Passive Solar Greenhouses - 8 Key Considerations When Building
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- Опубликовано: 2 мар 2023
- In the previous video, we discussed the key concepts for creating an excellent passive solar greenhouse. In this video, we'll delve into the specific components needed to construct an effective one. Using a 3D model of our garden, I'll show you some of these elements and reveal my design for a new passive solar greenhouse. Be sure to watch until the end.
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In 2018 we left the UK to come to Gita’s family homestead here in north Latvia, not far from the Estonian border and now we live somewhere nowhere in the middle of a forest in a house built by Gita’s grandfather. We’re videoing our journey and trying to give you some insights into how we’re living here.
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If you liked this video then make sure you see Part1 Key Concepts for a passive Solar Greenhouse ruclips.net/video/-srRgM3DQEg/видео.html
Having built mine already might I make a couple of suggestions; first, since this is a 3 season greenhouse I would recommend using water barrels and draining them in the winter. Water is either cheap or free and by using water making changes later will be much easier than moving stone. Secondly , cloudy days in later winter early spring make a secondary heat source almost required. This last spring we had a two week period with not one sunny day. On our farm we tried a rocket stove first, it was a lot of fun but way to much work since you have to keep adding fuel. Next we made an outdoor wood fired water boiler from an old gas water heater. Since it had a large burn chamber wood had to be added way less often. The water was circulated with a tiny little fountain pump so some electrical is needed. I turned 60 this year and have to admit I'm looking to make life easier, so this spring I tried a Chinese diesel parking heater it keeps our green house 20 degrees warmer than the outside air set on the lowest setting and it only goes through about 2 1/2 liters of fuel for a full 24 hrs. This saved all my plant starts this spring when we had that cloudy period. Nice video, All the best to you
Hi. I might have a go at experimenting with that over winter. My plans have changed a little with regard to the best mass and I’m thinking through different ideas. I’m not in a massive rush and might not even get the mass done this year. I will be taking detailed temperature readings over winter to see how it performs. Thanks for your input. We have no end of firewood but still need to use it efficiently.
Any suggestions for an earth sheltered passive solar greenhouse adjacent (attached to) a home for Canada with a 90 day grow season?
Also you can wrap copper pipe around the stove pipe to create a thermal siphon that will pull in cold water at the bottom and pump hot out the top without electricity.
Great idea on the diesel parking heater. I wouldn’t have thought of that for a greenhouse.
@@sicsempertyrannis4351I too thought immediately of natural thermal mass… ie, dig down about two to three feet into the earth for the walkways and bottom of raised beds, and use thick walls of rammed earth or hempcrete or sandbags or cob for all walls beyond the dug our space.
As a humble agronomist, my Compliments: exhaustive, compelling, time effective and easy to understand, bravo
Many thanks!
some nice ideas and plans, here.
another thing to consider in your positioning section, is depth into the earth.
if you're not limited to building a greenhouse at the ground level, and are willing to dig down a few feet, it can be advantageous in terms of the earth below ground being warmer than ground level, during winter.
the earth around a sunken greenhouse also adds a lot of thermal mass.
best of luck with your project!
Thank you. We’ve nearly completed it (videos are on our channel). I hope to build a smaller sunken one someday as another project.
Excellent article. We built one 50 years ago at the Ark Project in Prince Edward Island using twin skin, steel frames with tedlar film glazing. Several others were built there and later in B.C. Damp earth heat storage was used in all of them. Blue shiplap polystyrene was used, including a control layer about 900mm down. No auxilliary heat was needed. The projects were supported by the the Canadian Department of Energy mines and Resources.
Are there any photos or documentation of these projects online anywhere? Would be interesting to see if so.
I still have my own photos of the building of two of the demo projects. We had our own company contracted by the Institute of Man and Resources at the provincial level. Central government was from Energy, Mines and Resources. The latter organisation later gave a contract through the Agriculture station in Saanich in BC. They just repeated my project with no advances. We were visited by the Japanese dept of Ag which did more work. Energy, mines contacted them later on. Don’t know where that went. We also developed a thermal storage system for industrial spaces. That did not go to demo sadly. My company was called Renewable Energy Co. in PEI. We fabricated telar film panels for greenhouses. Also built panels for solar staircases and installed them in the church near Summerside PEI. My photos are in storage and will copy to you if I can locate them. There is a passive solar greenhouse somewhere in the central USA. It is a simple version of ours and worthwhile knowing about. It is on Utube but I haven’t viewed it in about a year.
Thank you for ideas I never considered.
Very helpful video. Thank you! Gratings from PL.
