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Greenhouse Heating

  • Thread starter ramdacc
  • Start date
Planning on purchasing an outdoor Greenhouse for LL Neps next year. We live in Zone 7, right on the Zone 6-7 line. The Winter (when extreme) can reach lows of 0 degrees F and every few years can dip below that. But usually the average lows are in the upper 20s and the average highs in the upper 40s throughout the coldest two months of Winter (Jan - Feb).

I'd like some suggestions for heating & insulating a small greenhouse. We use natural gas heaters in our home so running an extra gas line to the GH is possible, if necessary. Sunlight is abundant through 2/3 of the Winter but usually for only 8 ish hours per day due to surrounding trees.

As far as the size, I'm looking at going with an 8' x 12' (or something similar), probably polycarbonate w/ Wooden frame but I am open to suggestions here as well if someone has a greenhouse in a similar climate they can recommend? It has to be sturdy...the weather here is legendary bad throughout the Spring (Northeast Oklahoma).

Thanks
 
Look into the Palram Essence Greenhouse. I have one that has survived 3 hurricanes! It's frame is aluminum with twinwall polycarbonate.

I'm in zone 9, so my winters aren't as harsh. Maybe a couple nights in the 20's. I have the reflective bubblewrap insulation around the bottom up to 4ft. I use a small electric heater and even a tarp over the gh to keep in heat. Hasn't dropped below 40F yet.

Hope this helps!
 
consider this

This may or may not apply to your situation. You mention running an additional gas line for your greenhouse. I am guessing you mean an additional line from your utility, not t-ing off an existing line. If you do that, you might not have enough gas pressure in the line to run your house heater and the greenhouse. If that is not the case forget what I mention. I have central heat with gas and wanted (after replacing an old stove/oven) to get one with gas. There was no service line behind the stove in the wall, and most folks I talked with said if I had a plumber tap off the gas line to the heater it might not have enough pressure to run the oven and the heater at the same time.
 
This may or may not apply to your situation. You mention running an additional gas line for your greenhouse. I am guessing you mean an additional line from your utility, not t-ing off an existing line. If you do that, you might not have enough gas pressure in the line to run your house heater and the greenhouse. If that is not the case forget what I mention. I have central heat with gas and wanted (after replacing an old stove/oven) to get one with gas. There was no service line behind the stove in the wall, and most folks I talked with said if I had a plumber tap off the gas line to the heater it might not have enough pressure to run the oven and the heater at the same time.

Interesting..... if I do end up deciding to run gas to the GH I'll discuss that with the plumber and make sure there are no issues ahead of time. Thanks for the heads up.


Look into the Palram Essence Greenhouse. I have one that has survived 3 hurricanes! It's frame is aluminum with twinwall polycarbonate.

I'm in zone 9, so my winters aren't as harsh. Maybe a couple nights in the 20's. I have the reflective bubblewrap insulation around the bottom up to 4ft. I use a small electric heater and even a tarp over the gh to keep in heat. Hasn't dropped below 40F yet.

Hope this helps!

I've done some looking at that one, as it is available at a Home Depot here locally for only about $800. I read multiple reviews that the panels fall out of place with little more than a gust of wind so how on earth did your's end up being able to withstand hurricanes? :-D Did you do anything extra to secure the panels in place, like extra glue / caulking? I'm not finding many alternatives as of yet so I'd like to know what you did to make your's secure, because it'll probably end up being what I go with.

Thanks!!!
 
Mine was $1200 from GH Megastore. It has double doors and supports from the base to the roof. With gusts of 50mph+, the doors bent inward a little causing the GH to pressurize. This led to one roof panel coming off. After Mathew, I decided this was a defense mechanism, lol! During Irma same thing happened but I waited till the winds died down before putting it back. Literally every 10 minutes during the worst of Irma I would hear a noise and think " There goes the Greenhouse", but it was still there. It is a little sheltered by my house and the neighbors, but still got hit pretty hard with gusts. FYI, mine is the 8x12. If assembled correctly it will last a long time. I did not use any glue at all. Just made a base from treated 4x4's secured to the ground with 3ft rebar.
 
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Planning on purchasing an outdoor Greenhouse for LL Neps next year. We live in Zone 7, right on the Zone 6-7 line. The Winter (when extreme) can reach lows of 0 degrees F and every few years can dip below that. But usually the average lows are in the upper 20s and the average highs in the upper 40s throughout the coldest two months of Winter (Jan - Feb).

I'd like some suggestions for heating & insulating a small greenhouse. We use natural gas heaters in our home so running an extra gas line to the GH is possible, if necessary. Sunlight is abundant through 2/3 of the Winter but usually for only 8 ish hours per day due to surrounding trees.

As far as the size, I'm looking at going with an 8' x 12' (or something similar), probably polycarbonate w/ Wooden frame but I am open to suggestions here as well if someone has a greenhouse in a similar climate they can recommend? It has to be sturdy...the weather here is legendary bad throughout the Spring (Northeast Oklahoma).

Thanks

I have a Grandio Element 6X8 and little 1100 watt Dr Heater. My zone is 10. The heating bill is not too bad for most of the months except for January - average one week of freezing temps in the low 30's. I bought some cheap bubble wrap from SAM's club to cover up the inside, doors, and louver window. I grow mostly highlanders, some intermediates, and one very large lowlander N. Truncata.
 
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