I just found your channel today and I really enjoy it. I pray you’re ok, I see it’s been 6years since you posted a video. I really hope you can start filming more content. Thank you and God bless!
Hey, would love an update on how the greenhouse is doing this winter - specifically if your thermal battery setup is keeping it warm enough to grow through the whole winter. Thanks!
It won't. He is running it backwards. You need to be pulling the cold air dense air up out of the the system for it to store heat efficiently. Not forcing warm less dense air down.
I hope nothing bad has happened but I really enjoyed your videos. Very informative and would love to see some new ones and how the green house is doing.
Good documenting of the build. I love seeing the enthusiasm of a fun project. I built five 26ft x 100ft high tunnels on our farm about four years ago and installed a very similar system in one of the tunnels as an experiment. I use a big wood stove and the ridge heat to charge up my buried system. The big advantage of a wood stove is that is that I can create heat and still move hot air into the system after the sun sets. The first spring, and only 30 days after firing up the wood stove, I recorded ground temps at 61-63 degrees at a depth of 12" on April 1st. We live in Alaska so that was truly amazing to see. I had a 2-3 week jump on the other market growers that year. So I have some experience with this type of system and with that in mind, I have a suggestion for your greenhouse. I would strongly suggest installing two opening vents above the doors and make them as large as you can. There are times when you need to get that excessive high heat out of your greenhouse right now. What happens on those high heat days is that heat rises and it will collect in the peak of the ceiling area. The heat builds and acts like an insulating blanket creating more heat and radiating heat downward. No amount of fans is going to displace that heat that is trapped up high because the sun just keeps creating more heat and it cant escape. I had this problem big time the first 2 years even with roll up sides and 7ft x8ft end wall swinging doors. I finally figured out what was going on and installed 3ft x 7ft vents in the end ridges. That was the key. I have never had an over heating problem since. I usually open the vents, end walls and roll up sides starting in early June through harvest. Another huge advantage of opening everything up is to allow all the beneficial insects into the green house. But the bigger reason for proper venting is to eliminate moisture. If you have moisture beading up on the plastic, you have a moisture problem and you must vent. I see in your video that you are running fans and even shade cloth. That tells me you have way to much heat and most likely to much moisture? Mold and bacteria, especially powdery mildew will become your new worst nightmare. The spores will collect in the drain pipes, in the soil on everything. And then the cycle begins next season during high heat/moisture times.
Put a misting system in and just turn it on a few minutes a day or twice a day for the humidity. Also, I'll be building mine this Spring and in addition to the crops, I'm adding a couple Ponds for some Aquaponics. I think that'll help add humidity. Thank You very much for this instructional video series. I find it of great value and it gives me more confidence approaching this task. 👍😁 God Bless
Congratulations on a great project! Would planting a row of deciduous trees along the south side leave you enough light to make the house useful in the summer while controlling the temp, and go bare in the winter to give you the full benefit of the sun?
Haven't seen an update on the greenhouse over the fall winter and spring growing seasons. Very interested in knowing what you have learned/experienced.
Is there a reason there has been no further videos or updates on anything for 4 years?...but there is this comment of thanks for such nice words 1 year ago?...did the greenhouse not work out as you had planned/expected?
Can we get a brief update on how the process is working? How are the summer time temps, winter, pest and disease pressures, and did it change what you can grow compared to a hoop house or open garden?
You may want to look at a swamp cooler system to increase humidity, lower the temp, and increase the efficiency of the earth battery. These systems are relatively simple to build, but highly effective. Keep up the great work, y'all!
Thanks for taking the time to post this comment. Being in North Carolina - swamp coolers and not something we often think about, but in this circumstance would be perfect. Really wondering if couldn't construct something on the exhaust pipes from the earth battery system and take advantage of the fans we already have running.
Great Update, I must thank you for keeping your videos concise and always on topic. There's so many RUclips channels out there that start rambling on about unrelated items that have nothing to do with the title of the video (just to make their videos longer). Plus, I find that you do such a great at explaining things that you must have been a teacher in a previous life. :-) Thanks you so much..
