Bayliss Automatic Autovent Greenhouse Window Opener x 2

Working well but I installed them on a hot day so needed to adjust later.

caution, this auto vent is too large to fit in a Halls popular Greenhouse. The only way this would work is you have to drill new screw holes and even then its bulky

I was fitting these to a second hand Halls Supreme, and expected the holes from the catch to line up with what I needed for these. They didn't, and they weren't the right size holes either. But I started with one of the old central holes, widened it to fit the new bolt, and put it on with only one bolt. This gave me a good fighting chance of establishing a second hole on both the cill bar and the window frame. I drilled these new holes firstly with a small bit as a guide hole, and then the bit commensurate with the diameter of the bolt. That all went well, the only tricky bit was the dexterity needed to locate the window nuts on their bolts, but I got better at that! The whole job is made much more difficult by being mainly above head height, so anything you can do alleviate this the better.I found that separating both the cylinders from the brackets straight off and putting them in the fridge as directed was the best way to go. The spring on the brackets are VERY assertive, and dealing with them when I needed to open the bracket up was challenge enough, without concern for the cylinders. Unclipping and reclipping them is much easier than I was expecting.... I think the instructions would be wise to reflect that better.For neatness I trimmed the superfluous bits of the fitting black plastic pads on both the window and the cill bar side. Refitted the glass (cue memories of David Warner's untimely end in the Omen!!!), and refitting the cylinders after pushing the bolt in as directed, and on a hot day one went off straight away and was six inches open, the other was a bit lazier. I was convinced I'd damaged the cylinder, and started sourcing a replacement, but it now is fine. Can't explain that. Not terribly convinced that I have adjusted them all as per instructions, but they open and close magically!So excellent quality, great value for the two, but a bit of skill and guile needed to fit it to a fairly standard Halls greenhouse. More to the point my wife, the gardener is delighted, and is wondering what to do with the time she will save! I was always concerned about the rather pathetic window catches as supplied on the Halls, and had visions of her walking into one and having an eye accident, so I was delighted to get rid of them.

I have bought 4 of these (2 each for 2 aluminium framed greenhouses). They fitted onto my greenhouse windows easily following the instructions (I took the cylinder out to put it in the fridge before fitting). The vents are opening and closing themselves with the outside temperature, so I no longer need to remember to do this myself and they also save me from having to find a willing neighbour to do it if I go away at all. The mechanism doesn't prodrude into the greenhouse so you don't bang your head on it. Fairly expensive (I bought mine in pairs, which was slightly cheaper) but for me it has been money well spent, provided they continue to work for a number of years.

These window openers do not feel as strong as the ones I am replacing, the old one have been in my greenhouse for over 15 years. The connectors are plastic now but do feel strong, I found that assembling the connectors first then sliding on to the frame work was the best way to attach them, They are working well at the moment time will tell if the last as long as the old ones

All simple and easy apart from the fixing holes did not lign up with those in the greenhouse. Had to drill holes in the greenhouse frame the same pitch as those on the opener. Nor hard but slightly annoying. Probably my fault for not checking but just assumed they were all the same.

We inherited a Red Cedar greenhouse when we bought our current house 20 years ago which came with Baylis automatic vent openers. I don’t know how old they were but obviously more than 20 years so I thought I would buy the same ones as originally fitted. The originals had “Made in England” on them and I note the new ones don’t have any country of origin on them but I found them easy to fit and they work well so no complaints. They have only been on a week so far but if they last as long as the ones they are replacing I will be very happy.

Thought when first received it looked a little flimsy and could possibly struggle to lift the window, but It was straightforward to install with little more than a screwdriver required.It was an overcast day but was pleasantly surprised that after approximately 15 minutes we noticed the window very slowly and effortlessly beginning to open, something it has done every day since...!We had 2 and it was exactly the same result fitting the second.To me It may have looked a little 'under engineered' but it is obviously a cleverly designed little piece that uses physics to do it's job very well and I would definitely buy again when it comes to replace the next opener..