Blumats. Who's using them?

JustBlazin

JustBlazin

Well-Known Member
xtsho said:
They're easy to dial in. Just keep an eye on them for a day and walk away. The reservoir needs to be higher than the carrots. Gravity takes care of the rest. Mines 3ft off the floor so about 2ft above the carrot taking the pot height into account.
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I've found if you let the res elevation get to small your more prone to a runaway so I try and keep my res at least half full.
Last run my pots were about 1 1/2-2 feet off the ground and I noticed I was getting some runaways and I ended up in the end coming to the conclusion that I was letting my res level get below 1/4 which brought my elevation closer to 2 feet with my pots elevated, usually it would be closer to 4 feet. So I kept my res at Atleast half full or more and no more Runaways. These runaways were more just overwatering my pot by the time I got there the water had stopped flowing but I dialed them back a little anyway each time. I don't think the sensor works as good with lower elevation so it was leading to overwatering some pots.should mention I was running 23 at the time so that many could also be why it happened, like if I did 10 or less it might have had better pressure and not overwatered.
Long story short the higher you can get the res the more responsive your blumats are going to work
 
Rufus T. Firefly

Rufus T. Firefly

Well-Known Member
lusidghost said:
Do it in the morning and monitor them throughout the day. Chances are they will be fine overnight. Also get them dialed in before you decide to leave on vacation. It takes a few weeks to get down. I hand water them during that period to "restart" the process. and fine tune every morning until they are locked in perfectly. I still hand water every few days to flush excessive salts out, and just because I also like doing it. Especially when it isn't a daily chore.
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Thanks, that was my plan roughly.

Would you happen to have an opinion on how frequently to flush everything if just using water? I clean my humidifier every couple of weeks so my guess is something along those lines?
 
lusidghost

lusidghost

Well-Known Member
JustBlazin said:
I've found if you let the res elevation get to small your more prone to a runaway so I try and keep my res at least half full.
Last run my pots were about 1 1/2-2 feet off the ground and I noticed I was getting some runaways and I ended up in the end coming to the conclusion that I was letting my res level get below 1/4 which brought my elevation closer to 2 feet with my pots elevated, usually it would be closer to 4 feet. So I kept my res at Atleast half full or more and no more Runaways. These runaways were more just overwatering my pot by the time I got there the water had stopped flowing but I dialed them back a little anyway each time. I don't think the sensor works as good with lower elevation so it was leading to overwatering some pots.should mention I was running 23 at the time so that many could also be why it happened, like if I did 10 or less it might have had better pressure and not overwatered.
Long story short the higher you can get the res the more responsive your blumats are going to work
Click to expand...
Interesting. I've only had one runaway and that was because the tube was partially clogged, so I adjusted it way too loose. I bet their stability is due to the pump's constant pressure.
 
lusidghost

lusidghost

Well-Known Member
Rufus T. Firefly said:
Thanks, that was my plan roughly.

Would you happen to have an opinion on how frequently to flush everything if just using water? I clean my humidifier every couple of weeks so my guess is something along those lines?
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I was talking about flushing the medium, not the lines. I break down and clean everything really well between grows.
 
JustBlazin

JustBlazin

Well-Known Member
lusidghost said:
Interesting. I've only had one runaway and that was because the tube was partially clogged, so I adjusted it way too loose. I bet their stability is due to the pump's constant pressure.
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Yes 100% so you are using it like it was straight from the tap. I've read if you hook it up to your tap that you don't get runaways obviously have to use the blumat pressure reducer. So the pump acts like the tap with constant pressure?
You ever browse the thread at icmag?
 
lusidghost

lusidghost

Well-Known Member
JustBlazin said:
Yes 100% so you are using it like it was straight from the tap. I've read if you hook it up to your tap that you don't get runaways obviously have to use the blumat pressure reducer. So the pump acts like the tap with constant pressure?
You ever browse the thread at icmag?
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Yeah it's pretty much the same. I just have to make sure that the res never runs dry. Even if the the pump dies the blumats will still siphon water as long as the water level is high enough. Plus they are cheap, so if it does die it's not breaking the bank to replace it.
 