Danke für die vielen Inspirationen. Tolles Video.
Thank you for such useful information
I visited an old house a while back, they had produced all the fruit and vegetables eaten on their property, which was a large pastoral property. They had 8 green houses at their peak, but 4 remained, which had been modified over the years. I looked at the ruins of one of the original greenhouses. It had 2 pits that ran the length of the greenhouse on each side, about 6 feet deep, under which ran a rubble drain leading to a pit about 20 yards away. In summer the pits were filled with animal bedding and droppings, along with other compostable material, it must have stunk, but it was settled down and compacted a bit. Over winter the materials would compost, the decomposition giving off heat and gases. The greenhouses were vented on their ridge line via controllable vents.
Interesting, thank you for sharing. Bio generated heat is something others have suggested too.
Very good video, thanks.
Thanks, glad you liked it!
Saludos desde Ecuador. Gracias por compartir este hermoso ejemplo de proyecto
Thanks for sharing this! ❤
You’re welcome. Follow along with the build videos if you’re interested. Thank you.
I'm not complaining about your video but we tried a couple of things in ours that worked really well. So if yours is not build yet, maybe you should take those in consideration. Styrofoam are great for the foundation. They are super though in compression. make sure they don't twist or they will break like glass. we used 2 layer with 4x4 in between. put sand in the middle so it get higher at the same pace that you put ground on the outside so it don't open or close. once it's done build on it and it's as strong as concret, isolated and cheap. Mass, ventilation and , the most important, energie transmission with water. 1000L tote work great. before starting your soil. bury as mutch tube as you can aford. I have 600 feet on a 8x16 feet. My earth is hot even when it's -30 C outside for 3 month. Solar passive is a great concept. But you gona use it at his full potential for about 3 month a year. the other nine month gona be not enough effective in winter and too mutch in spring and summer so you need to flush the heat outside. Dodge caravan radiator gona solve that. With 4 of those runing all day and night with heat floor pump, i collect the heat in my 4000L reserve and in the ground by the tube. I even water the plants with hot water. I can keep my greenhouse closed on the 21st of june even if it's full sun. I open the windows in the summer only to help the insect get to the flowers. Last thing, be close to your house and make your greenhouse an heatcenter that you can spread where you want. I iinstalled an industrial generator in mine. Prestone is send in my home to heat it. An engine lost around 75% of the energy it used in heat. 25% is used to light the house. The heat lost by the engine itself is for the greenhouse. Greenhouse radiator system takes it easelly. I't's always around 4L/10Kw/hour. If like me you think it's still expensive at 2$/L. Get an old diesel engine and start making vegetable oil. That part is not done yet but we start building an oil press for the grain we use to feed the animals at the farm so we can cut diesel fuel 50/50 with corn oil wich gona cost me around 0.30$/L and feed my animals for free... Well, I could go for days on that subject so let's stop it here.Make every BTU count. So keep them near what is the most sensitive to cold. Yourself, young or/and fancy plants and young animals. Good luck in all your projects and let's share our success instead of hiding it.
Thanks for all the info, do you have any photos or videos of your set up I can see, that would really help? Thank you again.
I'll try. I'm not realy good for posting something on youtube but I'll try as soon as possible. @@BalticHomesteaders
maybe you have an email adress i can send them. you seem mutch better then me with cpu
Yes it’s Baltichomesteaders @ gmail . com
Very interesting and helpful. A very good one ❤
Glad you enjoyed it.
Fantastic presentation, inspiring!
Thank you. If you’re interested in the project you can follow along with the build videos.
love the animation, bravo
Thank you.
Fantastic video, very helpful
Thank you :)
The front looks to be about 4 feet high. Dig down and embed it in the ground. This will help stabilize temperatures. You could even line it with EPS-aircrete (polystyrene/aircrete) which is a great & cheap ground contact insulator. I would berm up & ground insulate the back wall for the same reason. The pitch may change then, and maybe less north facing roof and more south transparent roof.
Wow such a cool produced video
Thank you.
For glazing: One can also look into Solawrap. That is what I use in the Alps. Advantages over Polycarbonate: price, longer lasting without degrading (there are places that still have it after 20-30 years), easier install I find and lets through UV spectrum which keeps plants healthier.
Thanks I looked it up but not sure if we can get it here maybe it’s called something else. Looks interesting though.
thanks for the info, I agree that a walipini greenhouse style is just about as good as it gets. LDSPrepper did a geothermal greenhouse with double plastic sheets, and the geodesic domes are also amazing but pricey
Yeah it was a walipini that started all this, well what I originally wanted but we have no big embankment in the right place and an excavator wasn’t an option. I still like the idea of one but maybe a project for the future. I really need to look into the double skin thing but polycarbonate is a much cheaper option here than in the states.
