Heating Greenhouses

I heat with Diesel -it is less expensive than Gas, and the heater units are less $ also-Diesel also has more BTU per gal -136000 compared to 90+ 000 for propane-I built a homemade heater for $400 that can max out at 270,000 BTU /hr-If anyone is interested I will share what I have done--Michael

of course I'm interested...
especially if it could run bio-diesel.

drew

sounds mighty interesting to me, too. Gonna post plans, or more info?

I have been heating greenhouses for the last 10 years with this home-made heater--I made it with an incinerator unit I bought from Burn Easy [I will include the address below] and 55 gal drums--[free]I cut a 16 inch diameter hole in the center of the drums [except the ones at each end] and bolted them together to form a long tube-I then hooked up the flue pipe to one end and the heat unit to the other-I put a thermostat [from Graingers] in the power supply line and a tank-[or gas can of Diesel in florida] and a filter-I burn a mixture of Diesel and drain oil[no more than 25%] and you can burn Bio Fuels as long as you insure there is ample lubricant to protect the life of the pump[$50 if you don't]--alcohol does not work alone-you must add drain-oil or diesel---Bio-Diesel may by fine[probly]--it has been trouble free for 10 years-except for replacing pumps when I was learning--

You dont need the Incinerator--Just the heater unit that they put on the Incinerators- [replacement Burner]

Burn-Easy Animal Carcass Incinerators
R&K Incinerator Co.
Decator,IN 46733
!-800-233-1163

Lary Lewis Livestock Incinerator
Cedar,Iowa 52543
Sales-515-933-4762--Service 800-933-4761

National Incinerator Inc.
Boaz,AL 35957
205-589-6720 fax205-589-2326

PS this unit I am pictureing is too short--the Exhost still glows red--even with the make-up air being drawn past the exhost as a heat exchanger--it should be at least 3 barrols longer--more would be more efficient--Michael

hmm rednecky enough, it just might work for me....

really neat.
bio-diesel btw generally is a better lube than regular diesel.

I wonder how I could do this in my state inspected commercial greenhouses without being noticed :-)

drew

drew, do they inspect your heater, or your products and the materials you use to grow them (sprays, etc)?

That's a great heater system, Michael. I think my greenhouse would be too small for that (35X50 or so)...by the time I extended what I see in your pic it would take up most of one wall.

Do you use some sort of fan to push the heat thru-out the rest of your g-house, or how does that work?

(If I couldn't use that system in my g-house I bet it would sure heat up my shoffice though!)

The exhost from the unit puts out only heat waves no smoke at all-the temps in the unit insure a compleet burn.
The green house is 4000 sq ft - this unit heated a house I had in Utah that was a little larger-at -15 degrees [below zero] I could still maintain 55 degrees- for my Tomatoes-
Heat circulation is convection--I build my houses on a slope of at least 2% and install the heater at the low end--this causes the heat to flow out along the roof and return fully mixed along the floor-when the heater has been running for about 2 min-I begin to feel the draft from the air movement-the air movement really helps with preventing some of the normal disease problems I used to have in the winter--I can see the plants moving in the breeze and I feel it has increased my pollination, and tomato production -and it helps with those stagnant air places in the corners and the sides that were a disease problem before I tried this experiment.

shoe, they inspect everything...
I got a warning over using "agricultural grade acephate" instead of horticultural grade...
the difference? hort grade is twice as expensive... same stuff tho.

I also got a warning last time over my woodstoves that are just 55gal drums.

drew

Mercy Drew! How do you qualify for such stringent inspections? You got a government contract or sumpin'??

At least they didn't tell you to replace your woodstoves with store-bought ones. I wonder now if they'd let you use the heaters like Michael has shown us.

and to think... I pay the state about $200 a year for this 'service'

I tried running the heater on waste vegatable oil from a restaurant and that worked fine-if it wasn't too thick--mixing half and half with diesel worked better

What about those of us with just a tiny greenhouse? We're getting one that's like 6x8. What would a kerosene space heater do for that? I know I'd have to burn it on the lowest setting possible; but what about noxious fumes? Any ideas? Btw, 'Shoe, what's a 'shoffice???

This message was edited Jul 15, 2004 1:22 PM

Shaz....first, get a bigger g-house, or add on to that one. That's the perfect size to make you go stir crazy! (You'll outgrow it fast.)

A small kero heater will do the job, so will a small electric one in that size g-house. A propane heater with a thermostat (bout the same cost as a kero heater) will burn cleaner and also regulate your temps better.

As for "shoffice"...a word coined by my DD, when she was probably 7 yrs old or maybe younger...

...the building I'm now sitting in used to be called my shop. At some point in time I decided to re-vamp it (insulate the walls, put in cheaper particle board to hold the insulation in, put in a ceiling, etc) and move my computer and all my garden/farming/marketing records and books down here. It mainly became my "office". DD didn't like the fact that is was no longer gonna be the SHOP (she's hung out down here w/me from Day One), so out of the blue one day she said, "We can call it the Shoffice!" I was happily acceptable w/that! Part shop, part office = Shoffice. To this day that's what we call it.

Well, I like the name! This greenhouse was just given to me a few days ago, so it's still empty at this point. But I DO anticipate growing out of it very quickly! I already have a couple kero heaters leftover from when we had our 100 yr old house almost 5 years ago. Thanks AGAIN, 'Shoe!!

I have had some trouble using propane and kerosene in the past when I did not vent the exhost--the Ethlene gas messed up the tomatoes some--maybe if the heaters were real efficient it would not be such a problem--Michael

This message was edited Jul 15, 2004 9:13 PM

My big propane heater is exhausted to the outside...no worries there. And if you have a g-house that is not completely airtight a small kero will do fine. (I used a wood stove in my first g-house.)

Michael, you still doing good with your burn barrels? Was wondering if you ever added on to them to increase your heat and decrease your "red hot" area.

No I havent yet--but plan to--It will have to be done before winter--procrastinate I think is the word---Michael

I know that word purty well! Bet I can do it better than you!

Hope your growing is doing good. By the way, what do you grow in the Fla hot months? Any success at anything?

I grow Malabar Spinach and Calaloo [veg amaranth] and lots of hot peppers, Gingers-and Cassia family-I use the hot months to cleen it out and haul in manure--and cook the bugs that have been thriving in there-the tomatoes started tasting nasty about the last week of june---so I took them out---

ugh...nasty maters are not fun!

Guess you'd best be a pepper farmer in the hot months, eh?

Yes the peppers seam to be fine at 120 deg temps ??

Very pretty!

Carribean Red Habanero --just a dab will do

Lordy, tell me about it! I was surprised to see worms eating on mine! Thought nothing would mess with those things!

I have had some caterpillar ,and white fly , and aphids, from time to time--eat Habanero--?? I am not the only one that likes them I guess-

Got around to adding some more barrels to the heater ,it works much better- the exhost is still to hot to touch but most of the heat is kept in the greenhouse now--looks like 7, 55gal drums is a good number---