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Greenhouses & Garden Structures

Automatic Vent Opener

7 years ago

I installed a Automatic Vent Opener - Standard (SEF110) that I purchased from GrowOrganic.com this past Sunday. This is my first time installing something like this. The vent opener opens just fine as the greenhouse heats up, but it only closes down to about 4 to 5 inches from the edge of the windowsill. During the initial installation, the window (with opener attached) was in the closed position. Does anyone know how to adjust this opener to make it close all the way down? The directions are pretty ambiguous.

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Comments (4)

oakhill (zone 9A, Calif.)
7 years ago
If you have unscrewed the black piston as far as it will go and still be attached, and the window does not close as you want it to, the other adjustment is the top vent opening arm. It has an adjustable attachment that slides up and down.
burt4750
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks! I tried that and it "almost" works. It looks like my HFGH vent window is not seating itself properly when closing. I have tried to make sure it is centered in the opening, but it seems to "drag" along the side edges of the opening. Any suggestions?
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mudhouse_gw
7 years ago
burt4750, I have a HFGH but have not installed automatic openers. I do recall when we first built the greenhouse (over six years ago) I had to fiddle quite a bit with the vent windows to make sure they worked smoothly in the openings.

There is quite a bit of flex in the Harbor Freight frame, and I recall having to loosen some of the bolts around the window frames, then "wiggling" things around until the windows fit better.

Not a very scientific sounding solution, but it might be enough to resolve a slight drag along the edges.

So far I've not come across anyone whose Harbor Freight roof windows were manufactured to an incorrectly large size for the openings, so I'm kinda suspecting it's just that the flexible frame needs to be "wiggled and tweaked" to make sure the windows fall into place more easily.

Perhaps, worth a try?

Here is a link that might be useful: Building our Harbor Freight 10x12 Greenhouse

This post was edited by mudhouse on Mon, Nov 4, 13 at 21:09
mudhouse_gw
7 years ago
Posting again after thinking, I did my "window tweaking" before we installed our roof panels, so the frame was clearly easier to flex around. Likely your roof panels are already in place, so the above idea may prove more difficult.

I do know the fit on these windows is not exact. A few months after completing our structure, I removed the roof windows to caulk the polycarbonate window panels in place, in the window frames. On my greenhouse, the window panels were just a tad short, and they moved around too much in the window slot.

Caulking solved that problem, but I did not think to number the windows as I removed them. I did not reinstall them in the same order, and they never fit quite as flawlessly after that...

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