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My New GH In Constrution

  • Thread starter CN
  • Start date

CN

BANNED
Ok,
So i am on Cloud 3,170 an couldnt be Happier. Got My Green House to day here are a few starter pic's

here is where it's going

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Here is how far i got so far before i ran into a few snags .

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Too Be Continued.........

Day two:
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Day 3 :
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30amp cable

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The End

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Thanks Daren
 
Maybe you could heat it all year by attaching an aluminum vent to it from the basement window. ;) Nice, hope that the plants love it. Also, looks short in the pics, is it really 6' 5"?
 
if u dont mind me asking how much was that i want 1 :)
 
Yay man! Looking good already, what's going in it? Just temperates I'm assuming? I'm curious on the price as well as I have been looking into getting one as soon as I can accommodate it.

Congrats!
 
Yann ,Drew,

At first just some ordinary house plants to test it out , then a ventrata ,then the Miranda an so on .
Price well i will have to see if the miss will give me that info as it was a Christmas present .
But if it is the same one i was looking at ,an i think it is it was $349.00. We had a Rain Check for it while it was on Sale

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=47712

daren

---------- Post added at 06:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:49 PM ----------

I got the exact same kind; it was a couple hundred bucks.

Jeff ,
How has it Held up in storms ?


daren
 
Hey Daren, looks great congrats! Cant wait to see it fully put together.
 
Houseplants? in Kansas in the winter?
im confused..
are you planning on heating it?
if so..why?

Scot
 
  • #10
I think somebody on my walk to work just put one of these up in their yard. Great deal - I wouldn't have thought you could get something like this for under $400. This gives me something to think about for my garden improvements next season. Are you going to put a foundation of some sort underneath? Best luck with it!
~Joe
 
  • #11
Looks like a good start. btw the lady in the pic. on your link is deceptively small ! That's marketing !
 
  • #12
Houseplants? in Kansas in the winter?
im confused..
are you planning on heating it?
if so..why?

Scot

Yes i am going to heat it .

why are you confused if the house plants an the ventrata make it then so will the rest of my plants . should be the end of your confusion .i am not going to throw all my plants in there an hope for the best . our Kansas winters are brutal. So i am trying to take my time an not kill all of my plants

Daren
 
  • #13
You people don't know what brutal is. It got down into the mid 40's here the other night!
 
  • #14
Yes i am going to heat it .

why are you confused if the house plants an the ventrata make it then so will the rest of my plants . should be the end of your confusion .i am not going to throw all my plants in there an hope for the best . our Kansas winters are brutal. So i am trying to take my time an not kill all of my plants

Daren

interesting..
have you considered that it will cost multi-hundreds of dollars a month to heat it?
I wouldnt be surprised if it costs $500 to $1,000 a month..

IMO, greenhouses really cant be used in the winter in our climate..thats why you rarely see them..they can be useful in the early spring and the late fall..they can extend the growing season by a few weeks in either direction..but they cant be realistically heated October-March...heat would have to be on 24-7 to maintain 70 degrees when its 10 degrees outside....and the heat leaks right out very quickly..no insulation..very very expensive..

just curious, what are you planning to use for heat?
I hope it works for you!
it would be cool if it did..
but im seriously doubtful that its realistic..

sure, techincally its possible..as long as you dont mind paying huge amounts of money for heat! IMO its far easier, and cheaper, to remove the plants from the greenhouse in September, bring them indoors, and let the furnace keep them warm..since you already use the furnace anyway to keep yourself warm..and there is a reason why houses are heavily insulated and dont have glass ceilings..

Im not trying to be "mean" or anything!
its just physics..you cant fight physics..

Scot

---------- Post added at 10:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:09 AM ----------

I honestly dont know how much it costs!
I have never tried it..so out of curiosity, I googled it:
I found this:

http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/strucs/2007011814009742.html

$70-$80 a month..thats not too bad I suppose..
BUT! thats keeping the greehouse only at 50 degrees, and "average January temperature of 28.4 degrees"..the guy who posted that thread "Orchid Dude", lives in Alabama..
So keeping a greenhouse at 50 degrees in the winter, in alabama, costs $80 a month.
(he goes on to say he can maybe get it down to $55 a month..but thats just a rough estimate, and the calculations assume a 100% efficient heat source, which doesnt exist..)

No matter how you crunch the numbers, I doubt you can do it for under $200 a month in Kansas..Not in Zones 6 or 7..its just way too cold outside..and not if you need it that warm..
I would plan on $300 to $500 a month for January and February..

here is a calculator:

http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/heat-calc.shtml

Scot
 
  • #15
interesting..
have you considered that it will cost multi-hundreds of dollars a month to heat it?
I wouldnt be surprised if it costs $500 to $1,000 a month..

