North Zone

Equipment only. No planting. The 13-foot north wall is shared with the house's bar and sunroom. This is the control room — where the ESP32 controller, intake vent, and house door live.

Equipment Only

Does not count toward the launch active-control crop total.

Current Control Crops

No planting positions and no occupied north-zone crop records.

Control Role

Intake, heating, water, and controller infrastructure shape the greenhouse but do not define crop target bands.

North wall service core with heater, intake vent, copper irrigation manifold, stainless sink, water heater, and utility pump — The north zone is the service core: intake air, heat, water, irrigation, and house-side thermal coupling.

Irrigation valve manifold closeup with copper piping and solenoid assemblies

North wall overview, equipment zone with the house door, vent intake, and mechanical systems

Climate Profile

Metric	Value	Context
Temperature	Buffered by house. Warm afternoon (93°F+ peak PM).	House thermal mass stores heat, releases in afternoon
Overnight	~68°F floor without heaters	House heat leaks through shared wall
Humidity	Variable	Intake vent introduces outdoor air here
Light	Lowest natural light (north-facing)	Behind the peaked roof ridge

The 2 PM Anomaly

On March 25, the north zone hit 93.6°F at 2 PM — hotter than the south zone’s 85.2°F at that hour. The south zone had already peaked and was cooling via exhaust fans. The north zone, buffered by the house’s thermal mass and far from the fans, retained its heat longer. This means average temperature overstates the stress in growing zones and understates it in the equipment zone.

Physical Layout

Feature	Details
House door	Interior door to bar/sunroom. Always closed. Passive thermal bridge.
Intake vent	24”×24” (4 sq ft opening). Mechanical actuator with screen. pcf_out_2 pin 5.
ESP32 controller	Kincony KC868-E16P board. Network address withheld.
Relay panels	PCF8574 I/O expanders → SSR-25DA solid-state relays
Camera	Internal visual monitoring. Model withheld.

Airflow Role

The north wall is the air intake side of the greenhouse’s airflow path:

North (intake vent + house door) 
  → Center (fog machine) 
    → South (exhaust fans)

When the economiser gate determines outdoor enthalpy is lower than indoor (cooler and/or drier outside), the vent opens to pull in free cooling. When the vent is closed, the house door still allows passive heat exchange through the shared wall.

Shelves

No shelves

No shelves defined for this zone.

Equipment

vent (Intake Vent)

Kind: vent; Model: Mechanical actuator; Watts: 10W; Cost/hr: USD 0.001

Water Systems

No water systems

No water systems in this zone.

Current Plantings

No active crops

No active crops in this zone.

Sensors

climate.north

Kind: climate_probe; Protocol: modbus_rtu; Model: Tzone RS485 (SHT3X); Addr: configured

Note: The CO₂ sensor and lux sensor (not in the per-zone DB list above — they route through shared greenhouse entities) are positioned in/near the north zone, reading greenhouse-average rather than zone-specific values.

Thermal Buffer Value

The house connection is the greenhouse’s most valuable passive climate control feature:

Scenario	Effect
Cold winter night (20°F outdoor)	House leaks heat → greenhouse stays ~68°F floor without heaters on moderate nights
Moderate spring night (45°F)	No heaters needed at all — house heat maintains setpoint
Hot summer day (95°F)	Minimal effect — house AC doesn’t reach greenhouse meaningfully
The north wall acts as a thermal flywheel, damping temperature swings. Combined with the concrete slab’s heat storage, this gives the greenhouse surprisingly good overnight thermal retention.

→ See Heating systems for the staged heating strategy. → See Cooling and ventilation for the intake vent and economiser. → See All Zones

Zone Profile

North Zone

Slug north; status active.

Back wall, shared with house

Sensor Modbus addr 2.

—

Recorded/known peak temperature.

Active crop records. Position scheme: —.

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