For that back wall I like the other option of rammed earth or tire wall. These 2 options will keep more heat in their thermal mass for longer into the night. The tire wall also can prevent breaking down if roots try to penetrate, recycling otherwise waste tires & filler while being a heat battery to even out temperature throughout the day & night. The drawbacks to my knowledge are the thickness of the wall being around 3 feet or 1 meter & the labor needed to hammer the clay, sand & dirt to the right density. The weight of a filled tire is around 300 - 400 lbs.
Quite like the idea of the tyres, got a few lying about but it’s something that could be built up over time which is convenient. I’d have to look into how to source tyres over here, thanks.
Exactly!
Be careful. Tires emit off gases that are cancerous. I considered doing this method, actually if you dig enough here in youtube there are geothermal tire greenhouse setups already.
2ndly, you might have issues with organic certification or if you sell your property. Some places would consider tires as toxic and will require you to remove in your property prior to sale. Just keep that in mind.
If you check JIAN CAI CAI the Chinese born geologist who became a fulltime veg grower. His passive greenhouse is quite interesting, using Chinese greenhouse tech. He modified it and made it work in deep winter alberta canada.
The mass he used is just clay.
Thank you for your video. It's inspiring.
Good info, thanks, liked and subbed :)
Thank you.
Fantastic video...thanks! I recently purchased this house with its 10m wide back wall oriented to the SE. My plan is to build a full width lean-to solar greenhouse to extend into 4 seasons with first freeze date of 5 Nov and last of 17 Apr. Thank you for the clear explanations and DIY suggestions. PS - Just realized I can't add photos...sorry!
A few folk have emailed me their setups so feel free, email address is on the about us tab. Sounds like you have some reasonable frost dates where you are. Thanks.
Excellent points. Thanks. I'm looking at using SIPS for the walls and build the north wall. Using a saw tooth design with a 2' window to allow passive heat ventilation and work tandem with the lower windows or tubes from the north (cooler side) in the shade. I'm looking at testing a small 8'x 12' SIPS greenhouse. I have a 10' x 26' x 7' cheap half dome starter greenhouse. Heat, insulation and venting is your first biggest challenges. Once you have that under control you can move forward with soil health, moisture control and plant location. Thanks again.
Thanks, you’re welcome. Yeah I reckon sips would work well, don’t think can get them here unless you’re building a big project or possibly not at all. I think soil health is often overlooked and almost an afterthought in many (if not most) projects even if all the above as you mention is under control. You’ve probably seen I made a series of build videos as well.
Another really useful video for collecting information for my project! I’m hoping mine will be on the SSW facing wall of my barn. I’m currently most worried about getting the ventilation right…
I’m playing with ventilation at the moment, it’s pretty much as per the video and seems to work well. The 12v car radiator fan in theory can move the air once every 2 minutes but that depends on how big your greenhouse will be of course.
Better face greenhouse little bit towards east as it warms up faster in mornings and you'll have less mold problems as plants dry up faster in the morning.
Instead of the mechanical ventilation you could consider one or two black-painted pipes. When the sun makes them hot, the air will be sucked out of the greenhouse. Adding some heat in the cold months is possible with one or more SolarVenti’s, you will still need the sun for that but then it delivers!
Hi, that’s not a bad idea. I’ve seen a vented toilet using a black pipe to draw up the unwanted smells. Thank you.
@@BalticHomesteaders it only works when the sun shines, so you have to smell bad at the right time 😉. But it will work automaticaly for the greenhouse: a hot sun makes hot pipes and therefore much ventilation (and the other way around: no sun, hardly any ventilation)
You could use automated roof vents as well.
I found that if you hook up direct solar panel to your exhaust fan without a thermostat it works the best as when the heat of the sun is out the solar panels producing the maximum amount of power there for spending your fan to the highest RPMs necessary as it cools down your fan slows down.
So a 12-volt fan such as for a vehicle will run directly off of a 12-volt solar panel the motor for the fan can increase up to 24 volt if necessary depending on the voltage put out by the solar panel it will not damage the motor
Hi, thanks for commenting. It’s not a bad idea, I can see the logic in it but I need better control over temperatures inside. So for example in winter the sun might still shine but I wouldn’t want the fan exhausting. I soon hope to release a video on the tech side as I’ve now built the greenhouse and it’s all working Ok.
