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weretheshit
FeelingRhizomorp<wbr><wbr>hic?



Registered: 10/30/07
Posts: 389
Last seen: 14 years, 8 months
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selecting a cooling coil for a greenhouse
#9784010 - 02/12/09 09:45 AM (15 years, 13 days ago) |
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I am starting an agaricus grow room and am a little confused when it comes to integrating the cooling/heating coil into the air system.
I will be using the TMC specifications with likely a Vortex 6" Centrifugal Fan 449 cfm
I will have ~ 432 sq ft of cropping surface
Paul isnt very clear about the addition of the cooling and heating coils.
Does anybody know where there is some good reading to be done on this subject or have any advice for me?
What im wondering...
Whats the best coil for me? How do i hook it up to a thermosat? What precautions do i need to take to prevent fire? What coils should i avoid?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks ~Ben
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RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure



Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
Last seen: 1 year, 4 days
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Re: selecting a cooling coil for a greenhouse [Re: weretheshit]
#9784498 - 02/12/09 11:41 AM (15 years, 13 days ago) |
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Cubic feet is more important than square feet when determining what size AC unit to get. For my indoor mini greenhouses, I use one of those self contained AC units you can get at hardware stores. They're fairly inefficient, but do the job well.
You connect a 4" clothes dryer hose to the condenser output. I connect 12" flex duct to both the evaporator output(cold air) and to the intake(return air) The way I do it is supply cold air to the top of the greenhouse, and put the return air near the floor, with a furnace filter duct taped over the flex duct. It's pretty ghetto, but gets the job done. If you're using a building, then I'd install a window air conditioner into it, since they're far more efficient than the stand alone units. I wouldn't try to mix the air as shown in that book. Simply cut an opening and put a filter over it, and then set a timer to run your blower as required to give sufficient fresh air exchange. You can 'read' your mushrooms to know if you're giving enough fresh air. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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weretheshit
FeelingRhizomorp<wbr><wbr>hic?



Registered: 10/30/07
Posts: 389
Last seen: 14 years, 8 months
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Re: selecting a cooling coil for a greenhouse [Re: RogerRabbit]
#9784568 - 02/12/09 11:53 AM (15 years, 13 days ago) |
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I liked the idea that the book gave me because of how detailed i can get the exchange down to.
Im not sure that an A/C unit will provide the exchange necessary. Not to mention it will be bringing in completely fresh air and no recirculated air.
This will cause lots of evaporation and loss of rH. The exchange would also only turn on when the thermostat told it to... and i need ~5 whole room exchanges per hour for the agaricus.
I believe the cubic feet of my substrate will be ~288
ah wait now i see how your saying keep the blower in there... but why do you recommend against integrating the heating&cooling system into the FAE unit?
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RogerRabbit
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Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
Last seen: 1 year, 4 days
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Re: selecting a cooling coil for a greenhouse [Re: weretheshit]
#9784719 - 02/12/09 12:30 PM (15 years, 13 days ago) |
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Quote:
ah wait now i see how your saying keep the blower in there... but why do you recommend against integrating the heating&cooling system into the FAE unit?
Cost and complexity.
Quote:
Im not sure that an A/C unit will provide the exchange necessary. Not to mention it will be bringing in completely fresh air and no recirculated air.
Not so. Most window units have a little lever you can pull that regulates the amount of fresh vs recirculated air. Don't get anal about the five air exchanges per hour. A larger room requires fewer than that because the gasses mix into the ambient room air. Besides, you'll get leakage around the doors, windows, etc.
Another option if you're in a dry climate is a swamp cooler.
I'm waiting for the snow to melt and the ground to unfreeze, and then I'm having a large backhoe come out to dig a fifty foot trench into the side of the mountain behind my house. I'm going to build a concrete grow room, and then have him come back and bury it. That should take care of heat and cooling for me. I figure in the winter, I may need a bit of heat though, so the front entrance room is going to have a wood stove. In my climate, even in July and August when it reaches up to 100F, it always drops into the upper 30's at night, so I'll just run my fans then to cool everything off, and I'm sure it won't heat up during the day if underground. RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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