Thanks for all the information! I've been working on a geo-greenhouse on my property for a couple of years in my spare time. Your videos have helped me envision the finish line. I wish I had a tractor instead of just a shovel and a wheel barrow! ;o)
Doug, where do you live? If you are close to Kelowna, BC, Canada, I can go help you out a bit as I am recovering from hand injury - I can do most of the work as you can see the recent videos I posted in my YT account.
Checking in today (3/21/21). I've missed your posts. Your wood chip areas should be nicely composted by now, and the roots from the sunflower patch will have composted ... time for a garden/soil update! Hope you and the fam are well and have weathered our pandemic well!
Hello, Really great work!!.,. Would there be a follow up of this green house? ... Looking for how two years did affect the stability of thermal output on the battery, and what about that cool crops you mentioned , did it work? ... Those updates and up-grades on temperature control, were you able to implement? Regards from Brasil..
@@JasonStewartsStreak We really hope to at some point. Priorities in life have put them on the far back burner for a while. But we really do hope to. Thanks for everyone's patience.
If you don't mind me asking, do you think this system could be used as an off greed cooling/ heating system for a house or at least as a support for them in a house with walls not and not a membrane ? If so, would it need extracting/ pushing fans per each room? Thanks!
Just watched this series and I'm very impressed with what you have done. I would love to get an update on how you've been getting on with it in the last 2 years.
Really cool project... I would suggest adding an aquaponics component to the greenhouse. In terms of solving the issue of overheating, you wouldnt be able to effectively cool your greenhouse via air based geothermal system in the summer in your specific region...too much humidity and too hot. - I would argue that the only options would be to install several Roof windows... and a Driver fan above each of the doors in the greenhouse... So the driver fans would operate in the fashion of one blows air in and the other blows air out, which would provide a constant air exchange.. and the roof windows would act as a natural release of hot air buildup... that seems to be the only options which are somewhat practical... Driver fans are an easy install... The roof windows are a bit tricky... not sure how that can be done effectively for the polyfilm greenhouse... - Another option that you can try is circulating a bit of water through your geothermal pipes, just a bit, maybe at like 15-20% fill so that the pipes have water only covering a small part on the bottom and the air that you are pushing though can be cooled more by water absorbing heat (water is 800 times more dense than air)... think of a water fountain cooling system thats stuck inside the pipe... once winter comes around, you pump out the water from the geo pipes and run it dry... Again, really cool project... Best of luck!
The water needs to be in the grrenhouse in its gaseous form (water vapour) in order to absorb the heat. When the moist air enter the tubes, it drops to dewpoint and the water vapour condenses out. To change phase from gas to liquid it has to give up the energy it took from the greenhouse to change phase from liquid to gas, The result is warm rain in the tubing, A lb of condensate represents around 1000btu, a greenhouse full of transpiring plants generates a lot of water vapour. Its interlinked, unfavourable temps and humidity in the greenhouse means less transpiration, so less cooling. You can get around this to some extent by using overhead misting to raise the RH% to get the ball rolling. A lot of folks dont realise the plants are an integral part of this system, it doesnt work nearly as well without them..
Thank you for sharing, I watched with interest as you and your family working on the project and enjoyed it. You did good and worked hard, be happy about that! I learned from your experience, thanks again. My interest was finding an affordable method of managing the climate in a greenhouse. Especially important as were thinking about producing a house in the Canadian climate that would produce year round. Please accept my thanks for your video experience.
There have been some very awesome geothermal greenhouses built to cool those temperatures you would need 300 feet of 12 inch pipe under ground and to be able to move 4 times more air then your moving now. 112 degrees is still very hot for a greenhouse. But I'm sure it works wonders for Germination.
I scrolled through some of the feedback and didn't see anyone asking this: Have you done a Radon test in the greenhouse? Since you are using an earth battery with perf pipe I would think that could be a concern.
