I've been lurking for awhile, learning from some posts that I have seen. Decided to invest in a greenhouse, 8×14 noticed that it was a little too short so decided to add 3ft and now is 10ft tall inside and no one needs to duck at the walls (used to be 6.76ft at the ridge and just over 4ft at the walls). I'm insulating the bottom, not finished with the outside as it will be water sealed. 200w bifacial panels (expandable), 2560wh on battery( some fans during the summer and a small heater during the winter). There will be some vents for summer to have more air coming and hot air being pulled. I also have a 100 gallon black water tank to collect heat and release it during the night. My goal is for the greenhouse to be self sufficient. I need to collect the water from the roof but I can't find accessories to add to it, as easy as just screwing some gutters and redirect the water to the tank.
Has anyone found a system that worked for you?
Do I need to manufacturer my own?
Any ideas? I own a 3D printer I could potentially… 3D print my gutters with ABS or ASA but… I rather not as is a pain to print on those lol.
Brand: Vevor polycarbonate greenhouse
Location: Central NC (zone 8a, )
by Fazo1
6 Comments
I use a pvc conduit that i slit and then hot sand bent one half back (imagine a fishhook profile shape from the side) and i have the flat part under the eves. its very slightly sloped. both sides run down into a rain barrel. my main goal is to stop water from running down the immediate area around the greenhouse.
i like the near invisibility of the conduit (i have a 1×2 infront of it) and the lack of debris and litter in that gap. its also outdoor flexible and handles ice perfectly (i am in minnesota) … where a ‘real’ gutter might add unexpected weight if full of water, debris or ice.
Depending on how creative you can be, most anything is possible, from yogurt containers to copper gutters. If I were in ur shoes I’d go to a big box store and find some aluminum gutters and maybe even look around the dripedge section just to get some ideas to make sure the water from the roof ends up in the gutters and from the gutters to the storage vessel. It kinda all depends on how the water rolls off of the roof. You’ll need to find a way to secure it too, which could be those self tapping screws, or better yet, predrilled bolts with washers. Dang I wish I could help with this lol
Or. Idk how well it would work, but it looks promising..but look up gutters for for an rv 🤔 that’s what I’d probably do. Good luck!
Are those solar panels on the roof? I’m kind of torn about that. It’s nice to have solar to run your fans, but unless that’s the north eve of the house, you will be stealing light from your plants.
As for gutters, we used standard aluminum gutters on ours, intending to collect rainwater someday (which hasn’t happened yet.) There’s a little slope away from the greenhouse, so water doesn’t pond near it.
That was a smart idea to build wood walls and put the greenhouse on top of them. I live off the grid, and I have a 10′ x 20′ greenhouse that has wood walls 36″ high. Polycarbonate covers the upper parts of the walls as well as the roof. It works out well.
I’ve had my greenhouse for five years and love it.Â
I’m in Zone 4b. I start planting things in the greenhouse in May. I eat most meals out of the greenhouse July through early October, and my last harvest is in early November, usually.Â
I preserve a lot of the food I grow in the greenhouse. For example, this winter I’m cooking with frozen tomatoes and peppers I harvested from the greenhouse.
I don’t have any ideas for you about rainwater collection. I just use a garden hose to water stuff in my greenhouse. I do think it’s smart to make a greenhouse as self-sufficient as possible, even though I haven’t done it myself.
Lastly, I want to give you a link to an excellent system for remote monitoring of temp and humidity. It’s only $57.99. Here is the link:
https://a.co/d/2CkazZg
I bought same exact one as you only thing I added was a solar polar exhaust that vents air
We added full sized gutters to ours and collect rain water. I have a pump and spray system set up onside. We added wood to the interior up where the gutters hang and drilled through to that wood to attach the gutters.
https://preview.redd.it/aiu9jf9kzkag1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d800a984ed00263d46b31fdadc517749b89092b