I dont want to bust your bubbles....LOL...but your greenhouse is always going to loose heat at night. Thats part of it unless you cover it up at night with a big think blanket.

well ya, but I would like to make it lose heat slower!

It was 30 degrees and snowing all day and it got to about 65, so that is nice.

I can't say as to how the stuff made for packaging would work but I have the bubble insulation from Charley's and I also have a Magni-Clear thermal blanket on the outside and it heats easy and the insulation still allows the sun light in. I really like it but can't say how many years it will last.

Scryn,

What kind of GH do you have?
Where in NY area you? I'm in WNY.
I'm impressed that you got your GH to 65, most I mine is getting is 10 degrees higher. Haven't done any weathersealing yet.

Sometimes I consider covering the GH with a blanket. Aw wouldn't that be cute - tucking it in to bed!
I'll be putting bubble wrap all around the inside of the greenhouse. It seems the widest bubble wrap you can get locally is 12" wide. I wanted to get 24" wide so it would be easier to put up. I got it at amazon pretty cheaply. Seems like 250 square feet is just about enough to cover the inside. I'm putting it up with green clips from charleysgreenhouse (whenever they get here).

"I have sealed off the door with a layer of heavy duty vinyl and my husband went around the entire greenhouse"
...How did you do this?

I want to block up all holes, too, but I'm not using caulk because I will be moving in about 1 or 2 years and will need to take it apart. I'm trying weatherstripping tape.

The water to hold passive heat is a good idea. The water will soak up some of that heat and let it out during the day. Try a larger barrell - maybe 55 gallons, along with a bunch of smaller ones, to distribute heat in many ways. I'm working on doing this too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bubble wrap @ amazon.com

HI! I am in Rochester.
My greenhouse is home attached, 6x8 and is directly southern facing. So, it may be a bit smaller than yours which is how it heats up quickly.

Ya, I just bought a roll of bubble wrap today to give it a try. They only have 12 inches wide really. they did have 24 inches wide but it was very bad looking, sorta deflated.

To seal off the door you need to visit joanns fabrics! Get some of those 40% coupons from the mail or newspaper. I bought sticky velcro and velcroed the area where I wanted to seal around the door. Then I used some heavy duty vinyl from Joanns (it is for table tops or something). You buy it in the upholstry section. Then we just put the other half of the velcro on that and stuck it to where we wanted. Then I just trimmed off the extra vinyl. HOpe that makes sense!
I bought a huge sticky zipper from home depot. It was in the paint section. Then I just stuck it on and now I can get in and out.

So I open the greenhouse door, quickly unzip the other door, jump in and close the door and then zip up! I did this because I could feel alot of air coming in around the door frame. It made a huge difference.

How are you heating your greenhouse?

No heat yet - not planning on using it until Feb
Lots of drama here in the forums over electric vs. propane.
Consensus is that I'll end up blowing up my backyard with my 25btu heater (too large).
My jury is leaning electric.

ya, i am not very happy about using electric but it seems to be the most suitable. I cannot run gas from the house and I don't want a huge tank next to my house and there happens to be a plug right where I need it, so electric seemed most suitable.
When we travel or if we have a power outage I bring the plants into the house. We have a window so I just go into the greenhouse and pass the plants to my husband through the window and he places them on the dining room table. that way I can go away and not worry about the temps in the greenhouse getting too hot or cold.
I have to say I was getting a little discouraged/worried as the weather is getting colder but i went and did some bubble wrapping last night and was looking at my orchids. All of them have new growth, ALOT of new growth and some even have spikes!! I used to grow inside on stands and never had this happen before. I move them outside for 6 months and they are loving it already! Kinda makes the extra money I spend on heating worth it. I also had one orchid flower like crazy that I have had for 4 years and never have seen flower.

Folks with a 6 x 8 GH you do not need a "huge tank" ! A 20 pound tank (like the ones on grills) will work for you. If you've insulated well you can probably run the heat for almost a week off a 20# tank of propane unless you have tropicals in which case you would need higher temps and gas more often.

