Vertical Goodness and Other Batshit Craziness

[ttystikk]

@Joebud This is clearly being marketed as a "prime" heat and power generation system, as opposed to "backup" power. This is exactly what's needed. The exhaust only needs to be minimally processed to use as a CO2 source if the fuel is natural gas.

The 35 KWh unit would provide a maximum of 35,000 Watts or 145 Amps in 240V single phase. This would be ideal for my application. I already have 150A service to my house and I would generally be drawing closer to 20-24 KWh anyway.

The other side, the heat, generally wouldn't even be needed most of the time; my furnace is 80k Btu and it doesn't need to run for very long even on the coldest of days. A Watt is 3.414 Btu so the conversion is roughly 23,400 Watts to 80k Btu. How convenient!

CO2 from the exhaust would be piped into the grow rooms on a valve controlled by CO2 monitoring, the excess is simply sent outside. It would already be cooled by the water jacket used to capture heat. Excess heat in the water could also be sent outside, to a closed loop cooling unit (radiator and fan that runs as needed for cooling).

To capture the full potential of such a system, it should be associated with an additional greenhouse adjacent to the indoor facility where the heat could keep it warm all winter and extra CO2 could be sent.

Yeah, this is the kind of stuff I nerd out on lol

I'm going to HVAC school right now and my goal is in fact to do this kind of work for indoor growing facilities.

 

[ttystikk]

Did I say these things were growing like crazy?

Why yes- yes I did!

 

[ttystikk]

Another perspective just for the fun of it;

 

[ttystikk]

Today's update; they're starting to crowd each other juuuuuuust a wee bit...

 

[ttystikk]

Rearranged them slightly but they're still crammed together to encourage height competition;

 

[ttystikk]

Daily growth. Side shot too, to show height.

 

[ttystikk]

Copy pasta from Bobby's thread, because good info belongs EVERYWHERE:

Go to Walmart, buy yourself the big bag of Epsom salt from the pharmacy section. Get the plain, unflavored stuff; none of the scents or additives are necessary.

Use some to soak your feet lol

Then, put a teaspoon of it into a quart jug mostly full of warm water, cap the jug and then shake. Leave it for a few minutes, come back and shake again. For whatever reason, Epsom salt takes its sweet time to dissolve. Once you're sure it's fully dissolved into solution, add the quart to the rest of your nutes and water normally.

Mag deficiency? DONE!

And for a bonus, you'll be feeding sulphur too and that's good for plant expression of terpenes, oils and resins- which is the whole point of growing this lovely plant in the first place. Use it all the way through bloom, even at the end, though you may want to taper it down late in bloom.

BE SURE it's fully dissolved. It's best to use it when you make it but it will sit and play nice with other dissolved nutrients in low concentrations for a week or two as long as the water doesn't get really cold or freeze.

FUN FACTOID: Advanced Nutrients used to have this stuff called "Bud Factor X" that they sold for $89.95 A QUART. What was it? EPSOM SALT IN SOLUTION! When I figured that out, I was so fucking pissed that I went on to learn about plant nutrition and ultimately switched to dry nutrients salt based fertilizer and saved myself a damn FORTUNE. Y'all should do the same, unless you're growing organic style. Even then, epsom salt is a naturally occurring material that will not hurt your soil life if used as directed above.

 

[NoWaistedSpace]

They're noticeably bigger every time I check on them, even if it's only been 6 hours.

They're definitely enjoying the light.

Earthworm castings are magic for seedlings!

After a couple days of acclimating to the light from a low light situation, you can crank up the intensity a lot.
Think about it, the sun doesn't dim down in the spring. They still get over 2000 PAR and they thrive with that.
I know the spectrum is different, but still.
Plants are tougher than people think.

 

[NoWaistedSpace]

@Joebud This is clearly being marketed as a "prime" heat and power generation system, as opposed to "backup" power. This is exactly what's needed. The exhaust only needs to be minimally processed to use as a CO2 source if the fuel is natural gas.

The 35 KWh unit would provide a maximum of 35,000 Watts or 145 Amps in 240V single phase. This would be ideal for my application. I already have 150A service to my house and I would generally be drawing closer to 20-24 KWh anyway.

The other side, the heat, generally wouldn't even be needed most of the time; my furnace is 80k Btu and it doesn't need to run for very long even on the coldest of days. A Watt is 3.414 Btu so the conversion is roughly 23,400 Watts to 80k Btu. How convenient!

CO2 from the exhaust would be piped into the grow rooms on a valve controlled by CO2 monitoring, the excess is simply sent outside. It would already be cooled by the water jacket used to capture heat. Excess heat in the water could also be sent outside, to a closed loop cooling unit (radiator and fan that runs as needed for cooling).

To capture the full potential of such a system, it should be associated with an additional greenhouse adjacent to the indoor facility where the heat could keep it warm all winter and extra CO2 could be sent.

Yeah, this is the kind of stuff I nerd out on lol

I'm going to HVAC school right now and my goal is in fact to do this kind of work for indoor growing facilities.

Ok, quick quiz.
What is the difference between central heat versus let's say, a woodburner, kerosene or fuel oil heat.
Why do people prefer one to the other?

 

[ttystikk]

Ok, quick quiz.
What is the difference between central heat versus let's say, a woodburner, kerosene or fuel oil heat.
Why do people prefer one to the other?

Central heat just means the heat generated is distributed throughout the house from a given location. It can be any type.

Preferences generally come down to what fuel is cheapest to use.

For cogeneration you should use mutual gas or propane in order to reduce toxic flue gases to the greatest extent. There are scrubbers available for other fuels but that's an additional expense plus maintenance.

 

[ttystikk]

After a couple days of acclimating to the light from a low light situation, you can crank up the intensity a lot.
Think about it, the sun doesn't dim down in the spring. They still get over 2000 PAR and they thrive with that.
I know the spectrum is different, but still.
Plants are tougher than people think.

Yeah, that's what I did; my light is less than a foot above them.

 

[ttystikk]

Today's update;

 

[Fiddler's Green]

Those kids are movin'

 

[ttystikk]

Those kids are movin'

I'm liking their progress a lot. I'm thinking the earthworm castings really made a difference.

 

[ttystikk]

Steady, strong progress;

 

[ttystikk]

Daily progress;

 

[ttystikk]

Cleaned them up underneath to further encourage strong upward growth. Notice I did not spread them out, to continue encouraging the upward growth in response to crowding:

 

[ttystikk]

Just so we're all straight here, it's only been three weeks since I wet these beans.

The seed vigor thing is REAL.

 

[ttystikk]

They're definitely getting stalky!

 

[ttystikk]

The amount of money they want for this is insane; $100k?! Are they nuts?! I'm pretty sure I could do it AND the full install for under $20k.