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Produce => Under Glass => Topic started by: MrsKP on April 14, 2007, 20:27:09

Title: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: MrsKP on April 14, 2007, 20:27:09
bl**dy things !

if i didn't think it would fly out of my hand and go straight through the g/h roof, i'd have slung it by now !

how hard can it be ????  we drilled ..... carefully ..... about a million times.  the frame and vent frame now resembles a pea plant riddled by flea beetle and it's STILL not fixed.

why oh why don't they make all the holes long so you can slide up and down and sideyways.  i'm seriously considering giving No. 2 a miss !

and now all you can see through my perfectly clean panes are paw prints !  ah well tomorrow is another day and at least now we know what we've got to do for the next stage, then comes the fun of trying to get the thing to open at the temperature that i want it to ... btw what temperature DO i want it to open at ??

 ;D
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: Tin Shed on April 14, 2007, 22:32:07
Are they that awful to put in? My mother was going to give me an autovent for greenhouse on the lottie, she is adamant I have to have one.....but if its that awful, I will have to get her to change her mind.
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: MacArthur Park on April 15, 2007, 00:02:14
OMG!! - I've just ordered one to fix to my old wooden greenhouse that is held together with hope! :-\

Maybe I can try and fix it and then send it back if I can't do it! :-X :P ;D
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: MrsKP on April 15, 2007, 02:42:54
i was adamant i had to have two, and i'm still sure i do but by the time they're both working i can see i'll be leaving everything open morning noon or night anyway lol

i'm pretty sure it was just us being not very logical about it.  we were people that couldn't get the w wire clips in when we first built the thing to start with. ::)

patience is a virtue, something i'm sadly lacking.   ;D

Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: Deb P on April 15, 2007, 08:23:04
I have 3 on my greenhouse, all kept popping off last year and required re-fixing about 5 times; OH superglued and refitted in the end, so far they have stayed put! ;D

Not as bad as the huge square compost bins I stupidly bought last year, I just could NOT fit the booming thing together. OH did manage one with much tweaking, and it has busted apart again on one side now it is half full. I noticed one of the same design down the lottie the other day held together with string, what a good design....NOT! ::)
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: MrsKP on April 15, 2007, 08:29:09
that's a bit like my Lidl cold frame !  string and a roll and a half of uv/water resistant sellotape !  lol

that's what i like to hear, other people's misery !   ;D now i feel re-enthused and promise i won't shout at the OH or get snappy with him today !   :P
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: Deb P on April 15, 2007, 08:34:10
Says me sitting here with my "I don't have to fix anything. That's what men are for" T shirt on..... ;D

OH has a  "Real men don't need instructions" shirt too....... ;D ;D
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: MrsKP on April 15, 2007, 08:37:31
I've got a "you'd better do it right son or face the consequences" one.

the OH's says "oh buggar, she said she was low maintenance when i first met her".

 ;D
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: Deb P on April 15, 2007, 08:53:24
I've got a "you'd better do it right son or face the consequences" one.

the OH's says "oh buggar, she said she was low maintenance when i first met her".

 ;D

Like 'em! ;D ;D
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: MrsKP on April 15, 2007, 09:02:51
 ;D
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: tim on April 15, 2007, 09:45:16
I know what you mean - got so fed up with fitting ours that we only used half the screws. The cedar's getting a bit iffy but the openers are still OK after 20 years!
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: lorna on April 15, 2007, 10:57:18
Joanne I know you too well, to make a rash promise like "I promise not to shout at OH". Have a good  day but just admit how many times you DID lose your temper ;D
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: Tee Gee on April 15, 2007, 15:00:52
 ??? ??? I found them quite easy to fit, certainly easier to fix on a timber greenhouse than an aluminium one.

What I found (the hard way :-[ ) was it is best to take the glass out prior to fixing.