Looks so good brother. Thanks so much for letting us be a small part. One thing I would like to ask. How much power are you using in a 24 hrs? I just ask as I would like to help tho's who will ask me if they can run this with solar.. Love you guys as my brothers and Sisters in Christ. God Bless guys..
Enjoyed watching your work. What if you were to divide the Greenhouse in half. Half controlled by the earth battery and the other half uncontrolled, since your battery is under-sized then right size the greenhouse!!
Why did you use the pipes that has holes in it? I believe my area has a higher water table than yours so the holes would take up water and this would not allow the air flow through them
I hope you do a follow up asking the very same questions at the end of each season. It would be great to document your findings so other's can learn from your first hand experience. A recommendation to help keep the temp down. A roof vent along the peak would be ideal OR a large vent at the peak of each end wall would help a little. Rollup sides are best. Passive air movement is better than forcing massive amounts of air through large fans. Big fans cost big money and they don't fix poor ventilation. 2nd Recommendation. The earth battery need not be directly below the greenhouse. In your soil maybe it would be better to run the earth tubes external to the greenhouse. You could dig a long trench without serpentine routes, just go out 100' and back to the greenhouse (two to four turns max) and you will increase the cooling substantially. This will remedy the problem with drying out the greenhouse soil jetting air out through the ground. Rj - Beyond Harvest Veganistas
Thank you for the thoughtful comment. Good call about the vents in the peaks vs. fans. Roll up sides is on the long list of "to-dos" with the greenhouse. We just didn't get there yet and had to turn our energies to the garden and other things on the farm. We'll get those in before next summer!
Rj Aquaponics, Your 2nd Recommendation is very interesting. I recently watched this RUclips video ruclips.net/video/ZD_3_gsgsnk/видео.html&ab_channel=KirstenDirksen .If you jump ahead to 10:40 , you will see where Russ says the tubes run 75 feet in one direction + 75 feet in a 2nd direction and is able to use it during the summer and winter.
Yupp, the earth is a huge thermal battery. It makes no difference if you have tubes beneath a greenhouse or not. I like the idea of only have a few turns instead of serpentine with numerous bends.
Hi, Grate info. Can you explain how you wired in your dwyer pressure switch. The dwyer switch from what i can make out only goes upto 1.4 psi. surly the pressure should be more than this. . The trend pressure switch looks identical but seems cheaper, where i am. Could you exsplain a bit more about this and how you got on with it please
The pressure in the cavity is measured in inches of water (inches water column). The typical inflation pressure is 0.25 in. wc --0.5 in wc. (0.009 psi - 0.018 psi). With 1,4psi the cover would blow up like a balloon and explode, in reality the fixings holding the cover would let go long before it reached that stage ;)
I know I'm very late to the party but the cover is probably not enough if you have hot summers. Considering the investment in the geothermal system it makes sense to invest in a more sophisticated cover and vents. Having dug under the greenhouse, there's very interesting systems using side "chimneys" that connect to the greenhouse underground.
Great update! Was hoping I'd see something from you guys soon. We have roll up sides and wide open doors on our house trying to keep it cool. So far we can keep it at about 5F above ambient on the really hot days without a shade cloth. I do turn on our "cooling" thermostat when the house hits 95F just to hopefully take the edge off. Don't have any great data to back up that it actually does anything, but at the very least I'm banking a little heat. Are you monitoring soil temps? And are your fans on thermostats? I remember you saying that you wanted to thermostatically control them. Our soil at ~2ft down is sitting around 82F, almost too warm for plants (I think I remember someone saying that some plant growth stops when soil temps rise above 85F). Also curious, are you monitoring inlet and outlet temps? At some point are you seeing the soil "saturate" with heat during the day, meaning the delta T between inlet and outlet decreases?
You may need mist sprays from the ceiling or portable humidifiers? Many Green Houses in deserts have these on timers>?? Also I am surprised you do not have any screened panels on ends, sides,both that you can open?
