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Greenhouse heating

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Garden Manager:
I am wondering what heatingyou have in your greenhouses.

I have just got my first greenhouse and am wondering what is best (for a small 'house)

sandersj89:
Richard

I started off with paraffin in my greenhouse. It was a red contraption that held about 3 litres of fuel and would burn for approx 2 days. Once I failed to trim the wick properly and it killed most of the plants in the greenhouse, they were covered in a film of black soot and the whole place stank.

Since then I laid on a main electric supply to the greenhouse, buried armoured cable. Now I have light and use an electric heater. Probably not as cheap as paraffin but more reliable and a thermostat helps control the heat levels. I keep the fan heater on the frost guard setting between now and Feb, when I start to increase the temperature level as I start to sow new crops. The fan is also useful in summer to increase air flow.

To help running costs no matter what you choose make sure you insulate the greenhouse where possible but don’t forget about the need for ventilation.

HTH

Jerry

Mrs Ava:
Had paraffin heaters until last winter when the rather efficient Ava plumbed me in some leccy.  Now I have a thermostat controled fan heater which is excellent.  I also thoroughly insulate my greenhouse with bubblewrap and polystyrene.

I love the smell of paraffin, but did find it created lots of moisture, plus you have to remember to refill it, which is tricky if you are away for any length of time, and you have to remember to go turn it off and then relight later, and I started having trouble getting hold of paraffin!  With the leccy heater, I leave it on and forget about it.  I reakon you get a much more constant heat and better air circulation.

I guess it really depends how tender the plants are you are overwintering.  Some of mine are very tender, and would probably be better off in the conservatory, but I only have soooooo much room!  

Garden Manager:
Thanks to thosewho replies and voted (so far  :))

I am a bit worried about using parafin, though it may be the only practical way to get heat into the GH.

I have recently had to rework my greenhouse plans you see. I originaly planned to put the 'house near the back door on part of the concrete patio. I could then easily get an electric supply set up.

However i realised at the weekend when the weather started to get much colder, that the planned site was not the best site in winter as it would stay cold for too long and need a lot of heating. It would also be in one of the hottest spots in the summer, meaning it would need carefull cooling measures.

Now my garden is on a slope so finding a nice flat spot other than right by the house is not easy. The next flattest spot is in the fruit and veg garden, so after a lot of careful thought and discussion, I have decided to have a rejig in the fruit garden. This will mean loosing/moving some summer raspberries and certainly losing a few gooseberry bushes (though I have too many anyway and are prone to mildew).

The problem with this is although it gets good all year light, it is further from the house and it would be difficult to get power out to it (water no problem though ther is a butt nearby already). So it would seem that a non electrical heating solution is required, most probably parrafin, though after reading Jerry's post i am worried about this.

sandersj89:
Richard

My disaster was 100% my own fault, I am sure the parrafin heaters work very well, as they did for me over a number of years. One nights mess up cost me dear, hence me changing to electric.

I think they may be the best bet to begin with as it is the cheapest solution, subject to the availability of fuel. If you can find a supplier who will fill plastic bottles from a bulk tank rather than buying the stuff by the bottle you will be quids in.

Jerry

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