GH Heaters: Sterling or Modine: which is best?
birdwidow
17 years ago
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chris_in_iowa
17 years agonathanhurst
17 years agoRelated Discussions
Modine Gas Furnace
Comments (6)OutDoor Jen, The more I think about your reply the more I am in agreement. When I recovered the GH I allowed the double poly to extend over the bottom clip down past the bottom board - thus covering any leakage from the bottom board. Which was probably enough to make it though each year. I seal up the exhaust vents to prevent heat leakage , but just sealled up one more place for fresh air to come in. Then created the make shift dryer vent. During the coldest part of our winter. It worked for a few days then - out went the pilot. So - the hose is not big enough and not allowing enough fresh air in. I have unsealed some the exhaust fans in back near heater. and will create a better vent - see linl below. The elbows in the pipe may help with my big concern of allowing air but not a draft of cold air that will force heater to run more. For those who may consider unvented heater - I now understand the NEED for a fresh air vent to feed the heater allowing proper combustion. Here is a link that might be useful: See vent pipe diagram...See MoreWorried about heating Rion GH for winter...
Comments (13)Hi All, Thanks for your response. Cactusfreak - where did you purchase your pool cover? I have been planning on getting one of those eventually. When I bought the greenhouse I thought it was much more insulated and a lot of people (including the distributor), told me it would be more than warm enough with two oil radiators. It sounded like I would need more heat than that, but I thought it would work out. I think what I will do for this winter is insulate the greenhouse like crazy, get a good heating system and hope for the best. I'll have to look up Pittsburgh's weather records as well for the winter. If it doesn't work I'll just use it as a cold frame. I will be growing a bunch of orchids in the greenhouse and a handful of 'annuals' including Fushia, hibiscus, mandavilla and more. Some of the orchids are probably the most sensitive to the cold....See MoreSeparated combustion GH heater?
Comments (1)I made a post a while ago about using a double walled flue for heat exchanging the exhaust with the inlet air. Whether you use this air for preheating the flame air, or for for extra heat for the room is a design question - either works well. These are often called 'condensing burners' and bring the efficiency of the heater from around 70% up to 90%. One disadvantage of venting your flue outside is you lose all that valuable CO2. If you vent inside there is little advantage to a condensing scheme (it may remove some combustion byproducts)....See Morewhats the best kind of heater for a greenhouse?
Comments (6)Only 1/2 joking - whichever type you can best afford to run. ;) Seriously, the cost of heating is the biggest expense to greenhouse gardening - a bit less for you than for me maybe - but still high. Plus what power sources do you have available? Gas or just electricity? Propane or natural gas? What is the price of kerosene in your neck of the woods? Kerosene is quite beneficial heat for a GH because of the CO2 but the cost of kerosene (what we used to use) is prohibitive here so we have converted to wood heat and water sumps for passive solar. Thermostatic control of the heat can be a middle of the night time saver AND a crop saver. For 30 feet in length then yes, unless you are going to partition/enclose various parts, I think you would need 2 sources with the GH divided into thirds and fan forced circulation of the heat is almost mandatory. Height of the heat source is also important - heat rises - so what is table height if using tables or ground level temps relevant to the heat source? Lastly , how much heat will be required all depends on what you plan to grow. For just seed starting a small enclosed space can be heated easily. But for established plants widely scattered throughout the GH, heating becomes more of a problem as cold pockets develop (lots of thermometers are needed). Be sure to also ask over on the GH forum here for even more tips and recommendations. Dave...See Morechris_in_iowa
17 years agonathanhurst
17 years agochris_in_iowa
17 years agonathanhurst
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17 years agonathanhurst
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17 years agochris_in_iowa
17 years agonathanhurst
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17 years agonathanhurst
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