No snow here. Got the HFGH door fixed. All is well.

You mean yall got snow. My kids at school were begging for it and we didnt get any. Normally the top of AL gets snow but it pass below us and moved on out. I just check the weather and they say its 13 degrees F outside right now. Thats cold. I think that is the coldest so far. We might have had 14 degrees F a few weeks ago. We will be back into the 30s and 40s before long.

It's turned too cold here to snow at all, other than a few light dustings of snow so "dry" it blows away with the least puff of wind. We get heavy snowfalls at temps above 20 and last night it dropped down to -8, with a windchill factor of -20.

But when we have had heavy, wet snow, the fairly steep pitch and curved eave on my GH roof has always caused snow to slide off before it could accumulate enough to have the least impact on it. Every time I think of regretting the choice, as the curved eave makes working on the interior walls a bit of a challenge, I think of the pole barns that came down in the blizzard of 77, and again realize that in OUR climate, the design has a benefit beyond appearance.

Normally snow just slides off the pitch on the roof is so steep but last month we had freezing rain and after 1/4" of ice then we got 8 inches of snow and it was very wet and just laid on the ice.
I put a 18000 BTU kerosene heater in the GH and it only took about 20 minutes until we had an avalanche and everything came off the roof

You might want to leave the snow and ice on the roof at night, this can be used as insulation if the building can support it.

Also, by the quick melting and sliding, this data tells me that you have little insulation, your heat is going through the roof. A little bit always will, but the slower it takes the ice to melt, the more insulated your house is.

Just observation :-)

We got less than an inch and it all melted by 3 p.m. I don't worry about my greenhouse roof because my gh is a modified A-frame and the slope is steep. It was built in 1992 and then we had the southland's "snow storm of the century" in March 1993. I watched as snow built up on the glazing and when it got heavy enough it gently slipped down like a small avalanche, just as designed. Other greenhouses in my area with a standard pitched roof had roof collapse.

Hi
Well here's my sad story lol I have never gardened any where but zone 10 so have no experience with snow lol. It did fall to 35 on the third and my newly renovated GH failed to keep the air above 45 but on the other hand it did not overheat but not much of a test as it was overcast and windy the next day. Very unusual cold front.
Did give me a chance to evaluate various methods of temporary protection. I grow epi orchids au natural on a Carambola tree so protecting well is almost impossible.
The protection ranged from 60 min to 35 for 3 hours
Orchids in general are a lot tougher than people think .
But will have to wait to see what "stress " damage.
Have been consistantly back up into the low eighties again even with night time lows into the 70's So am glad once again I didn't enclose the whole structure .lol
Once again I protected all my plants rated at 60's by moving into the warm room so once again I learned nothing lol.
Okay, It's been a really tough "winter" never seem to get much sympathy though lol gary

Posted by orchiddude +7b ALabama (My Page) on Sun, Jan 20, 08 at 17:51

You might want to leave the snow and ice on the roof at night, this can be used as insulation if the building can support it.

Also, by the quick melting and sliding, this data tells me that you have little insulation, your heat is going through the roof. A little bit always will, but the slower it takes the ice to melt, the more insulated your house is.

Roof rafters were bowing from load. If I had not removed the snow the roof would hae failed.

Like I said in above post the snow was very wet meaning it was just barley freezing and it took very little heat to melt it.
The GH is twin poly with pool cover on the outside and Charley's bubble wrap on the inside.

With a 18000 btu heater in a Small 10x12 Gh the temp quickly soared past 100F. GH is empty
To expect that to not raise the temp of the roof a couple degrees is not realistic.
Even your home will not hold heat that well.

Thanks for the update gardenerwantabe, as Paul Harvey says, "now I know the rest of the story" lol

Posted by orchiddude +7b ALabama (My Page) on Mon, Jan 21, 08 at 8:17

Thanks for the update gardenerwantabe, as Paul Harvey says, "now I know the rest of the story" lol

NO Problem these HFGH are constructed from very light material they will not hold much more than what mine had on it.
1/4" of ice and 8" of wet snow would be a lot of weight.
These things are built very light I'm retired so I'm here to turn the heat on if it is needed but for someone who is working they may come home to a heap of metal.

Given the price that these sell for and with a few modifications they are a good deal for some of us but like I keep saying on here this is NOT the GH for everyone.

I don't agree with those who call it junk either because for me it does what one costing much more would do but if you live where you get a lot of snow and no one will be around or you can not sit it where it has a wind break then buy something else this is not going to make you happy

Orcharddude is right. Snow is an excellent insulator, as the native peoples of the far north can attest, but if a roof isn't strong enough to hold it, it really is best if it comes down before the roof does.

Actually, snow has never melted on my GH roof before the temps rose above freezing, but if it builds to about 2 inches deep, gravity moves it down and off and reminds me of why Alpine structures have such steep roofs.

Well looks we are going to get it again tomorrow morning. The ground is cold and he has been cold all day with a light wing. Present temp is 34.8 with the wind. Hope if does not close school as I sub tomorrow and wednesday and need the money UNTIL Sept 18 when SS kicks in. Sick Sat afternoon and had to hit the ER. Food piosoning they said, probably Virus, but boy was I sick.

1eyedJack and the DAwg