Low Grade Geothermal Greenhouse Heating - Air vs Liquid 

I love this! The simpler illustrations that are left up long enough to actually look at.

Pretty amazing how easy geotemp devices are. Standard parts! It's surprising how useful these can be despite how cheap they are.

Thank you for another wonderful video. Concise and condensed information tailored for people like me to take the leap into a purposeful and healthy at home hobby. You inspire me to do more research. You definitely have a niche in this green diy media. One idea I would extend is the geothermal air heat transfer (gaht) system in northern us latitudes uses perforated drain pipe. The ground/soil reduces humidity in the greenhouse which is important for plant health. Thanks for mentioning others in your field!

LDS Prepper here on RU-vid did this with his greenhouse having the intake and the discharge all inside the greenhouse. In the winter of Idaho he was able to keep it above freezing just running some corrugated pipe in the ground and a fan to move the air.

Totally agree and ground water is easy to access and return for reheat or cool.

I sure like your pace of speech, clear articulation and very interesting subject. 🐸 Getting ready to convert my shed to a greenhouse… the shed butts up against a 3’ hillside. It’s on the north side… : ) thanks 🐸 … more motivated than ever…

I've learned a lot with your videos! Thanks You sir!!

Great, usable information

great video, heating the ground is brilliant and yes i would insulate that specific area. THANK YOU.

very informative. Thanks!

Very clear - thanks.

Good video. Might I suggest that success in a geo air system is dependent on which thermal mass is utilized: inside the footprint of the greenhouse where it is actively managed, or outside the greenhouse where you're dealing primarily with the prevailing ground temperature. If you're just pulling from the prevailing ground temperature, you're right that it's rather low for most of the US and over the course of a winter you're likely to gradually deplete it. If you're using the ground beneath the greenhouse and can pump excess heat into it, you're no longer stuck with the prevailing ground temperature. That's why systems in Colorado tend to work well: high solar gain to "charge" the soil beneath the structure, despite ground temperatures that are normally in the 40s and 50s Fahrenheit.

you smart man ... love the info ... so good

fantastic video ... thanks

Thank you!

Thanks for the legitimate information

Just for clarification. PEX may work but HDPE pipe is whats actually used for active (normal) geothermal units.

Great video

Great stuff

I made a simple 12 ft by 9 ft glass greenhouse (biggest I'm allowed without a building permit here in Victoria BC) with an about 2 ft high raised bed on the north side and an about 14 inch raised bed on the south side with a pathway inbetween. I have water storage directly underneath both planters with more water under the north side one than the south side one (I have videos about it). I blow air through pipes under both planters to cool the greenhouse air and warm the soil. I have minimal ventilation. The air is blown by old computer fans from an obsolete computer down into the plastic 2 inch pipes and powered by a 15 watt or 30 watt solar panel. Definitely, I wished I had wider diameter pipes or a more powerful fan. One pipe goes under the water so the air gets cooled more, usually 8 to 10 C cooler when it comes out but on a really hot day, up to 15 C cooler. The condensed water in this pipe that passes through the water storage is significant. 1ts around 4oo ml per day on the hotter days. Turns out the heat given out to the soil or water when condensation occurs is massive. The only real innovation I have is that I send the air down from the computer fans near the glass roof through "temporary plastic downspout" which is a clear plastic "tube" that they hang down to take rain off roofs in new construction while they await the real downspouts. It's clear so it doesn't stop light getting to the plants. All in all, I am really happy with it so far, and very pleased with the amount of thermal energy I trap in the soil and water to keep the greenhouse warmer at night and prevent nasty spikes of heat during the day.

Simple. My ground temperate is a roughly 52-56f in Connecticut. I have a 4x5x13ft(about 8ft of water) garden water well and I am considering installing a 4x5x6 greenhouse on top of it. Currently the top of the well lid never freezes, so I know it can be done! Thankyou for all the ideas.

Very interesting idea. I planning to build small (6 m in diameter) greenhouse and use this system.

