Thinking about a Rion?

Yes mine is a Rion and I will say this in the greenhouse's defense. I did not cover it with the protective cover they sent but yes it came with two vents and they worked good but still with them open and the doors open it got really hot in there. I would suggest with any greenhouse to put a vent fan of some sort to keep it cool. Here in Alabama when the temperature gets in the high nineties just think what it is inside.

Did you follow up with the company about the warranty?

Yep, you *must* have a fan to remove the heated air in the greenhouse (especially in warmer zones), and replace it with fresh air from the outside. The shade cloth (again in warmer zones) is also a *must*. Beyond that, circulation fans and some sort of evaporative cooling system may be required.

Sounds like the problem wasn't with the Rion's design and materials. Rather, it was "pilot error". =)

Nah just laziness I guess. I am using it now to start my tomatoes. I did not follow up on the guarantee because I guess sense it was some my fault. Knowing now what I know I would go with aluminum or wood here where I live. I did not do a lot of research like you are doing. Some advise don't hang anything on the frame.

I was just funnin' with ya, Whitewidower. =)

It's a bummer you had the problem. And, I agree about hanging on the frame, but I've hung baskets from the "hooks" before, with no ill-effects. I also have my drip line running along the frame, but it weighs hardly anything, even pressurized.

Cheers,
Eggs

My DH is so smart, he took all the parts and sorted them out in the plastic buckets I've collected to use for shelving bases (cheaper than concrete blocks and can be filled with water in the winter.) I'm getting excited, one box sorted and double checked, 2 to go. March 1 is my seed starting date here in MO, so I've got pots everywhere waiting to go.

And, perfect weather for putting it up! =)

He kept saying he was sorry he hadn't put it up yet, but I kept saying to wait for warmer weather. I think he agreed to buy it just to get all these pots and jugs out of the house, lol. We will have a much neater kitchen and bedroom in the springtime next year. Potting soil makes a mess on the kitchen floor and clogs up the drain in the sink if I spill.

Well, it is 4:00 in the afternoon, and it is about 3/4 finished. A good friend with skills in putting things together came over, bless his heart. All the sides are finished except the doors, it is bolted to the concrete, and they are putting the panels in the roof. Our friend is really tall, so he can stick his head out of the top to help line things up properly. If the weather holds, they will finish tomorrow. It is so pretty, I may move out there.

When you put your Rion's together, did it come with foam weather stripping? We are a bit confused about how to install it around the panels. Can anyone explain it?

It wasn't foam, it was solid rubber. There was a small size for the poly panels, and a larger size for the doors.

That's the most tedious part of assembling the GH. You should have received a tool with the kit. If I recall, it's an L shaped piece of metal on a wood handle. You use that to gently push the stripping into the grooves around the windows. It takes forever too, but necessary, or you'll have windows blowing out on windy days. I'm going to apply clear caulking also this spring to insure they stay put.

DH has the rear vent window in now, and the doors put together, getting close! We discovered one side of the hinge on the roof vent is cracked. I checked with RION, it is on backorder, but I will be getting a new one someday.

I found the rubber stuff. When you say push it into the grove around the windows: is it supposed to be partly inside , part outside? I've looked on their website but just can't find a picture that lets me see how it goes on. My brain is pretty thick sometimes, I'm just not getting this part.

Note the orientation of the weatherstripping (it's a profile view). Note the double ridge. It goes next to the poly panel. The wooden end of the tool will aid in pushing the rubber all the way in.

I found it easiest to simply start at one end of the panel, and while pressing firmly, run the tool the length of the panel. It slid right in place.

HTH

Do you work from the inside or the outside?

outside

Tks, I'll look at it again when it quits raining.

Okay, I'm please as punch with RION. My new window came already today, no questions asked other than my address. Five days from my first email, and I have the replacement. Amazing customer service, amazing.

Eggs, when you have a few minutes, could you take pics of the vent window brackets that keep the vent open? We are having trouble with them and the directions give a pic the size of a dime from a block away. I'm sure I'm doing them right, but it keeps popping off. Thank you so much for the help you've given. I've put some of my seedlings in there, and plan to do more this week. Happy happy happy!

The roof vents? They came as a complete unit that dropped in place of a piece of roof glazing.

If you mean some other vent, then I probably don't have it. *shrug*

The only other louvres I have installed are a set that I purchased elsewhere. It's possible that your GH came with different accessories than mine did. When I was hunting for one, I found several different "deals", on the GH-46 alone.

If badseed's lurking, she may have the same vents as you. =)

edited to ask:

Do you mean the handles that push up on either side of the roof vent? Slotted down one side, to hold the vent open? (wondering if I've completely misunderstood, which is most likely =) )

This message was edited Mar 16, 2009 6:59 PM

Thanks Eggs, I think I've figured it out, just need someone a little stronger to push the parts together. Our roof vent dropped right in, but the arms that hold it open are different from what the picture showed when I ordered. Probably saved them a nickel to make it out of plastic instead of metal.

hah, sorry for the moment of denseness =)

hey, I'm so tired from being outside all day, I wouldn't notice denseness if it hit me in the head. Thanks anyway.

