Setting up GH airflow
This is related to my other post on GH manufacturers. As this is a bit more general, I started a new thread.
Trying to figure out the logic of air movement in a larger (500 sqft) GH. Can you confirm or correct or comment? Location is Santa Barbara, CA.
Horizontal air flow fans. Not sure whether fix mounted ones producing a race track air flow are better, or whether oscillating ones will be better. Or both? That is pretty simple to retrofit. Those run 24/7.
Exhaust fans are turning on once temp reaches say 78F. Cubic feet/minute (CFM) is indicated as area x 8 to 12, depending on source. Middle is 10, so 5000 CFM. Exhaust fans are mounted rather high under the gable as hot air rises.
Intake louvres are on opposite side of GH. Elevation? Very low to ground the outside air is often hotter than a few feet up. Should they also be mounted quite high? But that may encourage stratification. So split the difference and put them in the middle?
Swamp cooler with side-discharge is on same side as intake louvres. Turns on when temp reaches >82F (+/- 1 hysteresis). Given weight, they are on the ground.
A) Do the extractor fans continue running? It will add to electrical cost and power consumption (16.8 A for swamp coolers, 7.6A for extractor fans).
Alternatively, the extractor fans are shutting off, because the swamp cooler has its own fan. Can the louvers of the exhaust fans passively get rid of hot air, or is there a need for separate louvres?
B) Are the intake louvres going to lower the effect of the swamp cooler? Or are they actively closed? Or is the approach to have the CFM of the swamp cooler to be greater than the CFM of the extractor fans? Will build a bit of pressure, but that will all balance out steady-state. In that case, I don't think there is a need for exhaust louvres for the swamp cooler.
Thanks for bearing with me!
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