I have done diy spray foam. It works pretty good. I am not really good at it so the results have not looked good, but is works good.
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Will that stick to polyfilm?
I don’t think so. Can you build the north side of the greenhouse out of something else?
It’s a double layer inflated of Solarig. The Solarig has been by far the best covering I’ve used when considering cost/benefit ratio. Regular 6 mil, four yr, greenhouse poly lost inflation in 2-3 years. So I did that twice. Then switched to the Solarig. It costs 2x but has lasted 9.5 yrs and counting with zero issues.
With the 6 mil I was up on top of the GH regularly to patch holes. With Solarig I haven’t checked the top in 9 yrs.
When I cover again I’m going to look into Palring, another woven poly. It has an even longer warranty, 7 yrs.
Link to Solarig and Palring.
Greenhouse covers and ground covers (robertmarvel.com)
Solarig reduces heat loss at night and heat gain during the day. The big advantage over multiwall polycarbonate is no seams. So when considering heat loss Solarig is likely as good as triple wall poly carbonate and a fraction of the cost.
If I built another GH it would be at least partly underground and the only light transmitting covering would be a roof and south wall of inflated woven poly.
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you could use solar power or gas also. I mean I have a generator here…
I use a wireless remote control thermostat to turn my heater on and off. I set the alarm at 35 degrees and have the heater turn on at 38F and off at 42F. It’s been flawless for a few years now.
Some info from Amazon:
"The wireless thermostat will automatically turn on/off heating or cooling devices through your preset target temperature. Control Cooling and Heating device, Monitor room temperature.
Specifications
- Load Capacity: 100-240VAC 15A, 1650W@110VAC, 3300W@220VAC
- Remote Batteries Required: 2×1.5V AAA (Not Included)
- Transmission Distance: 50-100m
- Measuring Temperature Range: -10℃~80℃, 14℉~176℉
- Temperature Accuracy: ±0.1℃/℉
- High/Low Temperature Alarm: 0℃~80℃/32℉~176℉
- Remote Refresh Frequency: 20 Seconds
- Temperature Probe: Plug In The Receiver"
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Your reply reminded me that I got one of these and never used it because I ended up getting a heater with its own thermostat knob:
It’s supposed to turn on at 35 and off at 45, so I’ll plug the heater in that and see if it is better calibrated. If that doesn’t work right for some reason, I’ll look into something like the one you have.
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Well it does seem to turn on around the right temperature (close enough at least), but then it shuts off again way before 45°… this will save me on heating costs compared to just using the knob on the heater, but it makes me nervous when it shuts off so fast, hopefully it’ll work as expected in a really bad freeze?
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I did processing instrumentation in another life. You always have to account for hysteresis, the lag that occurs after your heat source is turned on. Our thermostats were calibrated in 10°C increments. The lowest any of them turned on was 10C, or about 45°F. You want the area warming before the minimum ambient temp is reached. D
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That makes sense for when it turns on, but seems like it isn’t staying on long enough? I’ll get a better test this coming week, it’s supposed to be in the mid-teens on Wednesday, so that should have the heater going full blast.
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Hi @Pokeweed I guess my mind knew that. I’ve dealt with freezing and overheating greenhouses now for 20-years. Thank you for bringing that up.
Hey guys I haven’t paid attention to the heater in my greenhouse whatsoever. I added a second one just now and during a brief moment with the greenhouse door open, the trickling of heat on the ‘no pipe freeze mode’ trickled more heat up. It knew begin regulating its atmosphere w/o turning on strong. These things are smart.
It’s the Ballu I posted first link. Total luck to find this thing.
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These are great!
No sunshine here for multiple days. Both yesterday & today windspeed has been 20+ MPH.
Here’s what’s going on:
Current Temp -3 F
Feels Like -25 F
Wind 20 MPH
Greenhouse 36.4
Going to rest my hand above a heater (the one that would need run the faster) and w/o me having to crawl over crates of trees, this heater is barely putting out heat. These things run on efficiency due to a Electronic Thermostat. This company makes many models that all look the same and this is the elite of them all being the Electronic Thermostat model which includes ‘Anti-Freeze’ mode. It’s automatically set for 37 F to ‘trickle heat’ knowing the atmosphere and any subtle changes. This thing is brilliant like the IBM Computer that plays Jeopardy or Chess. Dax
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Incandescent Christmas lights… about 2-3 inches over my leaf lettuce … tunnel covered with floating row cover + 4 old bed sheets and 1 old blanket.
Latest forecast single digits the next 3 nights.
Not the very best small greenhouse… but giving it a shot. Would be thrilled if they made it thru this cold spell.
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I would use cheap space blankets, if your Christmas lights produce any heat.
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@Kaki-pistacia … incandescent christmas lights do produce some heat… about like a 40 watt bulb (is what i heard).
Mellineal Gardner (youtube) has been using them for years with floating row cover on his citris, avacado.
That is where I got the idea to try this… it may flop… but at least I tried.
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My guess is that will work. Your gardens always look clean and neat. If you had a real greenhouse you could work wonders.
I just wanted to suggest use space blankets too if it gets too cold, they’re super cheap and super effective
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I am glad you brought that to attention. thanks.
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@Kaki-pistacia … i have seen those and heard they work well… but never tried them myself.
At 4 pm it was raining… I just went out to check my greens bed and it looks ok … i was afraid it might overheat but they have been on now for 3.5 hours, no steam, no smoke… with luck perhaps just enough heat to keep them warm enough to survive.
It is doing a mix of rain and snow now here.
A good blanket of snow on top should help.
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We got up into the 50s yesterday… woke up to 3F this morning… got about a inch of snow.
The wind howled last night… but it is calm this morning.