drakon121

Ok so my parents own a farm and they grow some stuff in greenhouses. On warm days they have to open them so I was thinking it would be possible to hook an electronic thermometer up to something that would trigger a hinge to push the door open.

Any help on this would be appreciated. I need to know how to do this exactly and where to get the parts.

Thanks,
Drakon121

HarveyH42

How big is the greenhouse? Wouldn't vents near the roof let the heat out better? Thing with hooking up the door to a thermostat, you'd also have to make it so you can open the door when you want to harvest your 'stuff' (hope it's just for medicinal purposes... Believe your local hardware store has such vents all ready to go, even solar powered (thought about getting the panel once at Home Depot, but no specs on the box).
Even if you want to build from scratch, or from junk on hand, might be worth a look to see what's available.

Torben

Lee Valley has handy little actuators which open windows automatically when the temperature rises and closes them again when the temperature drops.

http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page...,43224&p=10543

Fifty clams Canadian.


Torben

Hero999

That looks good, I take it that it gets the energy required to open and cloce the windows from the temperature change. It's made in England to so it might be good quality.

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Torben

Yeah, Lee Valley tends to look for higher-end stuff than the box stores. If it is as well-made as much of what they sell then it should last a good long time. Barring corroded joints and gas leakage there doesn't seem to be much which can go wrong with it.


Torben

rjvh

Tomatos

if you open only the door you still don't have a airflow (very limited)

i growed in the past something else as tomatos but its better to swich a supply fan and an exhuast fan or a supply fan and open up a hatch electronicly
plants get fresh air and grow better with aircyles in the greenhouse

what is the desired temparature ???

i bet between 21 and 26 degrees celcius

Robert-Jan

HarveyH42

Every now and then I get the itch to either build a small greenhouse, or do something indoors. Outside in Florida is kind of hostile, and a lot of work and disappointment. I get really sick of trying to buy fresh ripe produce at the store. Most everything is picked several weeks early to prolong shelf life, and usually not much flavor has developed. Kind of the way of nature, plants want to discourage being eaten, until the seeds are mature enough to be distributed. I grew up where you could go out and hand pick most everything yourself.

Boncuk

I agree. I had one of those to open and close the roof hatch of my greenhouse. It worked alright for several years until my neighbor's kids had the splendid idea to blow up the entire green house with fire crackers at New Year's eve.

Hans

rjvh

At least you know who did it
did you get some compasation for it??

just a joke is nice but breaking stuff from sombody else just for breaking it I can't stand

Robert-Jan

Boncuk

Don't worry for compensation. A day later the kids, their moms and dads rebuilt the entire green house.

It's kind of tradition for kids in Northern Germany to blow up their neighbor's mailboxes at New Years Eve. Knowing about this habit you won't find a mailbox at any house that day. This time they looked for something bigger to blow up.

Of course the actuator wasn't usable anymore. They bought a new one.

Hero999

I thought growing things in Florida is easy unless it's something like daffodils or apples that need a period with near freezing temperatures to grow properly.

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HarveyH42

It is, if you have plenty of spare time, and that is what you want to do with it. It gets hot here, and the sun is intense. During the dry season, you need to water frequently (could set up automatic sprinklers, but not cost effective for a small garden). Weeds need to be removed, they grow very good too. The soil is sandy, need to feed. Birds, insects and 4 legged pests destroy food plants quickly, constant battle. Not too bad on a farm, only a small portion of a crop is lost, but the same number of plants in a backyard garden is devastating. We rarely get a freezing temperature, not hard hard enough to kill off much.