It's not terrible, really. It's obviously more expensive in the deeper cold, but averages out quite inexpensively. We usually budget about $30 US for heating over the early season
Our greenhouse is pretty small to begin with, 10'x12' (3m x 3.5m). Plus, in the early season, we see -30F (-35C), so we just do all our seed starts indoors and transition outside once it's more reasonable. Thanks for watching!
Hi Jeff. Donna here from CPGC. I Love the idea of the UV protected plastic on the interior of your greenhouse. Did you cover all the corrugated plastic on the interior w/ it? I have 4 automatic opening windows on my greenhouse. But, I have them disengaged in the winter months. Would you suggest covering them also for the winter months? Thank You so Much. I certainly enjoyed your talkwhen you visited the CPGC!
Hi Donna, we had a good time visiting you! I wish I had talked about this in the video, as it is important, but I didn't think of it until after I'd all ready designed and recorded it! (No easy re-dos with video!) Our UV plastic is on the inside of the 2x4's, whereas the corrugated plastic is on the exterior. The "key" to this insulation technique is not actually the materials itself, but rather the air gap in between the two materials. Thermal transfer happens quickly through both the physical materials, but much more slowly through the air. If the two materials were sandwiched next to each other, they would very poorly insulate. For your openings, I'd leave these uninsulated/open so they work well over the summer. That's what we did with our vents and fans. It sounds like you can close them in the cold. If you lose too much heat this way, you might be able to cut out some 1 inch foam and maybe velcro/magnet it to your openings somehow? Hope that helps. Thanks for watching!
It has worked pretty well for us. This is our fourth season with the upgrade, still holding strong. I've debated about installing firing strips and adding a third layer!
Good video 😀 We have been struggling also with this matter here in 66.3N We are curious to know how much electricity per day in kWh? One euro is about one dollar now... The electricity was sky high here in this winter. We have double plastic green house 20m² So happy it's soon summer...😁
Thank you! We pay about 28 cents a kilowatt hour here, also expensive, so energy conservation is always on our mind. In 10F to 20F (-12C to -6.6C) we use about 2-2.5 kWh per day. That's pretty much worst case for us, but we do have a "hard limit" on how cold we're willing to heat against, about 15F/-9C. Also, usage scales down quite dramatically the closer to last frost we get. We're often using less than a kWh per day in the three weeks or so before last frost. Hope that helps you!
Your entry door seems to be a weak link. I would set up an 'enclosed porch' where you could store equipment too, similar to an 'air lock' on a space ship. I recommend doing that for EVERY entrance (home & out buildings)
We seriously considered expanding the size, but it being our first self-built building, we opted for the simpler route. Our long term plan includes us moving our sizeable community garden to our homestead, which includes a second greenhouse and a high tunnel. We're doing the survey work this year, plan to break ground next year and might start using it in 2025.
Great talk about your greenhouse. We are in 5b New Hampshire, we dont get way down in temp as you but still need some type of heating. Did you use the plastic all the way to the bottom of the greenhouse or just the middle where the metal part starts? Im just wondering if the corrugated metal bottom half is insulated in anyway?
Thanks for the kind comment! We didn't bring the plastic all the way to the bottom. Mostly because we have irrigation systems attached the studs and it would have complicated things a fair bit. Eventually, we want to install 2" foam boards within the walls, probably next spring. (Meant to do it this year, but we had a super late season this year and then bam, it was go time.) We think it'll help a fair bit as we do get some heat losses via the corrugated metal.
In most years, we don't clear it. By the time we need to use it, temps have usually warmed up enough to melt at least some of the snow. We typically see a sudden and very rapid transition from ultra-cold to "spring." We have removed it in years past when snow load gets past about 6-7 feet, just out of concern for the structure.
We have ours aligned east-west, which allows excellent southern exposure and good western exposure, which is our best sunlight exposure. The best alignment for any given greenhouse usually depends a bit on your sun exposure, so its good to look at your space. Hope that helps, thanks for the comment!
Thank you Frosty Garden. Well done video with very helpful insights. Best wishes.
Thank you for the kind comment! We're happy to be lending our expertise to the RUclips community at large these days!
The $ really surprised me, I was thinking this was going to be a pricey solution. Good job!
