Fixing VHO lighting

melev

melev

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My VHOs tend to work better in the winter months than the summer ones. It can be very annoying when they worked perfectly the day before, but now they don't.

My fishroom tends to get very humid at night when the lights are off, because the a/c never kicks on long enough to pull out that moisture. I'll fix that with a vent fan soon enough.

In the meantime, I decided to build a VHO Testing Station with spare parts, so I could figure out what was good and what was bad. I had end caps, harnesses, used bulbs and multiple ballasts. Using a 2x6 for my testing station, I secured the endcaps in place. Here's what it looks like:

vho_test_station.jpg
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Once it was wired up, I tested the four ballasts I had and found out I had two good ones. I'll keep this handy for future needs.
 
Nice Marc, How do you plan on adding an exauhst fan? Do you plan on venting to the outside of the house someplace?
 
The fan I'm considering is one that fits into the ceiling, and moves 600cfm. It is 1 Sone, which means it is very quiet. My plan is to install it above the MH ballasts to remove their heat as well as heat from the lights, and pipe it via PVC into the PVC riser coming from the JennAir stove-top vent. If I use a Sweep connection, it should send the air right up the pipe and out of the roof. I'm using 600cfm even though the room only needs 300cfm, because the air is being forced through pipe instead of just releasing in the attic.
 
Im trying to my lighting with the VHO bulbs, where and what do you use to get the white,green,and black wires into a power outlet ? Can I go to Homedepot and just ask the guy there, or is there a special kind ?
 
you can buy plugs at home depot or lowes that will handle that for you. You just strip the end of your wires and screw them into the plug. Thy come with a cover
you can buy commercial grade for a little bit more and that should do the trick

If length is an issue just buy a real nice comercial grade extension cord and solder your ends onto it.
White is neutral
green ground
black is Line 1 usually the small blade on a polarized plug
 
Marc

Your Jenn-Aire is vented throught the roof with PVC pipe/duct? I'm pretty sure that is a big no-no code wise. If you should ever get a grease fire going one the stove and in that vent, the PVC will melt/burn.

Ted
 
I don't know for sure, but I know during the home inspection, it wasn't tied in properly and had to be taken care of before the house would close. Maybe Robert (fish2morow) could chime in on this one.
 
Marc, I understand...I just would be extremely wary of plastic venting of a vent hood. 4" round metal duct is probably the best and most common (and safest).

I was a builder for almost 30 years and the only appliance I have ever seen vented with plastic was a pulse gas furnace by Lennox that was 97% efficient (thus almost no heat going up the flue).

Get Robert to weigh in on it.

Ted
 
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