Greenhouse Heating

[Bill H]

Hi!

I have recently bought a new 8x6 greenhouse and I am considering lining it with bubble wrap to insulate it and using a parasene heater for heating it during the winter.

Would this be OK?

Any suggestions to improve/disapprove the above would be welcome.

Thanks.

Bill _H

[Mike]

That's exactly what I did last winter and it worked very well.

The only problem I faced was that there is quite a lag on the thermometer on Parasene heaters (despite what their technicians say!). In other words if you set to say 5C it'll heat to say 9C before turning off, then cooling down to 5 before turningon again. So in effect you're paying to keep the greenhouse at an average of 7C to achieve a minimum of 5C.

I bought an external, better quality thermostat to avoid this.

Mike

[Bill H]

Hi!

Do you recommend any particular parasene model? Electric or parafin?

Thanks.

Bill H

[Mike]

Oh, sorry, I was assuming electric!
I can go away for a weekend or longer and leave my heater on the thermostat with no worries. Couldn't do that with a paraffin heater!

I do however have an (as yet unused ) paraffin heater just in case of power cuts!

Mike

[Bill H]

Hi! Mike,

Would a parafin heater cause condensation and make the greenhouse too damp for the cacti?

I am just thinking about the price of electricity with the recent price increases.

Bill H

[iann]

Its a valid point, Bill, but people can and have used these heaters almost since greenhouses were invented. Make sure you have enough ventilation to minimise condensation. Some people have tried de-humidifiers, but I'm guessing if you had electricity in there you wouldn't be planning on a paraffin heater?

[Bill H]

Hi! Ian,

I am waiting on my brother in law puttting power in.

I have bought a parasene parafin heater just in case he doesn't get around to it.

I am looking for recommendations on a fan heater that people are using and is reliable as it gets cold and damp up here in Scotland. I lost a lot of good Astros last winter and I haven't managed to replace them and I don't want to lose more plants this year.

Bill H

[NickT]

Most of the lads around here use Parwin heaters Bill. they don't have a website any more but you can find their address in Garden News unually (I may have it some where.

They have the normal functions on eg you can have the fan running when not heating (only takes about 20 or 30 watts I think) & depending what type of therrmostat you have , you can have different day & night temps.

Another advantage is if the element or thermosats goes on it you can replace them easily I know as I had to do this for one of the guys on his 40 year old heater !!!

I heat my small house with parafin & one way of keeping the humidity down is not to cover it all in concrete as the soil will absorb a bit of moisture

[Bill H]

Thanks, Nick.

I removed the slabs when I erected my new greenhouse last month. On top of the earth I put down geo-textile, then a slab path down the centre with pebbles down both sides and placed my staging on top the pebbles.
Hopefully there is enough earth to keep the humidity down.

I will try and find the electric heaters you mentioned, they sound ideal.

Bill H

[Mike]

I'm not sure you'll find paraffin that cheap these days either, Bill!