OH MY!
OK, well I will just continue here, since you started this madness. First off, I had to make mine a little taller, since it is such a short little greenhouse. I added a frame around the foundation, and cemented posts to attach the framework of the GH to it. It added 18" to the height, using pressure treated lumber. The floor is insulated with exterior house Styrofoam, with pressure treated planks on a 2x4 frame. Had to dig a hole to make the floor deep enough. Now I have to step over the 18 inch threshold, tripping sometimes. But it is tall enough inside. I didn't use a pool, but that was a cool concept. I built a bunch of acrylic tanks. Using loop circulation. The tanks are shallow and hold about 20 gal. This was a bad idea, and I am currently changing over to bigger acrylic tanks I am building. The smaller volume tanks were subject to drastic change of temp, too quickly. All of these tanks (7 tanks as we speak) are plumbed thru my basement window, and into larger sumps in the basement. Cooler in the summer and warmed by the house heat in the winter. I will post photos tomorrow.
This idea was the best so far. (indoor plumbed) I couldn't, however, cool or heat sufficiently with those resources alone. Although it was very helpful. I bought a chiller, I think overkill, really. The tanks are allowed to get to 83 degrees before the chiller turns on. I bought a 2 hp chiller by Pacific Coast Imports. This thing arrived by crated, forklift truck. OH BOY>> I think I overestimated. To my dismay it was not only as big as one of our central air units, but it was 220 electric. Darn. So I had to beg my husband to help me route 220 wire thru the basement, to a new outlet. That was finally expedited. This monster chiller would be horrible to install in the house, loud and HOT. I created a little platform and put it outside, right next to the pool plumbing. I made a little acrylic roof and whalah! Chilly water. That thing cools so fast. It only turns on maybe 4 times per day. The cooling fans just didn't work, although an exhaust fan is a must. During the summer, here in New Jersey, we get a few weeks of 80 percent humidity or more. So there is no way to achieve evaporative cooling via fans blowing on the tanks. WOW my electric bill is bad in the summer. I will be building a tiny geothermal loop for my tiny greenhouse, this summer. The winter, is another story. I have been heating the greenhouse with propane and a tiny heater. The wind whips thru the crappy door so badly, that I built a little vestibule to hold in more heat and also so that I enter, not letting all of the heat out. The greenhouse is close to my house on the south side, so I only had to insulate 8 foot of pipes to and from the house. The chiller was drained for the winter.
I learned from your mistake in this one issue. UV. I know from reading Calfo's documentation, that UV is an asset. I read how the polycarbonate is UV stable. Oh no. Yellow/brown acros for me if I don't fix this. I ripped most of it out, except for the north side. I read how plain glass is very UV transmitting. So I measured and went to the local glass shop, dropped another ton of money and installed glass everywhere. Using silicone to seal and cushion the glass. UV GALORE>>> All of my acros, even green ones turn purple or blue. So it seems. No, but really, the colors are vibrant. The winter takes a toll on the color and my corals are just starting to color up again. As far as cooling and heating, I added a few 55 gal drums of plain water just below the shelf holding a tank, thinking that the volume of water heating during the day, would keep the greenhouse warm in the night. WRONG. What Calfo meant was, HUGE volumes of water, not a petty 150 gal. Well, that took up too much room anyway.
YOU WERE SO RIGHT ABOUT THE RAINOUT> it gets so humid in the winter with the temp variance betw inside and outside of the greenhouse, that it rains. I took your experience and covered my electrical with a plastic box I made. KUDOS to you. The rain bothered me, always dripping on my head, so I then installed GH poly on top of the glass, leaving 1/2 inch space of air. It was like double insulation. I could not figure out how to use that wiggle wire to save my life. I finally had to go up to a farm and ask how he installed his poly on his massive greenhouses. I used KLERKS UV transmitting poly. Advise by A.Calfo, of course. I felt silly after he showed me the wiggle wire technique used to attach poly to a frame. But that insulation worked great all fall/winter. I used five 30 gal propane tanks total for the entire winter (25 bucks a refill), night heat only necessary. So that was like one tank per month. That is where I am right now. Double insulated and about to de-winterize the tiny greenhouse. (rip off the vestibule and poly) First, I need to get the tiny 20 gal tanks out of there, and put a larger one in to replace it. Everything I do, is stupid or a mistake. I built an awesome 1/2 inch thick tank, for the GH. I then went to measure for a new stand to build for it, discovered that the tank is several inches bigger than the door opening. UUUGGH I have to disassemble the frame of the front of the GH to get that tank in. This is one of those times I am contemplating giving up. But on I toil.
I have to clock out soon, so I will post photos when I get home. (sleep first, night shift is a killer)
Thanks for your interest and all of your lessons you had to learn, ham. IIYYYYE Matey
RENEE
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