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mycocurious
Mike O. Kuerias
Registered: 02/09/07
Posts: 1,265
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How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... 6
#7555252 - 10/24/07 02:42 PM (16 years, 5 months ago) |
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Acknowledgements: First, let me just say that all of the credit of this design should go to Agar for the post he wrote over almost two years ago now...EASY HUMIFIFER (large capacity) It's definitely worth reading...
Note: This TEK assumes you're comfortable using PVC Solvents & Cement, if you're not, I would recommend picking up several practice pieces to figure it all out first. It's horribly messy so don't do it inside and do use newspaper and gloves when you do... Also, at the very bottom of this TEK I'll list out a final "parts list" of all the components I used in case you decide to implement this design verbatim...
------------------------------------------------------------ Choosing your barrel (a warning of sorts...)
I know your first inclination after reading this will be to try to implement it using a 5-gallon bucket rather than going through the time & trouble of purchasing a 16-20 gallon barrel instead. I tried building one with a bucket as my first "proof-of-concept" and, in my humble opinion, if you go that route you will eventually be sorry you did. The shape of the bucket along with the flimsy plastic used for the lids all contribute to it's instability and you will eventually knock it over. You might never kick it, but something as simple as brushing against the hoses attached could be enough to send it's watery havoc racing all around the your grow-room. The drum you seen shown is a 20-gallon open-faced (lid comes off) carboy-styled (handles) barrel that I found on ebay for relatively cheap, however I would recommend thumbing through your local phone book to see if there is a barrel/drum vendor locally that can sell them to you as the shipping for such bulky items can be costly...
Construction:
The first two holes we need to drill through the lid will be for the exhaust ports, to which we will add two 1/2" PVC Ball Valves to give us more granular control over our output. In the first image you can see I've left the 7/8" bit as a clue for the diameter. But to understand why that is, we'll have to examine the construction of the ball-valve joints...
The assembly of the exhaust ports consists of two 1/2" ball-valves, two 3/4" to 1/2" reducing bushing, two 1.5" to 3/4" reducing bushings as well as four connector "stubs" of 1/2" Schedule 40 PVC. The stubbies where measured out to be only as long as required to allow both the ball-valve and the bushings both fit firm & flush against against the lid. The logic behind it all is that the 7/8" opening is almost precisely the size of the little connector-stubbies and once they are welded together between the lid it not only prevents pressure from escaping out of the sides but also significantly reinforces what will, eventually, become our hose-hookups. At this point you're only going to make the welds as shown in the picture above and _NOT_ finalize it by welding them together through the lid. We have plenty of other work to do first and it will make doing that work much harder if we make the lid more difficult to manipulate by adding them now...
The next hole you're going to make is going to be the intake port where your blower fan is going to push fresh air into the barrel. Because I am using 1.5" PVC for this purpose, a 2" plug saw bit happened to be only about an 1/8" of an inch larger than I needed. More importantly, however, is it's placement and there are several considerations to take into account...
Dry fit the exhaust ports (ball-valve joints and bushing) together and using your the elbows you'll be using, try to figure out where the fan can comfortably rest while still being as far away from the exhaust ports as possible. Not only is it bulky but when it's been running for a long time it gets rather hot and you don't want that heat close to your hoses or the electrical wires we'll also have to route into the drum. Once you have a good idea where that is going to be, disassemble everything and make your cut. Remember, screwing up the lid screws up the entire project...haste makes waste.
Here are two top-view angles of the two 1.5" 22.5° Street elbows I used. I chose two 22.5° degree elbows instead of one 45° elbow because of the extra distance it gives me across the lid... and for stability-sake, I wanted my fan to be able to rest on the lid safely while still preventing from being too close to my exhaust ports. Once I had the position set and cut, I welded the two elbows to each other, lining them up as carefully as possible in the alignment I wanted and set them aside.
The bits to hold the intake port to the lid is a very similar concept as with the bushings used on the exhaust ports, however this time I am using a piece of 1.5" SCH 40 PVC as a connector stubby which fits into a 1.5" (female-to-female) connector which also has a second, longer piece of the 1.5" SCH 40 PVC pipe welded onto it's bottom. As with all the other pieces, I pre-welded them saving the final weld that holds the pieces to the actual lid until the very last step.
