Hey guys am looking for a small evaporative cooler for a 8x6 greenhouse that I recently received. The temps around here during summer are about 100 and we have a generally low humidity year round. Thanks in advance!
jrmc114064
jrmc114064
TerraForums - Carnivorous Plant Community
Welcome to TerraForums — a long-running carnivorous plant community established in 2001. Register for free to join the conversation, ask questions, and connect with growers from around the world.
NASC Auction will open in...
Read the rules first :)
NASC auction is OPEN!!
Evaporative Cooling for the Summer
- Thread starter jrmc114064
- Start date
-
- Tags
- greenhouse humidity
Share this page
wooo that sucker is gonna get hot if your Summer temps are around 100! Low humidity will certainly help with evaporative cooling. An AC unit would work but I can't imagine how big it would need to be or the electric bill to run it..
The next question is, what do you plan to put in it?? What temperature range are you trying to maintain
You really need to think through these things in order to understand the equipment needed to make it happen. However, keep in mind an 8 x 6 greenhouse is going to be difficult to work with. It is not really big enough to accommodate the equipment necessary to provide a stable environment in your extreme heat environment. Especially if you are trying to provide an environment that is considerably altered from your natural environment.
But if you really want to give it a try..
First thing I would do is get some Aluminet shade cloth if you don't have any yet. It is supposed to be very helpful in reducing heat by reflecting light. I would also recommend some sort of a fogging system for within the greenhouse. You are going to need to move alot of air through it to help keep the temperatures manageable and that will be very drying to the environment. High pressure systems are best as they do a great job of humidifying and cooling without soaking everything constantly. For evaporative cooling if you feel you need to reduce the temperatures even further, then one of those external units with the wet pads and the through wall exhaust would do nicely. Something like this..http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/C60942800-Evaporative-Cooler--2800-cfm--1-8-hp.htm
The next question is, what do you plan to put in it?? What temperature range are you trying to maintain
You really need to think through these things in order to understand the equipment needed to make it happen. However, keep in mind an 8 x 6 greenhouse is going to be difficult to work with. It is not really big enough to accommodate the equipment necessary to provide a stable environment in your extreme heat environment. Especially if you are trying to provide an environment that is considerably altered from your natural environment.But if you really want to give it a try..
First thing I would do is get some Aluminet shade cloth if you don't have any yet. It is supposed to be very helpful in reducing heat by reflecting light. I would also recommend some sort of a fogging system for within the greenhouse. You are going to need to move alot of air through it to help keep the temperatures manageable and that will be very drying to the environment. High pressure systems are best as they do a great job of humidifying and cooling without soaking everything constantly. For evaporative cooling if you feel you need to reduce the temperatures even further, then one of those external units with the wet pads and the through wall exhaust would do nicely. Something like this..http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/C60942800-Evaporative-Cooler--2800-cfm--1-8-hp.htm
I don't currently grow in a greenhouse, but everyone here who does have one uses the wet walls where water trickles over aspen pads. The wall plus fans set up about halfway down the length of the greenhouse provide fairly decent cooling, even in 90-100+ summer temps and 80+% humdity. I would imagine one would be even more effective where humidity is low.
I need the temps around 80-85 for some neps and cephs. Am ordering a shade cloth as well. The only thing I have for air circulation is a 470 cfm booster fan which I have ducking for...
Well I think you can achieve that with evaporative cooling if your outside humidity is consistently low. Not sure what your budget is but you are probably finding out that a greenhouse is not expensive. It's the equipment and cost to run it that add up. A decent evaporative cooling system is going to be fairly expensive. I am sure you can find something less expensive than the example in my link above, but it most likely will not give the results you are looking for. Maybe you can get by with a misting/fogging system and an exhaust fan along with the shade cloth? Worth a try I guess. Good luck with your project!
Was thinking of buying either the evaporative cooler or a misting system involving a resovir of RO water that is pumped to the misting hoses and have a fan to periodically circulate the air. Both are probably the same price but which would be better to cool down the GH.
Posted by someone who probably has never had to pay electric bills ... LOL
When looking at any of the systems that use water, get an estimated usage. I suspect that it will be much higher than your RO can handle ...
Was going to buy an RO system from a? hydroshop that I have ordered equipment from before but have no real estimated on water needs any body know how much RO water I would need to maintain this sort of system
I will most likely save up my money and have it ready by next year for carnivores
Would this do the trick?
http://www.homedepot.com/Heating-Ve...0053&langId=-1&storeId=10051#customer_reviews
http://www.homedepot.com/Heating-Ve...0053&langId=-1&storeId=10051#customer_reviews
Looks like a pretty decent unit with a nice large surface area for cooling. Will be way overkill for your 48 square feet of greenhouse but at least you will have the capacity to increase in size down the road ;>
It was the cheapest nice unit...
Yeah I hear you. Best to get decent equipment. Cheap equipment just ends up costing you more in the long run. You will need a water supply for the unit. It doesn't need to be RO or anything fancy. But it will use a fair amount of water on a hot dry day so a pressurized water supply line is in order. I think Andrew and maybe Paul might have experience with the unit you are looking at. Andrew would be good to ask about misting/fogging. You might still need some sort of system for humidifying. The evaporative cooler does a good job with cooling but the air is only moderately humidified in the process.
K alright sounds good, need to learn to build or fabricate a pressurized water supply....