In the ones we built many years ago, we had upper and lower heat storage masses and the upper, hotter layer was used for emergency heating boost in case of a glazing failure or a door was left open in winter. We had thermocouples in the two heat masses and at the collection inlets and outlets. A vdu showed energy high/low points in the two energy masses with a heat loss alarm relay to the office,
Thanks, that was well presented and inspiring! I was wondering about creating a living roof on the "dark side" to aid insulation. It would entail appropriate choice of shade tolerant plants though.
😊👍❤
One thing you have not mentioned, is an efficient air exchange, incorporating a heat exchanger.
In winter, you still need air exchange to replenish CO2.
To do this you will need a heat exchanger so that the internal heat is not wasted,
and incoming fresh air, is heated by the outgoing stale CO2 depleted air.
Alternatively, you'll need a supply of CO2, to replace that used by your plants.
,
It’s a great point I’d not specifically mentioned it no although in the back of my mind I was considering a geothermal cooling/ heating add on. I also, as part of the control/monitoring system I wanted to monitor co2 levels, more out of interest than anything else. More recently I’ve become interested in evaporative cooling and an enclosed solution with a heat exchanger might offer a dual purpose solution, spit balling ideas really all needs researching and experimenting. Thanks.
First off thanks for a very inciteful video. My situation is a little different in that my greenhouse will be the 2nd floor of an outbuilding. Here, I plan on using water for cooling and heating. I'll use a small pump to circulated the water to buried and insulated containers. I'll also have some rainwater catchment for my grow. Where I live, the frost line is about 18", so my barrels will be below that. Geothermal may also come into play for the winter along with a small propane or wood fired HW boiler.
I'm thinking of using zipwall for my exterior instead of OSB as it includes 1" of build in rigid insulation. It's a little more expensive but it saves a step. For my electric - I will also be utilizing solar.
Sounds good, all the best with your building project. Our frost line is about 90cm!
I love your ideas and can’t wait to see you implement them. Are you familiar with what Jane Squier has done in BC? It’s very impressive.
Thanks, I’ll check her out.
Look into Walipini greenhouses and Geo-thermal heating/cooling.
Thank you for the video I really do hope this helps people that are building their own greenhouses. Oh by the way the Chebureki were good except for 1 the side fell apart on me 😂 however the Pelmeni turned out fine.
Glad it was helpful and great to hear you’re trying the other things too. Thank you.
@@BalticHomesteaders you're welcome and have a good week 👍🏻
Since one wall is a short ponywall and light isn't hitting that area, would there be a benefit of just putting the greenhouse into the ground 3 feet and using passive geothermal air tunnels? You would then be able to utilize the earth as a thermal mass. Running solar heated water(or salts) in pipes into your themal mass would offer a deeper heat. A closed loop system.
It’s for the snow that we get, need somewhere to fall off and the ventilation windows which work great.
Great videos thanks. Especially as I'm thinking of building my own greenhouse. I was wondering why the whole roof isn't made of polycarbonate? Also we have very strong winds here and was wondering if the polycarbonate would be survive such strong winds. Thanks, Dave
Thank you. We also have a fully polycarbonate greenhouse and it is now staked down after it nearly blew away one year. Had no trouble since. I’ve nearly finished building this new one.
this project is very very close to what im dreaming of! i know for sure this gets way to hot in summer, maybe find a way to shield your greenhouse from summer sunlight for the worst months. also the thermal battery is as usefull as its surfice area, if you use a loose rockpile instead of a neat stacked pile your heat transfere between the air and the rocks inceases dramaticly
Thanks. I’d love to find some shade netting but it’s not easy get here.
We spray our big greenhouses with chalk for the summer months and it dispurses after a lot of water or immediately with a removal solution
I don't know how far you want to go micro managing but there is an other trick: paint some of the rocks in the thermal battery half white half black. In winter put the black side to the sun in summer put the white side to the sun
Good ideas, thanks.
Insulate the floor. The floor and glazing is where you loose the most heat. You might be better of in raised beds. It's less labor and easier to insulate to keep ground from stealing the heat.
Wow, the graphics look really impressive! It's so cool to watch someone given so much thought to find the optimal solution for the climate that's relevant for me as well. Though I the priciples you describe probably apply to most cases.
Thanks Chris. I think there’s still a lot of optimisation to be done once it’s built but that’s part of the fun :)
As reality bites; having all your eggs in one basket is not an option.
Unfortunately economies of scale (gross output per area) Available time and area meet solar output- weather disturbances - losses (theft by people or insect or vermin) = avaliable food for supporting life.
Great ideas must encompass worst case scenario as a real cost as part of the tital possible result. Otherwise one risks being overwhelmed by a bad outcome.
