Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 14:58:35 -0700 From: Wim Leys <wim.leys@lin.vlaanderen.be> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg3679$foo@default> Subject: Re: Greenhouse heating advice
> Are there any growers out there that use a small gas furnace to heat
> their "small greenhouses"? I would like to find out what make of
> furnaces in the 20,000 BTU output range are available and where to
> obtain them. I live in Ohio (specifically- Cleveland). Also I plan on
> keeping my 10'x12' greenhouse at around a 40f minimum in the dead of
> winter. This WILL NOT be a Nepenthes rich evironment- just a place to
> keep my temperate and sub-tropical CP's.
My greenhouse is non-heated but isolated. The isolation consistes of
bubble plastic (a bubble is about 1 inch in diameter). This works very
good to keep frost out when the greenhouse is able to warm up during the
day. All the pots and water that are in the greenhouse will warm up
during the day and will give it away during the night (kind of heating
accumulator). It may freeze a few degrees C during the night without any
frost inside your greenhouse.
However, on cold and cloudy days, the greenhouse does not heat up and it
will freeze inside during the night or even the day. Also when it
freezes severely, it will freeze inside too, only a few degrees C less.
A friend of nine stopped using kerosine for heating. He found the smell
of it repelling "when I came home after work and entered my greenhouse
to enjoy my plants, the first thing I would notice was the repelling
smell of the kerosine. After I bought some kerosine in the store, my car
would also smell of it. When I poured it into the heater, and spilled
some on the ground in the greenhouse, it only became worse. It also
formed a film on the water and the leaves of the Drosera's; they would
stop producing dewdrops until spring, when the heating was no longer
necessary." So he changed to gas. He uses a gas furnace with a
katalysator, two inlets for two gas bottles and a thermostat (used in
caravans). No more smells, no petroleum film on the water or the leaves,
he uses a furnace with two inlets, so he can change to the other gas
bottle when the current one is empty ...
If you have a constant gas supply, thing will be even better. Just make
sure you have a thermostat. That is the one thing many people regret
when they have heating in their greenhouse.
Kind regards
Wim
-- Wim Leys, ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, afd. Informatica LIN Graaf de Ferraris-gebouw - lokaal 01.P.46, E. Jacqmainlaan 156 bus 2 B-1000 Brussel, Belgium mailto:wim.leys@lin.vlaanderen.be tel +32 2 553 71 89 fax +32 2 553 71 75
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