WHAB’s 1924 Brick Schoolhouse RDWC

[WhiteHotAfterburner]

We have failure to launch!

Well, this sucks on ice!

I received the GoHydro (Ebiz-Global) Ebb&Flow yesterday.

I got it assembled yesterday. I programmed it (12 12 minute Fill/Drain cycles (5 minutes to fill and equalize and 7 minutes to feed the plants) every 2 hours) last night.

I ran a test setup and their seems to be a problem with the Fill electrical receptacle.

I checked everything again. I don’t see anything wrong. I tested the pump I had in the Fill position and the pump works.

I manually filled the controller and it did Drain on schedule as it should have.

I swapped the pumps out just to make sure I tried everything I could - that didn’t change the situation.

Every time the Fill pump was supposed to come on the Air indicator light was lit as scheduled even though there wasn’t anything plugged into that receptacle. On a subsequent test I plugged the Fill pump into the Air receptacle and it worked.

I just plugged in a electric outlet tester (I don’t have a volt meter) and will have to wait for the next cycle to see if it lights up. I suspect it will not.

I’m tempted to take the back off of the brain and see IF someone failed to make the connections to that receptacle. But, I don’t want to void any warranty.

I did contact the seller Ebiz-Global earlier today.

I had every intention of running 3/4 inch Fill & Drain lines in the controller. I even bought a pair of 3/4 inch Barbed Garden Hose Fittings in anticipation of doing that. The 2 pumps that came with the system came with additional nipples. They came with 3/4 inch nipples. The system came with a sort of Fill/Drain manifold that is sized for 1/2 inch hose. I don’t see how I can up-size the Fill/Drain portion of the system in the controller to 3/4 inch since it has this what would be a 1/2 inch restriction point.

Any suggestions I haven’t tried are welcomed!

Happy Mothers Day to all you Mothers out there!

Make it a great day!

,
WHAB

[Purple-N-Hairy]

Eh, just send it back. It should work right out of the box. Good on you for trying to resolve the issue, but just get a replacement. Of course, I’m assuming you bought it via Amazon or another seller who will give you free return shipping. If not, you may want to see if there are any other ways to fix it - stopping short of opening anything up that will (potentially) void your warranty. You’ve waited this long to get it, so you know you can survive without it. But you deserve to have one that works 100% correctly out of the box.

[WhiteHotAfterburner]

Hello there @Purple-N-Hairy!

I agree, it should definitely work right out of the box. Especially for that money! No buyer should be presented with any problems upon receipt of a new product.

I did buy it on Amazon. I considered hitting the “Problem With Order” button but I didn’t want to get locked into an action that might represent ie Send it back and wait for another one…etc. That’s why I emailed them directly first in hopes of them helping me troubleshoot it before having to send it back…

I couldn’t resist. I took the back off.

Just as I suspected, someone failed to make the connection to that outlet!

Incredible!

Now I have to wait for the next scheduled Fill/Drain cycle to ensure it works (I’m sure it will - NOW! ).

Then I need to catch up on the upgrade. I still haven’t finished that tall wall.

Thanks for the input, @Purple-N-Hairy … It is greatly appreciated!

,
WHAB

[Purple-N-Hairy]

Oh, great! Yes, shoddy manufacturing / QC, but let’s hope it’s fixed and that was the only issue you’ll ever have with it. I’d “like” your reply, but I’m all of them until tomorrow!

[WhiteHotAfterburner]

Yes, incredibly lacking in proficient manufacturing and QC!

Yes, let’s “hope”! … although, I’m already convinced it will!

Speaking of “Likes” - maybe you can help me understand how one aspect of it works?

When I get to the end of my likes for any given day a pop-up window tells me I’m out of likes and I have to wait X amount of time to give out more likes BUT it shows on the page that it did like that post - it registers as a like and the heart changes color to red. Is that like counting as a like or is it not counting it?

Thank you, @Purple-N-Hairy!

,
WHAB

[Purple-N-Hairy]

Even when you’re out of likes, you can click the heart and it will turn red and register a like, but behind the scenes, the robots are reviewing the numbers and see that you’re actually OUT of likes. So while you’re not looking, say - perhaps - you’ve returned to the main OG page, the robots delete your previous like as if it never happened. When you go back to the post that you liked, you’ll see that there’s no evidence that you ever liked it - even though you KNOW you did. It’s a quirk - or a feature - depending on your perspective.

[WhiteHotAfterburner]

Thank you for that,@Purple-N-Hairy!

I suspected they were ghost likes. I just wasn’t sure.