What are you saying here?
@@robertmccabe8632 can you explain more in context to the is and my other videos on this subject? Thanks
Well done. In regard adding substrates to your soils, particularly biochar, I have been using this since the 1970's in both broadacre & garden situations. You do NOT need to dig it in as a layer so deep, simply mix it with the compost layer before adding. Its greatest values will then be exploited.
Look out for Saturday’s video, I did just that pretty much, in the end. I had watched lots of stuff in terrapreta and related and seen how deep people were digging it but isn’t he end it wasn’t practical and I wasn’t well at the time of digging.
@@BalticHomesteaderscheck out Charles Dowding, no dig is great, much less work (digging obviously) and less weeds, keeps the soil healthier as you don't destroy the mycilium, worm tunnels and gaps from rotted roots that give good natural drainage.
@@theclotshotdidit3115 Charles is great, he’s left a very kind comment on my nodig garden video here: No Dig Vegetable Garden Transformation in 1 Year
ruclips.net/video/-Uq6LTd3Fms/видео.html
These videos are brilliant, how come you only have just under eight thousand subscribers, if only you had a more popular subject matter you would be raking it in........ enough of my nonsense, thankyou for the video and knowledge....
Thank you! It’s been a long old slog to get this far but those that succeed have mostly succeeded because they kept going :) This winter I’ll be focusing more on generating and storing energy (in our context) which is a more hot topic.
I am absolutely „in awe“ 🤩 what a fabulous 3D animation, awesome! So vivid and helpful. May I ask which software you used to „move around“ your green house?! Nonetheless, new sub here 👍
Hi Mathew. Thanks :) I used Blender to produce this. I talk a little about it in the Q&A video where I control the motion 'live' as it were ruclips.net/video/RNYPNbp8Sx0/видео.html Thanks for the sub!
@@BalticHomesteaders thank you! Am going to watch that suggested Q & A video next… 🍿 🎥 😎
What 3d software is s this?
It’s Blender.
I'm wondering what your thoughts are of double walled polycarbonate? I'm planning a greenhouse build for northern central Alaska and I'm wanting to have some air in between my polycarb panels to act as added insulation, but struggling to figure out a plan for doing so. Thanks so much for the video, super informative.
So you'd fix one set of sheets on the outside and one set on the inside? I can't see why it wouldn't work, in theory it should really help with the R value. I guess the only consideration is to whether you'd need to clean the innermost sides and would they be accessible although in theory why would they get dirty? Installing the inside set might be fiddly though. The other way is to install the first set as per normal then use batons to hold them down (instead of the joining strips and then install the second set onto the batons?
I’m thinking of building something similar but using concrete walls. At least partially. Maybe a meter high concrete with the rest of it framed. I have a little slope where I am putting my greenhouse so I can have it partially underground.
Sounds great, hope the build goes well. Having the slope is a nice plus!
hello sir, I like your take on the subject. I'd like to give you some more material for thoughts with the work of Russ Flinch. He's using geothermal energy to heat his green houses during all winter and grows citrus in nebraska.
Hope it's intresting to you and all who may come accros this post.
I'm french, I hope my english wasn't to bad
Merci boucoup :) I learnt French at school so your English will be better than my French :) Thanks for this, I think geothermal is something we can look at later in the year or next year maybe.
I'd love a Green House to be main living quarters never separated from Naturally Divine Living wouldn't that be cool
Great video, and nice build. But found something. Once you add the fans, you don't have a passive greenhouse anymore. now its active.
Thanks. This was answered on another comment I think (not by me). It’s still a passive solar greenhouse, just not passively cooled, well once it goes above 30degC as it turns out.
Fantastic project. Im wondering what made you decide against a night time insulation mat on top of the polycarbonate? Like the chinese style passive solar greenhouses do. Is it the likelihood of snowfall that made you decide against it?
Hi, I’m not against it, it’s definitely in the back of my mind as an add on at some stage. I would love to include it as motorised curtains that come down at night but it’s on the list for the next year / stage. I could obsess with stuff for this project but sadly I have lots of other things to do that life has presented :) Glad you enjoyed the video.
I'm interested in what type of soil moisture meter you use. I plan to add soil moisture sensor for automatic watering.
Hi it’s the capacitive moisture sensor, there’s really no other choice when you look into it, other types will oxidise. Here’s the full automated watering video
ruclips.net/video/eU2gAe74v8Q/видео.html
Depending on budget considerations and how cold it gets, you might look at mixing water and propylene glycol (available in food-grade formats). It has a freezing point of -59C, and can be disolved in water to lower the freezing point. It's possible (though maybe not cost effective compared to stone that's free) to fill 200L drums of water/glycol mix that won't ever freeze in your climate.
