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Old 02-15-16, 12:37 PM   #591
pinballlooking
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@MarkM66
It is getting to be a very long post. Glad you enjoyed the project hopefully others will try Aquaponics.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SDMCF View Post
I have been experimenting with moving hot air However, I would not do it the way you propose. I would mount the heat exchanger near the roof so that it is not necessary to move hot air down to it. I think that will be more efficient, simpler, and more reliable. The extra few feet of water pipe will not be a problem re heat loss. You just have to be sure your pump can cope with the extra head.
Since I am going to use the 12 volt pump I would have enough pump head to mount the fan and heat exchanger up in the rafters. That would make it simpler.
Do you think PEX pipe would work for the closed loop between the heat exchanger and the SS coil?




I just ordered a big roll DURA-SKRIM® R20WW Liner. It is with and 20mills thick.
It is organic farming approved and works well for deep water culture.
I will line my back bed with this.

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Last edited by pinballlooking; 02-15-16 at 01:11 PM..
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Old 02-15-16, 04:35 PM   #592
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pinballlooking View Post
Do you think PEX pipe would work for the closed loop between the heat exchanger and the SS coil?
Yes.
In most solar applications it is important to consider the consequence of stagnation if the pump fails on a hot day, and PEX might conceivably have problems there. I don't think that is important in your case because your automatic vents should prevent temperatures going high enough to weaken the pipe and even if the vents didn't do that a bit of soft pipe would be the least of your problems. PEX is good for 200F or so.
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Old 02-15-16, 09:56 PM   #593
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Ok here is a bad drawing of the fish water heating system. The heat exchanger will be mounted in the rafters. With a 16” three speed fan. I will add the vent free tankless natural gas heater into this system.

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Old 02-16-16, 07:42 AM   #594
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This is just my opinion (just me sitting behind the keyboard so I could be very wrong) but I really don't know if you need to worry about all this extra heating/heat exchanger. Here is my reasoning:
1) You where kind of behind the curve the whole build process. You just finished your vent installs only about 2 weeks ago and we (at least here in Alabama) really haven't had that many great solar days over the last two weeks. It might be possible that your fish tank and solar batteries haven't really had a true good solar charge yet.
2) You are still tweaking the entire system. It was only 8 days ago that you were still adjusting your West vents. It might be possible that there are some other minor adjustments you still need to make.

I think you might want to wait until next winter to see if you really need additional heat to your fish tank. It might be that your solar batteries and fish tank will finally be able to start the winter off in a good state that you will discover you don't need additional heat.
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Old 02-16-16, 10:37 AM   #595
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Yes there are a ton of variables at this point. Input is welcome. Projects are always better with outside input. The people I tell about it around here could care less about the details.
The natural gas hot water heater (Emergency backup heat) I have on hand and I hope I don’t really use it. It is in the mix if we have a super cold winter and a week of cloudy days in the winter.

But it has the same requirements at the solar hot water heater I am setting up.
Today it will be close to 60 degrees outside the greenhouse will get close to 100 at the 5’ high. The fish water is 60. That is colder than I want it so today would be a perfect day to use the new heat exchanger.
The front grow bed is like a big radiator all the rock. The back bed will be so much better insulated.

I am thinking about getting tilapia again. If I do this will require the fish water to stay warmer. The heat exchanger will help keep them alive.
I completely agree with you some of this is just guessing on how it will perform in a complete season.
This setup can be used to cool the water this is a big plus if a heatwave comes over the summer.

It is ironic it seems like project is taking so long to get done but it also feels like a lot is getting done and changing all the time.
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Old 02-17-16, 08:53 AM   #596
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Here is a plant picture. The tomatoes are growing good. The romaine lettuce is doing well. We need to get more plants planted.
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Old 02-18-16, 12:42 PM   #597
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Here is our first winter blossom.



I received my heat exchanger yesterday. Today I went to Lowes and bought ˝” PEX and hopefully all fittings I need to install this.

I had to vent the greenhouse the last two days. That is heat I will be able to use the heat the fish water.
Last night it went to 30 degrees outside the greenhouse did not go below 56.6 Degrees. I now have a weather station in the greenhouse that has a Max Min daily temp.
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Old 02-19-16, 08:32 AM   #598
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I just about have all my fittings to put my fish tank heater in.

It will have ˝” PEX pipe connecting it. I am going to put this bucket in the fish tank to gain the height I need.

Should I cut holes in this bucket to let water flow thought it?
I could cut I big enough small fish could get in there.
I will take off the handle before I install it.

I think I will drill some 3” holes through the bucket to let water flow through it.

Last night it went down to 30 F and the greenhouse never went below 62 F
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Last edited by pinballlooking; 02-19-16 at 10:24 AM..
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Old 02-20-16, 11:49 PM   #599
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Love the posts, pinball. You're always up to interesting things.
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Old 02-21-16, 11:06 PM   #600
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ME_Andy – Thanks.
Saturday it did not start out good. I was drilling holes in my new heat exchanger to mount the fan. I caught one of the copper coils with the drill bit. The bit caught the steel and screwed itself right into it before I could stop it.
Long story short I had to squeeze off the coil and solder it closed just like they do when they repair a car radiator. It was a bummer and time consuming. Then I had to go to get more fittings a couple times.

Today I made some more progress. The fan and heat exchanger are mounted. I was able to use a piece of the pallet racking that I cut off.
My closed loop auto vent I bought from china is a piece of junk and leaked badly. I have two other fittings that I need to replace. I need to wire up the pump but other than that it is installed.

I was working the other night and thought this was cool view.












Some plants

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