True HP Aero For 2011

Trichy Bastard

Well-Known Member
Just wanna say, I love my pressure switch! Don't know why I waited so long to use one. I know it's not really supposed to work this way, but my tank never drops below 95 psi. Even though my cut in is set at 80, the solenoid kick dips the needle enough at around 95 to send the pump pumping. In my case that's about once per day. Very nice. Guess I won't be needing a pressure regulator anytime soon.
Nice man. The other reason you still want a PS is that the nozzle flowrate and projection goes up at higher pressures, and down at lower. So your misting different amounts of water on the cycles at the different pressures. Harder to keep stuff dialed in. But since your swings arent too much, it might not be such a biggie- I just couldn;t resist interjecting the facts tho lol...
 

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
More 'cool' news. I checked the pod about an hour after replacing the dark blue Rubbermaid lid withing the corrugated plastic . Pod was/is nice and cool, probably >10* cooler, no longer warm humid air when I open it up. Then it hits me what an idiot I am. Of course the dark blue is going to absorb light, which is going to transfer into the pod. The combination of reflected light due to the white surface area + cooler pod temps is going to pay huge dividends for me.
 

Trichy Bastard

Well-Known Member
More 'cool' news. I checked the pod about an hour after replacing the dark blue Rubbermaid lid withing the corrugated plastic . Pod was/is nice and cool, probably >10* cooler, no longer warm humid air when I open it up. Then it hits me what an idiot I am. Of course the dark blue is going to absorb light, which is going to transfer into the pod. The combination of reflected light due to the white surface area + cooler pod temps is going to pay huge dividends for me.
Very good man... I am seeing a trend with you and your setup, getting it dialed in better than ever before, and bet your going to really see the results as well.
 

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
Thanks TB. I was so caught up in the minutia that I didn't even consider the bigger picture (the lid). DOH!

Still having issues with colonies building up on the filters within a week. I am using DM Gold nutes: 4 separate filters- 2 inside the rez and one after the pump + screens inside the misters. Tell tale sign- the pump labors when it cycles. I clean them all and soak in H2O2 before reinserting. Also run pure water through to clear lines. Rez temp low 70s, I chill with a frozen jug when room temps are > 75*. Any ideas?
 

Atomizer

Well-Known Member
Looks like almost a month lost to the database backup..could have been worse. On a brighter note, my outdoor chamber is all clean, shiny and ready to go..abeit only for tomato plants :) We have a hosepipe ban in force already and its not even warm yet.
 

BflexNJshore

Well-Known Member
Im doing my assembly of my mister system saturday, so stoked! Just gotta make sure my brother pics up my pressure regulator and adapter for the accumulator from grainger.
 

DIYer

Well-Known Member
like ummm, WHAT DA FUCK!?!?! :evil:
We lost a month of collaboration?? i lost all my journal entries as well!...

Sure it could always be worse, they could have sold out to mjseeds.com too, but i left GC for this?.. Get your shit together rollitup!!
 

Mike Young

Well-Known Member
I got the Xtrol 2 gallon, says its 40 psi precharged, when my 150 psi shurflo cycles shouldnt that get it to where it needs?
You will pop that bladder the first time you try to fill it if you don't put a higher air charge on it. You'll want to set you're air pressure to 2 psi below your pressure switches cut in pressure. You may consider doing a little more reading up on the subject, as not only are you risking trashing your tank, the thing could very well turn into a bomb in the wrong hands. And, don't make the same mistake I did, relying on my compressors air gauge to accurately display the air charge. I was 10psi under when I finally decided to get the digi. Doh!

Damn, that's alot of lost info. Those DEA database purges are a killer, lol.
 

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
Looks like almost a month lost to the database backup..could have been worse. On a brighter note, my outdoor chamber is all clean, shiny and ready to go..abeit only for tomato plants :) We have a hosepipe ban in force already and its not even warm yet.

I have a successful Basil clone. Trying parsley now + thinking to do some tomatoes as well. Did you clone or start from seeds... if seeds, where did you get them... and are they Heirlooms?
 

