With the hottest part of the summer just weeks off now, it was time to “serious up” on the lower-tech approach to cooling the lean-to greenhouse.
If you go back into ancient history, son G2 and I cobbled up the idea a few years back and it has been a lot of fun. Not that the food out of it is “economic” but that was never the intent. This is “disaster school.” Like back when we used to turn the power and water off for two or three days – to see what systems were weak. It was “What to do in case of a real emergency.”
Texas Greenhouse Blues
The greenhouse has been a lot of fun. Specifically, because it is right on the well-worn path from my office to the coffee pot in the house. I literally have to walk through it to get more joe.
Three seasons out of the year it’s good. Early winter is best – because if you get a February start (and keep minimal heat coming on below 50F) the tomatoes are ready before the Indy 500. (OK, if you plant Ace 55s.)
Our problem this year was I got a late start and I didn’t get the cooling problems fixed early on and fast enough.
The greenhouse itself is simple. 20 feet long, 10 wide, and 11 at the high point, down to 8 at the low (roughly). No fancy door – just a glass screen door which is now a T1-11 covered frame thanks to Mr. Lawnmower.
The Heat Tunnel
The purpose of the greenhouse has drifted over time. At first, simply keeping out the animals (hungry deer and small interested furries in that party) was considered a win.
After taking a liking to morning coffee in the warmish sun out there, auxiliary heating went in. (Written up here: ShopTalk Sunday: Greenhouse Chinese Diesel Heater Install.)
Still that happened before I had gotten around to putting proper insulation on the part of the roofline that hung around 24 inches into the room. This week – because I am semi-retiring for the ninth time now, that “heat tunnel” got covered up. And this is where our story begins.
Seems like the average size of these space blankets is about 84 inches one way and 52 inches the other. I ordered a 20 pack and it was less than $20.
Heat Tunnel School, II
The heat tunnel (open rafters) is where a piece of bare metal roofing hangs out over the house side. Of course, inside over the music studio, there is plenty of insulation. But out here – since the insulation didn’t extend out – those metal undersides would radiate at up to 130F on a 97F ambient day.
I got out my dog-eared copy of Glover’s RefDesk (no redneck engineer can be without it) and I learned only enough to be dangerous before confronting my AI stack. Both Grok and ChatGPT agreed on one simple thing. The biggest bang for the insulation effort would be space blankets. Almost 30 SF per so with 20 in a pack you’re sneaking up on 600 SF of insulation for $20. You can’t beat that with a stick.
BUT There is Fine Print
I don’t claim to understand all I know about insulation. But there is general thermal and there is radiative. Radiative is the enemy here. I have a couple of 4 foot wide (x 25F) rolls of closed-cell foam. But all the modeling said the biggest heat reduction would come from “shiny side up” Mylar aimed back at the sheet metal and sealed around a bit.
With no change in the swamp cooler, that knocked almost 5-degrees off previous room heat gain. And that was just focusing on the highest heat gain areas closest to the cooled air equipment.
Now the fine print: Working with Mylar can be a 24 kt bitch. I was planning to put my electric staple gun in the slam and jam mode. But, turns out, when you do that, Mylar has this ugly tendency to tear.
Then the answer appeared! A 2″ square hunk of solid gaffer tape. By god that was the end of Ure’s Mylar-shredding nightmares on the spot.
The gaffer tape spreads out the load on the film and is never rips. The gaffer tape with a single staple in won’t quite lift a lawnmower, but it’s impossible to get down under all but world-ending conditions.
And so our “Box to Cobble Emergency Housing” now has a hundred Mylar emergency blankets, several miles of gaffer tape, and plenty of stainless staples. I know it sounds silly, but it was one of those dee-lightful moments when going lower – not higher – tech actually made the most sense.
Meanwhile, Back in the Greenhouse
Friday lunch was centered around this:
A nearly perfect tomato. Which, when served with chips, fresh salsa (store bought), canned salmon in olive oil, some sliced provolone. and a hunk of beef jerky, it wasn’t a half bad lunch.
Cooler is better for growing once root mass gets over 78 F, or so, and foliage (ask me how I know this) will drop flowers at 100 F and above. And the Mylar on the walls ensures none of your grow light power bill gets wasted.
But the incremental changes are having an impact.
