Heating Greenhouse

My greenhouse is unheated which is ok during the day as it gets all the sun so gets quite warm.I used to have one of the following but found it very fiddly trying to fit the chimney and the part which its across the top. Parasene Super-Warm 4 Paraffin Heater.There is no electric in the greenhouse but my gardn shd which is next door has power so could run a extension lead to the greenhouse at night if I could find a suitable heater.The size of the greenhouse is 8x6.Can anyone recommend a suitable heater.

 

Hi,

Have a 8x6 ghouse as well, though its a lean too, so a much larger volume.

Parasene do a 1kw / 2 kw switchable electric heater which should be more than enough to heat your ghouse, ( unless in the north of Scotland) though the cost depends on what insulation you have and what minimum temperature you want.

That one costs under £20 and is virually like a standard domestic heater, so care is needed to avoid knocking it etc, there are many more sturdier metal built ones from specialist ghouse heating suppliers, but at a price.

I originally had glass but when the local footballing kids got going I had to fit 10mm twinwalled polycarbonate sheets and that really made a vast diffference to the insulating properies, no more messing with bubble film and though initially expensive the saving on new bubble film and clips etc evey couple of years and the electricity savings its been a good investment.

 

Thanks for the reply have looked around but cannot find a supplier.I don't suppose you know the model number..The greenhouse is glass and I suppose I am looking for a temperature of say between 15 and 20.Would not need it during the day unless it was quite cold it would be mostly for night use and I have a timer which might be handy.

 

Found this one in my Screwfix catalogue
http://www.screwfix.com/p/portable-oscillating-fan-heater-1000-2000w/2147p?_requestid=121877

 

I bought one of these (now discontinued) for £11.15 when they were clearance Tesco direct: Gardman Greenhouse and Conservatory Heater It has 1and 2kW settings, thermostatic control and can also be used for cooling in summer. There is a safety switch under these base causing it to cut out if it falls over NB This means you have to be very carefull if placing on uneven slabs as it might not come on if the button is over a dip in the slabs.

I have mine as a backup for my Calor gas heater (too many power cuts here to completely rely on electricty), but like JWK I also have a seperate plug through thermostat with a sensor that can be placed up on the staging.

In addition to when I inadvertantly run out of gas (or it's running worryingly low)' I also had to use it at the beginning of April when my gas heater failed and it took a couple of days for me to give up trying to fix it, then several days more before my ebay purchase was delivered.

 

Think the heater shown by JWK is a good one and agree that its better if you have a separate electronic temperature control, if possible.

However, your desire for 15 to 20c is going to be a costly one, electricity wise, unless you double insulate etc.

A few years ago I sectioned off, and double insulated part of the greenhouse to keep some orchids all the year round, it works but not cheap.

What are you looking to grow ? just spring or all winter ?

Also consider the small electric propagators or larger covered bench props with a soil warming cable; much cheaper to heat a smaller area.

 

would not use that in a greenhouse

 

My thoughts are, to get 15-20C at night you might be better with a propagating bench, rather than trying to heat the whole greenhouse to that temperature.

It could cost quite a lot to run and electric heater at those temperatures, lets face it, even in mid summer the night temperatures are likely to be lower than that in a greenhouse.

If you do go for a fan heater, buy one which has a good fan which moves a lot of air, they dont appear to put out much heat, but that is because they are moving a lot of air.

I'd also go along with using a remote thermostat, as @JWK says, the ones attached to the heaters are practically useless.

 

Looking for a greenhouse heating boiler for solid fuel to heat 90 ft of 4 inch water pipes, cannot find anything. The system i have at the moment is a Foulstone Forge boiler number 2 and it works well enough but it is getting old and the firm seemingly do not make them any more any suggestions would be appreciated.
there is no electrical point on my allotment.

 

Hi,

Think you might be hard pressed to find anything like that these days ? takes me back to my old Grandfathers greenhouse some 65 years ago who had that type of hot water pipe heating.

You might be better starting your own New Thread so as to catch the attention of folk, might get lost in this old post.

Assuming its all cast iron, did not know there was much that could go wrong ?
Would have thought any problems with it, a local Blacksmith could repair things for you ?

 

I'm guessing this is the old boiler design whereby the boiler has a water jacket and it heats the water which moves round by gravity?
If so, dont the people who make domestic wood burners do something similar?

 

You could contact West Midlands Horticulture - Brierley Heritage Greenhouse heating

 

I have tried contacting Brierley Heritage many times but with no results, as it looks like what i require. They might be not working due to Covid, and the mobile number on the web site goes to answering machine and i get no return call. Does anyone know if they are still trading?