Mine are plastic. You have to give them a little push to click into the slot. I have the automatic window openers, but never installed them. I also use bungie (sp) cords to keep them in place when open. We get some heavy winds here and I don't want a window vent to get damaged. A lesson learned from a previous GH that took off for Oz.

DH and I have already talked about reinforcing the hinge on the vent windows, it seems to be the weakest thing in the whole kit. Hubby was able to get the push in thingy all the way in so now the latches are working. Pictures coming today...

My left door blew off again last week. DH found it, but the hinge is gone. Called the Rion people on Friday and a new hinge arrived yesterday. I really don't like the door setup. Gravity always causes the upper pin to slide down causing the left door to become unstable in the wind. I've tried sticking things in the slider to keep the pin up, but gravity always wins. Back to R&D.

Pastime, with our Rion we use a simple-minded system whereby we have a metal rod sunk in the ground right behind the open door and a hollow pipe just in front of it. When we want to keep the doors open we drop a metal rod into the hollow pipe in front of the door and that keeps it from moving in the wind. It works well for us.

All I can do is use cap stones because my GH is on an old 60' cement cow paddock. Thanks for the tip though. The wind actually caused the door to rattle so much that it knocked over two heavy capstones on the inside and two on the outside before it went flying through the air. I can't believe how light the doors are. I wish they were sliders instead.

Sliders do have their own drawbacks. I wonder if you could use the kind of weight that holds down patio umbrellas? What a drag!

I use a bag of potting soil, it doesn't slide like the bricks do.

It's a killer moving those stones every time I want to get in. I think I will send hubby on an R&D project. Instead of using a bag of potting soil, how about a sand bag with a rope handle so I won't have to lean over to move the weight? It would have to be made water proof though. Wet sand would be really heavy. It would be flexible enough to snuggle up to the doors. The stones always leave a gap and the doors rattle in the wind. No wonder they want to build 130+, 400' wind turbines near our house! Won't that be special! NOT!

Hi Folks I've been following your discussion about your Rions, almost like eavesdroppping. Hope you get all your problems sorted out. That must be hard to cope with having the doors not fitting properly and panels coming out.

I purchased a 6 x 10 EcoGrow from Rion last summer and put it together by myself (helpless female) All but lifting the roof on. Scrounged neighbours and son-in-law for that. I am mostly happy with it but there are a few problems or rather short comings that I have found. For one, the rubber gasket that fits around the door doesn't fit into the groove in the frame and seal up tightly, and the door bows out at the bottom requiring a brick to seal up the bottom 12" and hold it tight. this may not be a problem in your climate but in the north where the temps are regularly below zero any air infiltration at night causes the heater to work overtime. $$$

My model did not come with an automatic vent opener and I'm wishing that I had one now as I have to keep my eye on the weather constantly and manually adjust accordingly.

I found the service to be fine as there was a corner upright cracked and it was replaced promptly and that was crossing the border too. I also cracked two pieces that hold the roof panels in and that was replaced as well.

I guess my biggest complaint is that 6mil and 4mil polycarbonate is not substantial enough for the northern climate (Alberta, Canada) and has to be fortified with additional plastic. I don't know how the rion will stand up to our high summer heat yet so that remains to be seen. I don't consider this Rion's fault.

I have lots of seedling in there now dealing with the temperature fluctuations quite well. It's wonderful to go in and feel the warmth and the smell of green things after such a cold prolonged winter. I may feel differently after I get my next power bill.

One other thing that I never did figure out was the difference in the height of the side walls. I noticed it before the roof went on, only a fraction of an inch difference in the height when they were in place. I didn't think anything of it at the time but we had trouble getting the roof to sit down and the holes line up for the pins to go in. We had to force it down. I don't know if this was a difference in the polycarb. size or if the bottom rails had a different height causing some of the panels to go higher??? Any ways it's together and functioning fairly well.

I don't know if any of this is of any value or interest but that has been my Rion experience thus far. I'm enjoying mine, hope all your problems are few and plants are many.

Albertarosey

Welcome! I hope you will hang around so I can pick your brain about winterizing. We are having a freak cold streak and the heater had to go in quickly. I know we have areas that need to be caulked and probably will have to add plastic or something for winter because I want to use it year round. Did you wrap the plastic on the outside? How do you secure it?

Thanks! Cathy4

Hi Cathy Yes, I wrapped some construction plastic around the outside taping it to the frame work with hockey tape. Very mickey mouse but it has supplied a buffer from the wind and cold. I will go up and stretch some more plastic over the top in sections if it ever stops snowing. That should help considerably. With the design of the Rion and the frame components standing out from the polycarb it gives almost a 2" area of dead air on the outside which is as good as another layer of insulation, I think. The top is where the heat loss is the greatest though and that is where the polycarb is the least thick so I have to do that a.s.a.p.