Very interesting, thank you. I was thinking about just having an air tube of a couple hundred feet, ten feet down. As simple as you can get. 6" PVC. But the water system looks to be more efficient, and very simple.

Thanks

Cooling the greenhouse is never really a problem we’re we live. We just roll up the sides and let the air blow through.

You can also cover the pit with long compost biomaterial, like woodchips n stuff. Will insulate and give heat in long run, and also can be used as growing bed.

Excellent videos. thank you. I'm glad I subscribed. You mentioned aircrete is easy to make, could you please do a video on that?

Really like your videos!! I live in zone 6, 90s in summer 20s and lower in winter. Most heating and cooling videos on RU-vid are Canadian. Would you consider doing a video based on zones and desired greenhouse temps. For clarity on my question, if I wanted to grow greens 50-75 year round or tomatoes 70-90 year round in a zone, how would I design a system? Im not asking you to do a special video for me (as awesome as that would be) but I'm guessing there are a lot of people like me in areas that need both real heat and real cooling and don't want to rely on affordable gas or electric in the future. Thanks in advance for considering my request.

And another idea😉, perhaps previously mentioned is to run the pipe coil in the ground in the greenhouse. Warm the soil, not so much the air.

Thank you! Great video!!! How about in Wilton Connecticut? Seems like it would work even better than those colder climates you mentioned… we are in Grow Zone 6b How would you modify your suggestions for Connecticut grow zone 6b?

My drive way is heated this way in the northeast. Never have to shovel. Ever

Glad I have a dug well next to mine, 36 ft deep and 10 ft round, Temp stays around 58 degrees year round, I have it running thru a old semi radiator. It works great for 10 months of the year but Jan and Feb have to add about 10 degrees if I want to grow luckily I don't need that much food.

Just watched the section of the video about injecting heat into the ground during the summer to use in the winter and am wondering if it’s possible to work that in reverse? I live in TX so need more cooking for a greenhouse than heat. Is it possible to inject cold into the ground the same way you would heat?

The price of a geothermal heating system in Scandinavia costs around US $ 19,000-33,000 depending on the size of the house. The geothermal heat pump lasts 14-20 years.

Sometimes I see air circulated into a house via pipes underground. That is a big health risk because of the unavoidable mould forming in underground pipes.

The air systems- the hole is surrounded with insulation and the system heats the ground all summer so in winter the insulated ground is warmer - ground battery. And in winter the greenhouse can still get 100* so the fan warms up the ground to use at night. Kind of like what you are talking about with warming up with solar collector for liquid lines.

Thank you for providing important information. I have a question, can i add some nano fluids in this geo liquid heating and cooling system, for climate region like India, basically Chennai, which is a high humid region?

Love your channel and the informative videos. I started experimenting with aircrete last year. I don't believe aircrete will work as insulation in earth sourced heat storage unless is dried and sealed. The aircrete I've made becomes water logged in the rain. something like an industrial pond liner or maybe a poly bag which is then put under mild vacuum would be a good idea.

Hi Simple Tek, Thanks again for a great video. Keep up the great work. HDH [: { ].👌

Veryyyyyy goood explanation, informations, ... a good 10 T machine, pay 150 $ for the driver and lets go !!!

do you have a Heat and Material Balance calculation example for any of these ideas. Friend of mine in Canada had a heat sink swimming pool in their basement that was solar heated/cooled and it passively heated/cooled the whole 2,000 sqft house. . Plus it was a YEAR ROUND swimming pool.

