Winter Greenhouse Heating Ideas

[RomanW]

I had a barrel strap heater that I could switch to on cloudy days or longer cloudy periods to keep the water warm.

How much power did they require? Would you be able to run this off a small solar grid?

 

[Dan Freeman]

How much power did they require? Would you be able to run this off a small solar grid?

I had it hooked up to a regular outlet. Not sure how much power it drew.

Since it is only used during periods of no sun, your small solar grid would have to be able to have battery storage.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I remember watching this video a few years ago. If I remember correctly, he ran the thermal heating tubes all over his property, not just under the greenhouse. To get the length of tubing he has buried as deep as he did, you would pay a lot for the excavation and tubing, but what a great greenhouse!

Yeah, I remember he went out a ways, but he’s trying to grow citrus, lol. I imagine you could get by with a lot less if you only wanted to warm it enough to grow kale.

I imagine you could rent a mini excavator and do the digging yourself. We’d only have to dig 4 feet or so down here. Do they have trenchers that go down that far? That’d probably be faster as the trench only has to be wide enough to drop in hose.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Yeah, I remember he went out a ways, but he’s trying to grow citrus, lol. I imagine you could get by with a lot less if you only wanted to warm it enough to grow kale.

I imagine you could rent a mini excavator and do the digging yourself. We’d only have to dig 4 feet or so down here. Do they have trenchers that go down that far? That’d probably be faster as the trench only has to be wide enough to drop in hose.

He buried 7, 8" tubes, 8feet deep and 90 feet in length from what I can tell in the section where he talks about them.

 

[EbS-P]

Solar power and cheap thermal storage and good enough insulation.
Any green houses dug in to a south facing hill? A berm

This is what I would do adding appropriate thermal storage and solar panels for my location.

How To Build an Earth-Sheltered Greenhouse – Mother Earth News

Step-by-step building instructions for a passive solar greenhouse.

www.motherearthnews.com

 

[Dan Freeman]

I think that is the nicest earth sheltered greenhouse I have ever seen. Most of them look like they were built by underground hobbits. No aesthetic appeal at all!

 

[Dan Freeman]

I just read online that Russ Finch's greenhouse (that greenhouse in Nebraska growing oranges with the extensive underground piping network mentioned above with video) collapsed under the estimated weight of 195,000 pounds of snow on the morning of December 15th, during a blizzard.

Greenhouse in the Snow

Greenhouse in the Snow located in Alliance, Nebraska using geo-thermal energy to grow plants all year round!

greenhouseinthesnow.com

 

[RomanW]

I just read online that Russ Finch's greenhouse (that greenhouse in Nebraska growing oranges with the extensive underground piping network mentioned above with video) collapsed under the estimated weight of 195,000 pounds of snow on the morning of December 15th, during a blizzard.

Greenhouse in the Snow

Greenhouse in the Snow located in Alliance, Nebraska using geo-thermal energy to grow plants all year round!

greenhouseinthesnow.com

With that weight, I'd collapse too!

 

[EbS-P]

I just read online that Russ Finch's greenhouse (that greenhouse in Nebraska growing oranges with the extensive underground piping network mentioned above with video) collapsed under the estimated weight of 195,000 pounds of snow on the morning of December 15th, during a blizzard.

Greenhouse in the Snow

Greenhouse in the Snow located in Alliance, Nebraska using geo-thermal energy to grow plants all year round!

greenhouseinthesnow.com

Growing on up the plains I remember a blizzard so bad our 2 axel 8x8 tractors could not get through the drifts. To get my aunt to town a cat dozer was found and it could not push through some of it so it used the blade to to dig it out backwards.

I’d doesn’t take much now if you have 65 mph+ winds and NOTHING to slow them down for the one thing in its way to pile drifts 10 feet high.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I just read online that Russ Finch's greenhouse (that greenhouse in Nebraska growing oranges with the extensive underground piping network mentioned above with video) collapsed under the estimated weight of 195,000 pounds of snow on the morning of December 15th, during a blizzard.

Greenhouse in the Snow

Greenhouse in the Snow located in Alliance, Nebraska using geo-thermal energy to grow plants all year round!

greenhouseinthesnow.com

That’s a shame. He must be 90 years old. That’s a literal dream crusher. He proved his theories in my mind.

 

[begreen]

A well-managed compost system can be used for winter greenhouse heat. There are a variety of methods to extract the heat from simple proximity to plumbed systems.

