How Do You Heat Your Greenhouse?

[ninnymary]

Haha, I already know the look he will give me. It will kind of say, "Have you lost your marbles?"

Mary

 

[jackb]

Haha, I already know the look he will give me. It will kind of say, "Have you lost your marbles?"

Mary

In San Francisco! Everyone will want one!

 

[Circle-M-Farm]

@digitS' The fuel is kerosene and is does uses electric. The heater plugs into a thermostat, the thermostat then plugs into the wall and then the thermostat controls the electric to the heater.

The heater pumps the kerosene through a nozzle (kind of like a fuel injector) then the kerosene is sprayed across a sparkplug where it is ignited and the a fan plows the heat from the flame out the front.

The heater looks like this one --


The thermostat looks like this --


Here is a link to one running with the top off.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...AF68D4E2F5ED248E5490AF68D4E2F5ED2&FORM=VRDGAR

 

[jackb]

The long range weather forecast calls for very moderate temperatures into the middle of next week. The night temperatures are forecast to be above 35 degrees F, so I thought this would be an ideal time to test the thermo cube and my fan forced electric greenhouse heater, which I have used very little in all of the years that I have had it.
Today I placed a number of plants in the greenhouse, intending to leave them there as long as the weather permits. Considering that I did not close the greenhouse until the first of January, opening it in early March is astounding, even if only for a short period. The grow lights will get a rest, while the plants enjoy the greenhouse conditions. As there will be some overcast days included in the forecast, I made a temporary installation of LED grow lights for supplemental lighting. The lights are operated remotely from the house, only being turned on when necessary.

 

[Nyboy]

I moved my potted fig trees outside, fingers crossed spring is here.

 

[Smart Red]

Beautiful, jackb! Good luck, Nyboy.

 

[Smart Red]

Heat has always been more of a problem for me in the greenhouse than cold has been. I like your set up, jackb. I hope it works and you tell us all about it.

 

[jackb]

@Smart Red wrote: Heat has always been more of a problem for me in the greenhouse than cold has been.
Red, as you can see in the photo there is a deck behind the greenhouse, so it is a simple matter to place a shade cloth over it when required. I use a telescoping aluminum pole to drop a 45% poly shade cloth on the greenhouse if necessary. It is so easy to do I take it on and off at will.

It is off to a good start, as the outside temperature is now 36 F and the greenhouse temperature is 42 F, so the first night went well.
jackb

 

[Smart Red]

Worked on my Red-necked green house again today. Keep changing -- or rather -- adding support for the plastic. Need a wind-less day to get the plastic started. . . . once I figure out how.

 

[digitS']

@Smart Red , here is some of what I posted right about this time, 6 years ago on temperatures:

"... the weather has been real nice lately. It was 30°f outdoors at 7:30am with a lovely blue sky. With no furnace on, it was 36° inside the greenhouse.

Last night, I closed things down about 4pm when I brought the seedlings in. Outdoors, the temperature was over 50° and the temperature in the greenhouse was nearly 80° Fifteen hours later, the temperature had fallen - a lot."

That was my greenhouse before I had begun running the furnace overnight. A couple weeks later, I had the hoop house set up. It isn't as securely built as yours but might retain heat about as well:

"... this morning at 7:30am it was 33° outdoors. In the hoop house (1 layer, 6 mil plastic) the temperature was 36°."

Steve