The problem isn't in blowing up the backyard. The problem is in cooking your plants (and maybe the GH (LOL)) when you have such a tiny GH to work with. 6x8 is a very small space to heat. Store bought bubble wrap isn't the same as the GH type. It's much thinner and as you've already noticed the bubbles easily burst. Not so with the GH type. You simply won't get the same protection from that bubble wrap which is only meant to protect packages in shipping. You'll save money now but loose plants and spend more on heating in the long run.

MollyD in Canandaigua, NY

can you recommend a small propane heater that has a thermostat and starts by itself? That is what I would need. I haven't seen many small ones that self start. I just bought the bubble wrap to try it out. I may buy the greenhouse bubble wrap now that I have an idea of how I can attach it.

Almost a week on 20#? I guess I'm really well insulated; I average about a month in zone 5a on 30#. :)

Given that I'm well insulated, suggestions for the original poster:

* Insulate the heck out of your north walls, and optionally your east and west walls (not much winter sunlight comes through them). Use an aluminized insulation -- opaque, reflective, and thick. The reflective layer increases the chance of sunlight striking your plant leaves and helps trap IR.

* Your south side should optimally have 2-3 layers. More than that, and you're cutting your incoming light too much for little heating benefit. Less than two, and you'll lose heat to conduction too quickly. At least one of your south side layers should absorb IR effectively. Bubble wrap is polyethylene, and doesn't absorb IR worth a hoot, but your polycarbonate does.

* Extend insulation underground. It doesn't need to go straight down; it can go down a few inches and then start to angle outward. You're effectively walling off a block of warm soil.

As for your bubble wrap: It'll be extra layers, so that's good. I assume you have twinwall polycarbonate? Don't go too thick on the bubble wrap, or you might start ending up losing too much light (people, the word is "lose", not "loose". "Loose" means "not tight" (as in "loose pants")). A potential pitfall is that the bubble wrap is not designed for a greenhouse environment. While your polycarbonate will help protect it from UV (very important with PE like bubble wrap), the bubble wrap won't have any special coatings (like an anti-fogging coating).

Scryn,

I'm not aware of any really small heaters that self start. I have a 1500 watt electric that I run on low and a Mr. Heater Big Buddy which I also have set on low. I leave these on all the time. The electric one does shut itself off but the Big Buddy doesn't. The Big Buddy can take two tanks 20# giving 220 hrs on low. It gives 4,000K on low and 9,000K on Medium, 18,000K on High. It can also run 2 one pound cyclinders for 12 hrs on low in an emergency.
Different heaters use propane differently so everyone doesn't get the same results. Insulation is also a major factor in how well your GH retains heat.
How much heat you need also depends on what you will be growing in the GH.

MollyD

The buddy heaters that I looked at said they should not be run continuously. I am assuming because of carbon monoxide??

I grow orchids and other plants. So I like the night temp to be like 60 degrees. During the day my temps are very toasty. Today have been sunny and 20 - 30 degrees out so I bet my greenhouse will reach maybe 80-90. I have had it reach 110 and the plants were ok. I have all my vents closed for the winter. When I know it will be a nice sunny day I can vent the greenhouse heat to the house, which is nice.

Karenrei: What kind of heater do you have? I have already done most of the things you have suggested. My north wall is the side of my house so I am lucky that is already insulated!

Having your greenhouse border your house must be nice :) Mine's all out by its lonesome self because I'm a city dweller, and my south side is the front of my house. So it's up near my back fence, 70 feet or so from my back door :P

I have a Legacy brand 18k BTU radiant heater that I got on ebay for $95. Just filled up the tank today (last time I filled it was either late October or early November)

you don't have this heater do you??
it is being recalled
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/recalls04/2005/legacy.html

karen: my greenhouse is house attached, and north is the street. It's been the talk of the town for the last 6 months, and my neighbour is now doing the same thing :)

I've had random cars pull up and ask if I sell plants, or whether I'd be able to help them build their own greenhouse :)

(And it's a great spot to sit and watch the world go by :)

Check out http://www.mrheater.com/ follow the link for the Big Buddy over on the right hand side of the page. Nothing there about not running it continuously. Nothing in the manual either.

MollyD

Scryn:

Not sure. It could be; didn't even think to check for a recall. I'll check the manual when I get home.

