Hi BW, This joural may be completed but I have to say that your GH looks amazing! Just using the sun is so awesome 
Have a great day.
Have a great day.
Maine 4-Season Greenhouse Grow
- Thread starter Blew Hiller
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #162
Well, I had other plans today but I was sidetracked after a quick trip to our local dump. I don't normally peruse the trash pile, but something drew me in....
Yes, it is a crazy huge (5x2'?) double door, stainless steel, commercial FREEZER. I think it even had a light halo emanating from it, urging me forward. I gawked, thought, tried to lift it, then drove away. 1 mile down the road I did a u-turn and went and looked at it again, a little harder this time. Could I take off some of the real heavy stuff (compressors, fans, tubing, etc) and get it on my trailer? Could I even get it through the GH door (width yes, weight...uncertain). The thing weighted a TON and ultimately I left a little frustrated. For someone this would be awesome for a grow (the entire inside was open and shelves came out...hard to tell in my photo).
So....I got inspired.
Off to the local hardware store and I bought 2" reflective insulating foam (R-13?). I grabbed some tools and set out to revise the GH for the fish or sixth time (lost count). I wanted to get the box as close to my outlet vents, because they would be the main contributors to maintaining a (reasonably) steady temp. curve (it will go up and down, but I need to minimize the severity of swings). I bought 2x 4x8' boards (@$34 a board) and I wanted to make them work without buying a third. The rear wall of the GH is spray foam insulated with a layer of reflective bubble material. I figured this would suffice as the rear "wall" of the box and it allowed me to scrape by with 2 boards. Final dimensions are 6'x4'x2'. I was going to get fancy with supports and hinges but once I was looking at it in place I realized it would work fine with the front hatch simply being wedged into the simple wood frames. The top piece simply rests on the 2x locked in (6x2') walls and if I need to tweak them later no biggie. Last thing is to get some reflective tape and seal the cracks.
Best thing is the entire thing weighs about 10 lbs! My back is thanking me.
Stay tuned....
Yes, it is a crazy huge (5x2'?) double door, stainless steel, commercial FREEZER. I think it even had a light halo emanating from it, urging me forward. I gawked, thought, tried to lift it, then drove away. 1 mile down the road I did a u-turn and went and looked at it again, a little harder this time. Could I take off some of the real heavy stuff (compressors, fans, tubing, etc) and get it on my trailer? Could I even get it through the GH door (width yes, weight...uncertain). The thing weighted a TON and ultimately I left a little frustrated. For someone this would be awesome for a grow (the entire inside was open and shelves came out...hard to tell in my photo).
So....I got inspired.
Off to the local hardware store and I bought 2" reflective insulating foam (R-13?). I grabbed some tools and set out to revise the GH for the fish or sixth time (lost count). I wanted to get the box as close to my outlet vents, because they would be the main contributors to maintaining a (reasonably) steady temp. curve (it will go up and down, but I need to minimize the severity of swings). I bought 2x 4x8' boards (@$34 a board) and I wanted to make them work without buying a third. The rear wall of the GH is spray foam insulated with a layer of reflective bubble material. I figured this would suffice as the rear "wall" of the box and it allowed me to scrape by with 2 boards. Final dimensions are 6'x4'x2'. I was going to get fancy with supports and hinges but once I was looking at it in place I realized it would work fine with the front hatch simply being wedged into the simple wood frames. The top piece simply rests on the 2x locked in (6x2') walls and if I need to tweak them later no biggie. Last thing is to get some reflective tape and seal the cracks.
Best thing is the entire thing weighs about 10 lbs! My back is thanking me.
Stay tuned....
I guess you are nothing near a complete journal, my bad! Great to follow your creative outbursts! And you Did a awesome job on that freezer.
- Thread starter
- #164
Well, "completed" for this summer! I'll keep posting here moving forward.
kelticBlue
Well-Known Member
Hill. That is magnificent. I like DIY. I just don't have the room anymore since I live in a inner city studio. I really like to read journals documenting this sort of thing.
.livin vicariously.
thanks!
cheers.
.livin vicariously.
thanks!
cheers.
- Thread starter
- #167
Ok, I admit I was not feeling that this was possible with the last few mornings seeing frost on everything and temps in the high 20'sF. However, just to justify being a coward I set up my new Timber lights last night in the box and set them on full to see how much (if any) heat was created/captured. The box was 98% tight since I could see small amount of light in the seams but for this test I was fine with that. From a thermodynamic perspective (and long term successful operation) I will definitely seal it all up 100% moving forward.
Anyway...this morning outside temp was 29F and inside the (somewhat leaky) box was...64F! Thinking with the box sealed proper I can keep it high 60's/low 70's.
I haven't posted lately because I was waiting on my lights. But, I have been watching temps in the box during the day and have been very pleased with the temps. In the GH on a clear day it gets 80/90F between the hours of 9-11am and 1-3pm can easily spike to 110F midday. That is brutal on plants and only occurs because I have it all enclosed (it gets plenty of ventilation in the summer/fall).