Hello Hello Do you have an update on how this project has continued over these five years? I live in Colorado and have been considering such a system. Thank you and Merry Christmas
He screwed himself over by putting the "battery" beneath the very thing he's trying to keep cool. That heat is going to leech into the clay and go right back into the death trap he built for himself. You normally run the pipes in soil outside the structure to regulate temp.
You mentioned that air is coming up and out of cracks in the greenhouse floor. That made me wonder why a perforated pipe was used? Wouldn’t a non perforated pipe perform just as well (or better), because the pipe surface is the temperature of the surrounding soil? Makes me think the perforated pipe would cause the system to perform less efficiently, due to the loss of some of your cooler air through the perforations into the greenhouse floor. Since the system runs most of the time, it’s under positive air pressure most of the time, so air in the surrounding soil never has a chance to enter through the perforations. Also, seems the perforated pipe is the reason there is a drop in air velocity between your air intake and exhaust. Lastly, it seems a non perforated pipe system would help, at least some, with maintaining a higher humidity in the green house. This was a very interesting project. Thanks for sharing it on YT.
Obviously the perforated pipe was a mistake in this whole system from the very beginning...not sure who gave him that information...I think originally he was concerned with creating a greenhouse that heated itself but as we all know and he found out is that heating a greenhouse isn't nearly as difficult as cooling a greenhouse...since there were no updates any more recent than 4 years ago we don't know how the greenhouse maintained warm temperature in the winter which I believe is what he set out to experiment in the first place, but yes of course regular pipe (non-perforated) is usually used for a whole host of reasons
Have you considered installing a desert cooler to increase the humidity level as well as keeping the temperature cooler in the green house during the summer months?
I have a small geothermal greenhouse. I didn't go as deep. Winter it's not as efficient due to the depth but in summer because it's not so deep so the moisture really keeps things cool
Looking into building an EMT greenhouse in my backyard and your video series was by far the best documentary from start to finish (watched it all in one sitting!) My goal is to build a greenhouse that runs off the grid, and I’m hoping to accomplish this with a solar panel feeding a couple deep marine batteries going to an inverter which will power a thermostatically controlled 120v heating element (or two). I’m in CA so we have fairly mild winters. One thought on your design: I noticed the huge amount of runoff you have in your French drains. Would it be feasible to collect some of that drainage into a holding tank and rig up a system with the necessary pumps to water your greenhouse? If you had an elevation change you could put a holding tank uphill and use a solenoid and gravity to water the plants. Just a thought!
So good to see the climate batteries are in good working order. I have a question for your kind attention.I am living in a hardiness zone 9B where only a few days with temperature below zero. Do you think just with in-house climate battery ( no active heating) can grow tropical fruits all year around?
There is a gentleman in the midwest that has been doing it for years with a slightly more sophisticated version of what we built. Think he is in Nebraska with very cold winters. So yes, it can be done.
St. Isidore's Farm thanks so much for your reply positive approach. yes I have seen his videos and only difference is he is using constant deep ground temperature of 52F. I'm researching on a similar method which can be achieved with series of 20 feet deep manually drilled vertical holes and tubing system. will keep you posted as project goes.
Can you add one more answer to your mix? I am not concerned about cooling in the daytime but in our area tomatoes will not set fruit due to overnight temps not dropping below 70F Do you think the temp in the hightunnel could stay below 70F at night in the summer? Thanks
Just food for thought. It might be a good idea to use the exhaust air from the GT/EB system to fill your 2 layer poly cavity. Might cut cost of inflation fan and allow the cooling of the environmental barrier. Maybe a few degree difference in inside temps.
We do turn them off at night. There is a theory (We stress theory) that you can "charge" the earth battery with heat during the summer and pull the warmth back out of the soil in the winter. We guess the idea is that if the ground temperature remains relatively constant, you can raise that temperature during the summer and use it in the winter. We'll see if it works and let you know if future updates. Thanks for watching!