Yeah I had looked into this but I was nervous about contamination if it leaked. Maybe needlessly if it was food grade. The problem may have been that I couldn’t source it here. I had seen others with similar concerns and had built elaborate containment systems. Those rocks might be free but they will be hard work shifting them compared to barrels :)
@@BalticHomesteaders use plumbing antifreeze for RV's to improve the water until it won't freeze solid in the freezer and fill barrels with that ratio and make certain the barrel is sealed because it's mostly alchohol.
It will require checking occasionally but for blue barrels, only fill to 90% and even if it freezes, it's unlikely to break because it'll form slush mostly
@@EastBayFlipper I’ll look into that thanks.
Could I turn the water temperature buffer into an aquaponics/hydroponics system or would that cause too much of the heat to dissipate? I guess it would stay inside the greenhouse right so could work I guess?
If your climate allows for it I guess you could.
does it make sense to put the rock heat storage under the path so not taking up growing space? Also pup hot air from the top into the heat storage rocks.
I haven’t gone for rocks in the end but there’s an idea to brick pave the path and maybe we’ll do something then. Thanks for the idea!
A knee wall on the south side makes shade. I hear that complaint a lot. My greenhouse will be about 4 ft. 1.2 meters underground. No knee wall.
We need the knee wall for the snow to fall away. You can work with the shade, I haven’t found it to be a problem this year. I like the idea of a sunken greenhouse but it wasn’t an option for this project.
Inflated double polyethylene has great R value and it’s budget friendly. I have double polyethylene on the top and front and twinwall polycarbonate panels on the east and west. My Greenhouse hits up to 130 F on and freezing day when the sun is out.
Hi Dave thanks for commenting. Did you buy your double poly set up as a kit or engineer it yourself?
I bought a layer of IR AC 6 mil poly film for the inside layer and the outside layer is 6 mil clear. I got a blower motor from my farmer friend. I installed the 2 layers at the same time and cut the excess. I put a Bellow over the fill tube so I can turn on and off the blower on a timer. It takes 15 minutes on to fill 11”x22” and it’s off for 1.25 hours in summer and 45 minutes in the winter. The Bellow is just plastic taped on 3 sides so the air goes in but can’t escape. A differential switch would be better though, like a air compressor. It stays full enough to insulate for around 77 days of run time per year versus keeping it on full time like everyone else does.
Personally, polycarb is a prohibitive price for now. An inflated double polytunnel plastic cover works for me. I'm creating a rammed earth wall using the 'cobauge' method for the north, as a heat store.
May I ask what your CAD software is? I'm learning basic Shetchup to do my designs off paper, but it can be glitchy. Cheers
Yeah polycarb is much cheaper here. I ditched sketchup pretty quick and decided to learn Blender, it's a sledgehamer to crack a nut for this but that said it works great once you've got the hang of it.
@@BalticHomesteaders Cool, thanks for that 👍
Hello from Chile. Rocket stoves are great for heating up a place quickly and with very little wood but they are quite bad for keeping a place hot for long hrs... you might want to consider a BBR ( Big Batch Rocket) or a russian stove... good luck
Thank you / Gracias :)
rocket stove, you might be right about that, but, are you familiar with rocket mass heater?
the thermal output of the rocket stove gets absorbed into a mass of stone or cob or similar material, and radiates out over the course of many hours, or even days.
As for the most efficient passive solar orientation, it’s not directly south it’s actually more like 12 to 15 degrees to the East so you are orientated South East to more effectively catch morning sun. As the early morning is quite often the coldest point in the day. As well as from my observation seems to be the light that is most favored by plants, at least in Colorado where a lot of my experiences have been.
Yup that’s right, I mention it briefly at 2 minutes in.
Awesome. What program did you use for the 3D model?
It’s Blender.
Radiant heat solar powered floor seems the best way for winter.
Yeah I’d love to path the floor with bricks eventually.
You might want to check regulations on building under powerlines/easments. In australia were not alowed to for sfety and access reasons.
Good point although a little late for me however this building replaces another which was already in the same place and the electric company come out and do regular visits and have never said anything. It’s a good point for others to check their local regulations though. Thanks.
What paint did you use to waterproof the osb?
Some local brand that was waterproofing but tinted white (actually it may have been German). I then had some emulsion left over from bathrooms that I put a second coat on. Seems to do the trick.
