True HP Aero For 2011

Trichy Bastard

Well-Known Member
I checked the description of the PRV. It says preset to 75psi, but adjustable to 150psi. I think I must be pushing it near it's limits, therefore the leaking. Perhaps I should look into the nice plastic one Hammer21 pointed out way back when.

After finally hearing the pump under pressure, I think it's somewhat loud. Not horrible, but I imagine the aquatecs are quieter. I suppose I could relate this to about the sound of my water-pik. I'd like to wrap the pump in fiberglass, but I don't know if it will cause heating issues. I know if I was really bothered by it I could build a plywood box, and insulate the walls, but allow a couple of L-shaped breathing ports and it would likely be silent. But I don't want to sacrafice the space in the bin for that. When the deck bin lid is closed it's barely noticeable, but a little more obvious in the silent dead of night. I could always put a timer on the pump, so that even if the pressure switch calls it to come on, It won't recharge between 10pm and 7am or something...

Sorry for all the rambling, but my mind is racing and I haven't slept more than 3 hours/night for the last 3 days.
 

Trichy Bastard

Well-Known Member
OK, I'm confused..... nothing new I know.
If I remember correctly your PS has a deadband of 30PSI and you were planning on running your accumulator 110-140PSI. That means the pre-charge on your accumulator should be 108 not 138. It's 2PSI below the cut-in pressure not the cut-out pressure.
Your totally right r0m, thanks so much for setting me straight. I have edited my posts to reflect the right pressure as to not confuse anyone... I owe you big time, otherwise I might have burst the diaphram!

This is a sign, I'm gonna go to bed before I make any more careless mistakes with high pressures... :o
 

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
WOW. Reason # infinity why I haven't' gone down this road. It's more than tweaky, it can be dangerous, and since my lessons seem to be learned the hard way...
 

r0m30

Active Member
I checked the description of the PRV. It says preset to 75psi, but adjustable to 150psi. I think I must be pushing it near it's limits, therefore the leaking. Perhaps I should look into the nice plastic one Hammer21 pointed out way back when.
I had similar issues. I was able to adjust it high enough to make it work but I'm running at a lower cut out pressure than you are. Someday I'll actually install it :razz:

After finally hearing the pump under pressure, I think it's somewhat loud. Not horrible, but I imagine the aquatecs are quieter. I suppose I could relate this to about the sound of my water-pik. I'd like to wrap the pump in fiberglass, but I don't know if it will cause heating issues. I know if I was really bothered by it I could build a plywood box, and insulate the walls, but allow a couple of L-shaped breathing ports and it would likely be silent. But I don't want to sacrafice the space in the bin for that. When the deck bin lid is closed it's barely noticeable, but a little more obvious in the silent dead of night.
Yes, the aquatecs are quiet, almost silent. That can be a bad thing though if your res runs dry (don't ask how I know this)
I could always put a timer on the pump, so that even if the pressure switch calls it to come on, It won't recharge between 10pm and 7am or something...
I don't think that will work unless you manually recharge right before 10pm. If you were at say 115PSI would that be enough pressure to last through the entire night?

Sorry for all the rambling, but my mind is racing and I haven't slept more than 3 hours/night for the last 3 days.
This is a sign, I'm gonna go to bed before I make any more careless mistakes with high pressures... :o
Good idea, you need a clear head to work through these final details.
 

r0m30

Active Member
WOW. Reason # infinity why I haven't' gone down this road. It's more than tweaky, it can be dangerous, and since my lessons seem to be learned the hard way...
I think the real issue is that those of us drawn to this are at least slightly obsessive. Even the most routine tasks can turn dangerous if you are sleep deprived.
 

Trichy Bastard

Well-Known Member
haha r0m, ran it dry did ya? Well, at least it lived to pump about it...

Ok, so I put on the accumulator, and about 10 minutes later I had a whole lotta 140 psi mist. Unfortunately I was now able to confirm my bio-controls nozzles batch I got suck wholly. I am sure they come out good, but they must have had an entire bad batch. How can I be so sure without having anything else to benchmark against them? Well because no 2 nozzles out of the ten I had, had even remotely similar spray patterns. I mean I could have done better with my thumb on a garden hose... Also, I was extremely careful with them, but one nozzle came with a broken impingement pin. I'm calling Stoner and see what he can do for a fellow man with the same title...
 

