Aluminium strip shading.

I'm thinking of using ( aluminium strip type etc..) , as a third and final layer ; I am having problems keeping temperatures down ( already) this year despite ventilation, extractor fans, humidification, etc.
I do have a big turbo fan - 20 inch diameter , hollow blades, spins at 10,000 rpm, water fed into the blades and thrown out centrifugally produces tremendous stream of moist air, and this can bring the greenhouse temperature down by 5 degrees C in half an hour - but the problem is the noise - makes the neighbours complain . One says he has measured it at 146 decibels - which I find difficult to believe, but whatever, I cannot use it again..

But the problem with the aluminium stuff is that there is no edge or end reinforcement, no eyelets, no easy way of fixing , and where I live, we do at times ( around the equinoxes) get gales sweeping up the English Channel - which separates UK from France , and I live a mile from the sea. 100mph winds ( 160kph) are often measured at the nearest weather station, 10 miles away. So although I have a sheltered garden, its all relative ! So I need to fix the shading very well, else it will blow away in the first gale.

But how ? I have some ideas, and I'm looking for more, especially from anyone who actually uses the stuff.

Geoff - can you tell us more about the shade? Is it rigid aluminum slats? Aluminized mylar mesh? What?

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Originally Posted by raybark

Geoff - can you tell us more about the shade? Is it rigid aluminum slats? Aluminized mylar mesh? What?

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I am waiting for a sample. When it comes I will reply perhaps with a pic. There seems to be only one kind available here , wxcept perhaps to big contractors who are not interested in my45 sq. meter greenhouse. I had some of it a dozen years ago when I tried to make a horizontal blind - thermal shield, inside the greenhouse, actuated by light cells, but my engineering and avaialble tools nd supplies were not as good as my ideas, and I disposed of the actual cloth then.

If it is a "cloth", you might find a product similar to "Bear Claws", which is a 2-piece plastic contraption that is pressed into the edge of the cloth on opposite sides, then slides to link together, giving you an eyelet anchoring point. There are other designs known as "tarp clips" as alternatives.

I have no clue but look forward to how you solve the problem, which I am sure you will!

Similar thoughts as Jack.

So, I have finished my installation, and my goodness does it work ! We are having a good summer - people are comparing into 1976 ( the best summer in my adult life) -more or less wall-to-wall sunshine for the last 2 months - here on the south coast ( The weather is always different near the sea - my garden is one mile from the English Channel - with trillions of tons of sea-water currently at say 14˚ C - which obviously affects winds, and clouds etc - as compared to a dozen miles inland where the land is currently aat 23˚ C. ) . So - last year, in similar conditions I had greenhouse inside temperatures of 40˚ C. and could only reduce by spraying water - and the effect was short lived. A week ago, my temperatures were in the mid 30s, reduced from last year by running two humidifiers non-stop, set at 75% humidity.
As soon as installed the blinds, the temperature went down. Now in the high 20s - 27 or 28 at the most. I reckon this will be the biggest improvement in my culture since I discovered RO, 30 years ago...
Some details ;-first pic - this is the cloth. Strips of aluminium, shiny on one side ( outside, to reflect the suns rays away) and painted white on the other ( inside )Attachment 88484
It comes in 2.1 or 4.2metre widths. I had the narrower one. I made each blind by fixing one end of a length to the greenhouse ridge ( I fixed to a wooden strip screwed to a length of plastic gutter mounted on the ridge by cords runnning down to ground level at each side. The other end of each strip is glued to a length of rain pipe, and rolled round it.
The roller part is arranged by cords fixed to the ridge, extending down underneath the blind, going round the roller, back up to the ridge, round a pulley - pic below :-
Attachment 88485
and then coming back to ground level - so I raise or lower them thus :-Attachment 88486
To space the blind away from the glass, so as to allow air circulation - and prevent conduction of hear, I have fixed further drain pipes to the outside of the greenhouse, thus :-
Attachment 88487
It has been a lot of work, since it is a big greenhouse, and I had to make 5 double blinds , i.e. to extend both sides of the ridge, and all made more difficult by the shape of the greenhouse. But its done now. I shall leave them down until about the autumn erquinox, then haul them up to the ridge, and pass an extra strap across the greenhouse from one side to the other over each blind, to give security against winter gales.

Looking good Geoff!

Interesting! Did you come out with the design yourself?