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greenhouse Supercheap Hobby Greenhouse Exhaust Fan Idea

redbuddha

redbuddha

What felt like an early Spring here in Mississippi has turned into an early Summer. The temp outside is already around the mid 80's. I got a bit of a shock yesterday when I noticed around 2:00 pm the temp inside my new hobby greenhouse was reading 100F. The roof vent and front door were both wide open...I even have a small 10 inch fan blowing inside. I've been amazed at how quickly the plants inside the greenhouse have been growing and I don't want to cook them now.

I've looked at greenhouse exhaust fans and even the smallest models cost around $120. I felt sure I could put something together for cheaper than that. I bought a 6 inch clip-on fan from Wal Mart and a 6 inch louvered exhaust vent from Lowes. My total price was $21.

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I cut a hole in the polycarbonate panel at the upper back wall of my greenhouse and pushed the vent into place. Then I zip-tied the fan to the vent from inside the greenhouse. The sandwich of the vent and fan keeps the setup in place securely. I turned on the fan, the louvers on the vent moved up slightly and the temperature inside maybe dropped a degree.

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I thought great...I've just cut a hole in my greenhouse, wasted a trip to two big box stores, and I have nothing to show for it. Then I turned my attention to those vents. The fan was pushing hard enough on the louvers to open them a bit, but I was feeling quite a bit of blow back behind the fan. The solution was ridiculously simple. I propped open the louvers with a few broken pieces of a stick and the temperature inside fell by 8 degrees in 15 mins. I replaced the sticks with a more stable but equally low tech mechanism that can be put in place and removed quickly. If you stand 3 feet behind the greenhouse you can still feel the hot air from inside blowing in your face. I can't wait to see what effect this has on the problem of night time humidity I've been having too.

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Whether my little fan will be able to do anything when the actual temps outside hit 100F I'll just have to wait and see.
 
I'm likin that greenhouse!
Not sure the difference in CFM in the fan you have there and the one you were looking at but for $21 and a little engineering you have something that will work and $100 bucks saved.
I know that Mississippi summer can be brutal hope it works out for ya.
 
I may have to invest in a more powerful fan with a thermostat later, but I'm really happy with my result today. My cheapo version kept the greenhouse 10 degrees cooler than yesterday with the same outside temperature. The greenhouse is a Rion Ecogrow. It has a composite resin frame...feels much more solid than other aluminum greenhouses I've seen. The roof vent is pretty cool...it opens by itself as the temp inside rises. The panels are the best feature. They are a sandwich of two pieces of polycarbonate with insulating air chambers in between. I've got the 8'x6' model, but you can add sections to make it as long as you like. The $800 price seemed like a great buy for what you get.
 
A friend of mine upgraded to those panels after the glass in his greenhouse was destroyed by a hailstorm. Its been over 10 years ( and many more hailstorms) and the panels have held up just fine. They are the only way to go IMHO.
 
It looks like a great solution. For the cheap price I would recommend replacing the fan every year for safety. The reason greenhouse fans are so expensive is because they have sealed motors. The sealed motors protect them from the humidity that tends to build up in greenhouses. Wet motors are a fire hazard in greenhouses.
 
You are better off buying a stanley blower fan. It is fairly cheap compared to other exhaust grow fans. You have to rig it up some, but looks like you are down with that. Sometime you can find them really cheap. It will do a hell of a lot more than that fan!
 
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