Greenhouse heater recommendation

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Chris in Leeds
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Re: Greenhouse heater recommendation

Post by Chris in Leeds »

I would contact the manufacturer before doing anything else and see if they will do anything they might do what a lot of companies do now and say you need to take it up with whoever you bought it from (usual rubbish companies do now)pass the buck
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Chris in Leeds
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Re: Greenhouse heater recommendation

Post by Chris in Leeds »

And if you get no where try trading standards as it's a fire risk
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Re: Greenhouse heater recommendation

Post by MikeDom »

Thanks Chris and Dave, I have contacted Biogreen and filled in a complaint form. The information you have provided is useful and I will see what happens. They appear to be based in Germany. In the meantime, my plants are all cosy and warm for the moment without that horrible burning smell. The cable wasn't burnt and given that it all happened on Friday, I'm glad I caught it in time as I only go the greenhouse at weekends to water. The sockets are attached to wooden staging so I may need to rethink that also. Mine will be the only greenhouse with a CO2 fire extinguisher :lol:
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Peter
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Re: Greenhouse heater recommendation

Post by Peter »

Mike: maybe a silly question but why does your heater need to run for so long? I would have thought that if the greenhouse insulation is up to scratch the heat in there should last long enough for the plug to cool. Your electric bills must be giving everyone who works for your power provider a company Merc.

Am I right in assuming that the heater has an on-board thermostat as opposed to a remote one. The beauty of the latter is that the sensor can be fixed to the staging near to the plants, rather than being on the floor or roof where temperatures can vary, especially on the floor. I expect that you monitor your max-min temps carefully, particularly if running a hot greenhouse.
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Re: Greenhouse heater recommendation

Post by MikeDom »

Hello Peter, I'm not quite the one funding EDF Energy, although my wife does make representations in a similar vein. The heater does have thermostats and I have min/max thermometers round the greenhouse; the temperature is consistent throughout. The minimum temperature is set to 10 Deg C as the Madagascar plants don't like it much cooler. There are growlights for the Conophytums in there as well and they tend to provide daytime heat, without the heater the daytime temperature goes up to a maximum of 16 Deg C on a sunny day during winter. The heater has a continuous fan which works very well at circulating the air (and heat). Most plants haven't gone into dormancy by losing their leaves which means they will get a head start next year, and some have continued in growth such as Cyphostemmas, Gerrardanthus, Operculicarya, Kedrostis, Ibervillea, Talinum, etc., none of which have etiolated. I do have a few other unheated greenhouses for Aloes etc. and this one is new this year, so a little bit of trial and error. Take the point about thermostats being raised, I am considering what to do for next year. Let's see how bad the lecky bills are :shock:
Mike

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Re: Greenhouse heater recommendation

Post by ralphrmartin »

Chris in Leeds wrote: Sun Jan 06, 2019 8:18 pm I would contact the manufacturer before doing anything else and see if they will do anything they might do what a lot of companies do now and say you need to take it up with whoever you bought it from (usual rubbish companies do now)pass the buck
That's how the law works in the UK, and it's there to protect the customer, as the customer knows who they bought the item from, but may have great difficulty tracking down the manufacturer (who may be overseas, not wish to do anything, not speak English, etc...). You have rights with respect to the seller.
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Re: Greenhouse heater recommendation

Post by Chris43 »

I have a couple of Biogreen Arizona heaters, which came with Biogreen 1 thermostats, and lasted me a good time, the thermostats that was. So I changed them to Biogreen 2, and have been happy for some 4-5 years. I needed to do some wiring changes to make them work effectively for my needs - i.e. fan on always, and heating element linked to Biogreen 2. But fine, until today, when I went to see if all was well in the greenhouse, and one thermostat was apparently dead.
I remembered this thread, and it was immediately obvious that the mains plug to the Biogreen 2 was the same as the one which stared this thread, and in fact almost identical damage. A replacement hard black plug restored life to the thermostat, even remembered the settings. My second heater/thermostat seem sot be fine, no sign of overheating.
Just thought this might be of interest to Biogreen 2 owners.
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Re: Greenhouse heater recommendation

Post by JohnE »

Peter wrote: Sun Jan 06, 2019 10:34 pm Mike: maybe a silly question but why does your heater need to run for so long? I would have thought that if the greenhouse insulation is up to scratch the heat in there should last long enough for the plug to cool. Your electric bills must be giving everyone who works for your power provider a company Merc.

