greenhouse heaters

morning all

Can anybody tell me which is the cheapest way of heating my greenhouse on a night? i know summers coming but just wondered. i dont want to go down the paraffin route though.



Thanks and have a great day


Willow

 

Willow, if you are talking of frost free rather than a hothouse, I would say electrical heating was the way.

I have a 10' by 8' summerhouse and a small greenhouse where I overwinter tender plants. Two years ago the cost of heating both was less than £5 for the winter. However the last two winters have been much colder and the cost has been a lot more. I wrote about it in a thread here. http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/heating-cost-t10796.html?t=10796&highlight=greenhouse+heating

The details are in the thread, but in summary I had an electrical heater, a seperate thermostat and a power consumption meter (to tell me how much power it was using). What I like about electricity it that it is completely automatic and you can go away for two weeks knowing that it will be working for you.

As long as the temperature setting is very low (ie frost free) the conveniance comes down in favour of electricity. However if you want to keep a greenhouse at a much higher temperature, I suspect that it would be very expensive.

 

hi

thanks both of you. electric is the way i'll go i think. its only to keep it frost free. to peter the link is very good,thankyou.

Willow

 

I don't know about heating a greenhouse by gas (propane) I only use electric, frost free at 10 degrees. In 2009 I got rid of my propane central heating, that plus electricity for lights, TV etc. cost over £1500 for the twelve months. I changed to all electric, heating, lighting, cooking and various other things. The cost for last year was less than £1000, it needn't be too expensive if you use timers and adjust the heat settings suitably.

 

thanks i'll keep that in mind


Willow

 

Marley - your figure is interesting. My feeling is that electricity is expensive but very good for control and if you only want to use a small amount. But gas (or something similar) must be the way to go if you are maintaining a higher temperature.

Is your system completely automatic - ie could you go away for 10 days and leave it running on a thermostat? Compared to the cost of a tank of petrol, £50 is still not much.

I put up two lots of plant lights in my house for the first time this year. Two lots of 120 watt fluorescent tubes on time switches. They have been a great success. I calculated that the running cost would be about £60 over the winter. I hesitated before I did it, but then argued that the amount of pleasure that I get is huge, and that all the time I spend with plants I am not out there shopping or drinking at the pub. So really I am saving money. :D

 

Paraffin - annoying to set up (light, come back after 30 minutes, adjust the wick to get a nice blue flame), has no temperature control so burns fuel even on mild nights, creates a lot of condensation, is what most people seem to use (why??)

Gas - can be thermostatically controlled, requires a gas bottle (expensive for the contract on the first one, unless you happen to already have a Gas Barbecue). Less condensation than Paraffin

Electric - expensive to have electricity wired to the greenhouse, unless its very near the house. Easy to use, no condensation, expensive "fuel" except for just keeping the greenhouse frost-free.

 

Hi Marley . Can I ask what size your greenhouse is heated with the gas heater ?
I use electric at the moment but might look into the gas heating
Dave