Atomizer

Well-Known Member
I got the Xtrol 2 gallon, says its 40 psi precharged, when my 150 psi shurflo cycles shouldnt that get it to where it needs?
If you plan to run the nozzles down to 40psi its ok. Take a 5gal tank running 40-150psi. it will have 3.34 gal of nutes at 150psi. If the pump kicks in at 90psi, the fresh nutes will be mixed with the 1.5 gallons of nutes that are sitting in the accumulator ;) For 90psi cut in point, you`d set the air precharge to 88psi which leaves just 0.06gal sitting in the tank when the pump kicks in.
 

Atomizer

Well-Known Member
I have a successful Basil clone. Trying parsley now + thinking to do some tomatoes as well. Did you clone or start from seeds... if seeds, where did you get them... and are they Heirlooms?
I start from seed but i also take cuttings throughout the season to fill in any spaces. I grow cherry toms (bush varieties), they do their own thing and dont need any support. Attached a pic of the chamber so you get an idea of the size.

outdoor chamber.jpg
 

BflexNJshore

Well-Known Member
If you plan to run the nozzles down to 40psi its ok. Take a 5gal tank running 40-150psi. it will have 3.34 gal of nutes at 150psi. If the pump kicks in at 90psi, the fresh nutes will be mixed with the 1.5 gallons of nutes that are sitting in the accumulator ;) For 90psi cut in point, you`d set the air precharge to 88psi which leaves just 0.06gal sitting in the tank when the pump kicks in.
This was (???lol) my game plan (please correct me if where I am wrong):

Shurflo 150 psi (has a selectable cut out range from 140-160 psi) set to cut out at 140 psi and it has an automatic cut in at 115 psi. I would have got a dedicated pressure switch but that was another $250 for one that has all stainless steel components that touch the water (if someone has an alternative to the one made by ashcroft, please share). the xtrol tank has a water capacity of about 0.9 gallon, i wanted to limit the "bomb" size. My $200 all polypropelyne pressure relief valve (Im so proud of my total food grade system) will be set to 145 psi. I have the tefen misters with the spring (cloudtops, and was told they need 100 psi to open by the guy at ecotechnologies) and the pressure regulator set to 105 -110 psi.

I obviously have to do more research regarding how the accumulator functions. So if I understand this correctly, then I need to charge the accumulator tank once to 113 psi to work with my proposed system. I welcome even harsh criticism!
 

Atomizer

Well-Known Member
Aye, 113psi precharge, you can keep it at the factory setting if you dont mind having the new nutes mix with older ones.
 

BflexNJshore

Well-Known Member
Aye, 113psi precharge, you can keep it at the factory setting if you dont mind having the new nutes mix with older ones.

So we are on the same page, do the old nutes slowly leave as I mist or do I have to depressurize the system? My misguided thoughs were that the accumulator held 0.9 gallons of nutes (and whatever was in the tubing) under pressure and when the pressure dropped the pump would turn on.
 

Atomizer

Well-Known Member
Thats right but if the air precharge is a lot lower than the pump cut-in point the tank wont be empty. If you set the precharge to 2psi below the pumps cut in pressure the tank will be almost empty.
What is the overall capacity of the tank?
 

DIYer

Well-Known Member
Damn, that's alot of lost info. Those DEA database purges are a killer, lol.
:clap:hahaha... funny shit... dude you're like the most conflicted poster of photos ive met, lol,.. so also real funny how they deleted them for you like that :lol: ...you calling in favors? You got pull man... bongsmilie
 

BflexNJshore

Well-Known Member
Thats right but if the air precharge is a lot lower than the pump cut-in point the tank wont be empty. If you set the precharge to 2psi below the pumps cut in pressure the tank will be almost empty.
What is the overall capacity of the tank?
According to AMTROL: Tank volume= 2.1 gallon Max Recommended accept volume= 0.9 gallon. I did an online calculator (http://www.accumulators.com/) and if i did it right, to discharge 0.9 gallons per day (my target for 4 sites with 2 misters each) it said I need a 5.8 gallon tank or so and If my wacky math is right, then the pump should cycle on maybe 6 times a day.
 

Atomizer

Well-Known Member
2.1 gal with 115psi -140psi will give you around 0.34 gal of nutes. Drawdown time will depend on the real world nozzle flowrate and the cycle timing.
Assuming 8x 1gph nozzles with a cycle timing of 1sec/2minutes the pump will run once every 5 hours or so.
 
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