Winter Greenhouse Heating Ideas

[EbS-P]

I've seen both yea and nay on the terra cotta heater.

I tend to be a skeptic.

What I don't buy is the terra cotta somehow makes tea candles heat a space any more than if you burned the candles without the terra cotta. A tea candle only produce a certain amount heat energy; putting it in terra cotta cannot increase its heat energy.

They don’t. You can put you hand on it and feel the heat. Radiant vs convective. They don’t break the laws of physics. They do sell more candles crisco and pots!

 

[Dan Freeman]

Have any of you read the Nearing's books on their greenhouses in VT and ME? They fed and sustained themselves with homebuilt, stone greenhouse structures.

The Book That Birthed the Back-to-the-Land Movement

How Scott and Helen Nearing's Living the Good Life shaped a generation.

downeast.com

I never heard of them! I skimmed the article quickly and bookmarked it to read later and look into the book. Thanks for that!

 

[begreen]

I never heard of them! I skimmed the article quickly and bookmarked it to read later and look into the book. Thanks for that!

I read them a long time ago, but they left a lasting impression. The Nearings are an amazing pioneering couple.

 

[RomanW]

This might be a bit random, but I just found these videos of a guy in Anchorage modelling heat loss through various foundation insulations techniques (At least thats how I'm understanding it). Very cool!!

 

[Dan Freeman]

I watched it, but I don't even know what I am watching. The only explanation he gives is "Temperature Profile with 4' wing insulation." I'm not even sure what that means.

 

[RomanW]

I watched it, but I don't even know what I am watching. The only explanation he gives is "Temperature Profile with 4' wing insulation." I'm not even sure what that means.

He's using computer modelling to simulate heat loss through the foundation. In that particular one, he's using a 4' swedish skirt like we were talking about with the greenhouses. The colours represent temperature in 10 degree F increments. Which is what the numbers represent 9 40/50/60, etc.) There is even a freezing point added (the blue dashed line between 30 and 40F).

It's cool to see how the insulation changes the temperature migration through the foundation and underlying soil.

 

[Dan Freeman]

OK, now I see it in the video. That is cool. Thanks for the explanation.