The reason this intake port is so much longer than the exhaust valves is so the plumbed in air will be pushed deeper into the barrel. Thus allowing the air containing the most water-vapor to be pushed up from the bottom into the exhaust valves... also, it gives more stability to the lid when the fan is actually attached to the plumbing. Without this, not only would the fan tend to pull up on the lid but the air pushed out wouldn't be as thoroughly humidified because a "short-circuit" would form directly between the intake and exhaust ports and would create a "dead-air" pocket near the bottom where the most water-vapor is...
Here we can see everything dry-fitted together with the actual blower fan attached. That black rubber boot is an "emergency repair boot" that is reduced in size from 2" on one end to 1.5" on the other end. It fits the street-size of the elbow on one side and makes a nice, tight fit around the exhaust of the fan on the other side. Depending on the size of your fan's exhaust, find and buy a boot to fit. That damned thing was inspirational to me when I stumbled upon it at the hardware store...easy, breezy on that one.
But, notice now in these pictures the care I took to keep the motor housing and the fan's intake (squirrel cage) away from the ball-valve exhaust ports? A single 45° elbow put the unit too much in the middle of the lid and, because of it's weight - not to mention it's heat produced - I thought it would be much less stressful on the lid, over time, if I had it perfectly balanced on the edge of the lid instead.
Wrapping Up: At this point the only thing left to do is to cut one final hole for the cords and various implements which need internal access - your ultrasonic fogger, the air-stone's hose and, most likely, the cord for an aquarium heater. Obviously you'll want to make this hole as small as possible but still able to fit the cords themselves. It's always going to end up bigger than you need or want, so taking a 2" wad of weather-stripping for winterizing a door-jam and stuffing it in there between the cords works great. Splicing the cords is very tempting but unless you have the right equipment (which is not electrical tape) to do so, you're begging for a tragedy. Remember, water and electricity don't play nice together... Once you've gotten that last hole drilled out and everything looks good, go ahead and weld all of the final joints together to make the plumping is firmly, flushly (for lack of a better word) and permanently attached to the lid...
Glory Shots & Additional Information: NOTE: None of the shots below illustrate the use of an aquarium heater but it really is worth the time and money to use one. It will keep the temperature of the water at approximately 76-80(F) which will help prevent condensation inside your greenhouse...
These pictures illustrate the unit off as well as each type of humidifier running independently to give you some idea of how much water-vapor it can produce. The bubbler unit consists of a 4" air-stone connected to an 60-gallon rated aquarium air pump. I like those round-shaped air stones because they concentrate the bubbles into one location...and they don't move around much while in operation. This works as the system's "cool-mist" type humidifier and is run 24/7 in conjunction with the blower fan to provide constant, moist FAE for your greenhouse. The ultrasonic fogger is a three "transducer" unit with a floating buoy to keep it at precisely the right depth below the surface at all times. This works as the system's "ultrasonic" (duh) type humidifier and is controlled by a high precision cycle-timer such that it runs - on average - 3.5 minutes ever hour. As you can see, the amount of water-vapor it can aspirate is astounding so it only needs to run sparingly.
Finally, here are a couple images of the unit in complete operation without hoses attached as well as a little teaser shot of inside my mini-greenhouse while the ultrasonic is pulsing... On the humidifier itself, the hose-hookups you see welded together are made out of 1/2" CPVC (hot water rated pvc) that I had left over from my greenhouse project. Damnedest thing about this too. 1/2" CPVC will fit inside a piece of 1/2" SCH 40 PVC. Pretty nifty little bit of information you'll find handy. I can pull out that "T"-hookup and replace it with a different rig containing four hookups each instead of only two... versatility is always teh win!