I build my solar greenhouse one year ago here in Germany. Due to the solar radiation it is only useable from February to end of November but the tomatoes still look great as the night-temperature dropped below 10C on 15.10.23 for the first time. I still have a lot of problems with getting rid of all the evaporated water from the plants as I try to ventilate through a heat exchanger and only open windows when Temperaturen get above 23C. How do you manage the humidity without heat losses?
Yes I have the same problem but I have been thinking about creative solutions. One way will be to use a desiccant based recirculating filter fan. I open one window at 23 and a second at 26 and then the vent fan kicks in at 30. Now that it’s finished I’m working on a couple of final videos to explain all and then think over improvements during winter. Let’s keep in touch, I’d love to see your setup maybe send us some photos by email (on the about us tab)?
@@BalticHomesteaders sent you the email. Hope it’s no in the spamfilter😅
@@fritzstierhof2467 received thanks, not had any desk time yet to look at in detail, hope to tomorrow :)
I would build a house to incorporate a green house against the south eastern stretch so that both the green house plants and the people in the house benefit!… thick natural material walls would provide extra thermal mass too.
Yes I’d love that too but that’s not what this project was about really, sadly demolishing our house and starting again is a little out of our budget :)
@@BalticHomesteaders lol, but ideal if and when you can!
in using poly anything are you concerned with any chemical gassing off?
Not especially, should I be? I should say as it’s actively ventilated with a fan I’m even less so (according to what I’ve read).
What is the climate? Well done! Is that Finland?
We’re in Latvia, not far from Finland.
Oh Latvia.. The country of evergreen tomatoes.
Well let’s hope some turn red :)
i would reconsider OSB it does not like moisture at all. Polycarbonate is great material. good luck
Hi thanks. Already built it. Been using sealing paint on the outside to water seal it. It’s not going to last forever but should last long enough.
❤
if going for a rock heat store, make it hollow with a metal pipe through for your rocket stove.
Yup that’s the plan, think it’s in the video but maybe I didn’t mention it :)
Hi Iam planning to build one of these but want do go deep into the ground (check wallpini) I live in Poland and here typical winter could be a bit cold (-22C 🥶 was max I've evere endure moderate not more then 10) - for thermal mass want to use a old tires and soil (check a earthship project) for glazing want to use old plastic windows (they have thermal insulation between windows and often people change them for new ones so they can be obtained for free) also very important is additional building connected with greenhouse - a chicken coop which will generate heat, inside of a greenhouse will be some hydroponics to maximise the efficiency and space. A glazing angle have to be calculated for proper angle (winter will warm and summer will chill - check earthship) of course all will be fully automated with a solar panels ale heat regulators plus some water collection tank etc.
I thought about the wallapini approach but in the end getting a digger to come and dig the hole was too much. Maybe I’ll build one as a future project if I can find a suitable place. All the best for your build.
I seen a person use a woodstove with a pipe running under ground to keep the ground warm and not freeze. ME I wonder if that would work in really cold weather.
Have you got a link to the video? It could work, am not sure about the draw of the airflow.
@@BalticHomesteadersесть видео под названием "солнечный вегетарий Иванова" принцип действия тот же самый. Загоняем горячий воздух под землю , тем самым нагревая её
Passive solar buildings have glass area of about 7% of the floor area without extra thermal mass.
Some of these designs are actually solar ovens.
A room with a few windows on the south wall would work just fine.
Paint the walls white.
As the sun moves all the plants will get some direct light.
These things are mostly useful during the coldest months.
I would love to have built it onto the house but sadly it's not in the right place or indeed the right direction. Thanks for your input and ideas, I need to work out about internal wall structure.
@@BalticHomesteaders Do you have a wall or room that faces a southerly direction? In many place you only need a greenhouse during the cold season.
We don’t have any suitable rooms. If we did then I’d use it as a starter room for seedlings.
Have polycarbonate glazing improved their half-life in recent years? I remember years ago, they where susceptible to UV rays and hail.
They come with a UV coating now. Depends how big the hail is :)
a dome with polycarbonate like wow
what software did you use to visualize this?
It was Blender.
Saltwater has a much lower freezing point (the freezing point is the temperature where something freezes) than freshwater does. And the more salt there is in it, the lower the freezing point gets. So in order to know the exact temperature that it’s going to freeze, you have to know just how salty it is. For saltwater that’s as saturated as it can possibly get (i.e. there’s no way to dissolve any more salt in it no matter how hard you tried), the freezing point is -21.1 degrees Celsius. This is when the saltwater is 23.3% salt (by weight).