dickkhead

Active Member
Thanks dickkhead- just passing on the flame. I remember when I was just reading aero threads and only wanting to do it, the only issue was all those threads were dead, so I guess it's nice to have a live place to have thoughts and questions answered... So man- when you gonna build yours!? :)
yea its nice to gather ideas of this thread! im in the process of still puting my room together.. insulating walls esp for noise. loving it so far though!! i ordered a aquatec 8800 pump and RO permeate system, and more buckets. the nozzles i have say tefen 0.7-80-f on them and my pump is an agautec not sure which one its green? i think the smaller one though. he was saying there sytems dont require all that extra gear acc tank, pres RV, silinoids etc he says its just extra gear that could fail. and the pump has a warranty and wont fail he said hes been doing it this way for a while. so im going to set it up his way and if i dont like it ill try diff ways. either way i need to start growing something soon im obsessing and loosing sleep like you LOL! once im up and running ill post pics! hopefully soooon
 

r0m30

Active Member
the nozzles i have say tefen 0.7-80-f on them
Those are the ones, if you remove the screen you can see if they have the built in check valve. You should be able to see the ball, the CV is green while the non-CV are white inside. Mech has some pictures of them dissected on his thread over at grass city.
and my pump is an agautec not sure which one its green? i think the smaller one though.
agautec with a "g"?

Not sure but that sounds like a demand pump of some sort. The pressure switches on those aren't know to be the most reliable.
he was saying there sytems dont require all that extra gear acc tank, pres RV, silinoids etc he says its just extra gear that could fail. and the pump has a warranty and wont fail he said hes been doing it this way for a while. so im going to set it up his way and if i dont like it ill try diff ways.
Well at least you've been able to get in touch with him.

either way i need to start growing something soon im obsessing and loosing sleep like you LOL! once im up and running ill post pics! hopefully soooon
good luck!
 

Trichy Bastard

Well-Known Member
yea its nice to gather ideas of this thread! im in the process of still puting my room together.. insulating walls esp for noise. loving it so far though!! i ordered a aquatec 8800 pump and RO permeate system, and more buckets. the nozzles i have say tefen 0.7-80-f on them and my pump is an agautec not sure which one its green? i think the smaller one though. he was saying there sytems dont require all that extra gear acc tank, pres RV, silinoids etc he says its just extra gear that could fail. and the pump has a warranty and wont fail he said hes been doing it this way for a while. so im going to set it up his way and if i dont like it ill try diff ways. either way i need to start growing something soon im obsessing and loosing sleep like you LOL! once im up and running ill post pics! hopefully soooon
hehe, obsess!

Well, he is either mis-informed like 99% of the people out there, or he is a lieing salesman. Those things no one in their right mind would add if they had no benefits. The fact is, if he had them before, he probably didn't know how to work them properly, and then wouldnt have noticed a difference I guess. But here's the deal- his system probably grows some nice lPA roots (low pressure aero)... I know the pump might be high pressure, but unless you couple it with all the stuff he thinks is unnecessary, it will still only yeild low pressure aero results from how I understand it. Don't fret- you can grow some mean monsters still- likely just wont have fuzzy root or drain to waste economically...
 

Trichy Bastard

Well-Known Member
Well, I tried finding the phone number to call bio-controls, website down. I looked it up on my invoice, and phone is down. I am thinking they might be going belly up- which may explain the change in quality on the nozzles.

On a happier note- my pressure switch ($18.00 works absolutely awesome. Zero noticeable drift and hooked up 8 nozzles and the PS did not trip when solenoid fires - so I won't be needing a water hammer arrestor...
 
Well, I tried finding the phone number to call bio-controls, website down. I looked it up on my invoice, and phone is down. I am thinking they might be going belly up- which may explain the change in quality on the nozzles.

On a happier note- my pressure switch ($38.00 works absolutely awesome. Zero noticeable drift and hooked up 8 nozzles and the PS did not trip when solenoid fires - so I won't be needing a water hammer arrestor...
That's great news on the switch, which one was it? I'll add it to the favorites. Just switch to the tefen nozzles, problem solved. I feel like I get great mist at 60 psi, and that really lets your system relax a bit. It appears that they are both 1/8 npt, so you could just swap them. Get the ones with check valves, worth it.

Those are the ones, if you remove the screen you can see if they have the built in check valve. You should be able to see the ball, the CV is green while the non-CV are white inside. Mech has some pictures of them dissected on his thread over at grass city.