(your link was a dead link, but I googled it and found a live link)

I used bubble wrap that I got off of ebay for the last two years. I used some cheap stencil adhesive from jo-ann's (coupon 40% off)to stick it on the ceiling of my single pane glass greenhouse. I do think it helped a loton the heating bills. but it finally got a lot of algae between the bubbles. I peeled it off and we installed wiggle wire channel on the aluminum frame of the greenhouse at each end and used wiggle wire to install clear 4 mil poly in there. we have about 2" dead air space between the poly and the glass due to the aluminum rib construction. We got some of those clips from Charley's greenhouse and tacked it down on all the other ribs. It's a lot clearer, so we're getting better light transmission. I've not been having any trouble heating to 40 degrees (for overwintering perennials and growing lettuce.) Its a single pane glass 1960's Janco greenhouse 10x20 attached to the house on the north side with a cheap electric radiant oil filled heater plugged into a farmtek thermostat. I can't believe that heater is heating it because last year, that heater would only heat it when the temps were around 20, and it's already been down to 10 at night a few times now. We put reflectix on the roof ridge vents. It cuts just a little bit of light, but I think it will make up for it in fuel savings. It's really clear.
I'm going to use this greenhouse for plug production in the spring.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:310905}}

Just a note: don't confuse how "clear" something looks with how much light it transmits. What people typically view as "clear" means it allows "direct radiation" to pass through well. What people view as "foggy" means it allows "diffuse radiation" to pass through well. Diffuse is actually better for plants than direct.

Transmittance should be measured scientifically, not guestimated by how clear something is.

Scryn:

I was just able to verify (it took until today because when I first called, they wanted my serial number, which I didn't have) that the heater I have isn't under the recall. It was apparently just a single batch of the heaters (those with serial number starting with I05) that have the defective gasket.

That is good, I am glad you double checked!

I am going to buy some insulation here soon. But I'm wondering which walls to cover. My GH faces west and backs up to the house so it does not get any AM sun. Do I cover the whole roof and the North wall or ? I found a site www.insulation4less.com seems affordable.

I would cover the north wall as so little light could get in from there anyway.

As to the roof, in my last gh I did cover about 1/3 to 1/2 of the roof, helped keep heat in during the winter and the suns angle is much lower then as well so I still got plenty of light over the winter.

I'm here in the Finger Lakes Region of NYS and am getting ready for my first HFGH (10x12)spring. Have an LP heater in and have just received my shipment of bubble wrap from Charley's.

My plan was to put the bubble wrap up in a horizontal plane beginning at the left of the door frame and go all around the inside of the greenhouse to the right door frame. I have my shelving hanging off of the wall studs so I thought that this would be easier and neater.

The other option is to put it up in the vertical plane. I have the hangers from Charley's, but for the life of me, I cannot make sense of the corner hangers for this bubble wrap.

Any ideas, comments and/or pictures of bubble wrap installation would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Joe

Here is a link that might be useful: My HFGH ready for spring

Did you get the bubble wrap from a hardware store? I never thought to look there! Which hardware store did you go too?

Sarahbarah,

The bubblewrap came from Charley's Greenhouse Supplies
at http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/

Joe

This has been a long running post and I am just wondering if all of you are still around or if some of you managed to blow yourselves up with all the gas. LOL

1eyedJack and the Dawg

19 here this morning

Call a local packaging store or Google for the nearest one to you. They charge less than half of what Charlie is getting for the same product. We got ours in Nashville, about 20 miles away for less than half of what Charlie charges. He really inflates the price because people don't know any better and are willing to pay it.

while i am learning alot from all the posts, my dh is getting me the 10 x 12 hfgh and i am very excited, now i am wondering if you can put some aluminum foil on the inside. somhow with your bubble wrapp (cuz i really like that idea) and have barels of water (out of the way?) and the foil where it won't mess up your bubble wrap. but i read on a thing where the foil acts as a heater type thing for the water and at night it keeps the gh warmer. and maybe the bubble wrap won't let it out so fast??? any idea's???

Posted by orchiddude +7b ALabama (My Page) on Mon, Dec 4, 06 at 18:48

I dont want to bust your bubbles....LOL...but your greenhouse is always going to loose heat at night. Thats part of it unless you cover it up at night with a big think blanket.

HEY Orchiddude where do you buy the blanket that can think..