Yes I read or saw a RUclips video where a way up North they recommend going down one foot underground with your tubes for each month of winter so if you only have three months you'll need three feet if you have eight months then you need to go 8 feet down
Great series 👍 and like some of the recent comments before mine, I would also love to see an update, even if it's a bad one. Great work and my best wishes! Stay safe ❣️
Great videos! Because your soil is sand and below that clay, it's not only a heat and cold bank it's a humidity bank. Sounds like your draining all the humidity ( water ) through the blowers. Can only sustain high humidity if there is moisture left. No humidity less effectiveness in your system. Just add water, but would require some time for it to absorb .my guess.
What are your night temperatures. ? Thanks for the video, I'm very interested in the subject. After you have some time to learn more of the pros and cons, I would be curious if you would do it again.
Great job on the whole greenhouse construction and related information. Have you measured or have any concerns on accumulation of radon gases due to the underground perforated pipes?
So have you or someone you know figured out how to cool greenhouse using geothermal and how much power will be required to do so.? I really want to build one and live in hot climate region.
Hey, St Isidore's Farm. First off great work and documentation of a really cool project. Secondly, I would like to give you some advise that may help to increase the circulation of the air through the thermal battery system without having to buy new equipment. You have touched on the importance of thermodynamics and for good reason because those principles are always relevant in systems thinking and design. Advice: Switch the fans from the roof of the greenhouse to the open tubes as close to the cool floor as possible. I advise this because of the properties of the fluid (air). Air is more dense at cooler temperatures than the fluffy less dense hot air that rises. The fans will operate at the same specs. However, by taking advantage of the difference in density due to solely changing the Y position (height) of the fans in your closed greenhouse system, the fans will more move more air molecules (Mass) per same unit of volume of air. This is theoretical and I would be interested to see the before and after in the change of wind speed as well as the temperature gain/ loss due to this simple thermodynamic principle related to density. Frankly stated I think that pushing air from the floor of the greenhouse and letting the greater net negative pressure suck the lighter, hot air from the peak passively would improve the function of your system. Let me know what you think, I wish you the best and keep coming out with more good content.
You might try a mist system... I had a small greenhouse in Yuma, Arizona... above ground and a mister system helped with cooling and humidity... it worked really well...just a thought ❤️✝️🇺🇸
Water in the earth battery will help cool with the evaporative cooling and it also helps with heat transfer between the air and the ground. You don't really want a dry earth battery, because the water helps as long as it is not filling the entire height of the pipe.
The evaporative cooling takes place in the greenhouse, not inside the tubing ;) You want the condensate to drain from the tubes as completely as possible. A tube half full of water will limit the amount of air you can run through the tube, the more air you can run, the better..upto a point.
Great job, I'm in the planning stage of my greenhouse. Looking forward to hear how the winter went. Have you thought about taking the poly film off during the summer? Is it too hard to get on and off on a yearly basis?
Thanks for the series, I am trying to figure out the CFM of fans in my system I have installed. I have 550 feet of 4" drainage tile under ground. The fan suppliers has asked what CFM I want and the back pressure on the fans. I was looking for 2 times per hr but your advise was 5 times per hr. The supplier has had issues with the 2 times at 400CFM with the back pressure he fells would be occurring. Did you get the CFM you were expecting or was there back pressure on the fans and air movement.
Sorry for the delay in reply. While our system is working, I think it would work better if we had higher CFM fans, or a lot more of them. Especially as it relates to cooling the greenhouse. We simply can't turn the air over fast enough to use the system as a heat exchanger and cool it.
