Fanboy Builds a Greenhouse

[Pigskin Fanboy]

As with the other areas of this build this one also threw some headaches my way LOL.
I originally wanted to use 3” PVC pipe as a gutter system, which would make routing the water to the rain barrels so much easier. Not to mention I wanted it to be “different” and use what I had on hand. Turned out what I had on hand was too short, so me being the “Big Dummy” I am I went and got some brand spanking new PVC and a bunch of connectors to try and make this plan become reality …. NOPE !!
My first idea was to drill a bunch of holes in a straight line from one end to the other and catch “most” of the water. I thought it would look cool lol.

That didn’t work out too well
Next attempt was to run a skill saw down both sides of the holes and just make a channel for water to fall into. Skil saw had a tendency to melt the plastic and bind the blade …. It looked like Stevie Wonder had cut those lines ….
Then the “Boss” got home in time to tell me I should just go buy the piece of gutter and make it like normal. “Captain Obvious” was right though and it was much cheaper than the PVC pipe
After all these years together, I’m used to being wrong LOL.
So I followed her advice and we installed a section of guttering with a drain at the right end. Hopefully it will eventually make its way into the rain barrel system LOL. I still need a little more angle to make sure the gutters are emptying.
Now the Rain Barrel System is just 2-15 gallon barrels that are connected together at the bottom and piped into the greenhouse through the wall. Built a table out of scrap lumber, topped it with scrap decking boards, I left one piece of decking board out for the pipes to run from the bottom of the barrels. I left room for a 3rd barrel if needed.
I may wrap these in the same manner I do my DWC buckets or I may just clean them with acetone and paint them . They will be strapped down in case of strong crosswinds possibly moving them when low/empty.

There’s a shut off valve at each barrel and a union in between the two. Still fine tuning everything but ……Viola !!
We have water inside the greenhouse !!

This is just a “wet” run with garden hose water and at the moment only one barrel is full. I wanted to see what type of pressure I had inside and of course check for leaks. Finally one thing that has went right for me during this crazy adventure !!!
I have a 12vdc pump that I may hook up for more pressure, if needed. I also have a rain point programmable watering system (USB power) that I may try to implement somehow. I’ll try and get the barrels connected to the gutter tomorrow, that will be PVC pipe. Gotta use it somewhere now
As always thanks for following along !!

 

[Original Lowryder #12]

Looking good! Really liking seeing all the progress. Excited to see you get rolling

 

[Bob's Auto's]

Great build project mate!! like the progress

 

[FarmerJake]

Loving the build, and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at your plants ability to handle an overheated greenhouse. Mine hit 127f the other day and the ladies didn’t even bat an eye. Also with your exterior placement of the solar panel make sure the panel itself is waterproof. A lot of the models I found had a water resistant fan but not waterproof electrical connectors on the panel

 

[Don't Fear the Reefer]

Coming along nicely

 

[Talonxracer]

Another option to consider for cooling during day and heat at night would be a large loop of pvc running under ground with one of the AC Infinity 4" fans blowing air thru the system.

 

[Pigskin Fanboy]

Loving the build, and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at your plants ability to handle an overheated greenhouse. Mine hit 127f the other day and the ladies didn’t even bat an eye. Also with your exterior placement of the solar panel make sure the panel itself is waterproof. A lot of the models I found had a water resistant fan but not waterproof electrical connectors on the panel

I had no idea they could handle that kind of heat !! I set my triggers to 80f for this week and was thinking max around 85. There’s no way I’ll be able to keep temps that low without some sort of added cooling. Watching the transformation of the one cannabis plants and some veggies that I do have in there now, in extreme heat makes me question my grow tents and room temperatures now. They seem to be doing amazing. If I could just leave the doors open or even open the sides up all the time, this would be much easier but because there’s going to be some cannabis in there I’d like to keep prying eyes out, and keep it locked due to our laws. I have a hard time staying 4 plants or less too

I run some DWC and have been trying to avoid buying or building a chiller, so I keep the grow room very cool and the tents in the low to mid 70’s, depending on if it’s a dwc or soil tent.
The fan panels are foldable, this is what the back side looks like, these little control boxes are siliconed around the edges.

The battery charge panel is one single panel and this is what it looks like

Whenever I do get everything set up and wired, all the connections will have waterproof, heat shrink connections. I’d like to make sure I can disconnect each circuit if needed, so I most likely will be using waterproof 1/4” blade terminals wherever these smaller connections are. I could even put heat shrink over all the connections and if I needed to take them apart I could just cut the heat shrink off.
The main battery bank & Inverter connections will most likely be 2/0 stranded copper. I have plenty of trolling motor cable and welding wire laying around from my aluminum boat building “phase” lol.
Was that the kind of stuff you meant ? I could seal that one black control box up like the others are with silicone also.

 

[St. Tom]

wow bro i really enjoyed seeing this come together the best I've got is a cheap plastic greenhouse but if the UK ever goes legal I would love a small greenhouse

 

[Pigskin Fanboy]

Another option to consider for cooling during day and heat at night would be a large loop of pvc running under ground with one of the AC Infinity 4" fans blowing air thru the system.

I have seriously been thinking about this option. I have a very steep back yard that I could easily rent a ditch witch for a day and start cutting some channels in. The “Boss” has been thinking of a back yard patio with a fire pit and we are also considering a pool. Which all of these things would cut down on the amount of grass we have to mow on this very steep back hill area. I also have a friend with a small dozer that could really tear this hill up and make it easier to install some earth tubes really deep while taking care of the Boss’s projects at the same time lol. This may very well be a future upgrade. Could be a win-win situation.
I’ve been losing lots of sleep watching YouTube videos on how to heat/cool a greenhouse using the tubes in the ground. Thank you for the suggestion, it’s definitely an option.

 

[Pigskin Fanboy]

Good evening y’all !!

Just a quick update. We are now on 100% battery/solar power.

ACI on speed 10

I’ll reroute all the wires tomorrow and place the battery outside. Clean everything up to try and make it nice and neat
With the ACI T4 fan and S6 oscillator on speed 10 and an additional 12” oscillating fan running the draw appears to be 40w. If I turn off the ACI system and run just the 12” oscillating fan it shows 0w on low and on medium it shows 40w about every 20 seconds & on high it shows 40w constant. I’ll have to sit down tonight and try to do the math lol. This is just with the battery only. I’ll hook up the solar panel to the charge controller in the morning. Time to get some rest lol.