Lori,
Just a couple of comments:
If the Jaybird unit is inside the greenhouse, it won't do a lot of good for
cooling. Evaporative cooling is negatively affected by increased humidity,
so the basic scenario is that when it is first turned on, the fogger cools
the relatively dry air in the GH. As it continues to work however, the RH
is increased and the cooling effect is decreased, so that at some point you
get a negligible cooling effect. Even if the vents are open to let in
drier, fresh air, it still is better for humidification than for cooling.
I went to the AdobeAir website and looked at the one picture I could find of
the Whispercool shop cooler (I didn't see a model number), and if the one
you're looking at is like the one on wheels in the garage, I would recommend
placing it outside of the greenhouse and venting the output in rather than
placing it in the GH and hoping it will take in enough outside air to do the
trick. Placing it inside sets up more-or-less the same situation as is
happening with the fogger.
Also, in my own experience, if a swamp cooler is used, you get a better
overall cooling effect if you only have sufficient venting open to directly
relieve the input from the cooler. In other words, if the fan on the swamp
cooler blows 2000cfm into the greenhouse, the outlet vents should be close
to only allowing that volume to leave. Having lots of other ventilation
open allows a lot more hot, outside air in. Folks who use power ventilation
and swamp coolers (or wet walls) end up drawing 100% of their ventilation
air in through the cooler.
In the first greenhouse I had with a swamp cooler, the 3500 cfm blower blew
into the GH from one end, and I closed all of the vents except for the
2-foot square screen in the door, and I'm sure I could have gone with less
of an opening.
--
Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids -
www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!
..
"Lori Siegmund" wrote in message
om...
Hi Everyone,
Before I get in to my question for y'all... let me just toot my horn
about FINALLY moving my plants in to my gh on July 18! Many of you
helped me in the past few months with my questions about venting,
shading, etc. Sooooo helpful and thank you very much! I did end up
with Aluminet shade cloth suspended over the gh and it does a GREAT
job keeping the heat down about 15F from what it was without it. My
Jaybird AquaFog 400 is doing a pretty decent job keeping the humidity
where I want it. I'll be posting another question about humidistats
since I am having some issues with that.
So far, so good with the plants. That weekend and for a few days in
to the following week we had a bit of a heat wave here (outside temps
reaching 80-90F)and I struggled to keep the max temp in the gh under
100F. The Jaybird couldn't really keep up either; especially during
the hottest part of the day between noon and 4PM. Now for the past ten
days we've had a a lot of coastal fog so heat has not been a problem.
I am thinking on those occasional days I need a swamp cooler to help
out. I'd rather not do a permanent mount through the polycarbonate if
possible, and was looking at the WisperCool Shop Swamp Cooler Model
SC3500 made by AdobeAir out of Phoenix. I can find it online for as
low as $299.00. It's rated to cool up to a 400 sq. ft. area at 3500
CFM. My gh is 240 sq. ft. Anyone had any experience with this model
or use a portable swamp cooler? The people from Adobe say it probably
would do what I want it to (lower the temps another 10-15F and help
keep the air more humid). It can be connected to a thermostat.
I have a Santa Barbara GH deluxe model and it has the side vents and
roof vents. With any portable model you would need to place it near
an side vent opening to take in outside air. I think that would work,
wouldn't it?
Any advice or info would be appreciated!
Lori
Santa Cruz, CA