However, inside the box temps are constant between 70-80F which is perfect. I have one 4" dryer exhaust section fitted to one of the ventilation tubes running in the 30,000 lbs of rock dust. This thermal mass slowly absorbs all the heat during the day as I have 700' of it running over 15 separate sections (approx 30 feet each). I pull the hot air from 8' high and push it through the 4' drainage tubing with a $50 heavy duty fit set inside a 50-gsllon barrel with the top chopped off. I use a dog training tube (no shit) which is the perfect diameter, length, and cost (found it on amazon, dog type much cheaper than kid version...same thing).
So now I'm thinking all of this is possible. I'm going to tighten everything today, add a wee bit more insulation to the back wall, add a geminating mat on the floor (I have it, might as well use it) and then run a few more nights and verify temps. I dropped 3x seeds yesterday: 2x Northern Lights x Big Bud Auto and 1x Lowryder #2 Auto (from Seedsman). They are indoors and if I get everything stabilized I can put them in "the box" (we need a new name for this thing!)
Stay tuned.
Behind the bubble foil is the spray foam wall...added some 2" foam I had leftover
Vent coming into the The Box from solar capture air
Power for heating mat and lights
Anyway...this morning outside temp was 29F and inside the (somewhat leaky) box was...64F! Thinking with the box sealed proper I can keep it high 60's/low 70's.
I haven't posted lately because I was waiting on my lights. But, I have been watching temps in the box during the day and have been very pleased with the temps. In the GH on a clear day it gets 80/90F between the hours of 9-11am and 1-3pm can easily spike to 110F midday. That is brutal on plants and only occurs because I have it all enclosed (it gets plenty of ventilation in the summer/fall).
However, inside the box temps are constant between 70-80F which is perfect. I have one 4" dryer exhaust section fitted to one of the ventilation tubes running in the 30,000 lbs of rock dust. This thermal mass slowly absorbs all the heat during the day as I have 700' of it running over 15 separate sections (approx 30 feet each). I pull the hot air from 8' high and push it through the 4' drainage tubing with a $50 heavy duty fit set inside a 50-gsllon barrel with the top chopped off. I use a dog training tube (no shit) which is the perfect diameter, length, and cost (found it on amazon, dog type much cheaper than kid version...same thing).
So now I'm thinking all of this is possible. I'm going to tighten everything today, add a wee bit more insulation to the back wall, add a geminating mat on the floor (I have it, might as well use it) and then run a few more nights and verify temps. I dropped 3x seeds yesterday: 2x Northern Lights x Big Bud Auto and 1x Lowryder #2 Auto (from Seedsman). They are indoors and if I get everything stabilized I can put them in "the box" (we need a new name for this thing!)
Stay tuned.
Behind the bubble foil is the spray foam wall...added some 2" foam I had leftover
Vent coming into the The Box from solar capture air
Power for heating mat and lights
Moved back to journals in progress as requested. 
- Thread starter
- #169
Ok, so I switched this back to a journal in progress because that's what it appears to be at this point! I got another (larger) roll of HVAC tape and I had some construction tape laying around. I sealed The Box up pretty darn tight, but I won't be able to test it until I get my light hangers (Timber lights does not include those FYI). I also cut the front panel (at an angle so it notches in) and secured/sealed the lower portion to maximize heat retention (and make it easier to open close and reduce wear and tear).
Oldbear
Well-Known Member
Blew are you gearing up to run this all winter?
- Thread starter
- #171
Indeed, sometime next week should be online and running.
Oldbear
Well-Known Member
This will be very useful
- Thread starter
- #173
This will be very useful
In a good way, your interest pushed me forward on it. It would have been easier in the rental, but I am always up for a challenge. Once I saw the temps (which surprised me in a good way) I told my wife ("Farm Girl")...shoot, looks like this is actually doable!
The idea is not new. In my area there are people using (smaller) hoop houses within (larger) hoop houses.
This works for cold weather plants like spinach, kale, arugula. Truthfully, in the winter the limiting factor is sunlight so there is no actual growth. In essence it is a nice mechanical refrigerator...keeps the plants from actually freezing, yet still alive.
BUT....
The added component with growing cannabis is the light source, which generates heat..and we can (and will) use that.
So, The Box will capture that heat and we will provide 20/4 lighting to our plants and it should work out fine. The only insurmountable challenges that I can foresee is if we lose power for more than a day. In that event I could bring them into the house which we keep @ 70F in the winter.
I am waiting for the seeds to pop in the 7-gallon pots and then I will transfer then into The Box and then we are off to the races...
- Thread starter
- #174
Ready for some good news? Well, I was able to run a proper temp test (yesterday) and after 4 hours lights on/box closed I opened the box and saw...82F!! Decided to go get the pots with the germinating seeds (and languishing in 60F temps at rental) and put them in overnight in first actual test (which is no longer a test...they are in for the ride).
Outside temp this morning 31F. Inside the GH 40F
Opened the box and....
PLUS All three seeds popped!
