All year greenhouse V2.0 - Page 2

Acuario · 03-14-20, 02:07 PM

As we are on lockdown by the government for the Coronavirus I'm taking advantage to work on the greenhouse.

Here is the ventilation fan (ex evaporator fan from a mini-split) installed and with the external louvered flap grill. Tomorrow I hope to get it properly wired up

I'm going to try one for now but I have another one should it be necessary.

I'm going to add the light sensor and a second temperature sensor just below the fan (connected via the junction box) then use that temperature to decide when to start the fan. The other temperature sensor is much lower.

I'm waiting on delivery of the misting sprayers so I can automate the watering. Also waiting for the glass for the windows then I can decide how to connect up the linear motors for opening/closing.

In the picture you can see some of the plants, in the background runner beans, tomatoes and squash, cucumbers and on the right foreground rhubarb. All grown from seed.

Acuario · 03-24-20, 01:22 AM

Here are a few photos of the plants that are growing on 23rd March. The runner beans are just starting to flower and everything else is growing like crazy. I've started planting some out in the garden as the temperature over night is slowly creeping up.

I'm just finishing the programming and testing of the solar heating and have most of it installed. The fan cooling system is also ready to install, I'll probably fit that today.

Another view of the greenhouse from the south

The plants

pinballlooking · 03-24-20, 10:34 AM

Plants look great.
We picked some strawberries and tomatoes today.

Acuario · 02-02-21, 10:22 AM

I've finally finished (well, probably as finished as any homebrew project ever gets save the inevitable modifications!) the heating system for the greenhouse.

Typically January/February are the coldest months in the area of Spain where I live but typically this year - not. It's currently 22C and sunny outside and overnight it didn't drop below 16C. But at least now I'm prepared!

I've attached photos of everything and a schematic that shows how it all fits together - the only thing missing is the heatpump which is connected into the tank T1 (yes, it is installed and working). The design for the heat exchanger coil is here. The heatpump controller is one of my IOT controllers.

Originally I planned to make my solar hot water panel using 2 steel panel radiators but then an offer I couldn't miss appeared - brand new unused solar hot water panels for 50 euros! Only I had to collect them and buy 10 on a pallet - but it was an offer too good to pass up. I've used 1 on the greenhouse, I'm going to add 4 or maybe 5 to the house heating and the rest..

Anyway, as well as the water panel I also bought 2 x 410W solar panels and a cheap 3Kw hybrid inverter. As I just swapped out my gel batteries for LiPo4 I moved the old batteries into the garden shed to run the greenhouse.

The system is a drain back system that uses a 3-way valve to change over from feeding water to the solar panel (when it's hot) or the greenhouse (when it's cold). As a backup there is a heatpump to provide heating (maybe I'll try cooling in the summer!) Heat storage is 2 x 100 liter (ex) water heaters and the drainback reservoir is provided by an (ex) 50 liter water heater (which happened to be a top feed so fixed upside down with the element removed is just perfect.

One problem I discovered is that I seemed to be sucking air from the solar panel so I had to add an air purge system in the return pipe (you can see it on the right of the photo).

In the actual greenhouse there is underfloor heating plus a fan-coil made from an old internal split unit with pretty much everything stripped out, I knew this would come in useful one day - see here how I made it

The control of everything is done using an esp8266 and various I/O modules (for light/humidity/temperature).
The controller handles the solar heating/greenhouse heating, the greenhouse cooling fan, the grow-lights and (soon) will also handle the watering.

03-14-20, 02:07 PM	#11
Acuario Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: May 2011 Location: Tortosa, Spain Posts: 221 Thanks: 2 Thanked 81 Times in 46 Posts	As we are on lockdown by the government for the Coronavirus I'm taking advantage to work on the greenhouse. Here is the ventilation fan (ex evaporator fan from a mini-split) installed and with the external louvered flap grill. Tomorrow I hope to get it properly wired up I'm going to try one for now but I have another one should it be necessary. I'm going to add the light sensor and a second temperature sensor just below the fan (connected via the junction box) then use that temperature to decide when to start the fan. The other temperature sensor is much lower. I'm waiting on delivery of the misting sprayers so I can automate the watering. Also waiting for the glass for the windows then I can decide how to connect up the linear motors for opening/closing. In the picture you can see some of the plants, in the background runner beans, tomatoes and squash, cucumbers and on the right foreground rhubarb. All grown from seed. Attached Thumbnails

03-24-20, 01:22 AM	#12
Acuario Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: May 2011 Location: Tortosa, Spain Posts: 221 Thanks: 2 Thanked 81 Times in 46 Posts	Here are a few photos of the plants that are growing on 23rd March. The runner beans are just starting to flower and everything else is growing like crazy. I've started planting some out in the garden as the temperature over night is slowly creeping up. I'm just finishing the programming and testing of the solar heating and have most of it installed. The fan cooling system is also ready to install, I'll probably fit that today. Another view of the greenhouse from the south The plants Attached Thumbnails

03-24-20, 10:34 AM	#13
pinballlooking Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: SC Posts: 2,923 Thanks: 172 Thanked 564 Times in 463 Posts	Plants look great. We picked some strawberries and tomatoes today. __________________ Current project Aquaponics system , Passive Solar Greenhouse build To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Solar Install 12.5 Kwh- To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Mini Split installs - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. EV Chevy Volt - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

02-02-21, 10:22 AM	#14
Acuario Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: May 2011 Location: Tortosa, Spain Posts: 221 Thanks: 2 Thanked 81 Times in 46 Posts	I've finally finished (well, probably as finished as any homebrew project ever gets save the inevitable modifications!) the heating system for the greenhouse. Typically January/February are the coldest months in the area of Spain where I live but typically this year - not. It's currently 22C and sunny outside and overnight it didn't drop below 16C. But at least now I'm prepared! I've attached photos of everything and a schematic that shows how it all fits together - the only thing missing is the heatpump which is connected into the tank T1 (yes, it is installed and working). The design for the heat exchanger coil is here. The heatpump controller is one of my IOT controllers. Originally I planned to make my solar hot water panel using 2 steel panel radiators but then an offer I couldn't miss appeared - brand new unused solar hot water panels for 50 euros! Only I had to collect them and buy 10 on a pallet - but it was an offer too good to pass up. I've used 1 on the greenhouse, I'm going to add 4 or maybe 5 to the house heating and the rest.. Anyway, as well as the water panel I also bought 2 x 410W solar panels and a cheap 3Kw hybrid inverter. As I just swapped out my gel batteries for LiPo4 I moved the old batteries into the garden shed to run the greenhouse. The system is a drain back system that uses a 3-way valve to change over from feeding water to the solar panel (when it's hot) or the greenhouse (when it's cold). As a backup there is a heatpump to provide heating (maybe I'll try cooling in the summer!) Heat storage is 2 x 100 liter (ex) water heaters and the drainback reservoir is provided by an (ex) 50 liter water heater (which happened to be a top feed so fixed upside down with the element removed is just perfect. One problem I discovered is that I seemed to be sucking air from the solar panel so I had to add an air purge system in the return pipe (you can see it on the right of the photo). In the actual greenhouse there is underfloor heating plus a fan-coil made from an old internal split unit with pretty much everything stripped out, I knew this would come in useful one day - see here how I made it The control of everything is done using an esp8266 and various I/O modules (for light/humidity/temperature). The controller handles the solar heating/greenhouse heating, the greenhouse cooling fan, the grow-lights and (soon) will also handle the watering. Attached Thumbnails