Chula Orchids Newsletter/Catalog

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CHULA ORCHIDS Newsletter and Catalog
31170 S. 2ND STREET WTL
LEBANON, OR 97355

Phone 800 621 4923

Site Page 27.0

Click here to order from us Via e-mail. You can use
these e-mail links if you have any questions or want a quote or whatever!!!

(Still in work here, this page isn't finished yet!!)

27.0 Wetwall Construction

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I always wanted a "wetwall" for the greenhouse, but I never saw one I liked. Everything I came across was made our of mostly of galvanized steel of some kind. The next time I saw the wetwall it was time to redo everything, the trays, the supports, the frame and the wall material itself. The mechanism to hold the wetwall corrogated material never seemed to outlast the corrogated cardboard it held.

Finally, one day I sketched up what I thought would make a trouble free wall. I got ahold of a good friend, Fred Weber who is a contractor and asked what he thought of the idea. Could the materials be easily obtained? Could he help me obtain them and put the thing together? Did he think it would work. Fred has constructed or installed commercial wetwalls for others and knows pretty much what is necessary. So do I, so what we are talking about in this article is another way to make a very long lasting wetwall, and I think we have done a good job on it.

The basis of my wall was to be 6" diameter PVC pipe, Fred know where to get it so off we went. We no sooner pulled into the yard where that material was sold where we had an Engineering Change!! Along side the material of black 6" PVC pipe were mountains of 6 " white PVC pipe. I liked the idea of white pipe and fittings a lot better, neither of us even knew it was made. So we picked up enough pipe and fittings for a 20 foot long wetwall. Four big 6" elbows and 20 foot lengths of 6" PVC pipe were hauled homeward.

At this time we had to do some experimenting with the cutting of the pipe and fittings which the whole design hinged on. What happens when you cut a 4" wide piece out of the pipe the full length of the pipe? We had no idea what the pipe would do. Twist, open up, close up, so we started testing. We found the pipe pretty stable, it closed up slightly. The fittings opened up slightly leaving a pretty large gap between them. We used a regular power hand saw and jig saw to get the 4" pieces out of the pipe and fittings. Marked the lines, clamped everything to a table and began.

We cut the 4" wide pieces out of the length of the pipe, and then did the fittings . Then we cut the fittings the same way. I wanted the corrogated wall material to fit down into the 6" PVC top, sides and bottom, trapping the material in position. Then the 6" PVC pipe and the 6" elbows were attached to each other using Stainless Steel Screws. There was a small gap between the pipe and the fittings caused by the cutting the 4" slice out of both of them. They pulled back together nicely with a number of screws at each side as you can see in the pictures. (As an improvement here for you, we decided the next time we built one we would put the pipe and fittings together, bond and install the screws as required BEFORE we cut the long 4 " piece out of the pipe and fittings.)

When the piece was removed from the top section of the frame it was done a little different. To be able to get the wet wall material inside the frame there has to be room to get it in, and then add a piece to hold it there. The top frame has a bigger slot in it than the lower frame and sides. But we made the slot first 2" wide, then cut a second piece out that was 6" wide. That allowed me to put the second piece back, lapping over the top edge of the pipe 2 inches and producing the 4 inch slot we wanted along the frame. We used six stainless steel screws 1" long across the top of the frame to hold the 6 inch piece we took out on the outside of the top frame and attached to it. When I want to replace the wet wall material itself, I only have to take out the six screws, remove the piece used as a clamp, take out the old material, clean top and bottom troughs, put the new material in and replace the clamp.

Inside the frame on the bottom, we first put the piece we cut out of that frame back inside the pipe, upside down. We scalloped the edges the entire length. This four inch wide piece sitting in the trough made a space under it about an inch and a half deep, that is where we wanted all the water passing thru the system to return to the sump. When we installed the wet wall material itself it simple slips in the slot and sits on the top of this convex section.

In the top section I ran a 2 1/2 diameter length of white PVC pipe the entire length, capped one end, and the other end ran straight out thru the frame about 2 feet until we found where it would be cut off out there later. This is our inlet pipe, and is attached with stainless steel screws to the inside top of the large frame with 3/4 diameter x 1 inch long PVC pipe spacers. In the top of the inlet pipe about every six inches down the length we drilled 1/8th inch diameter holes for the water we pumped in thru this pipe to come out. It is meant to hit the inside top and splatter out inside the pipe to distribute it well to the wet wall material below. In the bottom section on the same end as the inlet, we installed a 2 " diameter regular bathroom sink drain to take the water back to the sump pump box.

On the outside of the upper frame on both sides, we made a wiper that attached to the frame and snugged it up against the wet wall material itself to prevent splashing of water. This wiper solved the little splashing we got and keeps things around the wall dry. This was made of a plastic piece we found at home depot that is made to go inside rain gutters to keep leaves out. We cut the plastic wiper off the edge the full length in a piece about 1 1/2 inches wide and attached it with stainless steel screws. (In our pictures you will see a splash guard at the bottom on the inside and out. This was our first attempt to control the splash. After using the wiper at the top we found we could actually remove this splash guard from the bottom but never got around to it.)

The sump pump tank itself is made like a large toilet tank, with a refill float and all. Then the thermostat tells the pump to turn on water is pumped up into the frame, distributed along the wet wall material, runs thru the wall material to the bottom and back into the tank. A refill float valve, 1/8 th inch diameter allows the tank to refill when the water gets too low. The pump we used is a little giant centrifugal sump pump, puts out a pretty good stream which I will document elsewhere in this article. The tank itself we made out of a reinforced plastic tool box we found at Home Depot. It is perfect. The whole top lifts up to get to the stuff inside for maintenance. The water from the pump going out goes thru a fitting we installed in the side, and the water coming back into the tank comes back the same way. The refill float valve is attached right to the side of the tank on the inside.

To round out the system we used three 9400 cubic feet a minute fans in the opposite wall of the greenhouse 42 feet away. They are all three speed fans, so I can change the flow of hte air thru the greenhouse essentially to nine different flow rates as you can probably decipher.We used a common $50 fan here three places, 16 inch in diameter. They are mounted inside the greenhouse in the flow of air, so the plan is to replace them anytime they go out. So far after a year all are still going strong. But I have extras already in case one falters.

To round out the system, we have a relay installed so when the theremostat turns these fans and the pump on, a relay is activated to turn off the existing circulating fans in the greenhouse that otherwise run all the time. When the temperature comes down as wished, the relay reverses itself, turns the exhaust fans and the pump off and all the circulating fans back on.

Back To Index-------------------Back

You can get to any Index Section From Any page using these links here.

CHULA ORCHIDS Newsletter and Catalog
31170 S. 2ND STREET WTL
LEBANON, OR 97355

Phone 800 621 4923

Site Page 27.0

Click here to order from us Via e-mail. You can use
these e-mail links if you have any questions or want a quote or whatever!!!

 
 
    Web www.chulaorchids.com