-------------------- Don't mistake my tone for a "matter-of-fact" attitude. I'm just presenting what I believe to be correct, until I'm corrected... - How Myco-Curious Prepares Coir & Compost Substrates - How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier - How Myco-Curious Builds An Automated Greenhouse ------------------------------------ figgusfiddus said: Keep in mind that inoculating or whatever in front of a flow hood won't help your bad substrate, your bad inoculant, your bad sterile procedure, etc. etc. etc. It's not a +3 flowhood of magic, it's just a tool.
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mycocurious
Mike O. Kuerias
Registered: 02/09/07
Posts: 1,265
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: mycocurious]
#7555253 - 10/24/07 02:42 PM (16 years, 5 months ago) |
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The Parts List:
- A 16-20 Gallon Carboy Styled, Open-Faced Barrel
(it's already been covered but for completeness, I'll list it again here. While your at it, if you can afford it, buy two and consider it insurance for fucking up one of the lids, lol. And if you don't, you can use the second one to store the 15 gallons of perlite you no longer need... )
- A Blower Fan.
(Ideally you'll want to find a motor that has a rating of approximately 25CFM @ 0.5" Static Pressure. Pushing air into the barrel is going to create a significant amount of back-pressure and if the fan is not rated to handle this static pressure it could cause the motor to burn out or worse.)
- A Variable Speed Fan Controller.
(Using the wrong kind of speed controller on a motor can cause it to burn out or even catch fire...you'd be much better off buying a fan that precisely fit your need rather than trying to tune down a high powered fan anyway.)
- An Ultrasonic Fogger.
(I have a 3-transducer model purchased from www.mainlandmart.com along with a replacement set of transducer disks and the floating buoy you seen in the pictures above.)
- A Precision Cycle Timer.
(Quite Simply the most important piece of the equation and the one area where you really cannot skimp. These are not cheap, they'll cost you about $75 where ever you find them and they are most definitely _NOT_ the same as a simple lamp timer.)
- 10-20 Gallon Aquarium Heater.
(This will keep the water temperature constant between 76-80(F) which will help reduce the amount of condensation that forms within your greenhouse due to temperature differentials internally and externally. Alternately, for cool-weather fruiting species, turn off the heater for a good 5-10(F) degree temperature drop inside your greenhouse...)
- An Aquarium Air Pump, Hose and a 4" Air-Stone.
(I use a "Tetra Whisper 60 Gallon Air Pump" because I want to push as much air as possible into the air stone. The more air your pushing, the more water-vapor will be in your constant FAE supplied by the humidifier.)
- PVC Parts List:
- (2) SCH 40 PVC 1/2" Ball-Valves - (2) SCH 40 PVC 3/4" to 1/2" Reducing Bushings - (2) SCH 40 PVC 1.5" to 3/4" Reducing Bushings - (2) SCH 40 PVC 1.5" 22.5° Street Elbows - (1) SCH 40 PVC 1.5" Female-to-Female Coupling - (1) SCH 40 PVC 1/2" Pipe (usually sold in 10' lengths) - (1) SCH 40 PVC 1.5" Patch Pipe (usually sold in 3' lengths) - (1) 2" to 1.5" Reducing Rubber Emergency Patch Boot. - (1) Can of purple pvc/cpvc primer. - (1) Can of orange pvc/cpvc cement.
-------------------- Don't mistake my tone for a "matter-of-fact" attitude. I'm just presenting what I believe to be correct, until I'm corrected... - How Myco-Curious Prepares Coir & Compost Substrates - How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier - How Myco-Curious Builds An Automated Greenhouse ------------------------------------ figgusfiddus said: Keep in mind that inoculating or whatever in front of a flow hood won't help your bad substrate, your bad inoculant, your bad sterile procedure, etc. etc. etc. It's not a +3 flowhood of magic, it's just a tool.
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primordialoddity
Hooded ForestDweller
Registered: 08/15/07
Posts: 182
Loc: PNW
Last seen: 14 years, 4 months
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: mycocurious]
#7555958 - 10/24/07 05:04 PM (16 years, 5 months ago) |
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fuckin a. gonna do something like this after a couple harvests, def. thanks.
-------------------- ...to unite the powers of the conscious and unconscious, of intelligence and emotion. NOTE: All posts and/or messages from this account are 100% fictional and should not be taken literally.
