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Who uses those ultrasonic pond fogger thingies?

  • #21
Paul, how often do you have to refill the bucket? Is it a pain with that stuff attached to the lid? Awesome, build, dude; nicely done.

The way I have it, I never need to take the lid off. I just pull the fan tube out and pour the water in that way.
IMG_3097.jpg

IMG_3096.jpg
 
  • #22
Brilliant!
 
  • #23
OK - I'm definitely going to go for this setup after seeing how the finished product looks. The ability to stick frozen bottles into the reservoir is the kicker for me - the Sunpentown ultrasonic humidifiers (and similar models) will probably work just fine, but I can't chill the mist like I could with one of these things.

One thing I would ask of you - do you have a parts list or something that I can work off of? I'm terrible at figuring out the proper names/sizes for all these PVC fittings. Did you just make a trip to Home Depot and pick from their selection or was any of it specially ordered?
 
  • #24
I will make one too!
 
  • #25
I was just discussing this in the chat window with Amph:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UNJYM4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

It's pricey, but it's by far the cheapest 5-disc fogger out there... the same prices as a 3-disc fogger from mainlandmart.com. It even comes with its own buoy! Trying to figure out whether it's overkill, though. I'm trying to fog two 18" x 48" shelves at a time with humidity spreading to two additional 18" x 48" shelves directly above and below the two receiving fog. With my little portable humidifier, when aimed into the air intake coming in below my lights, the fog is completely evaporated before it has traveled 24" or so.

5-discs (considering price): thumbs up or down??
 
  • #26
One thing I would ask of you - do you have a parts list or something that I can work off of? I'm terrible at figuring out the proper names/sizes for all these PVC fittings. Did you just make a trip to Home Depot and pick from their selection or was any of it specially ordered?

I kind of had a list. It pretty much depends on what size fan you have and what size tubing you're going to use. I used a 4-3 inch adapter into a 4inch x 2ft pipe cut to about 8 inches and a 4inch coupler for the fan side. The fan you are going to have to round the sides to fit. The tube side I think I used a 1inch - 2inch adapter -> 1inch - 1/2 inch threaded reducer -> 1/2inch barb and 1/2inch tubing (inner diameter, don't remember the outer). Oh and of course a 5 gallon bucket and lid. When you go, bring your fan and just start putting everything together and see if they all fit. That's pretty much it.

Edit, I think the 5 might be a little overkill. Are your shelves enclosed at all or just open?
 
  • #27
And this creates the humidity?
 
  • #28
Thanks Paul! Will definitely start snooping around my local Lowes for supplies.

I'm trying to fog two 18"x48" shelves and have the residual humidity cover two additional shelves. My rack is enclosed on four sider with Mylar and shower curtains but the top and bottom are open. I have two fans pulling air into the side of the rack and one fan exhausting air out the top.

5 discs may be overkill, but this one unit costs as much as many three disc units. And a single disc unit might be UNDERkill! What do you think?
 
  • #29


here's my setup...err...click on the fugly pic.

my recommendation is if you're going to use the 5 disk model, you should somehow increase the amount of air flow to help facilitate evaporative cooling efficiently....that a lot of mist being generated...
 
  • #30
Oh also the hardest part I found was cutting the holes in the lid. Unless you have a 3 inch & 1inch hole cutter or just a sharp utility knife.
 
  • #31
Paul, how did you get the fan in the tube? That is the part that intrigues me.
 
  • #32
cut the sides, then sand them done to make it more rounded. keep fitting it as you go and if you use a 4inch coupler, theres a little lip that the fan sits on. And yes there will be a little gap on the center sides of the fan. trying to fit a square in a cirlce type of deal.
 
  • #33
Oh OK Thanks. It looked like it was flush and fit perfectly. I am going to do this and pipe cold air from under my house into a misted bucked then into a terrarium in the GH. Hopefully it will keep a Cool misted sub chamber for Helli's in my GH. Then I can get s few more and not worry about lack of light!! Woot Woot!

I found cheap single disc foggers I wonder if I wired three together if there would be enough fog to mist a 55 gallon terrarium. I don't think I want to spend 300 for a 12 disc in one fogger. I would like to find a cheap one with a buoy already instead of making one.
 
  • #34
Heres a pic of the fan.
IMG_1667.jpg
 
  • #35
Hmm - I'm scratching my head way harder than I should debating which of these fogger things to buy. The three-disc units are about as expensive as one or two of the five-disc units out there (like the one I linked previously)... and they're also about the same price as three of the one-disc units purchased separately. Five may be overkill... three would be a waste of money considering the cost of the five-disc unit... one disc probably won't produce nearly enough fog... and if I got two single-disc units (with accompanying buoys) I might not have enough room left in my bucket to stuff a bunch of frozen water bottles during summer months to keep temps down. Ughghghg.

On another note - Paul - how many CFM does that fan push? Do you find it has trouble at all forcing air from a 3-4" opening down to a 1" hose? Is there any blowback on the intake?
 
  • #36
Dude.. seriously, those discs SUCK! They don't work in deep water, so either you need floaters for each one, or you've gotta refill the 2" of water every 5 minutes. Plus they run hot HoT HOT!
Just spend the $25-$30 and get a nice ultra-sonic fogging humidifier from Walgreens or Walmart. It can fog up an entire room with ease..

IMG_7163.jpg


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  • #37
Hey now... that's a lotta' fog. What sort of RH are you starting from when your humidifier comes on? (obviously if you're starting with higher RH your humidifier will have less of a tough time maintaining that nice thick fog you've got going there)

Also, for a sense of scale, what are the dimensions of that space?

EDIT: the thing that keeps me hesitating about a humidifier vs. this fogger bucket setup is that there's no way to chill the water before it gets fogged... and a bucket of ice water with a fogger in it seems like the best, most cost-effective stop gap measure to keep my temperatures below 100 degrees during the July / August heat waves here in NYC to keep my intermediate and/or hardy HL hybrid Neps from croaking on me.
 
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  • #38
That's the beauty of a COOL mist humidifier.. it runs cold. If you want it colder, just use chilled water.

No idea what my RH is. I use RO water, so I imagine it's pretty low.

Oh, and my GH is a 6W x 7H x 8L.
 
  • #39
I wouldn't consider the disc humidifiers trash at all. They work like a charm for me...this is totally an example of application in context. I'm working in a small confined space and my disc foggers can drop the temps from 90F to 65F within a duration of an hour via evaporated cooling. Also, many of my plants, heliamphora and south american sundews would do poorly in highly saturated environments when water condenses on the leaves (i.e. Excessive mist)

I would argue temp control comes as the foremost priority for using the foggers. Humidity comes as a beneficial byproduct as the temp cools down.

Kind regards, Jon
 
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