Beginner’s Guide to Hydroponic Inline Fans

The inline fans have become essential equipments for growing seasonal vegetables year around. Using a fan in the hydroponic gardens you can easily control and coordinate with the temperature needed for various plants.

With hydroponic inline fans you do not need to be worried about the environmental variables as they provide ventilation that not only removes excess CO₂ but also maintains the right level of humidity.

Deciding the Fan Size

Now that you know why you should have a grow room inline fan, you must be curious about the size of fan you should buy.

It depends on the grow room’s area; the best approach is to calculate the volume of air that the inline fan can remove through this formula - Length X Width X Height (of the grow room in feet) multiplied by 1.25(i.e. 125 %). It will give you the measure of air the fan will remove per minute calculated in cubic feet per minute.

The allowance of .25 % is taken in order to cope up with the lighting as using lights like HID need more air flow to dissipate the heat generated in comparison to the standard level.

Major Components of the Inline Grow Fans

The mounted fans have a simple structure but the inline fans that you use in the grow rooms are entirely different because of the extraction mechanism.

If you are thinking of building an inline fan on your own, here is a detail of the supplies you need -

1. Intake Vent- An interior vent is needed as the starting point of the extraction process. Various models of vents are accessible in the market; these differ in colors, price range, sizes and shapes. While purchasing a vent the growers should check that the diameter of the vent is compatible with the duct purchased.

2. Duct – The ducting is required to link the internal vent to the motor and the motor to the external vent. You can choose a fully rigid, semi rigid or an insulated ducting according to what suits your hydroponic system.

3. Fan – Choosing a fan is the most significant part as it depends on a number of factors such as the room size, number of plants, plant season, temperature in the grow room, etc. The diameter of the fan should be compatible with the ducting; if the duct’s diameter is less than the fan it will reduce the capacity of extraction. In case you purchase a smaller ducting use a larger fan to maintain a better amount of air extraction.

4. External Vent - This will be placed at the end point of the inline fan to create an external wall to throw the air out. It can be roof or wall mounted depending on your grow room’s condition.

The above were some fundamental details that the growers should know about the grow room inline fans. Many people fail to create an inline fan that is stable for their grow rooms which is normal because none of them are engineers. The passionate hydroponic growers can choose the inline fans from the online UK hydroponic store which manufactures products using the latest technologies.