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Old 02-10-16, 10:46 AM   #571
pinballlooking
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That would help but I do want to let in as much heat as I can. Until the end of Feb anyway

I think I will have to think about planting in front of the glass. The diffused greenhouse polycarbonate really spreads out the light and prevents hot spots.
The back bed deep water culture DWC that I will be adding will be really good for growing lettuce.

I am kicking around just taking water from sump tank to the DWC. That would make the whole back row would be a DWC. Right now I have to pump back some water to the sump tank because the pump is too powerful for just the front bed.


Today is a day that I am glad I used the building methods I used. It started out 24 F it is 1:30 and it is up to 33 F and it is windy so it feels so cold.
It is sunny and the greenhouse is 88 F and soaking up the heat.

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Last edited by pinballlooking; 02-10-16 at 12:28 PM..
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Old 02-10-16, 02:53 PM   #572
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I meant have a screen just in front of the lettuce inside the greenhouse.
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Old 02-10-16, 04:00 PM   #573
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I misinterpret your suggestion.
Great idea. I think I have some screen around here I will give it a try.
Thanks.
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Old 02-11-16, 07:34 AM   #574
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Last night was a very good test for the greenhouse. It was cold yesterday and windy but it was sunny. Yesterday at 6:00 pm it was 32F outside with a low of 23 F here are the other temps.



Greenhouse did not go below 50 F fish water is 63.5 F no fossil fuels were used to heat the greenhouse.

I changed the name of the post let’s face it. It is no longer new it started almost a year ago.
The greenhouse build was started almost six months ago. It is crazy how long that project has taken.

I have a friend every time I talk to him has says are you done? I try to explain that it is not like a weekend project and it will be a while before I am done.
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Old 02-11-16, 08:44 AM   #575
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Sweet!!! That pic of the barrels is Impressive! Those outdoor temps look colder than I expected in SC..
But, when I was about 3 years old, I lived in NC for a while. (1949 maybe).
My only memory really clear of that time was seeing snow..

We had more snow last week, but in small amounts. I've been staying ahead of any build-up.
Don't want to end up with the roof caving-in next month..
The high temp today is going to be about 28F..
Woburn Hourly Weather - AccuWeather Forecast for MA 01801
With a low of 6 on Friday morning.. The weekend is going negative! Killer cold.


I wonder what effects -4 degs is going to have on the Buds I see on the trees?


Until the 4th, the average temperatures had been coming up slightly..
As of tonight, Canada takes control of Boston..


Yeah, I'll be wearing layers. Lots of layers. And burning some oil too.
I wish my house was as well designed as your greenhouse!
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Old 02-11-16, 10:15 AM   #576
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I am outside Greenville SC that is the North West part of SC. We are lucky enough to get cold and hot.

I was very pleased with last night results.
It is 11:15 and 39 F outside cloudy but 71 F in the greenhouse.

I am so glad we do get as cold temps as you are getting. Try to stay warm.
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Old 02-11-16, 01:41 PM   #577
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Early in the project I bought a 16” 3 speed shutter fan. Now I don’t think I will need that fan.
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/44260-post37.html

I was sitting here looking at the greenhouse temp 90 F and thinking that maybe I buy a cheap car radiator use that fan on low speed. Mount the Radiator close to the peak. Run closed loop water through it to my SS beer Wort coil. To heat the fish water in the winter.

How efficient do you think this would be? I wonder if it would be worth the effort.

I found this project.

This project on build it solar is doing something similar.
Storing Excess Daytime Solar Energy to Heat Greenhouse at Night

Reading more on build it solar he used something like this.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/16x16-Water-...YAAOSwvUlWr62a



I read enough on the build it solar and I called the guys that sell it that I feel pretty comfortable that this will work.

So I ordered the 16” 16” heat exchanger from the ebay link above.
I will put some duct work to the peak of the greenhouse.
I will blow the fan across the coil and the second row of barrels this hopefully will heat the fish water and the second row of barrels.
I will have this fan on a thermostat that I already have. I really don’t need to buy much to test this all out.