Compost Power! - Cornell Small Farms

Any farmer is well aware that a large heap of fresh manure, livestock bedding and other organic farm residuals will generate substantial heat for several

smallfarms.cornell.edu

Using Compost As A Heat Source: Can You Warm A Greenhouse With Compost

What if you could use compost as a heat source? Can you warm a greenhouse with compost, for instance? Yes, heating a greenhouse with compost is a possibility, and using compost in greenhouses as a heat source has been around awhile. Learn more here.

www.gardeningknowhow.com

 

[RomanW]

A well-managed compost system can be used for winter greenhouse heat.

That's brilliant. Especially since the inside of the pile can get pretty hot..

 

[Dan Freeman]

If you have loads of compost, this will work. You need a lot of compost to heat a greenhouse of any size other than a very small greenhouse, and you need a lot of material "in the wings" for when the pile of compost stops cooking and loses its temp.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Solar Greenhouse Design 101

Excellent video from Ceres Greenhouse. They also have some other good videos at https://www.youtube.com/@CeresGreenhouseSolutions

 

[EbS-P]

If you have loads of compost, this will work. You need a lot of compost to heat a greenhouse of any size other than a very small greenhouse, and you need a lot of material "in the wings" for when the pile of compost stops cooking and loses its temp.

Any one have pond or pool that doesn’t freeze solid? We don’t need tropical heat just enough for the really cold nights. We run the pool pump during the freezing weather. Stays about 50-55F.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Any one have pond or pool that doesn’t freeze solid? We don’t need tropical heat just enough for the really cold nights. We run the pool pump during the freezing weather. Stays about 50-55F.

Creative! How would you set that up?

I am planning a 425-gallon pond in my new greenhouse (my old, raised pond). If that is not enough, I will replace it with a 600-gallon pond that takes up the same footprint.

Here is a picture of my 425-gallon pond.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Drum Role please....

Today we made the purchase of the Hoklartherm Riga XL 6: 14'W x 19'L x 10'H. We decided to do it now while we could get it for $13,720 when most websites are selling it for the MSRP of $15,999 or more. Some are discounting 10% to $14,399, but we were able to save another $679+.

It will arrive in about 10 days. We will have to store it until after all our seedlings are transplanted outside this Spring, which means mid to late May. As mentioned before, then we can dismantle the old and build the new.

If you are not familiar with our old greenhouse, it is a Sunshine Greenhouse Mt Rainier Model 8x16 made from cedar and thin double-wall polycarbonate.



Now, there is no turning back.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Nice! I can’t wait to see the new one up!

 

[Stove Cricket]

Maybe you could make a couple of cold frames out of old materials. Cold frames might come in handy sometime.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Maybe you could make a couple of cold frames out of old materials. Cold frames might come in handy sometime.

I was thinking of saving some of the panels for just that purpose.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Just got word that the greenhouse is shipping out of Texas today. The projected delivery date is next Tuesday, January 31.

Spent a good amount of time today researching Phase Change Material (PCM) and its use in the greenhouse. It takes up the least space of all thermal gain/heat sinks and holds more heat than water. I am looking more closely at it as a replacement to black barrels filled with water.

Phase change materials (PCMs) are substances which absorb or release large amounts of so-called 'latent' heat when they go through a change in their physical state, i.e. from solid to liquid and vice versa.

I remember reading about PCM a few years back, but it wasn't available to John Q. Public back then.

Here is a link that explains the technology: https://insolcorp.com/services/

Here is a link to the product: https://insolcorppcm.com/products/templok-pcm-tile

Each tile contains 400 BTU of thermal storage.

 

[Dan Freeman]

I actually wrote the above post a few hours ago, but forgot to hit "Post Reply". I just came back and it was still here.

Well, anyway, in the past hour, I decided to go ahead and order a case of the phase change material to test in my present greenhouse. The box is 9 tiles for a total of 36 square feet. I took advantage of their 10% off, so the box cost $157.50 instead of $175. Using it for a while in my old greenhouse will help me decide if I want to order more tiles for my new greenhouse.

 

[EbS-P]

I actually wrote the above post a few hours ago, but forgot to hit "Post Reply". I just came back and it was still here.

Well, anyway, in the past hour, I decided to go ahead and order a case of the phase change material to test in my present greenhouse. The box is 9 tiles for a total of 36 square feet. I took advantage of their 10% off, so the box cost $157.50 instead of $175. Using it for a while in my old greenhouse will help me decide if I want to order more tiles for my new greenhouse.

What temp did you go with,

 

[Dan Freeman]

What temp did you go with,

65 F

 

[Stove Cricket]

When 100*C steam changes to 100*C condensate it gives up 2142 btu’s per 1000 g’s. …the original phase change energy transport material - unless the definition is expanded to include wood as an energy transport material with phase change to high temperature plasma, lol.

For comparison, do you know the mass of the 400 btu tiles? Couldn’t find the mass on the web page?