, create a vent to access daylight.

Setting Timers

The fact that plants need dark hours too just like they long for the light is not to be debated on. There are lights in the market that come along timers that help you adjust light and dark hours. Don’t have such a light? Don’t worry! You can use the alarm on your mobile as well.

Consider the points below to set up timer;

  • Attach light’s timer with your mobile
  • Keep reminder message on your mobile to tell you when to switch off lights
  • Use Auto switch off lights with sleep mode

Best Grow Lights With Timer

Thanks to technology, now you can buy lights with timers. What you need to do is just to set the timer and let the lights on.

Below is the top picks of grow lights with timer:

Grow lIghts with Timer namesImages
MoKasi LED Grow Light  with Auto Timer
FREDI Full Spectrum 3/9/12H Timer
2400W Plant Growing Lamps

Using LED

It is not that LED lights don’t produce heat at all, they do but that’s comparatively low. Not just this but these lights consume less electricity and last for longer. So why not opt for LED instead?

Keep the points below while installing LED lights:

  • Keep the LED lights on mostly at night
  • Hang the lights right above the plant top so that the plant could consume maximum for photosynthesis.
  • Always buy the LED lights with an upgraded timer. In this way, you can save energy and the environment.

Best LED grow Lights For Grow Tent

There are so many brands of LEDs available. But its best to use a more upgraded version with time and remote control option.

Here’s our list of top LED lights for Grow Tent

LED NameImage
Platinum LED Advanced Platinum Series P900
Advanced g8led G8-600 Mega LED
Viparspectra Reflector Series V450

Read the instructions on the menial before installation.

Using Carbon Dioxide

It comes with two major benefits when we talk about using it in grow tents. They keep the temperature lower as well as boost the growth of plants. However, it is better if Carbon Dioxide is handled by a professional because of excess and lower levels of it can harm the plants.

Consider the steps below to use carbon dioxide to cool grow tent:

  • The most common way of using extra CO2 to a grow tent is by standard tank and regulator kit. A CO2 tank, usually either 25 or 50 gallons and made of aluminum, is filled with compressed CO2 and can sit outside the grow tent to save space.
  • It is good for tightly sealed grow tents.
  • It’s very risky to do it yourself
  • It involves a cylinder that should be handled by a professional.
  • If you still want to use CO2 in a grow tent, you can spray it on the plants.

Best Tools to Cool a Grow Tent

To assist you in choosing among the best accessories for cooling your grow tent, we have broken down a list of top best products. You can get your hands on any out of these but first make sure your tent’s requirements.

ProductsImages
Inline Fan Setup
Exhaust Fan Setup
Air Conditioner
Vents
Clip-on Fan
Liquid Cooling Lights
Light Timers
LED Lights
CO2

Bottom Line

Going towards the end of how to cool a grow tent. It’s marvelous that heat issues in a grow tent can be curbed with a few accessories especially if they are well-reputed. Indoor plants often fall frail because of excessive heat which is also possible when the outside atmosphere is too hot. Before buying the tools, don’t forget to go through the reviews.

Lisa Marshall

Hi, This is Lisa Marshall. Lisa has been working with farmers for over thirteen years. It is his passion, hobby and profession. To facilitate other gardeners from her experience, she has decided to start this website to share her gardening experience with her plant lovers.

Recent Posts