Enviro Control - Orchid Board

Kris · #1 08-31-2005, 02:49 AM

Hello, I was just wondering if any of you use an environmental control system for your green houses. (Or terrarium) and what can you tell me about it?

Marty · #2 08-31-2005, 06:44 AM

I use misting systems in all my tanks. I also have them vented to reduce the condensation on the front glass. Other then that, no computer controlled climate is needed. My compact fluorescent lights keep the temps inside the tanks at 75°F ± few °F

you can check out my other website at www.MistKing.com

Good luck
Marty

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kris

Hello, I was just wondering if any of you use an environmental control system for your green houses. (Or terrarium) and what can you tell me about it?

Ray · #3 08-31-2005, 04:17 PM

I have fans running 24/7 in the greenhouse for circulation and a fogger on a humidistat to keep the RH up - hardly a problem this time of year...

At about 65°F, louvered vents open in the front end of the GH. If the temperature continues to climb, a large exhaust fan draws outside air through them and out the rear of the GH.

Winter minimum temperature is maintained by a thermostatically-controlled gas heater. I DO NOT raise the temperature artificially in the daytime, but let solar heat gain do that. Warming the GH accelerates plant growth. Doing so when there isn't sufficient sunshine for significant photosynthesis is not good for the plants and leads to soft, leggy growth.

Kris · #4 09-12-2005, 11:39 AM

Hey sorry for the delayed reply, it was my brothers wedding last week and I had forgot that I posted this.

For reef tanks, you can buy systems that maintain and monitor all sorts of things for you. Seeming as I love toys and gadgets I was wondering if there is a hobbyist control system for green houses out there. Or eve if there is a thought of a need for one. On my dads green house we used the automatic hydraulic vent openers, and just a small electric heater to extend the growing season slightly. I think it would be neat to monitor how your green house is working and using energy. Same with terrariums would it be use full to control a misting system VIA a computer?

Oh Marty, nice setups you have what is the water drop size on your misting system?

Ray · #5 09-13-2005, 10:42 AM

I control the watering and misting in my GH via a computer, but at this point it's a semi-automatic thing.

Specifically, I use Smarthome Pro to control X10 devices in the GH on the watering/misting solenoid valves and fans. By using macros, I click one button to turn on the misting with the fans still on, then periodically turn them off to get slightly different droplet distribution, then on again, repeated several times over a 30-minute period.

I run a lighter misting on a timer when I'm away on vacation.

SWEarly · #6 09-14-2005, 01:34 AM

What an essential and yet not well understood topic. Many have found good conditions by accident. For minimum temperature control I just use a heater. I don't think it makes much difference but to keep oxygen levels up and fumes down I prefer an electric heater. These are also easy to instal and can be done at no cost once a powerpoint is there. However humidity and upper temperature control is much less understood and where many of the glasshouses fail to produce ideal conditions. I also use automatic opening vents but these are a trap. The are in the pitch of the roof and will let out the hot air when open. I also use a floor watering system to keep up the humidity in the glasshouse. When this played up one summer I watched 3 figure paphs fall over one after the other.
What I failed to realise is that water as a gas is a lot lighter than air. On an atomic scale a molecule of water weighs 18 while nitrogen weighs 28 and oxygen 32. This means that the water vapour will largely be up near the roof of the glasshouse. Just go in there in the morning and look where most of the condensation is. When the vents open they not only let out all the hot air but also most of the humidity leaving a glasshouse good for growing catus. In fact if you measure relative humidity and temperature at differing heights I have often found that as well as the temperature being higher near the roof the relative humidity may also be higher when you would expect it to be much lower. Hence hang plants up that need high humidity.
To overcome my humidity problems I use a misting system based on jets that are made in Israel and only use 7 liters per hour. These are in groups of 4 and also with a stop valve to stop leaks. This system is hung over the center walkway and most of the mist falls in the air and not on the plants. The jets are controlled by a thermostat that does not allow them to come on until the temperature is 27 C. They then come on for about 6 seconds every 4 minutes through a second controller. This is a low pressure system (in fact I had to add a pressure reducer) and is fitted to a mains pressure water system. The temperature only reached 30C on one day (over 40C outside) and was normally a maximum of 28 C. The relative humidity in the house is rarely below 50%. I also continue to use floor watering as a back up and this comes on 3 times a day for 1 minute. I do not use a cooler as my whole glasshouse is an evaporative cooler.
I try not to water plants when I don't want to so my cooling/humidity system is designed not to water the plants but to add the humidity to the air. The plants I still water by hand with a fertilizer in the water every second watering.

Stephen Early

Randy · #7 12-23-2005, 12:06 PM

In my previous greenhouse I had an ideal environment. Because the building was built to be a greenhouse it had water & electricity installed as well as an oil heater which was in a separate room. As long as the window in the room with the heater was left open a crack there were never any exhaust gases from the heater in the greenhouse. I had a centrifugal humidifier with a humidistat. I kept the plants that loved the highest humidity closest to the unit.

Night heat during the winter was set at 55F; 99% of my plants at that time were cool/intermediate. For air movement I had a ceiling fan that operated 24/7 and a 14" round, oscillating table fan also going 24/7. Because the humidistat was fairly close to the humidifier I set it at 80% so that at the nether regions of the gh it was 60-70%. There was a door on one side and a large openable window on the other.

The greenhouse was 12X16 and faced due South. The North side was solid because there was all trees there and we get a lot of wind from that direction. That is also the side where the extra rooms were built. One facing into the gh and one facing into the yard. The S facing wall was slanted to take best advantage of the sun and I could hang lots of plants there. That wall was a double paned hard poly. Lower walls were glass, either double paned or 1/4" (all glass was trash picked at one point or another).

My current greenhouse is somewhat less than ideal. It's larger, 14x18. It was built as a 3 seasons room. It has windows all around and faces the right direction for good light. However, it has a solid, flat roof and no water inside it. But, unlike my other gh it is attached to the house. So I can bring water from inside or use an outside faucet when it's not too cold.

For humidity I have water on the floor (which is concrete instead of dirt). I do need to get some drainage. For air circulation I have a ceiling fan and 2 7" round fans going 24/7. Heat is provided by an electric heater. One thing I can do here that I really couldn't in the other gh is zone for heat. I do have a group of warm growers now. They stay in the middle area of the gh closest to the heater. Closest to the windows it's 5-10F cooler depending on the exterior temperature. So all the cool/intermediate growers are there.

Once I get water installed it will be much better. This winter is an improvement over last winter because when I moved in I didn't have time to take up the carpet, YUCK :x since it was October. It became mold central. But now there's no more carpet and the floor is painted with microbial resistant paint.

Plants go outside in the summer.

Kris · #8 01-14-2006, 05:50 AM

Hey everyone, sorry for the delayed response.

Thanks for all the input. My brother and I have been hammering out some ideas for micro environmental controller units. I can’t really get too much into it, but right now but some of the ideas would be more or less toys. We have looked into everything from multi system control to full computer integration. I realize this is nothing really new, but its more how we will be delivering the technology to the user, and offering the options to go as complex as one may want. Anyways to get this idea off the ground it will take allot more research and development, as well as an electronics engineer willing to work for peanuts till we get the hardware and software stuff worked out. Any one know some one?

Once we get a bit further along I will defiantly have to get feed back on the systems we are designing. And if anyone has any wishes for what they would like to see then please let me know.

Cheers!

orchids3 · #9 04-28-2006, 11:23 PM

It all seems pretty simple to me - not at all like the aircraft, ICBM and launch complexes I wired. Will stay out of the discussion.