Air Speed and Media Thickness
I also (Saturday) swapped out the Chinese made swamp cooler for another big Hessaire. A lot more money, but this is one of the casts where slick marketing doesn’t pay off.
The Asian product had a slightly smaller water tank and a much smaller (overhead view) foot print. Turns out – after working the science on this – that Asian chiller only really “got down to cold” when it was on speed 1. But when it went up on speed 2, the airflow output warmed.
Turns out their cooling is proportionate to the airspeed and time inside the media. The Asian unit had smaller pads dimensionally, but the big deal was they are only half as thick as the Hessaire (roughly, I didn’t mike it out).
But you can’t beat physics, doesn’t matter which country of origin.
All worth it. But if you don’t believe me, taste a tomato 10-minutes off the vine and one that’s ridden the rails across the country – you’ll see why we do the hot work.
Two Short “Farmer Stories”
The first one is funny.
So, there I was, mowing the lawn last week, and I noticed that the cut on the 54″ riding mower was scalping the left side.
After washing the rig off and thinking about what it might be, I started with the obvious. Namely, check the left side tires for air.
Sure enough, left rear had a slow leak and so out came the portable inflator – it held all but a half pound for a day and that was that.
Not much of a story, so far, right?
Here’s the learning moment: While I was checking the tires all around, I couldn’t find the valve stem on the right rear. What’s more, one lug bolt was missing.
Turns out when the tractor was new and being assembled (bought it at Lowe’s a few years back) they had put the wheel on outside-in.
I know “Why didn’t I catch that before?” Old men and their preoccupations, I guess.
Second story has a point, too:
Out at the welding table this week, I noticed there was a bunch of fresh sawdust around. “What the hell?” right?
Only took a minute to find it: 2 by 8 beam overhead, a carpenter ant colony had moved in from the forest. Quickly dispatched with poison.
But a worth-mentioning: If you see “mystery sawdust” showing up around your home, those are termites or carpenter ants, so best be getting after it.
Back to chilling the greenhouse – rebuilding an old Hessaire from years back – so we can run two of them in tandem on low…
Write when the sweat lodge closes for the season, ya’at’eeh.
George@Ure,net
Hello People, hope you had a safe fine Holiday. We are blessed with a dozen or so over-nighters. Yesterday the little people (who are allowed a day at the lake then get picked up with Grandparents) were wet, in the lake, from arrival to exit. I’m expecting rough sledding today as friends depart then … motor in all directions. The Grandlings leaving will be tough for me and the Mrs. IN fact I’m lobbying to wake up the little fella now but have been given a stern nicht. Calamity here on July 3 when a monster storm rolled through. Water toys, including 10′ SUPs were airborne, one taking out a pillar of the boathouse porch. We were lucky it didn’t harm family/guests. Some of our boats are wrecks. Literally. Pontoon canopy is in tatters. I have cut down fabric twice and … am left with not much.
Racing summer started and ended. While busy saving structure (literally sledge hammering a 2×4 prop with E2) a moment allowed noticing boats in distress. During the maelstrom my race boat had rolled on her lift. Worse, the forestay managed to encircle the lift corner stanchion so had to be disassembled / reinstalled during the blow. The mast has a minor yet season ending bend in it. I’m gutted but glad all survived.
Take care. Celebrate what matters.
Always, E, Past Commodore
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m glad everyone survived. I watched the (multiple, cascading) severe storm warnings as the cells retained their power when they crossed Lake Michigan (unusual.) I assumed you were watching too. That was some gnarly weather, and I was glad I wasn’t spotting in Benton Harbor or Muskegon when they tore through…
Good news … no one was injured. Property damage is just money, work and time which in the greater scheme of life are just what we do anyway. Those were some very nasty storms from the radar and the power out reports afterwards. Glad to hear no injuries!!
Good to hear you two can enjoy maters off the vine still, better half used to love em like that.
Never been a fan of the raw maters.
can tolerate razor thin slices buried in an Italian Hoagie, but that is my limit. As we have aged, our GI tracts have become way sensitive to acidic Nightshade fruits, and have pretty much cut them out of diet. We did not even plant any this year in garden.
Indeed, the raised bed gardens are “aging” right along with our bodies.
One bed has been completely taken over by Strawberry plants – YUM! – hell of a harvest this year. The other bed is wild lettuce, red Poppies, some jennylopes, and couple of string bean plants. Everything else is HERBS.