Am I right in assuming that the heater has an on-board thermostat as opposed to a remote one. The beauty of the latter is that the sensor can be fixed to the staging near to the plants, rather than being on the floor or roof where temperatures can vary, especially on the floor. I expect that you monitor your max-min temps carefully, particularly if running a hot greenhouse.
It is true that an on-board thermostat will be less accurate than an external one at staging level (providing other factors, e.g. direct sunlight, don't influence the latter), but does it really matter? For a typical mixed collection we're adopting a "one size (temperature) fits all" approach anyway. Also, if you read my piece in the December 2018 CactusWorld describing my heating failure of the previous winter, it seems that our plants are much more tolerant than we give them credit for, so the odd degree here and there is unlikely to matter.

For the record, my heater is a 3kW Parwin (sadly no longer available) with a built-in thermostat. My target minimum temperature is 5 degrees C. The thermostat is controlled by a knob on the heater which is marked with numbers from 1 to 10. The correct setting was determined by trial and error based on a max/min thermometer. Over the 28 years that I've had it, only in the extreme coldest weather has the minimum temperature dipped below the target and then only by a degree or two for short periods of time.

Since I wrote the CactusWorld article I have identified and repaired the heater fault which was actually very similar to one described in this thread except that in my case it was the terminal block supplying power to the heater that had melted causing a short to earth that tripped the RCD supplying the entire greenhouse. Why this happened after 27 years I don't know. Maybe a screw had loosened slightly causing arcing, who knows. A new terminal block fixed the fault at negligible cost.

TIP: Because the RCD tripped, my greenhouse lost all power due to the heater fault. This included the hotbox containing the more tender plants. I have since introduced a simple way of monitoring that there is power to the greenhouse. By using a plug-in LED nightlight (less than £3 on ebay) I can look out of a window each night at bedtime and see that there is power present. Of course that doesn't prove that everything is working, but it's a good indication and at negligible cost.
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Re: Greenhouse heater recommendation

Post by Tina »

a plug-in LED nightlight
or fairy lights look quite nice too :wink:.
I keep meaning to buy the poultry alarm but it seems soo expensive even though my plants are worth more than £70 so isn't really.
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el48tel
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Re: Greenhouse heater recommendation

Post by el48tel »

JohnE wrote: Tue Jan 15, 2019 4:15 pm
Peter wrote: Sun Jan 06, 2019 10:34 pm Mike: maybe a silly question but why does your heater need to run for so long? I would have thought that if the greenhouse insulation is up to scratch the heat in there should last long enough for the plug to cool. Your electric bills must be giving everyone who works for your power provider a company Merc.

Am I right in assuming that the heater has an on-board thermostat as opposed to a remote one. The beauty of the latter is that the sensor can be fixed to the staging near to the plants, rather than being on the floor or roof where temperatures can vary, especially on the floor. I expect that you monitor your max-min temps carefully, particularly if running a hot greenhouse.
..............

TIP: ............. By using a plug-in LED nightlight (less than £3 on ebay) I can look out of a window each night at bedtime and see that there is power present. Of course that doesn't prove that everything is working, but it's a good indication and at negligible cost.
Now that's a super idea - thanks
Endeavouring to grow Aylostera, Echinocereus, Echinopsis, Gymnocalycium, Matucana, Rebutia, and Sulcorebutia. Fallen out of love with Lithops and aggravated by Aeoniums.
Currently being wooed by Haworthia, attempting hybridisation, and enticed by Mesembs.
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