Sadly temps here go down to -30c but thanks for the idea, anything to save having to build the wall :)
@@BalticHomesteaders Ouch, that is chilly! Hope the build goes well
the trouble with polycarbonate is that its has a short life due to UV, which you do not take into the equation, poly tunnels last longer and are cheaper but glass lasts as long as the structure.
Hi thanks for commenting. Think I mentioned this in the video but we’ll get 10 years out of it at least hopefully much longer. A poly tunnel is a very different beast. I should say that Polycarbonate is considerably cheaper here than in the USA or UK.
WHAT SOFTWARE ARE YOU USING FOR THE 3D MODELING?
It’s Blender.
interesting design, my only comment is the waste of space of passive rock wall at back, really will do very little, is costly and huge effort to make. Instead you could include a raised garden bed, 600mm high, along south wall of glasshouse, even wrap the corners as well. This bed will generate it's own heat with composting, and can be used to espalier fruit trees in a semi protected position, you get extra room in greenhouse, extra fruit, and same heat stabilisation as the rock in the greenhouse. Better result
Hi thanks for commenting. You’re right in that the wall is a lot of effort on my part, not especially looking forward to it, although we have all the materials lying about the place. I’m really interested in what you’re saying here but want to understand it more. Have you got this kind of setup or built it for someone. Are you saying building a hot composting bed to heat the area biologically or just a large raised bed of compost that is simply a mass of sorts that can hold heat? Just wondering why you think the wall won’t work as a mass when many have used a similar set up, not that I don’t believe, if I could avoid building it then wonderful, just need more evidence, anecdotal or otherwise. Thank you, looking forward to hearing more.
Thank you, I’ll check it out.
How you can say its passive when you promote automated air control, watering and even fanned exhaust? This is almost as active it can be.
Because it's a 'passive solar' greenhouse, nowhere did I say passive cooling, or passive watering etc
perhaps solar panels to power the electronics?
@@gerretw its active and requires buying panels that you can't do yourself. Stating its passive is a lie.
Passive: relating to or denoting heating systems that make use of incident sunlight as an energy source.
"bananas can be grown at the highest altitude using passive solar heating alone"
You are using a different definition of the word. Solar panels are by definition, passive.
Sami Not really sure what your problem is. This is just like many other PSGs you can find on YT. We all know that it gets too hot in summer and the heat needs to be exhausted otherwise plants do not pollinate and produce fruit. I’m growing food here not building a showroom for unproductive tomato plants. The PSG design is about keeping heat in during the cooler months.
Ничё не понял , но было интересно
OSB Boo
How would you do it, do share?
We cant use double skin polycarbonat in Australia .Its ok on the walls but not on the roof. As you know its very hot here and the roof polycarbonat just breaks down in 2 years. We can use single sheets ofsun tuff Australian product but the twin wall stuff is from China and its rubbish
Is that because if the heat or the UV? Most modern polycarbonates are coated with UV blocker but as you say maybe not the Chinese stuff?
No they say it has uv blocker But i am sick of the lies Russian and China says @@BalticHomesteaders
Полностью пассивным не получится, у нас очень мало солнца зимой, продлит вегетационный период, что тоже хорошо.
Успехов.
Хочу себе с южной стороны дома таплицу-зимний сад пристроить.
It’s a 3 season greenhouse not 4. Also mentioned is that there is the option for a small wood fired heater inside. Light will be the issue not heat.
Future greenhouses are exactly like the present...expensive, plastic, and not vertical.
You're somewhat comparing apples to oranges.
GEOTHERMAL ‼️
.........................😃
O3 DEC. 2023 SUNDAY
Remember there was a budget, geothermal might come in the future but it’s not essential to start with.
Will 💕😘 LOVE IT,
IN THE WINTER TIME,
IF CONNECTED TO
THE 🏡 HOUSE.
YOU WILL THINK,
IT'S THE
GARDEN OF EDEN 😃
water is not the most efficient heat storage material nor the best for a greenhouse. coconut oil and palm oil are better if you know how to calibrate phase changing to suit your needs (palm oil fusion at 21-23°C, and adding in unsaturated fats to it, following eutectic or near eutectic composition, you can create a buffered temperature at or below that temperature). the thing is that costs like 300 usd per metric ton (about 1050 liters i think) without shipping. and you can suffer an oil spill xD. worse case, USA invades you.
but water is the cheapest and safest, no the most efficient as you cannot use of its amazing fusion enthalpy as a heat buffer, and the temperature will not be stable as water is not a heat buffer, but a high thermal inertial material.
Face south in Australia and your greenhouse will be only good for mosses
its already been done years ago not original
But often old ideas get forgotten. How is yours going?