It's not terrible, really. It's obviously more expensive in the deeper cold, but averages out quite inexpensively. We usually budget about $30 US for heating over the early season
Good ideas! Maybe you might have a look at reducing the volume to heat. For exemple separate your green house in 2 rooms when its very cold
Our greenhouse is pretty small to begin with, 10'x12' (3m x 3.5m). Plus, in the early season, we see -30F (-35C), so we just do all our seed starts indoors and transition outside once it's more reasonable. Thanks for watching!
Hi Jeff. Donna here from CPGC. I Love the idea of the UV protected plastic on the interior of your greenhouse. Did you cover all the corrugated plastic on the interior w/ it? I have 4 automatic opening windows on my greenhouse. But, I have them disengaged in the winter months. Would you suggest covering them also for the winter months? Thank You so Much. I certainly enjoyed your talkwhen you visited the CPGC!
Hi Donna, we had a good time visiting you! I wish I had talked about this in the video, as it is important, but I didn't think of it until after I'd all ready designed and recorded it! (No easy re-dos with video!) Our UV plastic is on the inside of the 2x4's, whereas the corrugated plastic is on the exterior. The "key" to this insulation technique is not actually the materials itself, but rather the air gap in between the two materials. Thermal transfer happens quickly through both the physical materials, but much more slowly through the air. If the two materials were sandwiched next to each other, they would very poorly insulate.
For your openings, I'd leave these uninsulated/open so they work well over the summer. That's what we did with our vents and fans. It sounds like you can close them in the cold. If you lose too much heat this way, you might be able to cut out some 1 inch foam and maybe velcro/magnet it to your openings somehow? Hope that helps. Thanks for watching!
You win. I was going to use bubble wrap on the inside but the poly with the ***nylon cording*** is a much better idea.
It has worked pretty well for us. This is our fourth season with the upgrade, still holding strong. I've debated about installing firing strips and adding a third layer!
Nice
Good video 😀 We have been struggling also with this matter here in 66.3N We are curious to know how much electricity per day in kWh? One euro is about one dollar now... The electricity was sky high here in this winter. We have double plastic green house 20m² So happy it's soon summer...😁
Thank you! We pay about 28 cents a kilowatt hour here, also expensive, so energy conservation is always on our mind. In 10F to 20F (-12C to -6.6C) we use about 2-2.5 kWh per day. That's pretty much worst case for us, but we do have a "hard limit" on how cold we're willing to heat against, about 15F/-9C. Also, usage scales down quite dramatically the closer to last frost we get. We're often using less than a kWh per day in the three weeks or so before last frost. Hope that helps you!
@@frostygarden907 Last Dec. we had 55 cents per kWh 🥹Luckily state will now pay back the over priced fees and now it's 20 cents+ tax.....
Your entry door seems to be a weak link. I would set up an 'enclosed porch' where you could store equipment too, similar to an 'air lock' on a space ship. I recommend doing that for EVERY entrance (home & out buildings)
We seriously considered expanding the size, but it being our first self-built building, we opted for the simpler route. Our long term plan includes us moving our sizeable community garden to our homestead, which includes a second greenhouse and a high tunnel. We're doing the survey work this year, plan to break ground next year and might start using it in 2025.
Great talk about your greenhouse. We are in 5b New Hampshire, we dont get way down in temp as you but still need some type of heating. Did you use the plastic all the way to the bottom of the greenhouse or just the middle where the metal part starts? Im just wondering if the corrugated metal bottom half is insulated in anyway?
Thanks for the kind comment! We didn't bring the plastic all the way to the bottom. Mostly because we have irrigation systems attached the studs and it would have complicated things a fair bit. Eventually, we want to install 2" foam boards within the walls, probably next spring. (Meant to do it this year, but we had a super late season this year and then bam, it was go time.) We think it'll help a fair bit as we do get some heat losses via the corrugated metal.
Do you remove the snow from your greenhouse to promote better lighting and heat from the sun or do you leave it on for insulation?
In most years, we don't clear it. By the time we need to use it, temps have usually warmed up enough to melt at least some of the snow. We typically see a sudden and very rapid transition from ultra-cold to "spring." We have removed it in years past when snow load gets past about 6-7 feet, just out of concern for the structure.
What orientation is your greenhouse (N-S or E-W)? Do you think it makes a difference?
We have ours aligned east-west, which allows excellent southern exposure and good western exposure, which is our best sunlight exposure. The best alignment for any given greenhouse usually depends a bit on your sun exposure, so its good to look at your space. Hope that helps, thanks for the comment!