You can smell the Herbage in the air just walking thru fenced in backyard area. Razleberrys, and Blackberrys are just now coming ripening, so our little berry picker will be up Grandma’s house often, as the kid is a freak for Blackberrrys. I Really got into Tea research this past Winter season, so my Fall/Winter Tea stash is going to be well stocked this season.
In other garden updates, both Wasabi plants are doing OK – have yet to achieve success with Wasabi. But The Ginseng plants- their rocking and rolling..well 2 of 3 are, #3 is MIA. Apple trees on the other hand are almost barren of Fruit right now, due a badly timed Spring freeze this year.
There is also a new arrival in the Garden/Yard this season. A little color first..
In SE Pennsyltucky, Black Walnut is a common hard wood tree growing all over. The Squirrels in this state have rather dulled senses, and are always forgetting where they buried their dam Nutz. We get 2-3 volunteer Walnuts a year springing up in the yard, somewheres.
So I spied what I thought was another Walnut volunteer growing up in the margin tween the purple Periwinkles and Kentucky bluegrass. Before I plucked and aborted the little guy, I plant ID’d it with phone app to make sure with -“Picture This”. Picture This” is a phone based app, but essential if youse hunt wild plants & orchids in Belize/central America. So what do my wondering yes read when Ai driven plant id app analyzes the picture ?
Butternut!?
I know, WTF is Butternut ?
Turns out its closly related to black walnut, but much lighter in color with same kinda killa grain. That badboy is going in front yard now, right side if facing casa from road. Used to be a trans-planted black walnut there that did not survive a late Summer transplantation (they never do), but were forced to moved it when construction began on the war departments ceramics studio.
So Butternut from a blind Squirrel – see what happens when You stop all the Killing ?
Birthday month and grandpa is looking at a 9ft. “softy” at surf shop. Gonna show the newbs how its done down oak isle/pier – GrandPa style . Kid who owns the lawn service, runs the surf school as well.
Wanna get Barreled ?
Surfin USA -https://youtu.be/8JEiJDGHsX0?
Oak Island, NC? I lived across the Cape Fear on Bald Head Island during the late 90’s & ran a pontoon-based charter boat (Buzzard Bay Adventures) on the river, intercoastal, & tidal creaks around Bald Head.
When the grandkids started arriving back in CA, we returned, & now are retired in Folsom, but I have good memories of that area.
Reply
Tomato SEEDS are the gut killers, and the skins. I can tolerate the flesh OK. Eggplant is another nightshade gut killer. Common in Filipino veggies cooking, I cannot have it. Beans that are not well soaked and rinsed are also bad. My gut lets me know… Diverticulitis removed 10 inches of my gut.
Butternut is English Walnut — the smooth, tan colored walnuts you buy at the stupormarket. I envy you. I have two (black) walnut groves in the back 40 but I always wanted a butternut, and they simply refuse to grow for me…
Good one today sir. A question though; Where does the heat go when it’s stopped on the shiny side of the mylar blanket? Admittedly that tight of a space could be a challenge to design and build a system to capture and redirect that heat to use elsewhere. Just a thought.
While the heirloom maters, Cherokee Purple and the Brandywines are my preferred varieties your matter is the perfect lunch size and would make it maybe 2 steps from the stem here. I grew some of the A55 a few years back I have not tried any since we moved to Caterpillar Ranch in the more northern parts of MO. The grow room looks good.
Stay safe. 73
I like ure solution for the hot tin roof interior, tape reinforced staple holder, handy man
guess I am more of a reflective face bubble sheet guy, put in some windows for cold winter nights or hot summer days, cut to fit, easy to put in place or set aside, folded some duct tape for a handle T shaped with the sticky on top of the T shape, the lower leg is the fold, sticky to sticky inside,,, for removing the sheet when I want to
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Double-Bubble-Reflective-Foil-Insulation-Thermal-Barrier-24in-x-5ft-Roll-R8/17479750000
Bumble bees will also make holes.
