the website orchidexchange.com has an email link that can be used to reach
me privately. I will not post it here.
if you put the word "orchid" in the subject line the spam trap on the server
will ignore your email and speed it directly to my desk top where my private
spam trap can beat it up if it turns out to be spam anyway. Nothing is fail
safe. I check the log file every day for email that it catches by accident
and I didn't see anything that made me check deeper; so I do not know what
happened to any email you sent me.

Pat Brennan is in Virginia too, BTW. Richmond is about 3 hours south of
Leesburg, I think. I think Brennnan's is about 45 minutes south west of me.

Al
isn't the mind a funny thing. by adding a single letter to my domain name I
can make your eyes see three different words instead of two:
orchidsexchange. :-)


"GARLAND HANSON" wrote in message
news:vzVwd.610$2X6.331@trnddc07...
Al,
Thank goodness that my plants are inside for the time being. That 17
degrees would have been rough had I not been set up properly. The new
greenhouse will be built in the spring and I hope to have it well equipped
including the low-temp, power off, intrusion alarms.

I'm already doing some research on an auto-start, natural gas powered
generator that will run the house and the greenhouse when we lose power
from ice or the next hurricane.

For the time being, I have two propane (gas-grill types) tanks with an
attached heater that will keep a few rooms warm when the power fails
during the winter.

Thanks for the info,
Garland in Midlothian, VA (outside Richmond)

P.S. I tried to send you private email but I can't beat your spam
blockers. You can contact me directly at .



"Al" wrote in message
...
Sensaphone is the system that many people use for greenhouse monitoring.
http://www.sensaphone.com/

It will call you on any phone you ask it to if certain conditions are
met. Temperature, intrusion, power failure, etc. You can probably set it
to monitor the news and call you when Bin Laden blows up a major oil
producing facility and thereby puts all greenhouses run on oil out of
commission. It costs about $400.00 However, without a back up power
and heat system, all it can do is call you when you are away to say your
orchids will soon die. Look into a generator with some kind of auto-start
switch and a back up heater, if you don't already have these in place.

I have a neighbor with a greenhouse who lets this infernal machine have
*my* home phone when she goes out of town. I believe it has the ability
to cause reasons to call in the middle of the night, among all it's other
talents.

I don't use this system here. ;-0 I never leave. Still I have a back
up generator and two heaters in case one fails. Believe it or not there
has already been a case when the two heaters went down at the same time,
and a time when the auto-start switch shorted out at a power failure and
caught on fire. This is why I never leave.

I have a "Thermalarm III. A low cost wire connected BUZZER that sounds
inside my home if the temperature in the greenhouse goes outside a
certain preset range. Very helpful to scare you awake during the night
but you have to be home to hear it.. Low cost, about $50.00
http://www.thermalarm.com/Products/thermalarm3.html

I live in Virginia too. How'd you like those 17 degree temperatures the
other night?

"Reka" wrote in message
...
GARLAND HANSON wrote:
To followup the "Wireless Thermometer" thread, I wondering what folks
are using as a remote low temperature alarm. I'd like to get an
indication of low greenhouse temperature in my house, bedroom, cell
phone, palm pilot, etc. that would alert me to avoid diaster! I'd also
like a security system tied into the same system.

Something simple that will let me know if the temps is going too low or
if the door is forced open...

Power outages are not uncommon in this part of Virginia so something
that would work under those conditions would be a plus!

Thanks in advance,
Garland
My Oregon Scientific with three remote units can be set to set off an
alarm per unit when a high or low temp is reached. Again, it is the
EMR899, which is a European model.

--
Reka

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