Poultry House Controller: Fans, Pads and the Sprinkler Call
- The poultry house controller reads temperature and humidity. The power box beside it switches the fans, the pad pump and the sprinkler.
- Pads cool the air coming in and raise house humidity. A sprinkler wets the bird. The two calls are not the same stage.
- Weifang Splendid fits the controller, the cabinet and the sprinkler unit to the fan and pad layout already on the house.
The instrument does not cool the house by itself. It takes the sensor average, compares it with the curve loaded for that bird age, and closes a relay. The cabinet next to it is what actually starts a fan, a heater, the pad pump or the sprinkler main. Without that pair, a setpoint on a screen does not move air.
What the two boxes do
The controller holds the age curve, the stage gaps and the alarm limits. Temperature sensors and a humidity sensor feed it. More than one temperature point is normal, so one hot spot by a door does not run the whole house. The reading that matters is at bird level, not on the ceiling. Humidity tells the controller whether adding water will still help. Above roughly 70% relative humidity a bird already struggles to lose heat by panting, which is why a pad call and a sprinkler call are gated on both numbers, not on temperature alone.
The power box holds the breakers and contactors. Fan stages, the cooling-pad pump, the sprinkler unit and the heater each take a channel. The controller output is a signal. The cabinet is the switch that can carry the motor current. A quote that lists only the instrument leaves the contactors, and the house still cannot start a 1.1 kW fan from a circuit board.
The order of the calls
Below the curve the controller runs minimum ventilation on a timer, often a five-minute cycle, so moisture and gas leave without dragging the house cold. As the house rises through the curve it adds transition fans, still through sidewall or ceiling inlets, not yet tunnel. Tunnel starts when those fans can no longer hold bird comfort. Only after air speed is already on does the cooling call make sense. University of Georgia work treats air speed as the main summer cooling, with pads as the next step, not the first.
| Call | What it does |
|---|---|
| Minimum | Timer fans at or below the curve. Moisture and gas out. |
| Transition | More fans, inlets still open. Temperature, not tunnel speed. |
| Tunnel | Air speed over the birds. Pads and sprinkler wait for this. |
| Pad pump | Cools incoming air. Raises house humidity. |
| Sprinkler | Wets the bird. House air stays closer to outside humidity. |
| Heater | Below the curve in brood. Separate channel on the cabinet. |
Pad or sprinkler
A cooling pad drops the temperature of air entering the tunnel and loads that air with moisture. In dry heat that trade is worth it. In air that is already humid, the same pad can push the house past 70% relative humidity and leave the bird less able to pant off heat, even though the thermometer looks better. Extension guidance from the University of Georgia is to keep pad setpoints from running too low, and not to run pads into the night, because the house then holds humidity after the temperature has fallen.
A sprinkler does the other job. Coarse droplets land on the bird and evaporate off the feather. The house air temperature falls only a little. Humidity stays nearer the outside air, so panting still works. University of Arkansas trials on tunnel broiler houses found sprinkler houses using on the order of two-thirds less cooling water than pad-only houses, with litter moisture no worse. That figure is from those flocks, not a rating on our unit. The sprinkler belongs on a hot, dry afternoon, after tunnel air is already moving. It is a poor call in a shut house or in wet weather, where the droplet has nowhere to go.
Many houses keep both. The controller can bring the sprinkler in first and hold the pad for the hotter step, which is the pattern Arkansas and Georgia work describes: sprinkler for the early rise, pad setpoint higher so the house does not sit wet all afternoon. Weifang Splendid supplies the pad, the fans and the sprinkler unit. The curve and the gaps are loaded for the flock, not printed as one number for every farm.
What to send
House length and width, fan count and size, pad or no pad, bird and climate, and whether the sprinkler is wanted on the same cabinet. Weifang Splendid marks the controller channels and the power box from that list.
FAQ
What does the poultry house controller connect to?
Temperature and humidity sensors in. Fan stages, pad pump, sprinkler and heater out, through the power box.
When does the sprinkler run?
In hot, dry weather, after tunnel fans are already moving air. It wets the bird. It does not replace air speed.
Pad or sprinkler if the air is humid?
Neither helps once the house is already near 70% relative humidity. Air speed first. Water second, and only while the air can still take it.
What should I send for a controller list?
House size, fan count, pad or not, bird, climate, and whether a sprinkler shares the cabinet.
Send fan count and whether you want the sprinkler.
House size, pad or not, bird, climate.
Related reading
Cooling-water comparison: University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, FSA1068. Pad setpoint notes: University of Georgia poultry ventilation resources.