Like that! How cool are the waters there in Dec compared to now?...On the coast in Or, around Coos Bay, North Bend area it's not very warm, of course the summer temps there are around 70 average (from there originally), if not raining! Now here in NE OH we've been having some very nice hot, humid days and the creek feels very good!

I wouldn't assume stainless steel sink. You don't like the cast iron cause of chipping and staining, but how do you feel about water marks, scratching and dull haze which are par-for-the-course for stainless. Have you considered Blanco Silgranit? IMHO, Silgranit is the greatest thing (as far as sinks are concerned) since sliced bread. No chipping, scratching or staining, can stand temps up to 536 degrees, They come in undermount or drop-in styles, and some of the sinks Blanco categorizes as undermount can also be installed as a drop-in (you have to check the website specs). What size sink are you looking for? If you want the "cool contemporary" look, get a single-bowl rectangular Silgranit sink in the anthracite (black) color. Not only does it not show any stains or grime, but the black is way-cool. Silgranit is also offered in White and Biscuit and several other colors if you don't want black. We chose the Silgranit Super Single in anthracite, and sometimes I have to remind myself to clean it, cause it always looks great. The sink will also fit just about anything.

Arthur, I hope I'm not beeing presumptuous in posting this but I took your comment to mean that you are encouraging orchid growers to post how they grow phals. I'm no expert orchid-wise for sure but most of mine (21) are phals that are doing great with my indoor set up for 3 years and bloom every year. They are all NOIDS. My plantroom is a bedroom and the door is kept closed. In winter a heater keeps the room at 75F daytime. I turn it off at night and temp goes down to 68F which is my home thermostat setting. Summer is more challenging. The heater is not used because temp goes up to about 80-85F and the room stays warmer because of south facing windows. In the fall, when outside night temps stay in the 60s, I leave the windows open all night so the plants can get that 10-15 degree temp drop for blooming. Humidity is kept at an ambient 50-75% with the aid of a humidifier. Light in the room is provided by several banks of T5 fluorescents (half of them are warm & half cool) because I also have several other plants in the room that require more intense light. I plan to replace those with (??? Haven't decided) as they die out. The phals are in an area of the room that gets about 1500 FC (per my light meter). There are potted in bark with a small amount of spagnum added in plastic pots with several extra holes drilled on the sides. I have to replace the bark yearly and am thinking about switching to 1/2"-1" lava with some spagnum added in after the plants are done blooming. I water them about every 6 days and mist them almost every morning (sometimes I forget!). A ceiling fan runs 24/day. I seriously considered building a greenhouse and moving them outside along with my collection of ferns but this area's temperatures would require both heating and cooling devices - that on top of the cost of the building. Too cost prohibitive. Besides, I decided that if it ain't broke don't fix it. Lol. My carnivorous plant collection on the other hand is loving Florida weather! Anyway, this set up, born out of necessity living in the north USA until a year ago, works well for me. I hope this narrative will help others who are considering growing these plants indoors. I plan on trying a few paphs as money allows in the same way.

Hairmetal4ever, some of the information that has been the most useful to me in designing the SHCS for my relatively small planned greenhouse has come from people in the UK where the climate is definitely different from where I live in southern Arizona. My husband and I are just finishing digging the subterranean section and hope to finish that and start on the greenhouse structure this spring. Therefore, my responses to your questions are not based on personal knowledge. Much of what I understand has come from the following sites: http://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/how-build-solar-greenhouse http://www.sunnyjohn.com/indexpages/shcs_faq.htm http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1607983/subterranean-heating-cooling-system http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1613384/subterranean-heating-cooling-system-continued?n=29 1. Hex2006 explained to me on one of the threads on this site how running the system at night using ouside air in the summer could cool down the underground storage space to increase the cooling capacity during the summer. This is essentially adding a means to take cool night air in underground and also exhausting it outside to drop some of the accumulated stored heat. During the day the air would come from inside the greenhouse and also exhaust into the greenhouse. 2. Definitely backup systems are a good idea. 3. One of the responses I read related to this was where the SHCS system was run in conjunction to the supplemental heat. There was a comment to the effect that it was cheaper to heat from a few degrees below freezing than from several degrees below freezing. Also, using the system to cool during sunny winter days helps recharge the system for the cold winter nights. 4. My understanding is that the temperature differential is affected by the number of greenhouse air changes per hour. This is controlled by fan speed and tube capacity. 5. The size of the system is related to the volume of the greenhouse. I will have to look up the ratio. Usually the system is under the greenhouse but my system will include some space outside the greenhouse.