SO, EVERYONE I “Liked” but didn’t REALLY Like - my apologies! There’s been 100s of them and I can’t go back and re-like them

Thanks, again,@Purple-N-Hairy!

Regards,
WHAB

[WhiteHotAfterburner]

That did the trick!

Just for shits and giggles, I plugged in the tester. The residential circuitry is performing correctly!

Having to troubleshoot a BRAND NEW product pisses me right off!

But, it’s working now. Moving forward!

And, that Fill/Drain manifold is vented on both sides.

This is the Fill side (does exact same thing on Drain side)…

I know I can’t eliminate the Drain side Siphon Break BUT I’m fairly certain I can eliminate the Fill side Siphon Break. I don’t have a siphon break on the external Fill transfer pump I’m using in the old system.

It looks like I’ll have to do the 3/4 inch Fill/Drain line upgrade after I get the system set up and running. I really want the 3/4 inch Fill&Drain lines to increase Fill & Drain rate (faster). I’m sure the 1/2 inch Fill&Drain would work well enough, I just want to improve it.

,
WHAB

[WhiteHotAfterburner]

Some things I already dislike about this new Ebb & Flow Controller - besides having to troubleshoot it already!

The timer only uses a 24 hour clock. While being a Marine, I am quite familiar with using a 24 hour clock. It just makes setting the timer a little more complicated - having to do the math in your head, repeatedly (12 times - On then Off settings).

The 1/2 inch Fill/Drain manifold. It looks like I’ll have to bypass it completely IF I up-size it, even though the pumpS (2 of them) came with 3/4 inch nipples (that you can’t use IF you use this 1/2 fitting).

What makes that a little confusing is that the Fill/Drain lines going out to the buckets are 3/4 inch already. It was one of the selling points. But, feeding those Fill/Drain lines out to those buckets is restricted to 1/2 inch

Lastly, the controller is not opaque!

That means I am going to have to light proof it before I put it into service! Sides and top!

Back to work!

,
WHAB

[JoeCrowe]

Those dogs, they’ve never heard of black hdpe? The flashlight test never lies!

[WhiteHotAfterburner]

Yeah, I basically thought the same thing. “Man, you’re in the indoor hydroponic gardening business and NONE of your testing uncovered this problem!?!?”

That, and, I don’t know how long you’ve been making and selling these and NO ONE mentioned the lack of light proofing?

Or, they expect the people that buy their product to have already adjusted their grow method where algae would NEVER be a problem ie Air Conditioned Space for Buckets, Controller and Reservoir!

And, that is a small flashlight. Small pocket sized.

I am rather puzzled by the idea that they couldn’t have produced a light-proofed controller…

But, on a positive note, 1 out of 3 tries gave me a product with which to attach the light-proofing to a plastic surface. “My Research” proved out, eventually! The first 2 failed. I didn’t just throw up my hands and say, “oh well…I’ll just have to live with that failed method”!

FTR, 3M house wrap tape didn’t work (in the long run, it lasted a short while).

Aluminum tape also failed (this one sort of surprised me).

Supervisor Tape worked!

Thank you for your input,@JoeCrowe! I appreciate it!

Back to work…slow going following someone else’s subpar work! But, at the same time, in the given situation, and not being particularly adept at the tasks, they did VERY well, considering!

,
WHAB

[LilJonB]

Oh wow man. I was really bummed out to find out you’re controller was not working. You had me on the edge of my seat when you popped her open! I’m sooo happy you got her figured out!

[WhiteHotAfterburner]

You and me both, brother!

I puzzled over it for hours yesterday and tried everything I could think of. I re-read the instructions 4 or 5 times to make sure I didn’t miss an important step - I had not, it turns out.

I did not want to split the case open. A side note: I didn’t find any water-proofing measures inside the BRAIN, inches away from an accident. I am likely going to make a rubber gasket for it (maybe just apply a thin coat of sealant to the exterior of the parting seam).

Thank you, friend!..I appreciate the kind words!

,
WHAB

[LilJonB]

For high $ items I feel there should be a number you could call. I could imagine some of the calls tho. You might have to be a very patient person to take some of those calls.

[WhiteHotAfterburner]

I’m not entirely certain they even have customer service there! I called and emailed them before I bought it off of Amazon. Their website - Ebiz-Global - has it listed $100 less expensive than Amazon - I was hoping on getting it at that price.

They never called back, they never emailed me back.

I couldn’t wait for them, I needed it sooner than waiting for them. But, both times I called them, before I bought the item and yesterday when I thought it was possibly defected, it went to a message machine BUT it was FULL both times!

What do you say we have a and talk it over, friend!?!?

I’m going to have a and get to bed!