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flavoraid
now with twicethe ketamine andopiates!
Registered: 12/05/07
Posts: 1,678
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: mycocurious]
#7752795 - 12/13/07 07:48 AM (16 years, 4 months ago) |
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if only I could read agars original post
-------------------- coda said: imachavel, Man you really need to do some reading, the amount of bullshit you put into almost every single one of your posts is absolutely astounding.
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Higher_than
Voyeur
Registered: 05/21/11
Posts: 8
Loc: NSW, Australia
Last seen: 12 years, 5 months
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: flavoraid]
#14707561 - 07/02/11 05:31 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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I now have 6 posts before I can get to the additional information in this thread!
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the walrus
just a blip
Registered: 09/17/08
Posts: 171
Last seen: 11 years, 8 months
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: mycocurious]
#15568195 - 12/24/11 06:59 PM (12 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
mycocurious said: The Parts List:
[LIST]
A 16-20 Gallon Carboy Styled, Open-Faced Barrel (it's already been covered but for completeness, I'll list it again here. While your at it, if you can afford it, buy two and consider it insurance for fucking up one of the lids, lol. And if you don't, you can use the second one to store the 15 gallons of perlite you no longer need... )
sorry sorry i know this is an insanely old post... im SORRY! but unless you want me to start a new thread im posting my question here....
I cannot find a barrel.. period. ive looked scoured searched my city i cannot find one. the ones i have located do not have removable lids they have plugs for pouring and such..
what would be an acceptable alternative to said barrel.. do you think this could be done with say a large plastic tub? instead of a barrel? or can anyone else think of any clever alternatives
-------------------- They must find it difficult... those who have taken authority as truth, rather than truth as authority
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k00laid
NEMO
Registered: 05/03/10
Posts: 19,636
Last seen: 8 months, 21 days
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: the walrus]
#15568223 - 12/24/11 07:09 PM (12 years, 3 months ago) |
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why not just a 10 gallon bucket?
the premise is the same.
it just doesnt hold as much water.
-------------------- AMU - AMU Q & A - MyVideo Teks!
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San
Novice
Registered: 10/30/11
Posts: 646
Last seen: 9 years, 7 months
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: k00laid]
#15568226 - 12/24/11 07:10 PM (12 years, 3 months ago) |
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More prone to tipping as well.
Slightly.
--------------------
Actually not everyone was a noob. Being a noob is a very new phenomenon. Many people, the great majority in fact, were simply "beginners", "novices" or "new to mushroom growing". Being a "noob" is reserved, and in fact created specifically for and by, the newer, much more lame generations coming about. -Shpongle1
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the walrus
just a blip
Registered: 09/17/08
Posts: 171
Last seen: 11 years, 8 months
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: San]
#15568312 - 12/24/11 07:41 PM (12 years, 3 months ago) |
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but does the local wally world or similar store carry a 10 gal? that would be fine with me i cant find anything bigger than a 5 though...
but the more i think about it the more it makes sense just to use a big tub... who cares if its round. right?
can anyone chime in on this
-------------------- They must find it difficult... those who have taken authority as truth, rather than truth as authority
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k00laid
NEMO
Registered: 05/03/10
Posts: 19,636
Last seen: 8 months, 21 days
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: the walrus]
#15568324 - 12/24/11 07:46 PM (12 years, 3 months ago) |
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tub lids are not water tight
bucket lids are.
and home depot and ace hardware has 10 gallon buckets.
-------------------- AMU - AMU Q & A - MyVideo Teks!