I am currently in the process of building my own greenhouse split geothermal system. I am using both methods and combining them. I will be circulating air underground around 4' deep. I will also be creating my own geothermal liquid loop that will use the same hole. I am then going to have the liquid lines run through a self made "air handler" where a radiator will then cool the geothermal air coming in from underground. I am hand digging a 30' L x 3' W x 4' D with a pick axe and shovel. So you technically don't need an excavator! lol Some other things I am doing differently than others is adding a "fresh air intake" into my system. So the air being recirculated from the greenhouse will get mixed with outdoor ambient air which is typically 8-10 degrees lower. Lastly I am going to be building some "Dehumidification Chambers" or basically desiccant chambers that will pull out as much moisture as it can as the air passes by. I will have 1 chamber on the return and 1 on the supply sides of the system. Basically just going to be some cloth material socks that will hang inside of my 6" return pipe and as the air moves past them they will slowly draw additional moisture from the system. I am in Zone 7b and have summers with 100 degree days and 100% humidity. I have to combine many methods into my greenhouse to achieve cooling effects. I also have a wind tunnel layout to my exhaust and circulating fans. I will need to balance all of these systems so that I can achieve greenhouse temperatures that do not exceed 90 degrees F. My goal is to achieve a max of 15 degrees of cooling/heating inside my 16'x32' high tunnel greenhouse.

Any books on how to do this on a small scale with out using hydroelectric power or Fossil fuels on things like a fans or pumps

How do you keep the evacuated tube lines from freezing in the winter when you disconnect them so as to not put cold into your system?

So for these low grade systems where do you get the data or such and what math etc do design your own from? I am curious to design my own but am having trouble finding this information to do a DIY style.

With this type of green house heating what are your concerns with radon in the green house? I live in North West Wyoming where radon gas is a major concern.

With homes there is the option to have a vertical liquid geothermal system. Could this work with a greenhouse? I understand that it would be more expensive. I just want to know if it is feasable.

Here's another idea: dig a deep hole for a 4000 gal septic tank. Place the tank and run water lines (for heat exchange) inside it, then insulate the top of the tank. Cover it with at least 4 ft of dirt. Use the water tank to collect rain water, then use it for irrigation.

Love your content. I am in tropical climate and need to cool my greenhouse, it’s humid, so geothermal liquid cooling! The inside gets to 34 degrees in summer, and I need it to be max 22 degrees, is that possible?

Question, I want a low grade geo-air system for greenhouse, in your image at 3:57 it shows the air vent coming from the outside. Why not make it grab the air from within the greenhouse and keep it closed?

Love the video.... can u share some more information on implemented projects on geothermal cooling.... Geothermal cooling looks to be the only option (if it were available here) to economically cool greenhouses around where i live..... I live in an area with high humidity throughout the year, 4 months of near constant rain (~4500mm/year) with temperatures (~31°c) and humidity 85%+, hot summers (38°C+)....

I live on a lake in North Texas. During the winter, I can pump unlimited quantities of 60°F water from 12' deep in the lake. What is the best way to use that resource? I'm pretty sure I'll need some sort of liquid/liquid heat exchanger as I don't want to pass lake water through a radiator. It would foul and lose efficiency right away. Are there off-the-shelf systems available to do this?

We need to cool down our greenhouses as much as possible here in the tropics. Average of 30-50 deg C all year round. Would liquid or air cooling work best or?

Hi Simple Tek, Let me ask if I don't have lots of land but if I can have a septic tank concrete or fiberglass min. 6 ft down from top of tank and I fill it with hoses in loops the cover it with soil at some everything inside the tank is going to be at the same temp. This way I can have enough liquid to run the radiator all day and not worry of running out. What do you think? I appreciate your help. Thanks 👍

If I'm using liquid, how does the liquid get circulated? I can see the fan moving the air filled tubes.

The audio is terrible I would love to watch the video but I find myself straining to understand what is being said thanks have a nice day

How do you heat a house in the winter with 8deg C ground temp and no heat pump?

What do you mean by insulating the bottom of the green house? Putting a layer on top of the pipes? So the heat stays below the insulation and does not escape inside the green house?

Would low grade liquid work for concrete driveway heating for snow melt?

Are there any examples of someone using an insulated liquid thermal battery in the ground? I can't find any.

A blower would work much better than a fan for an air system due to the higher static pressures they can achieve. This is why they use them in automotive and building HVAC systems. Liquid circulating pumps use much less energy to move water (and heat) than a fan or blower moving air.

whats best for a 2000 square foot greenhouse?