I should clarify that the 90 degrees temp is at 5’ foot high. I will be getting the air from over 12’ high.
I could run this setup at night in the summer to cool off the fish water if needed.
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Last edited by pinballlooking; 02-12-16 at 12:01 PM..
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Old 02-11-16, 11:20 PM   #578
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I got behind on this thread and just caught up, so much activity in not much time.

I have some info regarding your fast-growing annuals methods. These include stuff like lettuce, tomatoes, basil, peppers that will be grown quickly and replaced. These plants will grow like mad in a hydro system if you give them what they want. The thing is, they don't all want the same conditions. Some want constant feeding, some like dry feet with intermittent flooding, some like to be misted with dew, some like to grow in stagnant filter sludge. You will have the best success if you put the right plants in the right type of system.

As for NFT, I don't like it. The main reason is that since they have nearly no media, they must be constantly irrigated with not much highly oxygenated water. Too little flow, the plants dry up; too much flow, the plants drown. Even the larger aeroflow-style systems suffer stagnation and oxygen deficiency problems. If you like to fiddle and tweak with flow rates, cleaning, drainage, and leaks they are the bees knees. But for me, they require too much maintenance compared to other grow setups.

With the strawberry towers, think seriously about something stackable. A big long tube is not too tough to set up, but changing out plants and teardown is not fun. Like Memphis said, they like to be fed with drippers. That clog every week or so. Too much water, and the tower will literally lean itself to the ground, or leak everywhere. The green, sewer drain PVC pipe is no good for this application, as it has no UV resistance. The white PVC pipe lasts much longer. The black corrugated HDPE drain line is the longest lasting, but is not rigid. At least with the PE pipe, you can cut it apart if it gets clogged and root bound. If you have a successful grow, your pipe WILL get root bound, it may or may not clog.

For tower containers, I hit the dollar stores for the square plastic pots. The window boxes work good for this, too. They all come with no drain holes in them. When I set one of these towers up, I nest all the containers together and drill a 1 inch hole through the middle bottoms all at once with a hole saw. That way, they all line up on a wide variety of rods or spears and are nearly impossible to clog. Setting up, my choice of center spear has become bamboo or broom handle. When not being used in a tower, the containers can be repurposed or nested and stashed under a table.

For your lettuce (and other plants that like bright, diffused light), all you need is some white shadecloth or greenhouse film. My choice for this has become whatever they stock at the grow store (it comes in many flavors; the custom stuff doesn't last much longer than the standard), or plain old white hefty garbage bags.

The shotgun heat exchanger you show is the same thing the commercial growers use to cool their grow lights. It will harvest a whole lot of BTU's out of hot air. Beware of air bubbles: make sure to rig it up so it burps itself. This could become a big part of your heat regulating strategy in the winter. I wouldn't worry too much about blowing air across your barrel battery: natural convection will do far more than you can do with fans without spending any electricity. The hx and fish tank loop is another story.

I am sure this project will be done the day after you die. Until then, it may be a work in progress forever. Then again, someone may inherit it after you are gone... this is the nature of worthwhile projects.
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Old 02-12-16, 12:24 AM   #579
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pinballlooking View Post
How efficient do you think this would be?
Should work well and I'm not convinced that the fan will be needed.

Will you mount the rad horizontally or vertically? I suggest you mount it almost horizontally - but with enough slope that you can easily bleed all air out of it. That will promote more air flow through the rad than a vertical arrangement, since any air flow in your greenhouse will be vertical.

I think your water flow rate is more important than using the fan. If you have a reasonable flow rate - it doesn't have to be a torrent - you should harvest significant heat even without the fan. You don't need a huge temperature rise on each pass through the rad, you just need a constant flow and some temperature rise.
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Old 02-12-16, 06:01 PM   #580
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pinballlooking View Post
How efficient do you think this would be? I wonder if it would be worth the effort.
I did the same with a car radiator in the attic and a fan and ran the hoses to and from the kids pool. I was pulling from over 130 degrees or more in the attic during the heat of the day. The pool water was in the upper 80's until we upgraded to a larger heat exchanger like you. The pool ended up in the upper 90's. Sounds like a good idea to me. It cooled down the house too!

What is the optimal temps for the fish?

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