A thought on heating a greenhouse

[Ross]

In northern areas (lots of the board members live in cold climates) folks shun from greenhouses because of heating costs in winter. I have really been wanting a greenhouse for intermediate orchids for years, but can't justify the cost. A thought I have been mulling over, though, is why not install one of those exterior wood burning furnaces many folks use? They take large logs, use hot water heat and pump the hot water to the house (or, in this case, the greenhouse - or both). As long as one has a supply of wood (common to us Northerners ) to burn, I think it might be a suitable alternative to fossil fuels or electric. Any thoughts out there?

[littlefrog]

Joe (J&K Orchids) in Neenah Wisconsin heats his greenhouses with wood. Says it works pretty well, but you can't really take long trips since you have to keep feeding the furnace. You can get automatic feed for a wood furnace, but I think that is still limited. I have a friend who lives north of Lansing who heats his greenhouse with coal. I haven't seen it, but he says it works pretty well.

I always wanted to heat my greenhouse with corn. And I was about to buy the furnace last year when I realized that the ethanol/corn binge was going to kill me. I was right! I really should have bought corn futures when I figured that out, but instead I saved money. They will figure out corn isn't the best source of ethanol soon enough, so when corn prices go back down I'm definitely going to do it.

Another option to consider is geothermal heat pump. You would still use electricity, but a lot less. It would be a big up-front investment, but it would probably pay for itself pretty quickly. I haven't done the math yet.

[Gin]

I heated my other greenhouse with a wood furnace it was linked to the gas furnace when the wood burned up the gas furnace would kick in . They were in a seperate room and ducted into the house and green house , Also tried 55 gal drums painted black turned on their sides in the south windows , they picked up heat and released it at night . I got get rid of them was not worth the loss of space and the mess .
There was a green house here that heated with a wood burner . Only down side I could see would be controlling the temp. and smoke if you got a down draft.
What about an outside burner that heated water stored around the fire box and pumped it thru pipes in the GH. ? Gin

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Gin

What about an outside burner that heated water stored around the fire box and pumped it thru pipes in the GH. ? Gin

That's basically what I am referring to. These units heat a water tank like gas would and then the hot water is pumped wherever you determine (in this case, greenhouse). Only thing plants would be exposed to is heat from hot water registers (as I understand it.)

[Magnus A]

Hi
Even though I do not own a greenhouse I would like to mention this.

Here in Sweden, northern Europe, there are wood burning furnaces using pellets of wood. The most automated just need maintenance a few times a year exept for filling upp the pellet store. The size of these are from heating one house to several hundreds!

/Magnus

[Gin]

I just heard of a turkey operation that is heating the turkey houses with corn burning stoves. People are using the pellet stoves here too only draw back they are expensive . Gin

[Ross]

That's why I asked about wood, 'cause the front-end is high, but wood is plentiful here, even in town.