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 pha3r0
Stranger
Registered: 12/21/09
Posts: 615
Last seen: 14 years, 7 months
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 Freeeeeezer 
#348133 - 01/15/10 11:28 AM (14 years, 9 months ago) |
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Well since I did it with a lot of info from this board I better show and tell too.
What I started with was an upright freezer that was from craigslist. If you need one just put up a post and you will get tons of calls, I have 6 more freezers waiting to be picked up right now lol.
Two caveats about using a freezer instead of a fridge or over/under combo. First there can be a LOT of refrigerant in the system and if it's freon you really should have it removed and disposed of by a professional. It is a federal(i think) offence to release freon into the air and it's not good for our planet so just don't. Secondly when your taking the shelving out wear gloves, the wire shelving in mine tore my hand up when a bracket popped off.
Okay now lets build it, cut all the coolant lines and remove all the shelving. If you know what strain or growing tek you will use plan for it now and leave shelf brackets in if they are at a good height, mine were not so I took them out, don't bash them out with a hammer twist them 180 and pull they should come right out leaving you a nice small hole.
Give it a good bleaching right now to make sure all the mold is dead, mine had a copious amount and i actually scraped it first then hosed it out with a 5% bleach mix followed by a soap down cause i didnt want to risk any left over bleach.
Before you can cut any holes you also need to remove the radiator panel from the back and the compressor from underneath. That's all pretty straight forward just cut away the lines with some wire cutters and unbolt, if you didn't have the coolant removed by a pro then for god's sake wear gloves whenever you cut a coolant line some keep pressure. Toss the compressor and save the back panel, we will use this to hide our exhaust.
I am using 1 120mm PC case fan for all of my air exchange these work great and move about 100CFM you will need a 12v DC power supply though. Never fear you have been saving all your old cellphone and game system adapters right! If you have a box of old wall chargers look for one that is rated 12v and you can splice your fan to that if you have questions I can post a pic of the one I made or help determine if what you have is safe to use. If you can't find a suitable adapter you can also use a full on ATX power supply or use an appropriate sized AC fan.
Put the fan facing out at the top of your box. Make sure it is where the back panel can cover it unless you have ducting and a filter then light won't get out any ways. You will also need a similar sized hole in the bottom for air in. These holes are probably the worst part of the build without a long enough metal blade you have to cut the inside and outside separately. If this is the case for you just trace your circle and drill straight through in a few spots then you know where to center on the other side. We also debated fitting a 6in pipe through a rough hole and sealing it to make it perfect, the only reason I would do this though is if It were using and inline fan and ducted hood. That would give you a perfect flange for your ducting
almost there...
As you see above I built the lighting assembly from a piece of OSB cut to be almost snug with the inside. I made it snug because it's going to be in a cold garage and I figured that would help keep a little more heat below. for the sockets I got 4 new bases from home depot for about 2 bucks each they are for garage lighting and you should find them along with the replacement lamp parts like an isle left or right of the ceiling fans (gotta love box store standardized layouts right . these are really simple to wire up you can't do it wrong really unless you forget to turn off the power first! you can take your pick of mounting hardware for the lighting, just make it overly-strong so you can sleep at night. the rope being used now will be replaced with chains for easier adjustment and despite it looking flimsy I can sit on it and swing.
Since this freezer is tapered in the back on bottom to allow for the compressor I had to build a little shelf so he can use the whole bottom. again really quick and dirty just some OSB and a 2x4. Left a few inches on either side open so air can flow up nicely.
Some final thoughts and tips:
1.Having some good romex wire would of make this build much cleaner (all my wire was resourced from old appliance cords)
1.Two plants should fit really nicely but I believe it will need a second PC fan to get the max airflow.
3.Cut up an old intertube to make small squares of rubber and use them like washers between all your mounting hardware, fan, etc and it really cuts down the vibration noise. I could probally put some padding under where the shelf rests and gotten even quieter.
4.Cutting the holes can be tough without the right tools but patience and gloves will see you through. I used a jigsaw for most of the top hole the bottom I had to use a drill and slowly connect the dots to make my big circle.
5.This could of been built with almost any hydro system inside and should still have enough height and perhaps in the future i will retro fit it. my bud just uses soil cause hes an amateur.
And finally I want to toss out a blanket thank you to the authors of all the posts which inspired this build. It is working almost flawlessly and will see much use over the years I am sure. Stay smoking
Edited by pha3r0 (01/18/10 09:56 AM)
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 Dr. Penguin
Registered: 05/19/08
Posts: 1,036
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 Re: Freeeeeezer [Re: pha3r0]
#354978 - 01/29/10 03:31 PM (14 years, 9 months ago) |
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Excellent work! This would be a perfect disguise in a basement or garage. My only concern would be about smell and air exchange. Those cfls will produce a lot of heat especially in such a nicely insulated box and a couple flowering plants will quickly stink up a basement. Good luck with the grow. 
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pha3r0
Stranger
Registered: 12/21/09
Posts: 615
Last seen: 14 years, 7 months
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Thanks Penguin. As for the heat it is in a very cold garage for now and actually has a heater inside for keeping the temps reasonable during the night cycle. We did a little testing with an ambient temperature in the 80's and it got very hot so come spring there will be a big mod done to compensate for that. I really have no clue what or how but it's goign to have to be done. One option we are looking at is to use the guts of a small dorm style fridge to build a chiller box for air to go through before entering the cab. It will save a lot on AC if I can work out the bugs if not the whole thing will have to be moved inside. the garage can get as hot as 110f in the middle of summer.
The smell is another story. He doesn't care to much about smell since anyone that visits him either is in the loop or isn't allowed on the property. I did account for either a commercial cannister filter or a home brew one if he gets suprised by the smell though. It will be put in the top back corner probably with some bungee cords and then I will build a boot using an AC floor vent to house two of the 120mm fans.
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"The proverb warns that, "You should not bite the hand that feeds you." But maybe you should, if it prevents you from feeding yourself."
- Thomas Szasz
"if you arent good with electricity dont go touching it...ive electrocuted myself twice...its no fun"
- mhbound
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