@@StIsidoresFarm the fan size recommended we got from a supplier is huge about $9500 huge. This is not an option for us, can you let me know the fan size, motor size, length of pipe and CFM out the other side of the pipe. If you could it would help me make educated guess on my system. Thanks Ed Hughes
@@LTWGH918918 $9500 is way too much for a fan for a system with 550ft of ads unless it was installed as a single 550ft tube with a serpentine layout ;)
@@LTWGH918918 That explains it :) 200ft is still way too long for individual tubes. i`d consider digging it up and starting over. From an equal loss viewpoint, you can run 25cfm through 1 x 550ft tube, 132cfm through 3x 183ft tubes, 800cfm through 10x 55ft tubes, 2300cfm through 20x 27ft tubes. You should design the system to move at least 20 greenhouse volumes per hour. With 550ft of tubing, the greenhouse floor area should be around 420sqft, eg: 30x14. If you need 400cfm to turn the air volume twice an hour, the greenhouse is a lot more than 420sqft and if thats the case you`ll need more than the current 550ft of tubing installed..
would like to see your greenhouse performance result before winter, in the mid of cold winter, and in spring.. and when a week of cloudy cold wet winter... those are my most concerned questions.. good info. thanks for sharing.. although so many ppl were doing the same thing.. just that they never really tell us the weak point of the green house.. most of them just talking the positive side... i want to know the weakness of it.. what it can't overcome.. appreciate it if you do the update of my concerned questions when winter comes.. then we will really know the pro and con of this system.. May God blesses you and family. thanks andrew
My GHAT system should work much better, I used an 18 inch culvert attached to 15 X 3 levels of 4 inch irrigation tubing. At the exit and enter points there are 55 gallon drums where a 1000 cfm blower is attached. I have yet to assemble the 20 X 40 greenhouse over it as it is below 0 F here for the past 3 weeks. Will be starting on it next week, BTW I couldn't find that pressure switch so I came here to see what you installed. I was going to have 3 sides completely enclosed with other construction material other than plastic, because I wanted it to run year around. With a traditional hoop style not sure if the GAHT system can keep it warm enough in winter. This weekend need to get planting 32,000 onions for transplanting in April, which is in my smaller greenhouse. Need to get the new greenhouse finished and running in 2 weeks for warming up the frozen soil under it. Maybe can have the earliest tomatoes in this area.
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Time to make some new videos!!! I enjoy watching them!
I'd love to see an update on how you maintained winter temps in the greenhouse.
I just found your channel today and I really enjoy it. I pray you’re ok, I see it’s been 6years since you posted a video. I really hope you can start filming more content. Thank you and God bless!
Great video. I have to go back to watch all the videos . Thanks for sharing
Hey, would love an update on how the greenhouse is doing this winter - specifically if your thermal battery setup is keeping it warm enough to grow through the whole winter. Thanks!
Still waiting
@@SuperDaveP270 Don't think it'll happen at this point.
@@jenson1569 Do you know what happened to them?
@@boringstuff1542 No I don’t, it’s been a while, 3 years and no uploads 😢
It won't. He is running it backwards. You need to be pulling the cold air dense air up out of the the system for it to store heat efficiently. Not forcing warm less dense air down.
What happened to this channel? No videos for years? Are you still around?
Wondering the same! Update us to let us know your ok
Awesome! Thanks for sharing your family project with the rest of us!
How cool is that being able to grow stuff all year long. Been a great project to watch. Thank you for putting these together!
Ok, where is the video of the Plants growing in the Green House.?
Where did you guys go.?
Of all the builds I've seen through the years yours is my favorite!
I hope nothing bad has happened but I really enjoyed your videos. Very informative and would love to see some new ones and how the green house is doing.