IMG_14914.JPG

With and without ball and spring check valve, screen is not pictured.
agautec with a "g"?
An Aquatech pump:
category46.jpg
Not sure but that sounds like a demand pump of some sort. The pressure switches on those aren't know to be the most reliable.
For what it's worth, the switch on my Aquatech 6800 demand pump has been flawless. It wanders a bit in setting, but not more than a few psi either way.

Between all of us, we'll master this aero yet!
 

dickkhead

Active Member
Those are the ones, if you remove the screen you can see if they have the built in check valve. You should be able to see the ball, the CV is green while the non-CV are white inside. Mech has some pictures of them dissected on his thread over at grass city.

Ill check that out!

agautec with a "g"?

sorry i meant aquatec with a Q!

Not sure but that sounds like a demand pump of some sort. The pressure switches on those aren't know to be the most reliable.

Well at least you've been able to get in touch with him.

Ik right making me nervous!!

good luck!

thanks ROM hopefully be running soon :)
 

dickkhead

Active Member
That's great news on the switch, which one was it? I'll add it to the favorites. Just switch to the tefen nozzles, problem solved. I feel like I get great mist at 60 psi, and that really lets your system relax a bit. It appears that they are both 1/8 npt, so you could just swap them. Get the ones with check valves, worth it.




View attachment 1848740

With and without ball and spring check valve, screen is not pictured.


Nice ill have to check mine their black not red dont think it matters though.

An Aquatech pump:
View attachment 1848750

For what it's worth, the switch on my Aquatech 6800 demand pump has been flawless. It wanders a bit in setting, but not more than a few psi either way.


just ordered an 8800 today :)

Between all of us, we'll master this aero yet!
for sure cant wait!!:)
 

dickkhead

Active Member
hehe, obsess!

Well, he is either mis-informed like 99% of the people out there, or he is a lieing salesman. Those things no one in their right mind would add if they had no benefits. The fact is, if he had them before, he probably didn't know how to work them properly, and then wouldnt have noticed a difference I guess. But here's the deal- his system probably grows some nice lPA roots (low pressure aero)... I know the pump might be high pressure, but unless you couple it with all the stuff he thinks is unnecessary, it will still only yeild low pressure aero results from how I understand it. Don't fret- you can grow some mean monsters still- likely just wont have fuzzy root or drain to waste economically...
yea well see how it does if you look up his pinaapple express grow on youtube it looks pretty promising! i ordered some of the equipment mentioned on this thread so iam going to try both ways i decided. he gave me tecna flora NUT "recipe for succes" wriiten on the box, you guys like these NUTES?
 

Trichy Bastard

Well-Known Member
That's great news on the switch, which one was it? I'll add it to the favorites. Just switch to the tefen nozzles, problem solved. I feel like I get great mist at 60 psi, and that really lets your system relax a bit. It appears that they are both 1/8 npt, so you could just swap them. Get the ones with check valves, worth it.
Dwyer - it's the one I linked in my original configuration plans at the beginning of the thread. It's actuall only $18 bucks! lol...
I likely don't even need the check valves as I have a solenoid 2-3 inches from each and every nozzle (control freak) :)
 

Trichy Bastard

Well-Known Member
Mike- I tried one of your dig nozzles in comparison to the bio-controls. I see what you mean in that the mist looks better. I think it's partially decieving though. The mist pattern is smooth end even/equal in a huge contrast to the fouled bio-controls. So, it makes it look like a better candidate. However, the flow rate is alot higher, and the mist is not as fine as the good portion of the bio controls mist. Too bad the biocontrol mist is all botched up, if it were uniformly as good as the good parts- it would e great. Mine all spit and sputter. Some of the orifices are misformed, and the impingement needles are off center. One of the impingement needles was broken off as it arrived to me. No bueno...

Unfortunatley I don't think the DIG nozzles are good for this application despite the uniformity of the pattern. They will soak the roots in a coarser mist than what is acceptable. Try the cloud tops- they are only $2-$3 a pop, and shipping is included in that price via usps I believe. As mentioned a couple days ago, I bought a couple of each of their nozzle options for testing, and I will report back when I find out. I think some if not all of your issues may have to do with the DIG nozzles. A .5 second mist soaked the back of my hand to where drips were falling off in a steady stream.
 

konagirl420

Well-Known Member
I love coming to this thread and reading all these wonderful ideas and stuff!!! I also like to be Tb's cheerleader lol ;) lol!!
 

aerojunkie

Well-Known Member
DH, Be sure to specify the voltage that matches your solenoid(s). You can get it in AC/DC 12-24v or AC 100-240v. This is probably obvious, but better safe than sorry.
 
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