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Heating a greenhouse this year

Dobbin26Dobbin26 Posts: 60
in The potting shed
With the price of electricity getting even more expensive this year and by the looks of it an end to assistance from the government, I was looking at using extra bubble wrap insulation on the greenhouse this year as well as sectioning off the height of the greenhouse with a polythene 'blind' to reduce the overall volume. I have a soil warming cable in a 4' x 2' propagator on the top shelf of the staging as well as a 2kw greenhouse heater. I also intended using more fleece over seed trays and drop the temperature a few degrees to about 13 -15C. Anyone else got similar plans or suggestions as to how heat an 8' x 6' aluminium greenhouse efficiently?

Posts

  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    Much will depend on what you keep and grow in the GH over the winter period as well as your budget. After years of timber GH's ( some glass to ground and some half boarded ) I purchased an aluminium GH when I moved.  Much harder to insulate - at least IME.
    Fully insulating the GH with layers of bubble wrap can add to condensation and lack of air circulation so it can prove detrimental to a degree.
    Sectioning off part of the GH and using the heater in that area could save you a bit.
    I'm sure others on the forum will be able to offer some advice and ideas but it would help if you could give more info on what you are using the GH for :)
  • Dobbin26Dobbin26 Posts: 60
    Just a little update as to what I decided to do. With one large heated propagator frame which holds 4 standard size trays, I built another one slightly bigger to take 5 trays and and frame to double both up so I can get 14 seed trays complete with covers. Covering them all in several layers of fleece I have been able to sustain overnight temperatures of upwards of 8 or 9C with air temperatures in the greenhouse as low as -3. Seeds germination taking about a week.  Now that plants are that bit bigger, only now am I going to be heating part of the greenhouse as one side has been partitioned off with polythene and fleece to reduce overall volume and hence heating costs. 
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