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 What type of heating.

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delandmo




Number of posts : 345
Age : 77
Location : Sutton, Surrey.
Registration date : 2011-06-05

What type of heating. Empty
PostSubject: What type of heating.   What type of heating. Icon_minitimeThu Jun 16, 2011 11:59 pm

I need to think about heating my new greenhouse come the winter. What is best. I've used paraffin heaters in the past and found them to be adequate.But finding retailers selling paraffin is becoming difficult.Bottle gas is popular, but can produce an unhealthy amount of moisture for our cacti. I could provide electricity heating and am currently on Economy 7 which provides 7 hours of cheap electricity after midnight or later. My greenhouse is approx. 7ftX5ft. Would appreciate your views and personal experiences. Thanks
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PostSubject: Re: What type of heating.   What type of heating. Icon_minitimeFri Jun 17, 2011 9:47 pm

I prefer electricity. I use a cheap thermostatically controlled fan heater which is adequate enough to keep my greenhouse (which is a similar size to yours delandmo) above 5 degrees centigrade.

I've used paraffin heaters in the past. I've found them unreliable, difficult to adjust and smelly.

I haven't used gas, but I'd avoid anything that added to the humidity of my greenhouse.

...... Si
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delandmo




Number of posts : 345
Age : 77
Location : Sutton, Surrey.
Registration date : 2011-06-05

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PostSubject: Re: What type of heating.   What type of heating. Icon_minitimeSat Jun 18, 2011 11:08 am

Thanks Si,I must admit I've had some sooty times with paraffin, much to the detriment of hairy plants. I will investigate a fan heater and check out costs. Thanks for your input. Regards Derek.
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Chris43
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Chris43


Number of posts : 1872
Age : 80
Location : Chinnor, UK
Registration date : 2008-07-16

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PostSubject: Re: What type of heating.   What type of heating. Icon_minitimeSat Jun 18, 2011 12:20 pm

Hi delanmo,

I gave upon paraffin in the late 1970's after having a nmber of "sooty" episodes, and failures, compounded (or caused by) being away from home on occasion for too long on business.

Then I used Autoheat tubular fan heaters through the 80s and 90s, with various problems, mainly associated with thermostats giving up. I had a major disaster in the winter of 2001/2002 when again a thermostat failed, and I lost about half my collection to cold and disease - again because of working away from home.

I have gone a bit overboard as a result, and in a rather larger greenhouse have two Biogreen 3kw tubular heaters, each with high quality digital thermostats, which are set at 7C during the winter - I found last winter set at 5C too cold for some of the plants I grow. Each heater is wired into a different ring main, and I have a 4kw propane heater set at 5C as backup.

With a greenhouse your size, you won't need that much heating capacity, and only you can decide how much redundancy you want, but I would recommend for cost reasons a good quality thermostat. Mine came with the heaters, although are separate units. Ideally you should have one where the hysteresis (the lag between on and off) is smnall, like 0.5C. I have heard good things about Parwin, although they seem to have stopped production of new heaters, but stcoks are still available I believe. You wouldn't need more than a 2kw unit. I line my greenhouse with bubble glazing, which I keep up all year round. This does reduce heating costs, even with Economy 7 rates.

At the end of the day its a personal decision really - the risk to your collection vs the costs of installing and running th eheating system.

_________________
Chris43, moderator
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delandmo




Number of posts : 345
Age : 77
Location : Sutton, Surrey.
Registration date : 2011-06-05

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PostSubject: Re: What type of heating.   What type of heating. Icon_minitimeSat Jun 18, 2011 4:16 pm

Thanks Chris, I have been looking at various sites and it seems the BioGreen Arkansas 2kw.heater will suit my needs.You can also purchase a seperate digital thermostat which gives an accurate temperature control and display panel. One site sold the two as a package, but was out of stock! Waiting to hear from Parwin about availability also. Regards Derek.
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delandmo




Number of posts : 345
Age : 77
Location : Sutton, Surrey.
Registration date : 2011-06-05

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PostSubject: Re: What type of heating.   What type of heating. Icon_minitimeSat Jun 18, 2011 4:42 pm

Hi Chris, Meant to mention about bubble wrap,which I intend to put up as well. You keep it on all year I see. Do you notice any appreciable loss of light! I know it's a pain to put up and take down. Regards Derek.
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