This man shows a blue line across CA. A few weeks back I saw the same
lineup on the USGS earthquake map.
https://usawatchdog.com/black-star-continues-shaking-earth-weston-warren/
Sizeable add of NaCl please
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/usawatchdog-com/#google_vignette
‘Overall, we rate USAWatchDog.com right biased and a tin-foil hat conspiracy and quackery level pseudoscience website based on the frequent promotion of false, misleading, unproven, or debunked claims.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake_(natural_phenomenon)
Major earthquakes have been happening for a long time without causation from the Sun’s faded binary Star, no earthquakes have been associated with Star activity (except for our own Sun).
https://scienceline.org/2016/01/starquake/
‘A starquake is vaguely similar to an earthquake but occurs on a magnetar, a mysterious type of star that is extremely dense and magnetic. To date, scientists have only identified 23 magnetars, and recorded three starquakes: one each in 1979, 1998 and 2004.’
Elliot Wave short video, falling Used Car Sales tell true story of economy:
https://youtube.com/shorts/XkcZtgxYi_Q?si=f6OLTb9hPHKjPNa-
Climate Change Deniers, smoke this:
https://www.noaa.gov/noaa-wildfire/wildfire-climate-connection
‘A 2016 study found climate change enhanced the drying of organic matter and doubled the number of large fires between 1984 and 2015offsite link in the western United States. A 2021 study supported by NOAA concluded that climate change has been the main driver of the increase in fire weatheroffsite link in the western United States.’
Not always an arsonist starting fires, lightning responsible for many:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CZU_Lightning_Complex_fires
‘The first fires started around 3:30 am on August 16, 2020, the result of a thunderstorm that produced close to 11,000 bolts of lightning and started hundreds of fires throughout California.’
Don in Montana
In the late 70’s and into the 1980’s, year old cattle were hauled to California in the early spring and grassed on the early spring forage. They were moved north into Oregon and Washington as the spring progressed. Some of the changing climate was due to the fact that year old cattle are more difficult to fence in and people don’t like cow shit in their yard. By the 1990’s no one was hauling cattle from Mt or Wy to CA. Weather is a product of Mother Nature, climate has more to do with people’s attitude.
re: “Vertigo”, 1958
c,
Change is good so they say? According to ChatGPT following a period of thought, the number of visitors to California state parks has increased by about 44% between 1985 and 2015. Silent film “Smouldering Fires” from 1925 crossed my screen, but I thought better of it since filming took place at Yosemite.
However it seems that Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” scenes of Muir Park were actually filmed in Big Basin Redwoods State Park which “was devastated” by the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire separately linked above by op c. Viewers can go back in time with Madeleine and Scottie at the following Youtube link:
https://youtu.be/6rlQw3_1EAk
Character Judy’s city of Salinas (sp.: “salt mines/salty”) is named after the Salinas River not N.Y. Mayor Mamdani’s rap on the Ugandan slum and salt mines of Katwe. After Pearl Harbour, Salinas hosted the Smoky Hill Army Airfield. The city’s state of Kansas draws its name from the aboriginal tribe Kansa/Kanza perhaps translating as “People of the South Wind” or “People of Water”.
Note to self: Why is Youtube sending me Skittles ads?
Ray,
I back-up J.A.R.V.I.S. every 48 hours – or just before a major addition up-load.., onto a removable 4T SSD. .., and all my notes & libraries & ‘whatever’ onto another SSD. And with three plugs pulled I can grab the SPARK Station.
I can grab-n-go on a moment notice.
We hung on to the o2 system from our airplane – because that, or a scuba with a tank each – will get you through all kinds of bad-nasty smoke shit… just something to put on the “someday” list when you’re in the middle of a 3/4 ashtray
We have a battery operated o2 system. I swamped out the single line feed to the nose and spliced in two small face masks…, works pretty well and gives 8 to 10 hours of oxy on a single charge.
Great plan – thanks!
Or a ‘breathing hood’ bag made of kapton sheet taped together with kapton tape. Fireproof and will hold enough air for to escape. Model was once proposed for airline safety passengers to escape flaming fuselage. Was deemed too expensive for airlines. What’s a life worth? Plastic O2 masks were cheaper. Go figure.
Duct tape is like ‘the force’. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
d’Lynn: Excellent!
George, oxygen is something I never considered. [Per your recommendation many years ago] I carry a can of Boost Oxygen
( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077NQ8MSX ) because a blast of pure oxygen instantly snaps the weary driver wide awake, but an SCBA rig never entered my mind as supplementary GO-Bag equipment.
