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Heating a greenhouse
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Posted by ykerzner 9 TX (My Page) on Fri, Oct 30, 09 at 10:24
| What is the best way to heat a greenhouse without coal or natural gas, and what model heater would anyone recommend? I use a greenhouse that's attached to an old university building, with the gas turned off due to leaks. Are space heaters an option, and if so, which types are best? The greenhouse is about 32 feet long and 18 feet wide. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Heating a greenhouse
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| Have you thought of trying to use solar to heat it. You can make a solar panel to gather heat from the sun. I used a garden hose that is wound across a sheet of plywood painted dark forest green or black. Wrap the plywood with 2x4 and cover with plexiglass. Insulate the bottom and cover with something. Use a submursible pump and pull water from a 55 gal drum. Pass the fluid through a radiator and let it drain back into the 55 gal drum. Let me know how it goes lol try it before you make it permanant. Use space heaters for heat at night if it gets too cold. Dont use antifreeze in the water or when it spills you have something that can kill everything you wanted to keep warm. |
RE: Heating a greenhouse
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| Mikee, I'm trying to build on the idea you posted. Thoughts: First, use an old water heater to retain the water. Use a timer to turn on a pump that will circulate water through hosing as you describe during the hours when the sun is shining bright. Another pump, also running on a timer, would circulate the water from the heater through small radiators - similar to the radiator heaters found in cars, during the night. It would be an enhancement to have the night-time pump also controlled by a thermostat so if the water temperature being circulated drops below the determined temp, the pump shuts off. Dreams! Mike |
RE: Heating a greenhouse
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| Thanks for the ideas, Mikee, except that the greenhouse receives nearly no direct sunlight in the winter, and my budget is too small to purchase the parts you mention. |
RE: Heating a greenhouse
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| Certainly then your budget is too small to purchase a heating unit. The solar collector can be detached from the greenhouse, the hoses insulated, and the free solar heat can do better than free air. Dan |
RE: Heating a greenhouse
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| You'd do better with a grow light in a heated indoor location then. Much cheaper to run light than to heat a greenhouse. |
RE: Heating a greenhouse
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| Quick question. I use christmas lights the few cooler months of the year here on my fruit trees. Could I do this in my Hoop house to keep things warm? |
RE: Heating a greenhouse
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| What are you growing? How many nights per season do you need to heat? I'm on the edge of zone 7a/7b and I heat about 30-40 nights over an average winter. Most things will withstand a cool greenhouse as long as it stays above freezing. I can't imagine you having many nights when you need heat in zone 9. How would space heaters be an option if the gas is turned off? Do you mean electric space heaters? |
RE: Heating a greenhouse
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| I have used a simple small electric heater bought at a garage sale for $7 to heat my 120sq. ft. greenhouse (8ft. x 15ft.). On our coldest night last winter, it got down to 26F outside and inside the greenhouse, it only got down to 40F. That night, I left the thermostat setting on medium. If I had put it on high, the temp probably would not have dropped below 46 or 47F. I forgot what the wattage is, but the whole heater is only about a foot long x 6 inches wide x about 8 inches tall. And that little one heated my whole greenhouse just fine last winter, with no insulation other than the two layers of 6mil contractors plastic covering the frame! John |
RE: Heating a greenhouse
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- Posted by kudzu9 Zone 8b, WA (My Page) on
Sun, Nov 15, 09 at 17:40
coconut_palm-
I use the same type of electric heater to warm my 150 sq. ft. GH. Most of those heaters are about 1500 watts. I got mine new for about $50 and it has a thermostat and a high (1500W) and low (750W) setting. I can maintain my GH at about 40F on just the low setting here in Zone 8. The only problem is that you have to have a decent circuit to plug into. A standard 15 amp circuit can only handle about 1800W before the breaker trips, so it's best not to have other things operating on the same circuit. |
RE: Heating a greenhouse
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| What are you trying to grow in this greenhouse without any direct sunlight? The only plants I can think of that can do this would be leafy greens (spinach, lettuce, mache, etc.) However, these are also the plants that don't need a lot of heat, in fact, just the opposite! These plants would flourish without nighttime heat and would be quite healthy! If you are looking for more heat-loving (fruiting) plants, they would require direct sunlight. |
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