Cooling a cheap outdoor

[thefirelane]

Hello all,
  I recently got a nice, inexpensive greenhouse that I thought I'd keep on my balcony outdoors.  This faces east, and I live in Dallas, TX.  I think it is already getting a little hot in there during the day, and I know it is just going to go up.
  What inexpensive cooling solutions have people used, and to what extent are they effective?  I already put a shade cloth on top, and I was thinking I could freeze some 1 gal water containers and put them in the greenhouse.  Are there any other nifty ideas?

---Lane

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Well the only thing I can think of is to simply open it up but this sort of defeats the enclosed humidity issue. Keeping enclosed grow structures from becoming ovens is a big issue and not a simple matter. Short of pumping rehumidified AC air or some sort of evaporative cooler or misting system I can't think of any way to keep it cool and maintain it's humidity retention purposes.

 

[jon]

I'm having a heat issue with my 10 gallon tank, I have no idea how to keep it cool...and it's deffenatly affecting my plants... Maybe throw some ice cubes in the river bed...

 

[borg]

What about Peltier heat pump module? But I'm not sure if it will be useful for such a big terrarium...

 

[adnedarn]

I don't think the frozen jugs will help. It seams having the cold jugs the humidty will grab onto the jugs.. but then drip and maybe evaporate... recreating the humidity... hmm... I dunno.

Andrew

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Frozen jugs (hah) will bear good results in smaller enclosures. For that size greenhouse I would say perhaps a cob job cooling setup like a small PC/muffin fan mouted in the top for hot air exit and an opening in the bottom to let cooler ground air in. And to help, you could wet a sponge and place it in front of the intake hole to make a small evaporative effect.

 

[Kirkscoastalcarnivores]

maybe put a cheap fan, or vent in it