Greenhouses and heaters/ light dep

Baylife · Jan 30, 2014

What's up everyone...I'm fixing my gh to start up this years light dep. I will be waiting till it warms up a tad at night but will still be needing to heat the interior of the structure during the cold nights. So to start off, the dimensions of the structure are 50 ft long by 25 ft wide by about 18 feet high at its highest central point. Last year I used about 5 basic propane heaters and placed them spread out on the floor. While I am not sure of the total btu's lets just say it didn't work out that well.

So in conclusion I was wondering if any fellow farmers have any success stories (or failures with a lesson) to share regarding heating huge greenhouses. Also if anyone is a light dep hip farmer and has some successful ways to dep huge greenhouses without resorting to electronic or other more expensive options.

ftwendy · Jan 30, 2014

Just thinking out loud... but what about a fan blowing the cold air over a car radiator that is heated with water from a large reservoir? The same diy chiller setup @woodsmaneh uses, but instead of cooling the water in the reservoir you would heat it. Maybe a good potbelly stove with a rigged up heat exchanger/copper coil that's being fed from the reservoir by a recirculating pump? Water would go from the res to the stove for heat, then to the radiator to heat the air, then back to the reservoir. Seems like it would work if you could dial in the temp of the reservoir.... might just be simpler to use an electric aquarium heater instead of the stove. Or the propane.

Whatever you do, find a way to store the heat you produce in a large quantity of water and you will get more bang for your buck. It's all about thermal mass.

If ttystick were around he would start his pitch now :)

Baylife · Jan 30, 2014

Did you really tag your internet friends like this is instagram? I cant see you getting any pussy with that attitude my man.

edit...wendy you may not be a dude so my apologize... but regardless its rather douchy to highjack somebody's thread in the manner in which you did. You should grow more weed so you aren't so bitter.

ftwendy · Jan 30, 2014

The @ symbol is a way of notifying users that they are being discussed in a thread. I was giving woods a chance see we were discussing his chiller setup, which would invite him to share his thoughts about the design. So you could get some help.

Pussy? Bro.... grow up.

Best of luck @Baylife

geologic · Jan 30, 2014

No good deed--
goes unpunished...

Seamaiden · Jan 30, 2014

Baylife said:
Did you really tag your internet friends like this is instagram? I cant see you getting any pussy with that attitude my man.

edit...wendy you may not be a dude so my apologize... but regardless its rather douchy to highjack somebody's thread in the manner in which you did. You should grow more weed so you aren't so bitter.

Did you really just take the piss with someone who tried to help you? You won't last long here with that attitude. I hope you're picking up what I'm putting down.

PButter · Jan 30, 2014

Couldn't agree more with FtWendy. Use water for heat.

ftwendy · Jan 30, 2014

Bay apologized in pm this morning. It's all good and forgotten now.

He wants to use forced air, garage ceiling -type heaters... I get it: simple and effective. No need to reinvent the wheel, since he's only got to manage low 30's at night. They should work just fine for him.

Still, I was thinking more about this and had the idea to run a few hot water heaters plumbed in series. Just like a geothermal heat setup in some houses, where one tank heats the water and the others are dummy storage tanks (or backups if things fail). System would run like this: water is heated in the live/heated tank, gets pumped into the next tank(s) for storage before it makes its way through a fan/radiator combo to heat the air, then the water is pumped back into the live tank for reheating again. The number of tanks and fan/rad combos could be scaled up to meet the needs of the space. *Also might want to add an electric hot water heater as one of the dummies just in case propane runs out.

So, no diy stove/exchanger setup, just propane hot water heaters and a few fan/radiator combos spread around the greenhouse. Add some heat strips to the beds, maybe a water wall or black rain barrels on the southern exposure... stylin. Heck, you could also use some of the hot water for a circuit of radiant heat plumbing buried in the beds instead of the electric heat strips.

In a perfect version of what I've imagined you could water cool co2 gens and store the heat for use at night time... or find a way to harvest the co2 from the propane burned by the water heater for use during the day.

