Quote:
Originally Posted by Kentucky
I also don't understand your statement that the system will be only be required 6 hours every 24 for cooling. The only thing I know for sure about your climate is that its much different than mine. I frequently have to cool 24 hr. a day for days on end. It seems to me that you are saying that you plan to use temperature control on the fogger (not humidity control). So a lot of the wet foliage result will be dependent on how fast the foliage drys after the system shuts down. What I can say with some reasonable confidence is that if the foliage stays wet for periods of 6-8 hours, especially if it's frequently, you will have fungus issues. The problem with fungues is that the more you get, the more you get because they are sitting there spewing spores whenever the conditions are right (usually wet and cool).
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Thanks for the cautions about fungus.
Yes, my plan for environmental control of the orchid house is peculiar to the Mediterranean climate of Southern California and especially the Los Angeles area where I live. I am less than 30 miles from the ocean to the west and 20 miles from desert to the east, I am separated from the desert by mountains. In late summer and early fall when it is hot this is only in the afternoon with cooling from an onshore flow from the ocean in the late evening. In early fall there is sometimes a desert wind that maintains the heat all evening but then it is also extremely dry, 10-20% RH, so that I can get significant evaporative cooling while still keeping the greenhouse humdity around only 50% RH.
For my cooling scheme I plan to control the exhaust fan proportional to a temperature setpoint. The humidifiers will operate according to a humidity setpoint which I would increase on hot afternoons and then set lower in the evenings.
Edit:
For example, just now at home, November 4th at 3:00 PM, the temperature is 95 deg F with 12% RH.