Outside picture

The coal stove

We catch rain water in a 300 gallon plastic drum and the water is gravity Fed into the greenhouse where we have a 15 ft garden hose to water everything no electricity needed.

Water from rain drum is piped underground through 1 inch well pump hose then up into the greenhouse...

Some. Plants

Raised bed

More pics

Stove

Very nice. How did you like working with the polycarbonate on the roof ?

I used corrugated polycarbnate and I purchased. the special weather striping. for it also I used an all weather silicone to give it a double seal I fastened. All of it with self tapping screws with rubber washers...I want to make sure there were no leaks...but I still had a couple...had to silicone from the inside...the greenhouse was supposed. To be all glass bit I broke a couple and to replace is very costly...I could build another one I have the basic concept...thanks for looking it was a lot of work

very cool mike..have u monitored the temp in the greenhouse..??like how long will a full stove of coal/wood
last? putting out how much heat.. do u use any fans to distribute the heat throughout the greenhouse??
i dont think i can use a stove thats not "primary heating source" here in utah.:( but ive done the calculating on what my greenhouse will cost me during the winter .. nov-march
sigh..$$$$.. so always lookin for alternative ideas..

Yes I have a indoor outdoor wireless temp gauge...I live in Pennsylvania it is Nov 7 3:39am and currently 28 degrees outside and 62 in the greenhouse I fell asleep tonight after I put coal in the stove at 10:00 pm I put a half of a 5 gallon bucket of coal in I usually get up between 3 and 4am put the other half in that last well into the morning then the sun takes over for the day gets around 80 degrees all day when the sun sets in the evening the cold comes on quick...if I am home in the evening I will burn wood untill I go to bed...so I only get up once through the note for 20 min then back in bed...now I have rocks piled all around my stove even more then in the pic u need thermal mass..my stove could completely burn out and still heat for 2 hours

If its 18 or 28 degrees out it doesn't seem to get colder in the greenhouse what I mean is it stays between 60 and 70 at night when the stove is going or has the thermal mass heated...I wanted to add some photos of my veggies growing in my greenhouse I will post tomorrow ....and also..my greenhouse is single pane glass on the sides and single layer polycarbonate so I don't have much for insulation but it is totally sealed ...that is very important no nitetime airleaks so in conclusion. Its not bad getting up once in the nite.but to answer you're question if I filled it with coal it could burn 7 hours solid...the stove is 3.5ft deep 2.5ft wide 4 ft tall the stove is in the center of the greenhouse because of the rocks around the stove it helps to heat even

Nice job Mike.

I'm curious though about the outside water storage tank. I assume you drain that for the winter and start it again the next spring. I wouldn't think you could flow water from it all winter.

Steve

Hey steve...i think I 'going to drain it... But it is december 3rd and it stll didnt freeze so I still use it...i wonder if the cold water will effect the plants in a bad way ....thanks we added alot more big stones around the stove

Makes sense. I've seen GHs with the water storage tank in the GH itself. That way the water stays warmer and provides some thermal mass, however it does take up precious GH floor space.

is most of your underground hose from the tank to the green house below your local frost line? If not I would think the line would be likely to freeze solid if you still have water in it.

Iheat my 20 x 20ft hoop greenhouse with an Alaska coal stove, self feeding, 1 bucket will keep it at least 45-50 degrees at night. Thinking of putting a water heat exchanger inside stove to sendhot water to an open 250gal tub which might be more efficent , have you any experience with this? a welsh skippack ,pa

No, no need to do that if you know how to utilize the solar energy to its fullest. See why you need a proactive solar greenhouse