I'm late to the party... forgive my ignorance. Can you please link me a video to show how a liquid vs air system(s) work? I'm searching but not finding much to understand the difference. (Or what either does)

I was hoping for some math. The underground swimming pool I think works if it is large enough, and I like the idea of using solar collectors to heat it during the summer but the math has to work

i dont think the ground will hold the heat from summer all the way to winter, it probably dissipates in a week or even a couple days. even without extracting heat i think it will only stay at the the temp that the collectors can collect, ie how much sun in the last day or two. maybe insulating the ground is needed as well idk. and for heating with a thermal battery you would want a cylinder or cube since there is less surface area the colder ground beside it can sap heat from it.

If you're heating the ground use sand or clay in your trench. Rocket mass heaters use clay to absorb and emit heat, Sand is also a great way to store thermal energy. Someone smarter then me would need to do the calculations, but I'm sure that the stored thermal energy would more then offset the cost. This would only be for heat however not for cooling.

Will this work in North Carolina?

Background music purpose is to fill the silence, not to cover the talk or annoy the listener.

Oh, hi. I live in Victoria BC Canada. I got a CO2 meter to experiment with about 2 months ago. One thing I am interested in is CO2 enhancement, in my pretty well sealed greenhouse. I want it as well sealed as possible to keep in the heat, but then I need to input CO2 because nature won't do it for me. First of all, I didn't realize how high CO2 levels are in houses in Canada. So, 2 months ago my inside air was over 800 ppm when I first tested. My greenhouse is in a treed area, and the air around it was about 380 ppm around midday while in the greenhouse it was around 560 (Lots of organic matter under the soil will give me a couple of months of above normal CO2 in the greenhouse until it rots away and the plants really start growing. Anyway, plants ideal CO2 levels are 1000 to 1200 ppm ( same as a stuffy office or classroom) But human requirements for CO2 is "as low as possible, so indoors 500 or 600 would be good. Not only that, but it turns out high CO2 levels co-relate to a higher risk of spreading Covid, (They are using CO2 meters in some schools, in Canada, Germany and the USA as a proxy to measure Covid risk!). So, my thought is, why not couple house ventilation somewhat with your greenhouse heat and CO2 requirements? When I got my crawl space sealed a few months ago, I left a 4 inch pipe so I can use a fan as necessary to blow air out and into the greenhouse, I suspect the crawl space will have the highest CO2 levels in the house and blowing from there will also lose me the least heat. Maybe you could look into doing a video about coupling a house to a greenhouse and doing 2 jobs at once. Reduce the CO2 in your house, while getting air changes and helping the plants grow faster in the greenhouse.

Hey I noticed you keep saying evaporated tubes, I wasn't sure what they were when you mentioned them in a reply to a comment i made in another video so i googled it and I'm pretty sure you're talking about evacuated tubes.

I think you meant evacuated tubes instead of evaporated tubes.

No if I just run black pirates above the ground that'll absorb heat from the sun and transfer it underground without spending the money I'm one of those expensive things

Was the liquid variant ever really tested in real life...?

Thermal Store

Good topic, Please get a "less low grade" microphone [;oP

American map using Celsius????????

Hello neighbour!

Volume is low.

Have you actually done this yourself?

Bro, you lucky I have full on EQ in Windows so I can adjust your garbage mic background hum..how you not fix that before publishing?

Low grade !

🤣

Holy shit , give a schematic PLEASE????

Appreciate the knowledge, lose the music, degrades the content in my opinion.

Has this dude ever been in a greenhouse? I see no evidence. Slammed a Redbull, read some blogs and forum posts, and said let’s do this shit.

@ 1:20 not really !! only videos that their own "fact" checkers like !!

if you're talking about America we do not Celsius,

Please next time buy a decent microphone. Your voice is to low. Also hardly anderstand you.

Bad system.

That is how you grow your 20 dollar tomato.

4:19 in can’t deal with the ridiculous music in the background.

Get out your face of the video

Use the SAME PIPES!!

I like you and your efficient-reliable and sensible ideas..keep up informing us please..