Sorry, is MO standing for Montana? Dumb Canuck here.

I am disappointed with the manual handles for the upper vent window as I would like another catch in the handles so the window could be opened just a little (1"-2") to help vent out some of the humidity. As it is, it's either closed or open 8"-10" and that lets in tooo much cold air. I now close one side tight and put a short piece of round pipe insulation over the window frame to hold the other side open a little. This is helping quite a bit. I'm glad there is a bit of flexibility in the plastic frame work. An auto opener would sure help, I think.

This is a steep learning curve for me as I have only had the gh in operation for 2 weeks . I haven't cooked or frozen the plants yet............touch wood.

How is the weather there? We got another dump of snow last night - freezing during the night and warming up above freezing during the day.

Have yourself a great day. I'll be back here later as this is a great site for me.

Albertarosey

Hi everyone. I think the Rion is very similar to the Easy2build one I got at Costco. The rubber gasket skips in well with one of those roller tools that you would use to repair a screendoor. Also, if your side panels are out a few inches and you had followed the instructions with specific panel placement, your base frame is probably not level. You may be able to even it up with sand.

Wrapping the outside with plastic or bubblewrap for extra insulation: Check you info on your greenhouse specs. Most kits have a UV protective coating on one side of the panels - outside. If you wrap plastic on the outside, you may risk damaging the coating.

Good point joanna, i'll have to check that. MO is Missouri, but last light it could have been Montana. I just came in and everything looked okay. I did have water come in around the upper vent window, but we knew that it needed some work, thinking we had until next fall to get everything caulked, and such.

I agree about the vent, it is sort of all or nothing. I'm going to check at the hardware store, they had small openers that we used to prop open our storm windows with, I'm going to see about adding one of them to the window, it should hold it open just a bit if that's what I need, and make the window a bit sturdier in the wind. I've installed the auto opener, but the cold came in so quick the other day, I just unhooked it and locked the vent shut, then taped plastic bubble wrap over the opening for good measure. The little heater kept it at 50º and my most tender plants made it okay. Thank goodness, I have more than 100 tomato plants going great and most already have homes. The sun is out today warming everything up, but predictions are for 32º again tonight.

I've ordered another vent window and auto vent opener, hopefully I won't have to run in and out of the house quite so often since some days I'm not able to get out much. But I'm loving being inside it when it is coat weather outside and 80 inside.

Hi Joanna Fancy meeting you here :)

I took great pains last year to build a level base (I built it on a new cement pad that was very level and the local volunteer fire dept - 9 big strapping men came on their practise night and lifted it into place like it was a feather, It was quite the sight with them all in turnout gear trudging down the lane way) The base is 4 x 6 on 2 x 12 bolted to death. Anyways I know the base is level. The problem, I think, is with the components of the gh that get attached to the base. They are a semicircle (flat side down) that have a groove in the top that the panels fit into. I don't think the grooves were the same depth causing some panels to sit a bit higher than its neighbour.

I had no problem installing the rubber gasket its the door gasket that doesn't line up with the groove in the frame and the door is so flimsy that it bends out at the bottom.

How, do you think that plastic would damage the UV coating? The plastic is not touching the panels.

I looked up bubble wrap on the net and it is very expensive costing almost $400 to cover the inside. Did you find a better deal somewhere and if so where????

I am really enjoying the gh but wishing the weather in Alberta would settle down. What a joy to go in the gh and sniff.

have a wonderful day......Albertarosey

This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 11:07 PM

I'm also tossing around the idea of styrofoam panels for at least the north side. My brother had a big kitchen window that froze every winter, formed ice on the inside. He took a sheet of styrofoam, cut it to size, put duct tape around the edges to keep it from shredding, and popped it right up against the window (with a little pull tab of tape for removal.) It still let some light through, and no more ice. It was easy to put up and remove and very light. I'm wondering if I could cut panels to fit each of the sections and pop them in and out as needed since our weather is so whacked.

I bought a roll of 1" bubble bubble wrap from Lion's Shipping Supplies for $47. CDN$. I used less than the 250 feet to do a 12 X 8 gh. I'm certain the bubble wrapped saved my plants when we had that cold snap a few weeks ago. I undo one section with the auto-open roof vent for the sunny days.

This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 8:21 PM

Hi Cathy That sounds like a good idea. It would sure help with the heat loss. I'm amazed at how fast the gh cools down when the sun gets low or goes behind a cloud. What kind of tomatoes are you growing? I'm stunned at the varieties available. I have good old 'beef steak' growing.....makes my mouth water just thinking of a juicy ripe one.

Joanna Thanks so much for your information. The bubble wrap I priced out was way too pricey but I can afford the wrap at Lions and will pick some up the next time I'm in Calgary. You are very generous with your knowledge, thanks again.

Albertarosey