Baseboard heater

Is there any reason I shouldn't use a baseboard heater in my small greenhouse? It seems it would fit nicely on the shelves with my seedstarts.

Does it put out enough BTUH to sufficiently heat your greenhouse? Can you keep the baseboard heater dry? I'm not so sure I'd want a heater anywhere near my shelving. Placing a heater on the shelf won't allow any plants kept lower, to share in the heat.

And it may get too hot that near your seeds. Could you place it on the opposite side from your shelves near the bottom but not on the ground? If it's 1500 watts you'll probably be okay as far as the heat goes but I'd be concerned about putting it on the shelves with your plants.

MollyD

And definitely make sure it won't get wet--heaters designed for indoor use are not going to stand up to water dripping on them when you water the plants, etc. Even with outdoor rated heaters I try to be careful not to get water on them, but they've been designed with a bit more protection from stuff like that.

I don`t believe you will have enough BTU, and the electric costs will be very high.
I used one in my 8x10, zone 5 . I only used it during the months of April and part of May, and it cost us another $ 85 in April and 45 in May
I only had the lights on for about 3 to 4 hrs(2 4 ft shop lights)
We now have the greenhouse hooked up to our outside wood burner, and our light bill is running the same as it used to and I now have lights on for 8 hrs and am growing year round.
They make electric heaters for greenhouses and are water proof.
Aleta

When you're dealing with resistive electric heat, there is no such thing as efficiency. In other words no form of electric resistive heat will cost more per BTU than any other form of electric resistive heat. It's the laws of physics. If your baseboard heater has the same wattage as some other electric heater, they will cost the same per BTU, the same per hour, the same per day - you get the picture.. Electric resistive heaters are basically any electric-only heater except for heat pumps, geothermal, etc. Those types that *transfer* heat do have efficiency differences. Whether it's the old fashioned milk-house heater, baseboard heater, or fancy ceramic disk compact heater, they all produce the same BTU per watt of electricity. Some are just more cute than others. Most plug-in electric heaters max out at 1500 Watts, so that's the max heat you'll get. Baseboard heater wattages differ, so you'll have to find specs on it somewhere. To get more heat from electric, you'll either have to run multiple 1500W heaters (do NOT do this unless you run multiple lines from multiple circuits), or switch to 220V in which case there are many wattages available up to 10,000W and even higher. Also, don't let people tell you that 220V is cheaper per BTU than 110V. That also is a lie. You can just get more watts with smaller wires because of the higher voltage, but just like with 110v, Watts are directly proportional to BTUs.

My only disclaimer to the above comments is that it is possible to get less overall heat WHERE YOU WANT IT inside the greenhouse because it's possible with bad positioning that the baseboard heater loses more heat to the earth than would a heater positioned somewhere else. There is also the safety concern with getting the baseboard heaters wet.

Here is my heater,it was added to the greenhouse . The baseboard heater wasn`t enought to heat during the winter. We can go down to 20 below. Both are hooked up to the outside woodstove..The thermostate in the greenhouse is set at 65 and it kept it 62 when it was 15 below..Aleta