JustBlazin

JustBlazin

Well-Known Member
lusidghost said:
Yeah it's pretty much the same. I just have to make sure that the res never runs dry. Even if the the pump dies the blumats will still siphon water as long as the water level is high enough. Plus they are cheap, so if it does die it's not breaking the bank to replace it.
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You get the pump from them? Like do you need a specific pump?
 
lusidghost

lusidghost

Well-Known Member
JustBlazin said:
You get the pump from them? Like do you need a specific pump?
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I bought that pump from amazon, but any will do. It just needs to be small so that it doesn't cook the water because it's constantly running. But big enough to get the water to where you need it. My res is about 3 feet tall and I have a hose coming out the top instead of tapping into the side. So it had to have enough lift. I have tons if different pumps, and that one worked the best for my setup.
 
lusidghost

lusidghost

Well-Known Member
Rufus T. Firefly said:
Copy, I think I’ll probably do it a title more frequently than that
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You don't really want to have to take it all apart and then have redo everything. I just use Jack's and some liquid kelp. I tried using silica and humic powders, but one of them clogged up the tube that ran away, so I cut them out. Use some bleach or h2o2 in your res now and again and everything should be fine.
 
Rufus T. Firefly

Rufus T. Firefly

Well-Known Member
lusidghost said:
You don't really want to have to take it all apart and then have redo everything. I just use Jack's and some liquid kelp. I tried using silica and humic powders, but one of them clogged up the tube that ran away, so I cut them out. Use some bleach or h2o2 in your res now and again and everything should be fine.
Click to expand...
I will probably just run a bunch of tap water through the lines proceeded by giving the inside of the reservoir a hand feel if there is any slippery stuff.

There may not be, I'm just gonna get a feel for what needs to be done. I'm sure there is a difference between the need to clean a humidifier (legionnaires) and a Blumat so I'm not worried about it but at the same time I have no doubt that at some point in time it'll need to be done.
 
JustBlazin

JustBlazin

Well-Known Member
Jjgrow420 said:
Man now I'm kinda scared about this runaway thing.
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As long as you set them up correctly and keep a good eye on them for first week or 2 and you should be good. Also try and get your res at least three feet above your carrots more if you can, got mine 4-4 1/2 feet above my carrots plus the height of my water in the res.
 
lusidghost

lusidghost

Well-Known Member
Rufus T. Firefly said:
I will probably just run a bunch of tap water through the lines proceeded by giving the inside of the reservoir a hand feel if there is any slippery stuff.

There may not be, I'm just gonna get a feel for what needs to be done. I'm sure there is a difference between the need to clean a humidifier (legionnaires) and a Blumat so I'm not worried about it but at the same time I have no doubt that at some point in time it'll need to be done.
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Is breaking down and cleaning an irrigation setup during a grow a normal thing? I clean everything in between cycles unless there is some sort of cause for concern.
 
JustBlazin

JustBlazin

Well-Known Member
I bought the filters from sustainable village to filter out anything that comes out the res. I clean them usually between runs but have had to clean during a run due to a bunch of gunk in them. But I also have the 8mm quick connects on either end so I can turn water off unhook clean and hook back up without a hiccup, I purge the line after just to be safe. Could also take the whole res off the same way if I had too.
 
Rufus T. Firefly

Rufus T. Firefly

Well-Known Member
lusidghost said:
Is breaking down and cleaning an irrigation setup during a grow a normal thing? I clean everything in between cycles unless there is some sort of cause for concern.
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I have it set up where it wouldn’t be a big deal. Is it normal? Dunno, but I’m going to find out. Maybe it doesn’t need it…I don’t know lol
 
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