IMO, greenhouses really cant be used in the winter in our climate..thats why you rarely see them..they can be useful in the early spring and the late fall..they can extend the growing season by a few weeks in either direction..but they cant be realistically heated October-March...heat would have to be on 24-7 to maintain 70 degrees when its 10 degrees outside....and the heat leaks right out very quickly..no insulation..very very expensive..

just curious, what are you planning to use for heat?
I hope it works for you!
it would be cool if it did..
but im seriously doubtful that its realistic..

sure, techincally its possible..as long as you dont mind paying huge amounts of money for heat! IMO its far easier, and cheaper, to remove the plants from the greenhouse in September, bring them indoors, and let the furnace keep them warm..since you already use the furnace anyway to keep yourself warm..and there is a reason why houses are heavily insulated and dont have glass ceilings..

Im not trying to be "mean" or anything!
its just physics..you cant fight physics..

Scot


Scott ,
I don't Think You are being mean in the slightest . This Is why I post here For the general concern for others an their plants , as you have just shown . Thank You .
Now my plants are in a Unheated One car Garage as of Now , I do already heat this garage as well as Lighting so My Light bill is already about $350 a month , this GH will be blocked by the North wind an helped a lil bit by the Sun . Now as A long time Hunter I took a few things to thought this would be the way a deer in the wild would use the South facing Hill sides to block the wind as well as using the Sun to aid in some warmth , so i Hope in theory this works in my favor .
An as for the Insulation I will have some on order in a few weeks it will be one Layer of the Bubble insulation topped by a layer of the Reflective insulation (bottom walls Only) , The top will be doubled by the clear bubble insulation. an the floor will (under neath side) will be lined by a House fiber glass insulation . Then 4 layers (top of floor) of 4mil plastic with gravel on top .

Daren
 
  • #16
Insulate it and get a propan/gas heater. I really doubt it will cost you that much to keep it warm.
 
  • #17
BTU calculator. Adjust the materials and shape/size of the various walls and such..

You can plug in various numbers such as your coldest winter temps to find out how much heat it takes to maintain your desired temperature on the worst case. Or you can use your Winter average temperatue for a few month period to find out what it will take on an hourly basis to heat over that time frame.

http://www.igcusa.com/greenhouse-btu-calculator.html

---------- Post added at 03:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:06 PM ----------

I ran some numbers for fun.

Assuming 70 temperature average inside temperature... figuring your nights will be a little cooler and your days a little warmer. Not sure if you plan to just run a single temperature or moderate between day/night.

For outside average temperature I split the average low and average high for the end of December in your neck of the woods. That gave me a figure of 30degrees

6.25' wide, 8.4' long, side walls 6.4 feet high
8mm double wall poly carbonate (these kits usually have 4-6 mm poly carb. but I couldn't tell from the photo). I figured it was safe to use the 8mm figure though since it probably about balances between thinner poly carb and adding some bubble wrap.

plugging this in gives me a figure of 7000 btu/hour

So basically what this means is it will cost an average of 7000btu/hour to heat your greenhouse over most of Dec. Jan. and Feb.

So if you want to figure your cost.. 90 days at 7,000 btu/hour x 24 = 168,000 btu/day
Propane has 92,000 btu/gallon so it would take about 2gallons of propane/day. Propane is about $2.50 gallon.. so $5 day.

If you are planning to use electric then you probably need a 240v line..
A 240v 4000w heater will put out about 13,500 btu/hour

To figure how much electricity it would use..
7000 btu/hour x 24 = 168000 btu/day divided by 13,500 = 12.4 hours/day the heater will run x 4kwh (4000/1000) = 50kwh/day
Take the 50 and multiply by your kwh delivery charge and supply cost to find out the electricty cost/day

My power company charges 8.5 cents for delivery and 8 cents per kwh so 50 x 16.5cents = $8.25 day in electricty cost.

Plugging in the extreame temps during the night.. and maintaining 60degrees during a -15degree night. It will take 13,000 btu/hour to maintain 60degrees. So a 15-20,000 is should be sufficient.
 
  • #18
Qeastion is Tony In Your professional opinion do think it will all work if i can at least keep teh temps at lets say 65º an Humidity above 70% i think all will be fine .
but Tony What do you think

daren
 
  • #19
Humidity won't be a problem during the Winter when the greenhouse is closed up. It will be a problem during the Summer when the vents are wide open! So you will need to come up with a plan to help keep the greenhouse cool and humid during the Summer.

Can it be heated? sure.. heating is easy. The question is with what are you going to heat it and what will it cost? What did you have in mind?

You could also look into some passive solar.. ie big water containers that heat up in the sun during the day and release heat at night.
This place is good for supplies:
http://www.growerssupply.com

Natural gas is probably the cheapest, but requires a gas line.
Electricity requires a heavy cable to supply the heater, otherwise easy to install. Can be expensive depending on your power company...
Propane is the simplest and easiest to install but on the expensive side.
Oil is more economical than propane but only good for larger size operations due to furnace sizes.

Bubble wrapping the inside will help alot. When the sun is up it will also help alot. The other 14 hours of the day though... Reducing your temperature during the night will help alot also, but you can only go so far with that depending on what plants you are growing.


Don't forget you will also propably want to have some sort of power to run some fans and pumps and stuff, as well as water supply of some sort.
 
  • #20
You can mount a misting system to operate during the summer to keep up the humidity.
 
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