Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HEY, I've been spinning my wheels lately in hopes to design a better misting system and a way better misting nozzle keeping the price as low as possible. I'm building a new rack with 10 tanks so a good system will be a key for me. I'm done with regular nozzles that are not adjustable, althouh they somewhat work, I want full adjustability. I'm sure many can benefit from this post.

Here are the key features I want my new misting system to have:

* Maintenance Free, via connectivity to my RO filter reservoir tank
* Modular design, easy to remove/add tanks & nozzles
* Ease of assembly/disassembly taking only seconds due to the type of fittings
* Price

So far the best and most impressive design I've seen is a nozzle assembly at www.vivaria.nl. Their nozzle assemblies cost $16EUR each! That's about $20 per unit. I'd need 20 of them, so that's $400 just in nozzles. It's painful to bare and out of the question.

Here is what I came up with and if you guys can find a better price on these parts post right away. In my opinion my nozzle assembly is better, cheaper and also fully adjustable. Check it out. I put the quoted prices that I got from a local distributor.

The above is based on the John Guest fittings that are used in food industry (RO filters/potable liquids, etc). These are super easy to connect and disconnect without the need of clamps or other tedious unreliable junk. These withstand pressure and are 100% water tight.

In the above picture I'm going to bypass the "double male stem connector" with a piece of tubing shaving off $2.43 from the price of the nozzle assembly.

So far from the local supplier I found this to cost $8.60 per nozzle assembly that will be fully adjustable and absolutely awesome. I know it's still pricy, but I brought the price from $400 to $172 on 20 units, which is not bad. I was hoping you guys could help me shave the price even more and at the same time together we could come up with a cheaper design that we all could use.

Get to work boys and girls! We got a mother of all misters to build !

...seriously though, your help will be much appreciated.

Marty

PS> This is also posted HERE

PS2> You can find the fittings on www.legris.com by entering the part number. You can also have it priced out through the website via your local distributor. Do it and compare to the prices, if you get something better then I did please post your prices.

PS3> There are also other fittings but I did not find a female elbow for those. I have about 5 more of pictures like above with other connectors. This one is the least complex and most appealing to me.

First let me say that it is good that you posted this. It is an unusual approach (as far as I am concerned).

Since you asked for cost reduction comments - here goes:

1. I wonder if it is necessary to have the bulkhead fitting (most expensive piece). Why not just snake the feed tube through your hole and then mount the rest of the fittings. Are you using the bulkhead as a threaded mounting point for the rest of the assembly?

I would consider snaking the tube through a small hole and then caulking/Goop'ing the perimeter of the hole (to make it water-tight). Once dried you could flex the rest of the connector as you wish.

I'm preparing to plumb 35 tanks with a misting system so I'm interested in following where this leads.

I'm currently looking at nozzles to find the lowest flow & lowest cost delta possible. I'll be up to 50-60 tanks soon and the per nozzle cost starts to add up.

Thanks,
Dartz

I also am about to set up a few tanks on a misting system and like the idea of adjustable misters. I would think that the bulk head would be a must so that you would have a nice stable entrance into the tank. If you use sealant it will become lose of pulled away due to movement from adjusting the misters (or so I would imagine). Not sure how to get the cost down but just wanted to share my .02 on the bulk.

TonyT

I though about getting rid of the bulkhead and just driling a tight hole for the tube, but the bulkhead is a beauty if for some reason you want to take the tank off. disconnecting of the tank is a breaze. Plus it will be very nicely and profesh. finished with the bulkhead. Stable base point from previous post is also very valid.

check this out for some other approach.

I think the idea is OK, might be hard to simplify it without loosing adjustability... getting the fittings at a discount might be the key. If you work at a plastic inection place manufacturing John Guest fittings, let me know hehehe