Screws don't go through glass very easily  ::) ::)
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: MrsKP on April 15, 2007, 19:57:17
 Ureka !  It is done !  (well one of them is anyway).

and I think I've even got it opening when it should do .... well it closed when it was meant to so i'm hoping it it will be nice and wide when I get home from work tomorrow !!!  There's still a small gap though, I'm assuming that's right, it says something about 3mm in the instructions.   ::)

Lorna, I promise I didn't shout once (today).  I might have "eeked" a bit when the window slammed shut and I thought the glass had gone, but not one harsh word passed my lips (what went on in my head will stay in my head).   :P

Tee Gee, at least I thought that far in advance yesterday.  He who shall remain nameless was going to drill the holes while the bits to be drilled were still attached to the g/h!  Even I could see that would end in distaster ! (he couldn't which worries me greatly about future projects involving glass lmao).

Tim, thank goodness I've only got one more to fit.  I don't think my nerves would cope with all yours !!!

I've had to lower the horizontal cane though that i was going to tie the tom strings to, so at the moment they're only going to reach about 5ft.  Will that be high enough do you reckon ?

Next stop rewashing the mitt marks off and working myself up to fitting the next one.

 ;D
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: lorna on April 15, 2007, 20:08:17
OK I believe you. I am going to wear earplugs tomorrow evening.Son John is coming to put new "innings" in my tower. He is pretty good at computer stuff (he has built several) but he sometimes lacks patience. Normally I escape to the kitchen saying "Another cuppa?" but as he is going to work on my kitchen work surface maybe I should go out for the evening ;D So folk if you don't see any more postings from me you will know things didn't work out!!
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: tim on April 16, 2007, 07:24:05
5' KP? They wll want to grow taller but you could train them horizontally for a bit?
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: MrsKP on April 16, 2007, 07:29:28
If they all go horizontal, they'll be catching up with their next door neighbours.  And with two rows deep, I can see this getting messy !  lol

Last year I only grew Totem (bush) and Gartenperle so they didn't get very tall.  I'm brand new to the cordon technique.

Thanks tim, this is going to be very much a suck it and see season (again) lol.

 ;D
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: tim on April 16, 2007, 10:42:04
......... but if you're happy with 5', just 'stop' them as usual - & keep stopping them because they'll go on growing!
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: theothermarg on April 16, 2007, 19:21:36
i had mine (opener not tomatoe) nearly 2 years before it got fitted OH had a blue haze around his head and it didn,t look the same as the diagram but it,s been popping up and down good as gold since so well done OH
marg
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: Hyacinth on April 16, 2007, 20:59:07
KP, no harm in stopping them at 5' or so, or whatever your g'house can manage....with the quantities you're growing you'll still be getting enough tomatoes to last you and OH....and your workmates....and your neighbours...for a long long time ::)

I stop mine at about this height, and am quite ruthless about it....still get both quantity and quality 8)
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: MrsKP on April 16, 2007, 23:21:54
I'm even getting wee shoots in the v's ALREADY.

somehow I think the summer holiday is off !  lmao

 ;D
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: Gillysdad on April 19, 2007, 19:29:36
I have fitted an auto vent to my polytunnel.......it opens and closes one of the doors, its an idea I had in bed one night....the other idea failed. ;D ;D
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: northener on April 19, 2007, 19:53:30
I not asking. How much are these openers and where from?
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: Gillysdad on April 19, 2007, 20:14:35
I not asking. How much are these openers and where from?

Argos sells them for about £20. Designed to open vents, but with a bit of invention it opens my polytunnel door. ;)
Title: Re: auto vent openers ! fuzzem fuzzem
Post by: MrsKP on April 19, 2007, 20:24:59
I got mine from ebay .... and I needed a triple spring for the windy side.

there's not many on there atm tbh, but goggle auto vent openers and you'll get loads of suppliers.

I got the Bayliss brand and I think in total the two were about £70 ........ not cheap, but they were a birthday pressie and you can get cheaper ones.

 ;D
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