trying to decide

hi i live in south east fl and it gets really hot i have a 400w hps and im thinking of cooling my light with a heat exchanger or a watercooled jacket 4 light in a totally enclsed room 3x3x6 w c02 im trying to decide 4 1 or the other any suggestions?

[David G.]

If you consider all the options, you will find that the Ice Box heat exchanger will offer more bang for the buck and better overall efficiency. Not only with this eliminate the heat from the light, it can also be used to cool the grow room at the same time. I'm hoping that sometime in the near future we can post some more information or possibly an article or two to better explain the benefits of these heat exchangers, as well as all of the installation and configuration options that are possible. In the meantime, feel free to contact us if you need assistance or information on how to get started.

thx for replyin i will take your advice i was already leanin to that choice since the waterjackt only cools the light and not the room . some diagrams about set up and hookups to water to waste would help thank you david

[willard3]

Ice box cooling units are limited to about 30% efficiency or less, just like any conventional a/c system....they are both Carnot cycles.

What is better about water is that the cooling transport is much smaller because the specific heat of water is higher, ie, pipes instead of ducts.

[David G.]

Water cooling is actually much more efficient than air cooling. I'm going to ask Hydro Innovations if they would be willing to chime in and answer some questions to help clarify how efficient water cooling is over air cooling. I for one was a bit skeptical when these units first came out, but after having seen them in action and using them myself, I am sold on the technology. Stay tuned...

[willard3]

The only advantage water has over air is that the horsepower to pump the working fluid is less and is , on a single lamp, negligible.

The film coefficient of water is much higher than air which is why, with the same volume, water transports more heat than air. The air conditioner which removes the heat are both still carnot cycles.