Good morning,@LilJonB!

Make it a great day!

,
WHAB

[WhiteHotAfterburner]

Well, I didn’t get nearly as much done as I was aiming for.

I miss-measured this piece (the piece nearest the controller and A/C unit)!

It should look like its brother on the other side of what will be a 32" doorway, with the Header I’ve yet to build on top of all of it.

I reiterate: it should NOT look like this! At least I didn’t cut it short!

Then I ran out of lumber - the rest is in an unlit hoop-house - and, I ran out of steam (not really steam, my back is telling me to quit for the night).

I did get that far, considering I had to account for cleaning up someone else’s unfinished work (figuring out what they had done and why) and get the math to work (above is NOT example of getting the math to work! ), and work around a system I am relying on in the mean time, not bad!

I did get the flooring trimmed back (you can see the cut in the flooring where I started going the other direction and now have to cut back to) and a pass-through through the loft floor in case I can’t move the controller and air conditioner and have to run power to things that way. Everything except the Fill/Drain lines to the controller and back are already passed through the hole. I actually thought I could get that far and figure it out then - not!

I want the controller bucket on the other side of the space directly in front of where the output vent of the A/C is now but, I’m essentially out of electrical outlets over there, for now. Potentially, IF I can see what temps the controller sees in there, I want the Reservoir in there too! IF I do move the Res in there I’m going to plumb out some water inside the grow space - IF.

Oh, I forgot, I still have to scarf on the 4x4s and splint them to the 2x4s I’m putting up there. I really forgot about that until I miss-measured that long stud.

I ‘think’ I can get it all done later today. That is, IF I survive a Cardiac Stress Test I have later today!

A note about that: I ‘think’ my Cardiologist, the office that sent me to the hard-chargers, wants to check that the ECHO numbers after my CTO PCI I gave him are true IF what I was telling him was possible. That was once an EF of 25% - 30% is now 45%. He didn’t say it, but I must say myself - it’s an incredible number! That’s the sense I got from our conversation.

Good morning!

Make it a great day!

Time for a , then I’m going to try to get some rest!

,
WHAB

[WhiteHotAfterburner]

Not the first time I’ve been wrong!

No rest yet.

I took the cover off the Reservoir I put there to prevent dust from my cutting wood from getting in the Res. I just happened to look in and saw the Garbage Girls be HUNGRY! I just gave them 10 gallons the day before last, I ‘think’…it was very recently!

I just mixed 2 5 gallon buckets of Mega Crop Parts A&B - mixed at heavy Late Veg recipe, meaning Late Veg recipe + some.

pH adjusted to about 5.8, in the Reservoir now.

And an E.C. of 2.1 (1050ppms on 500 scale).

1-1/2 cup of H2O2.

Good thing I looked. There was less than 20 gallons in there total. It may have run dry by the next time I would have looked at it later on today, late afternoon! :frown:

Now, time for rest.

Good morning!

Make it a great day!

,
WHAB

[LilJonB]

GOOD MORNING WHAB!
Yeah it’s really terrible when get people in this business that just want to turn a buck. Good customer service goes a long way.
I see you got the air pump and stones I recommend. Well you went with a bigger pump. Bigger is always better as far as air is concerned. I read that people can over do themselves when it comes to bubbles. Since I’ve been reading more about hydro I have found out that’s not true. What really did it for me was the post about the Freedom Buckets.
Hope your stress test goes well.
Looking forward to seeing some plant pictures. Seems like it’s been a little bit.

[WhiteHotAfterburner]

I am of the belief that if someone makes a great product people would buy it regardless if there is good customer service. Hell, I just did it! . I do hope it turns out to be a ‘great’ product at this point! It would be nice IF the deal did include usable customer service, though! I do agree, good customer service does go a long way, my friend!

Yes, that time I looked, the air pump and airstones are due in today! I just checked, they’re “Out For Delivery” now!

Yeah, Krusty did some amazing, groundbreaking work!

I’m sure the test will be fine, thank you,@LilJonB. However, I almost fouled it up before I even arrive at the testing facility! A few days ago we went over what I needed to not do pre-test and I almost did one of them out of habit just now! I almost made me some Rocket Fuel (caffeine). WHAB requires Rocket Fuel to run smoothly - or to run at all!

As I see things now, I should be back in time for Picture Day in the garden!

,@LilJonB!,
WHAB

[Kushking902]

I have used it many times. At a diluted rate it works great for a gnat problem or any soil pest really. And hydrogen peroxide is just water molecules with oxygen fused to them so it won’t hurt bringing a little extra oxygen to the roots at the same time.