Here is a shot of the Box with three (3) 7-gallon fabric pots
I put the heating mat under the pots when I transferred the pots but the electrical splitter I had didn't work so that mat is unplugged. Nice to know I have a little extra heat boost in there should we need it.
I went to give them a little soak with the watering can and realized the water was 40F! Just enough room in the box to snuggle the 2-gallon can in there to warm up. Will get them later with nice 80F water.
So, very pleased this morning!
Outside temp this morning 31F. Inside the GH 40F
Opened the box and....
PLUS All three seeds popped!
Here is a shot of the Box with three (3) 7-gallon fabric pots
I put the heating mat under the pots when I transferred the pots but the electrical splitter I had didn't work so that mat is unplugged. Nice to know I have a little extra heat boost in there should we need it.
I went to give them a little soak with the watering can and realized the water was 40F! Just enough room in the box to snuggle the 2-gallon can in there to warm up. Will get them later with nice 80F water.
So, very pleased this morning!
- Thread starter
- #175
8" of snow last night, 30F today.
The Box churns on....
The Box churns on....
- Thread starter
- #176
26/35F (low/high) today but sunny. Interior of GH temp was 38/106F (l/h) and temp in Box was 55/93F. I have a 4 hour window that I am experimenting with: 4 hours of the lights off and 4 hours with the fan running. At present, I have the lights OFF @ 11-3Pm and the fan ON 10-2pm. The lows of 55F in the box are when that fan first turns on and, like today, there was no sunshine yet (overcast) so it was colder air. Same time the other (sunny) morning the fan air was at 90F. I figured I have to deal with both scenarios (high/low GH interior temps) and the goal is to set it and forget it. Idea was that @ 2pm fan is off, Box is dark, and temps are relatively stable until lights come back on @3PM. Once lights are on it is a fairly consistent 84F which is fine by me.
There are other options for dropping the heat. I could cut a "vent" in the Box with an exterior flap (think laundry dryer vent) so when the fan is running creative positive pressure in the Box the air would be forced out the vent. Fan stops, flap stays "closed". Another option is to loosen up some of the seams (on the front door) and let heat and/or fan forced air bleed out.
At this point I am not modifying the Box because I want to see if I can get a relatively "stable" temp curve within tolerance of plants. This spring I had plants running between 45-100F and they were fine.
Stay tuned...
There are other options for dropping the heat. I could cut a "vent" in the Box with an exterior flap (think laundry dryer vent) so when the fan is running creative positive pressure in the Box the air would be forced out the vent. Fan stops, flap stays "closed". Another option is to loosen up some of the seams (on the front door) and let heat and/or fan forced air bleed out.
At this point I am not modifying the Box because I want to see if I can get a relatively "stable" temp curve within tolerance of plants. This spring I had plants running between 45-100F and they were fine.
Stay tuned...
Oldbear
Well-Known Member
Curious about today? Very cold and full sun here.
Are you getting condensation build up inside the cannabis incubator?
Are you getting condensation build up inside the cannabis incubator?
- Thread starter
- #178
All good. We had 17F overnight (with wind it was 5F, but that doesn't affect the GH) and I checked the Box this morning...77F. Inside of GH was 38F. I have been tweaking the fan/dark periods to see if I can find a nice compromise. On overcast days (today) the temp in the GH will not increase more than 10 degrees so when the fan kicks on it cools the box. Yesterday was cloudy and the lowest temp in the box was 50F. I am ok with that. The flip side is that on sunny days the GH can get to 100F and the box will get to 90-94F. Again, I am ok with that. This spring I had plants in 45F overnight temps and 100F days temps and they were fine. My goal is to get a setting that works on all days and all I need to do is water the plants.
Zero condensation and I think this is due to the fan and the heat. Box humidity average 35-40%.
I am planning on turning on the germination/heating mat since the next week looks to have temps (day and night) all below freezing. I like the idea of having that as a boost. I chose 7 gallon over 3 gallon because I wanted the soil to absorb heat during the warm periods. The extra soil mass should buffer the roots on cooler days.
Lastly, I switched the lights to 21/3 because that last hour on overcast days i saw mid-40F's. Since these are all autos I could run it 24/7, but all living things need a break and 3 hours is sufficient.
- Thread starter
- #179
Cold tonight...14F dropping to 9F. Just peeked in the GH and temp was 30F.
Box? 84F and sunny.
This might actually be working....
Box? 84F and sunny.
This might actually be working....
- Thread starter
- #180
Brrr. 10F this morning but all is good in the Box.
GH temps were low of 23F (I have a loose panel that needs adjusting which I realized last night in the wind...no effect on Box though).
Box temp was 82F. Mat and lights doing their job. Plants after a week looking happy.
It's already sunny this morning so we'll see how the solar gain in the GH affects the Box temp.
GH temps were low of 23F (I have a loose panel that needs adjusting which I realized last night in the wind...no effect on Box though).
Box temp was 82F. Mat and lights doing their job. Plants after a week looking happy.
It's already sunny this morning so we'll see how the solar gain in the GH affects the Box temp.