Marni's New Intermediate Greenhouse

Discharge into a big trash can with a sump pump, leading out to a spreading network of buried pipes/hoses?

 

Marni, how large of a system do you have? I have found that it's possible to throttle-back on the flush-to-pure ratio to save water, without adversely affecting the life of the membrane.

The industry standard is 4:1, meaning 4 gallons in produces 1 pure and 3 gallons of flush water to dispose of, but the systems I sell are typically more like 2:1- to 2.5:1. Maybe newer membranes are just easier to flush.

If yours is a standard system, swapping out a flow restrictor (under $5) can improve it.

 

Glad to hear it!

 

Marni, if you decide to plant Bermudagrass around the greenhouse when construction is done, the Bermudagrass won't mind the elevated TDS from the RO discharge; it is pretty salt-tolerant. There are other salt-tolerant landscape plants (many lists out there on the internet).

I like to look of the greenhouse so far - good luck with it!

 

I hope to add a 400 gallon system in the spring. Maybe we can exchange plans. I hope to be able to have 9 55 gallon drums under my South bench. I am now thinking that the pvc connections will be placed in the gravel floor and connect to the bottom of the barrels. I originally wanted to go through the sides of the barrels near the bottom but they have a slight curve which made that impossible. Any ideas on this would be appreciated.

 

Wade, do you mean 400 gallons per day, or 400 gallons of storage? I hope you mean the latter...

As far as connecting the drums is concerned, i think that a bulkhead fitting intended for a thicker wall would work - you can add multiple rubber gaskets on each side, that will compress and make a tight seal to the curved surface when tightened.

 

Jealous!!!!

 

Great to see work in progress.

 

It will be approx. 400 gal. total storage, Ray. I plan to use the pvc cement as well as a silicone caulk to prevent leakage. I would like to use 2" pvc pipe but I may need to drop it down to 1 1/2".

 

You have a good point about it being unworkable if I ever have to do anything with them. If I drop to 1 1/2", I can go with a a flexible pipe. The barrels have a slight curve for 1 foot at the top and bottom so I have to deal with the curved sidewall. You mention that you use hose (I'm assuming garden hose). I was concerned about the ability to fill the 9 55 gallon barrels using smaller diameter hose. The pump that I'm using is a 1/3 hp pond pump. It is similar to a sump pump but with no shutoff. It gives me enough pressure for watering and costs around $60.00.

 

Hang in there this week Marni. I know you guys are supposed to get drenched.

 

I need to be doing that, too! It feels criminal not to - I offered the water to the small nursery that surrounds my greenhouse and the owner didn't take me up on it!

 

Boy, you can sure tell what my priorities are, on Christmas Eve! Lunacy and fervor someone wrote recently about orchid folks. That's me!