heating my greenhouse

Hi, I shall have my 10' x 8' greenhouse up soon and I would like to force some veg in it.
I have access to a lot of free wood and I am thinking of buying a woodburner stove to heat the greenhouse.
The question is, would a stove be the right kind of heat inside a green house. Or should I use a boiler and run pipes around the greenhouse or is it all a waste of money to grow veg.
Any help welcome.

 

hi, i am pretty much in the same situation as you, the difference being i am overwintering exotics. No type of greenhouse heating in my oppinion is cheap. I did try what you are suggesting, a friend of mine built me a small boiler to which i attached pipes, trouble was it got far too hot because i couldnt regulate it. i shall be bubble wrapping the interior of mine but still need a form of heating myself. Up to press its going to be an oil filled electric radiator with a thermostat although i dont know how much this will cost me overwinter, anyone any ideas??

 

hi June, did you try automatic vent openers?

 

I think parrafin is the usual way to heat one. Don't know how much that costs nowdays or if there are still any pumps around.

I heat my coldframes by digging them out & filling with fresh horse poo. 6 inch layer of soil over the top, warms the soil up lovely.

 

I am going to build 2 more raised beds this winter and start them off as hot beds in the new year.

I am just looking into solid fuel systems for the greenhouse.
My 5kw wood burner will stay alight for 8 hours glimmering like smoldering string. not a lot of heat like that but if I open it up you can,t stay in the room with it. so I am hoping I can build or buy something that will work ok

 

I'm with you, have a look at the Victorian Kitchen Garden series, sounds like you'll need a similar system to their piped heat from the boiler house rather than direct heat in the greenhouse.

 

The advantage in heating will be to bring things like Tomatoes on earlier in the spring.

There won't be enough sunlight for it to make much difference in midwinter.

 

Juneil5 - what are you overwintering?

I overwinter a few exotics, but in my case all they need is to be frost free. This is very very much cheaper that running a greenhouse at 5C or 10C overwinter.

You might want to have a look at this other thread on heating where I showed how much it cost me for an 8' x 10' summerhouse. http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/greenhouse-growing/37056-greenhouse-heaters.html

 

After checking out various options ,solid fuel ,bottled gas and electric ,I think best to stay with my electric plus bubble wrap the greenhouse ..I must admit I like a bit more heat than just frost free so cost will be somewhat more than Peters figures, lets hope for a mild winter .. But electric is an easier option than the rest and I already have the heaters ..

Dave

 

Hi, I did read your thread but did not want to hijack it with my questions.
It was very interesting. But I have a lot of free wood I can use if I get the system right. At the moment I am only planning on growing veg and not even sure which ones yet.

 

Trouble is Dave the cost of electricis going to rocket, I just stopped using electric heat in the house and put in a wood burner, my bill dropped by £750.00 a qtr during winter and this winter was colder than last so could have saved £1000.00 in 1 qtr. (scary stuff). I don't think the wife will be pleased if I burn 2kw an hour for some tomatoes.

 

Hi there Blacksmith ..
I admit to liking the idea of a cheaper method of heating my greenhouse, problem I see with the woodburner is how you keep that constance temperature .Maybe not such a problem growing veg but certainly exotics will not like temperatures going up and down ...Will you be able to control the temperature

Dave

 

I won't know till I try it. I certainly wouldn't risk a collection of exotic plants till I have worked it out. I can buy an old burner for about £100.00
and the rest is just time to play with it. I am a blacksmith so I can make any boilers or pipework myself. From my experience with the burner in the house as long as you use the same type of wood constantly you can keep a fairly constant low heat for up to 8 hours on 1 fill up

 

Would be interest to hear how you progress with your woodstove burner,please let use know once you up and running ..

Dave