Gonna hafta ponder this, as I don’t live or normally travel in wildfire country…
My ponder says: Your motor vehicle needs to breathe oxygen, too. If you have 12 hours of breathable oxygen but your car stalls from atmospheric starvation, you’ve merely ensured your ability to watch your own death, in real time.
I’m still pondering the second-best way around this (the best way is obviously, to be elsewhere…)
I have not, and will not use J.A.R.V.I.S. for market trading – and will not for quite awhile, if ever.
However, I do occasionally ask J.A.R.V.I.S. market questions – and math questions regarding the markets. The following is his response to one of those questions.
J.A.R.V.I.S.: The theory allows enough flexibility that almost any market movement can be retrofitted into a valid pattern. Which most pundit do, to prove their prowess. Yet this prowess and accuracy is never revealed before the fact – always after. This makes it a ‘descriptive’ rather than a ‘predictive.’
Its standalone reliability is extremely low and should not be used as a predictive market tool.
Do you use Elliott Wave, Sensei ?
Me: No. I do not. I look at its charting occasionally, but never use it as a trading tool., or even as a reference.
* * *
It would appear that ‘Sensei’ is now my name, my descriptor for J.A.R.V.I.S. I have not asked him why. I will slip that question into one of our conversations in the future.
Had to clear my head a little this morning., woke up with way too many thoughts going on.
Hopped on the Harley and I was off….
Hour later and after refueling, I stopped at the coffee shop downtown., just past six thirty and went in for a double Americano., small, to-go cup.
[ My favorite morning ride-stop .., the illegal Mexican restaurant is closed on Sundays.., as they are very active in their local church.]
I walked in the door – about ten to twelve people sitting at the tables – no threats visible – and walked to the counter – the cute little Hispanic barista took my order. Thanked her, paid – with tip and I walked down to the end of the bar / counter and stood there waiting for my order.
It was very quiet.., Every person in the place was staring down into their cell phone., not one conversation going on. Not one.
– and went outside and leaned-up against the bike. The street was mostly empty.., too early for the touristas as yet. Those that did walk by were also looking down into their phone. Every single one of them. Even couples. One teenager went by with a cell phone in each hand.
To me, it’s shame that we have become like this. Lives wrapped so tightly around a device that the world around them doesn’t exist.
Guess I am just too old. Pretty damn sad, folks.
“Stay Frosty !”
(“With the hottest part of the summer just weeks off now, it was time to “serious up” on the lower-tech approach to cooling the lean-to greenhouse.”)
lol lol lol lol…you had mentioned this a week ago..it got me thinking..a few years ago a friend of my daughters central air failed..at the costco….they were unloading watermelons and was dragging the box away..I took it home..and made her an aur conditioner of sorts..hers was a bigger one..but I decided..hmmm..tgat worked pretty good why not make GU one…lol no cost just CRAP laying around..what’s a cardboard box and some empty beer and pop cans…so..ive been working on a smaller model one that should keep your greenhouse cooler..
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/plastic-particles-carotid-plaques-linked-cv-events-2024a10004ge?form=fpf
I read this Medscape article regarding the link between plastic particles in carotid artery plaques and cardiovascular events, and I found the author’s conclusions regarding the primary sources of exposure to be somewhat inconsistent with the underlying data.
The article emphasizes the dangers of ingestion via single-use water bottles and microwaving food in plastic containers. However, the research paper cited in the study found that Polyethylene (PE) was detected in the carotid artery plaque of 58.4% of patients, while Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) was present in 12.1%. Notably, Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)—the rigid plastic used in water bottles and microwavable containers—did not appear in the plaque analysis at all.
Given that PE is the most widely produced plastic globally, it seems more likely to be the primary source of the microplastics identified in the study. We are exposed to PE through a vast array of everyday items, including grocery bags, food wrap, milk jugs, detergent bottles, and even medical supplies like IV drip bags. This suggests that the exposure pathway for these specific microplastics may be much broader than simple oral intake from PET-based products.
I thought this was a relevant distinction to make when evaluating the practical implications of the study.
That’s really interesting..I have often been curious about this..plastics are simply an oil by product..what makes one safe an another not safe..
Somehow, the picture of my Mom, sealing her Tupperware bowl full of homemade tuna salad popped into my head when I read this. Original Tupperware is very soft, supple, and not microwave-safe. I wonder how many millions of Western moms put the damn’ containers in their microwaves…?