Fans can coll or heat a greenhouse but water is often over looked. Two 50 gallon drums of water in a small greenhouse can act both ways to cool and heat a the same time! By day they cool by night they heat.
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Dec my drums are 50 degrees going up and down only several degrees in 24 hours! January the temp in the drums goes down to the middle 40 in my solar no heat added greenhouse. My problem comes in the dead of winter when the outside temp drops to 10 for a week and ts cloudy all week!. My water temp drops to the mid 30;s..
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The water never really freezes because the water when it starts to go to ice gives off alot of heat during the phase change which keeps my greenhouse around the 30 to 32 range which does not seem to hurt my plants I keep all winter!. I plan on adding a little heat this year but only to raise the temp to above freezing. Maybe my sweat chamber will give of enough heat to actually heat the rest of the greenhouse a few degrees!
Comments???
Go to any quick lube and buy your 50 gallon metal drums for about $10. They are great. A little dish detergent and warm water will clean out the drum fast. Actually if you leave the small amount of oil in the drum when you fill it up with water then il will float and deter mosquitos especially if you cut the top open! The ones I got have a screw top. Mine are dark blue but some have black drums which are best for heat absorbtion! 4 - 50 gallon drums will absorb alot of heat during the day! and release it night! The drums work two fold absorbing the excess heat during the day and givingoff heat in the coll of the night! FREE HEAT can't be BEAT!
Metal painted black or a dark color gets very hot in the sun! Metal tranfers heat quick through itself. I am having several metal pipes suspended in mywater drums petruding a foot or two above the 50 gallon drum! It seems that the hot pipe transfers alot of heat to the drum water much quicker that the drum surface especially since most of the drum is not in the sun! If I can raise the temp of drum water several degrees each sunny day it will keep heat better in the cold nights. The pipes also give off some heat at night! Any other ideas?
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DoubleDogFarm
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DoubleDogFarm
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 6113
- Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 11:43 pm
Good question, No answer. If it's for heating purposes only, lead is not a problem. If you use the water for watering, maybe.Bobberman wrote:Do they make the radiators without lead in them? I have two radiators for the home I may use and circulate water doing the peak hours of the day using a small pump!
How about just coiling black irrigation pipe in a box with a glass front.
Solar oven with pipe inside.
Different ideas.
Eric
The copper fin in most truck or car radiators are sealed with lead soder! Remember the Romans and how they died with the lead pipes! Home radiators are made of cast iron but the newer oes are using steel now! I am open to all suggestions?
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I have now over 300 gallons of water in my A frame 12 by 16 solar greenhouse with double plastic on the south facing side! The north side I have 2 ich styrofoam 4 foot up the angled wall! I have a 6 foot 6 ceiing between the A frame covered with another layer of plastic! I am setting my automatin fan to kick on from 11 am till 3 pm. every day with the air hitting the bottom of the barrels!
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I have now over 300 gallons of water in my A frame 12 by 16 solar greenhouse with double plastic on the south facing side! The north side I have 2 ich styrofoam 4 foot up the angled wall! I have a 6 foot 6 ceiing between the A frame covered with another layer of plastic! I am setting my automatin fan to kick on from 11 am till 3 pm. every day with the air hitting the bottom of the barrels!
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DoubleDogFarm
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- Posts: 6113
- Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 11:43 pm