The Solar Greenhouse
Operations
215 Maywood Street, Blacksburg, Virginia
Located in the Hale-YMCA Community Gardens

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Regular Procedures

There are regular procedures that need to be done to keep the YMCA Solar Greenhouse in good operating condition.

• Checking that the fans are all in good operating condition
  • Heat-sink fan
  • West-vent-window fan
  • Two ceiling fans
• Checking that the temperatures of the two heat-sink thermostats are properly set (70° down to 61° for the cooling thermostat and 50° up to 59° for the heating thermostat)
• Checking that the electric window openers are in good operating condition and that they open at a temperature lower than the temperature that turns on the vent fan.
• Checking that the water pump in the cistern is in good operating condition
• Cleaning out the screens at the top of the two gutter down spouts
• Putting silicon putty in any cracks that might be letting air infiltrate
• Changing light bulbs that are not working

Carbon Dioxide Level

A tight solar greenhouse can cause the carbon-dioxide (CD) level to become low, resulting in slow growth of plants. There is a CD meter on the back of the center pole of the YSGH. There needs to be turbulence to move fresh air with CD to the leaves. The YSGH has two features which create such turbulence:

• The ceiling fans should be turned on whenever work is being done in the greenhouse and turned off otherwise. The are not needed at night, but can be left on.
• The west-vent-window fan will come on at a certain high temperature (after the two vent windows are opened at a slightly lower temperature). This not only creates turbulence but also brings in fresh air from the outside with a higher level of CD.