by Nacho
My idea for a windowfarm
8:16 am in energy consumption, environmental impact, Getting Started, posts with pitcures!, Projects in Process, questions, Seeking Advice by Nacho
So, as a rebel wannabe and annoying being that I am, I came up with a model for my future windowfarm.
The main objective of this model is to avoid the use a pump as I don’t want to use the money I’ll save from buying veggies to pay more in the electric bill 
I got my inspiration from Lousie (http://our.windowfarms.org/2011/03/06/testing-a-waterclock-dripper-system-based-on-brians-plans/) a great idea to keep the tank pressure constant (hence the dropping frequency constant) is to use a float valve, but as I said, I don’t want to waste a cent, so I came up with a float valve of my own, using a bottlenose with a ping-pong ball inside, it should keep the water from falling into the secondary tank (this part may be tricky but I wont buy that float valve)
The other part of my idea is that I don’t like things hanging, it makes me feel everything is going to fall apart and I want my plant to be safe, so I decided to make shelves for the bottles, but they’re hard to make, so I thought that, If I cut off the bottom of the bottles and fold the plastic outwards, and then cut a piece of the folding so a twisted wire can go around the bottle, then the bottle itself will be its own shelf. And taking things further, If I make the same (maybe adding something instead of folding the plastic) with the net pots then I can take off every bottle with their plants without having to dismount everything YAY!! modularity FTW!!
But I’m not sure things will work out, I’m new with this, the last time I ever planted something was a carrot in primary school and I think it died, so I leave here some schematic I made with my crazy mspaint skills, so you can visualize things as I do and maybe give me some feedback on this.
PS: I don’t mind moving the water up when the tanks are empty, it’s nice to have some activity around the plants other than killing them 
PS2: The whole idea is based on reducing costs, materials and work (I just can’t understand how the airlift thingy works)
PS3: I’m sorry if I’ve butchered English :O
PS4: THANK YOU!!
Well, I gotta tell ya buddy, the first thing you’re going to need is a pump. The beauty of these systems is you can just step back and watch it work. You can’t dump water in it all day; that is just silly. Try that and go from there.
Hi, Nacho, I am not sure the dripper will work that long with the growth solutions that are used in windowfarms. I think the drop regulator will gum up or slow down because algae starts to grow in places like the regulator. I did another one called the clock based dripper tracker. BUT clocks are very weak. Just enough strength to move the hands around. in most of the ones I tried. There is one “clock” that might be quite strong. Dial electrical timers!
If you go to the link http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Solar_tracking and go down to the 4th image, and concentrate on the right hand side of it, it shows a clock with a string attached to a tube. Just use one of those cheap dial electrical timers instead of a clock . If you can attach an airline tube to it with string, then that should provide a reliable drip. I have an instructable about it and video too and it comes up in google search. Neither the instructable or the video is of good quality but it might help. Best of luck with your project
Brian
Nacho,
Your English is great!
It looks like your ping-pong ball idea is similar to an automobile carburetor. It looks like it would work just fine, but may be a bit difficult to build. But that’s never stopped me from trying anything.
As long as you don’t mind refilling the upper reservoir, which it seems you don’t, it should be fine. Curious to see how your “Carb” turns out. post pics.
Is your “drop regulator thingy” is that going to be a garden drip regulator? 1/2 gallon per hour or 1/4 gallon per hour regulator?
Also, in your picture you have the bottom tank at the same level as your lower planters. If you don’t raise the planters the water won’t drain from them once the pressure is equalized.