Dunge · Jan 30, 2014

I'm inclined to give you a second chance. Things I think I have learned:
Double wall greenhouses hold heat much better than single layer.
Maybe a temporary plastic liner would help.
I made a light dep setup almost work one summer.
Blacked out the north side of the space with black plastic and set up a clamshell like black plastic tent that rose from the south edge of the space to join the north side.
What I learned is that two layers of black plastic are needed to make it dark enough.
It was automated with a garage door opener and single timer / relay electronics. (see post from about three years ago for pictures)

grayarea · Jan 30, 2014

Dunge said:
I made a light dep setup almost work one summer.

Thats pretty much the feeling i get from every light dep and most indoor grows. light dep is hard to dial in if your a control freak.

Baylife · Jan 30, 2014

It was a huge misunderstanding and I thank @ftwendy for accepting my apology and moving on.

and I was thinking of purchasing: http://www.h-mac.com/modine-hd60.ht...odine_d_HD60&gclid=CPzivqrFpbwCFeYWMgodrCkA8g and finding some way to route the air around around the whole greenhouse...maybe ducting.

PButter · Jan 30, 2014

If this is going to be a one time thing- great! If longer term/ will use for two years or more or even just the rest of your life, do look into using water.

Seamaiden · Jan 31, 2014

I think you should also go through the threads Nomads Landing have put up. They're off-grid and in a rather harsh environment, and they show a lot of the hows and such.

Link for you -- @Nomads Landing -- go check out their threads.

bckwht · Jan 31, 2014

at 4:50 ish she starts explaining the idea I have been considering for a veggie greenhouse

midwestdensies · Jan 31, 2014

Glad everyone is off to a better start. Interesting thread minus the <>. I myself would love dep in the future. Best of luck

caregiverken · Jan 31, 2014

I've had a few successful light deps
And I've a couple that weren't so good
I can't get myself to spend the big money on breathable blackout material
So I'm going with plastic again
In the past I used two layers of cheap 6ml It works but it can tear and I had to cover everything twice
This year I found some really heavy 10 ml it's thick
Covering the smaller hoop houses with it is super easy and only takes a couple min

Covering big hoop houses is to hard
Covering a whole green house would take motors
I had to make a small hoop house inside my greenhouse :p just so I could cover it

Well that post probably wasn't much help though
Good luck Bay
I'm stoned and on my phone in a parking lot waiting on a woman

grayarea · Feb 1, 2014

caregiverken said:
I can't get myself to spend the big money on breathable blackout material

Wonder how long that stuff lasts for . Ive been tempted to get a full setup from the forever flowering people a few times but have only heard bad things about them falling apart and being hard to maintain.

caregiverken · Feb 1, 2014

grayarea said:
Wonder how long that stuff lasts for . Ive been tempted to get a full setup from the forever flowering people a few times but have only heard bad things about them falling apart and being hard to maintain.

I dont know how long it lasts...But Im surte it would last at least a few years for the price
The Forever flower set up is wayyy to expensive!
The Arm bar thingy that attaches to the ground and pulls the tarp over is the part thats good
@Seamaiden had a name for that bar thingy..I cant remember where I read her post
Hopfully she know what im talking about and will chime in...cause I need to look those up again.

anyway, you could copy FF setup for alot cheaper than buying it..

Seamaiden · Feb 1, 2014

Aw, shit... it was something someone else posted, Ken. I don't think I bookmarked it, either.

caregiverken · Feb 1, 2014

im growing outside with out heat right now..
But its going to get down to freezing next week (was 33 last night)
Im going to try one of these buryed in the bed

Greenhouses and heaters/ light dep

Greenhouses and heaters/ light dep

Baylife

ftwendy

Baylife

ftwendy

geologic

Old Pharmer

Seamaiden

Living dead girl

PButter

RUN!!!

ftwendy

Dunge

grayarea

Baylife

PButter

RUN!!!

Seamaiden

Living dead girl

bckwht

midwestdensies

caregiverken

Fear Not!

grayarea

caregiverken

Fear Not!

Seamaiden

Living dead girl

caregiverken

Fear Not!

Greenhouses and heaters/ light dep

Greenhouses and heaters/ light dep

Baylife

ftwendy

Baylife

ftwendy

geologic

Old Pharmer

Seamaiden

Living dead girl

PButter

RUN!!!

ftwendy

Dunge

grayarea

Baylife

PButter

RUN!!!

Seamaiden

Living dead girl

bckwht

midwestdensies

caregiverken

Fear Not!

grayarea

caregiverken

Fear Not!

Seamaiden

Living dead girl

caregiverken

Fear Not!

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