Never ever boring or tedious. I apreciate your clear description between the different methods of heating a hothouse. I have a head start on my project now, all thanks to you.
What about a sealed container the size of a gaylord or ibs tote and fill it with compost have vents at bottom and a pipe on top that goes outside of the greenhouse thats part one . This container should have a large chimney going from the side of the pile and out of the top but this one stays in the greenhouse. You connect the bottom of the chimney to your geothermal and blammo. You got a compost heater in the greenhouse that passively heats the greenhouse but also acts as an engine on the chimney to pull air through the geothermal system. You could even add and remove a blower if needed
That’s quite an interesting concept to ponder.. I have had great results with out compost heat paired with geothermal (pre wood stove). Pairing them together as one system piggybacking the other for energy is a great idea, thanks for the brainstorming suggestion lol!
Please try this and video it for your channel.: Take a solar panel , take a glow plug from a diesel vehicle , drill a small hole in a poly barrel just big enough for glow plug to screw into. Wire on the positive and negative onto the glow plug on outside of barrel filled with water. Watch the solar and plug heat the water!
That’s a great idea, we have been experimenting with dc powered submersion heating elements from water heaters I just have not designed a barrel for one yet. At 10-20$ for a decent one they are relatively cheap and I will be adding a thermal mass heater just like your saying for next winter. Thanks for the glow plug idea also, going to have to try that too!
Your channel is awesome, thanks for all the info. I’m putting in a climate battery for a hoop house I’m putting up next week. I’ve been reading a lot of stuff about geo thermal/ climate batteries and a lot of guys are saying they lose heat to the earth pulling the heat from the dirt from below. I was already going to put in insulation underground around my setup but now I think I’m going to try laying out foam insulation under the pipes to trap as much heat as possible. It’s going to tack on about 100 dollars but I think it will be worth it.
Our northern most wall has rigid foam insulation on it already, the double layer acts as an all around layer of insulation or buffer layer from inside to outside. The next greenhouse we build will be over insulated for winter. I’ve thought about making a black northern wall but in the summer it would be too much heat absorption.
Could you dig the soil out of the green house and make 4X4 stalls, with pallets for the sides and top floor of the greenhouse so no energy is needed to warm it up? Make a ramp at one end of the greenhouse, so a wheelbarrow can move the compost materials into the house and move the pallets off (as the floor).
I’ve thought about something similar to what you’re saying, I have been saving windows and glass doors for the sunken greenhouse we plan to build, I am developing it on paper. Once we get another poly tunnel up for the market growing we will be ready to dig out our sunken greenhouse that will have only one transparent wall (southernmost). Great ideas
Have you ever considered microbial fuel cell ? ie ... with a little change during the building of the compost heater .. you could also be getting small amounts of steady electricity flow .. not all compost microbes are electricigens , but some of them are .. basic versions can be made from common inexpensive materials.
Yes, the idea is amazing to me. I don’t know how steady of a draw is achievable- based off the type of materials you have access to. Getting efficient electrodes cheap, and having good conductivity in the pile are essential to success. I haven’t tried yet, but I have researched it a bit and it’s right up my alley. Thank you for the advice
What's the soil temp in the greenhouse? I want to try making a small greenhouse to grow warm-weather fruit in Zone 6-7, but I'm not sure if the soil temp would be high enough (75-65 degrees).
that would be pushing it unless you had a huge pile and had your heating lines running 24/7 through the compost for correct temps. our soil temps never dropped below 43 this winter even when we had -30 outside with a combo of the stove, geothermal, and compost heating we survived but no tropical plants would have. great question! and thanks for checking this out
It certainly would pick up more energy but it would also freeze up overnight, If it was only an air heating box that wouldn’t be a worry. Great question!
We had some cloudy days here (a week) and when the sun shone I felt like a vampire pushed into the sunlight. Bloody blinding! Do you pull the numbers out of the air or are you a math genius? Holy doodle!
Not for the compost heating it’s never been an issue, the geothermal has had condensation and we overflowed water into it last year leading us to have to suck the water out and dry it up.
@jeremyhenson169 starting with just a variety of shovels till I hit rock and had to use a sturdy old short fork to get through that layer, I wish I woulda had a pickaxe lol. It was quite the challenge
The 100 feet of 4” non perforated drain tile was 60-70$ a couple years ago, I used about 60-70 feet of it in the floor. I dug it by hand after we built the greenhouse, directly in the center under the walkway and 7-1/2 to 8 feet deep
There are a few of them relating to h ty w end of our heating cycles here’s one - How We Heated Our Greenhouse All Winter- Zero Waste Heating! | Jean Pain Compost Heater ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-86ni2SZ_sXQ.html
