Allotments 4 All

hi every one,, been looking at heating my greenhouse down on my allotment,,

seen stuff on the net about using my compost pile to heat water for out door showers so me is thinking of putting a radia with a header tank to make the heating for my greenhouse, iv some think like this in the greenhouses of some of the older boys on the plot, buy they using old parkrays coal fires ,,,has any tryed this compost heating to heat they waters

There's not an enormous thermal gradient there to play with I'm afraid...... Maybe if you put a hot-frame inside the GH it would work better... Basically a tall codlframe with a couple of feet of fresh manure in the bottom, then a layer of earth adn everyhting on top of that with a lid to keep the heat in....

chrisc

I think you'd need something pretty fierce to make a successful hot bed. Manure's the traditional thing, but the grass cuttings dumped on my site heat up well. Dead leaves, on the other hand, don't heat noticeably at all.

iv seen 2 heating kinds a was thinking of using for the greenhouse a rocket mass wood fire or use the compost pile with pipe in it,,but iv only see this on you tube

Don,t know a lot about this, when I worked for smokeless fuels years ago  I was given a small back boiler well this feeds a radiater that warms the greenhouse  warm (today I use old wood as fuel) . How will you get heat out off your compost heap, or container in the winter you would have to insulate and I think it would work on a coil system. Just a question I am all for green honest  can you take more out of the ground with a ground pump this is all new so I do not think it will be cheap, let us know how you get on would like to help, and learn how you do it

How much warmth are you hoping to get? If it's just keeping the frost out, a heat sink might do it.

http://www.reuk.co.uk/Solar-Greenhouse-Heat-Sink.htm

Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on March 23, 2011, 22:26:11
How much warmth are you hoping to get? If it's just keeping the frost out, a heat sink might do it.

http://www.reuk.co.uk/Solar-Greenhouse-Heat-Sink.htm

With all due respect to Dick - this link is a massively over-complex way to keep frost out.

It may be the best way to keep your greenhouse a few degrees above its normal temperature during a mild winter, but for frost-busting you can't beat a simple tank of water 100-200 litres.

Water releases masses of latent heat as it freezes (as much as it takes to raise it 80 degrees), and if it is pure it freezes before the plant does. Cheaper and more reliable than any other method if frost is your main enemy.

Cheers.

i was thinking of some thing like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKb10wrd-Tw&feature=related