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the walrus
just a blip
Registered: 09/17/08
Posts: 171
Last seen: 11 years, 8 months
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: the walrus]
#15568361 - 12/24/11 07:57 PM (12 years, 3 months ago) |
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i live 30 seconds from a huge ace.. only 5 gals ive checked.. and not even the home depot website lists buckets barrels or drums over 5 gal
and shit you are right.. i cant simply use a tub.. shit :P
-------------------- They must find it difficult... those who have taken authority as truth, rather than truth as authority
Edited by the walrus (12/24/11 07:57 PM)
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the walrus
just a blip
Registered: 09/17/08
Posts: 171
Last seen: 11 years, 8 months
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: the walrus]
#15568394 - 12/24/11 08:07 PM (12 years, 3 months ago) |
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found one! actually i found the original barrel
thank you local industrial supply on christmas eve too!
happy holidays
-------------------- They must find it difficult... those who have taken authority as truth, rather than truth as authority
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Wing
The Eye Tyrant
Registered: 04/25/11
Posts: 3,293
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: the walrus]
#15568506 - 12/24/11 08:51 PM (12 years, 3 months ago) |
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Farm stores may have barrels or be able to order one.
found one
Only costs me $77.90 with shipping.
I can get them for free at work but only the closed ones. I bet I could make it work though.
-------------------- My Old Grow Logs
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the walrus
just a blip
Registered: 09/17/08
Posts: 171
Last seen: 11 years, 8 months
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: Wing]
#15576433 - 12/27/11 12:58 AM (12 years, 3 months ago) |
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http://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Open-Top-Reservoir-Grosite/dp/B004F1JVA0/ref=pd_sbs_indust_15
theres a nice one but the foaf already has his! gotta locate a water fogger now.. my foaf will order one if he has too but does anyone know where i could direct him
-------------------- They must find it difficult... those who have taken authority as truth, rather than truth as authority
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total
Post Office Tyvek Advocator
Registered: 10/03/04
Posts: 11,406
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: the walrus]
#15579419 - 12/27/11 05:41 PM (12 years, 3 months ago) |
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I find all my barrels on craigslist... There is a local man with a lot full of them... Plastic/Stainless/Steel... Food grade/Non Food grade...
Look around... Textile mills use some that they carry cotton rope that they spin from...
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Stipe-n Cap
Registered: 08/04/12
Posts: 7,750
Loc: Canada
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: mycocurious]
#16881515 - 09/20/12 05:17 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Sorry to resurrect this old post but I think this would benefit the TEK.... instead of using a timer perhaps it would be better to hang a humidistat (from a hydroponic store) in the GH and connect it to the blower, insuring that the fan kicks on and turns off at the proper humidity?
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tropicalfrenzy
Strangerer
Registered: 09/04/12
Posts: 1,522
Loc: Oz
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: Stipe-n Cap]
#16881693 - 09/20/12 05:43 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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that'd be a decent mod... cheaper too
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k00laid
NEMO
Registered: 05/03/10
Posts: 19,636
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: Stipe-n Cap]
#16883503 - 09/20/12 10:13 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
p9hu7 said: Sorry to resurrect this old post but I think this would benefit the TEK.... instead of using a timer perhaps it would be better to hang a humidistat (from a hydroponic store) in the GH and connect it to the blower, insuring that the fan kicks on and turns off at the proper humidity?
but you dont want your fruiting chamber to have constant humidity.
you want it to fluctuate quite a lot actually.
-------------------- AMU - AMU Q & A - MyVideo Teks!
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savant
Stranger
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: Stipe-n Cap]
#16883764 - 09/20/12 10:51 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
p9hu7 said: Sorry to resurrect this old post but I think this would benefit the TEK.... instead of using a timer perhaps it would be better to hang a humidistat (from a hydroponic store) in the GH and connect it to the blower, insuring that the fan kicks on and turns off at the proper humidity?
I'm glad you bumped this, interesting tek. A humidistat would be more efficient, i could see using a humidistat on an automated martha.
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Stipe-n Cap
Registered: 08/04/12
Posts: 7,750
Loc: Canada
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Re: How Myco-Curious Builds A Bulk Humidifier... [Re: k00laid]
#16885347 - 09/21/12 08:31 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
k00laid said: you dont want your fruiting chamber to have constant humidity.
you want it to fluctuate quite a lot actually.
I see, perhaps then the only benefit then would be for absentee growers as insurance against humidity dropping bellow 90%. I wasn't aware of the fluctuating humidity thing, are you certain? I have never read anything by Stamets or anyone else suggesting this.
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