Good documenting of the build. I love seeing the enthusiasm of a fun project. I built five 26ft x 100ft high tunnels on our farm about four years ago and installed a very similar system in one of the tunnels as an experiment. I use a big wood stove and the ridge heat to charge up my buried system. The big advantage of a wood stove is that is that I can create heat and still move hot air into the system after the sun sets. The first spring, and only 30 days after firing up the wood stove, I recorded ground temps at 61-63 degrees at a depth of 12" on April 1st. We live in Alaska so that was truly amazing to see. I had a 2-3 week jump on the other market growers that year. So I have some experience with this type of system and with that in mind, I have a suggestion for your greenhouse. I would strongly suggest installing two opening vents above the doors and make them as large as you can. There are times when you need to get that excessive high heat out of your greenhouse right now. What happens on those high heat days is that heat rises and it will collect in the peak of the ceiling area. The heat builds and acts like an insulating blanket creating more heat and radiating heat downward. No amount of fans is going to displace that heat that is trapped up high because the sun just keeps creating more heat and it cant escape. I had this problem big time the first 2 years even with roll up sides and 7ft x8ft end wall swinging doors. I finally figured out what was going on and installed 3ft x 7ft vents in the end ridges. That was the key. I have never had an over heating problem since. I usually open the vents, end walls and roll up sides starting in early June through harvest. Another huge advantage of opening everything up is to allow all the beneficial insects into the green house. But the bigger reason for proper venting is to eliminate moisture. If you have moisture beading up on the plastic, you have a moisture problem and you must vent. I see in your video that you are running fans and even shade cloth. That tells me you have way to much heat and most likely to much moisture? Mold and bacteria, especially powdery mildew will become your new worst nightmare. The spores will collect in the drain pipes, in the soil on everything. And then the cycle begins next season during high heat/moisture times.
Great bit of information thank you
Have really enjoyed this series as you showed each step of the way. Excited for continued updates. Thanks!
Thanks! We are to - should be interesting to see what this greenhouse does in the winter!
@@StIsidoresFarm would love to see a *geothermal and greenhouse review* now that you've had the greenhouse up and running for 2 years !
Happy with all the information you supplied. This is very help. Thank you so very much.
Put a misting system in and just turn it on a few minutes a day or twice a day for the humidity. Also, I'll be building mine this Spring and in addition to the crops, I'm adding a couple Ponds for some Aquaponics. I think that'll help add humidity. Thank You very much for this instructional video series. I find it of great value and it gives me more confidence approaching this task. 👍😁 God Bless
Sux when a channel drops off. What you have could really help a lotta ppl know how well this worked in the long run.
Congratulations on a great project! Would planting a row of deciduous trees along the south side leave you enough light to make the house useful in the summer while controlling the temp, and go bare in the winter to give you the full benefit of the sun?
Haven't seen an update on the greenhouse over the fall winter and spring growing seasons. Very interested in knowing what you have learned/experienced.
Where ya'll been? Everything okay?
I have watched the 10 previous greenhouse videos, and I really enjoy your channel. I have learned a lot. Thank you very much.
Thank you for the kindness of taking the time to write share such kind words!
Is there a reason there has been no further videos or updates on anything for 4 years?...but there is this comment of thanks for such nice words 1 year ago?...did the greenhouse not work out as you had planned/expected?
Can we get a brief update on how the process is working? How are the summer time temps, winter, pest and disease pressures, and did it change what you can grow compared to a hoop house or open garden?
Very well done series of video on earth batteries. You guys are cool, thanks for sharing.
You may want to look at a swamp cooler system to increase humidity, lower the temp, and increase the efficiency of the earth battery. These systems are relatively simple to build, but highly effective. Keep up the great work, y'all!
Thanks for taking the time to post this comment. Being in North Carolina - swamp coolers and not something we often think about, but in this circumstance would be perfect. Really wondering if couldn't construct something on the exhaust pipes from the earth battery system and take advantage of the fans we already have running.
Would be super interesting to see how your earth battery system is holding up. Can you post an update video?
Great recap! Love the follow up. Very helpful to someone else making one of these. Greatness. 👍👌
This is FANTASTIC!
Great Update, I must thank you for keeping your videos concise and always on topic. There's so many RUclips channels out there that start rambling on about unrelated items that have nothing to do with the title of the video (just to make their videos longer). Plus, I find that you do such a great at explaining things that you must have been a teacher in a previous life. :-) Thanks you so much..
Thanks for the kind words. Actually, I'm a teacher in my current life!
St. Isidore's Farm Wow, I knew it!! Keep up the good work.
Thanks for all the information! I've been working on a geo-greenhouse on my property for a couple of years in my spare time. Your videos have helped me envision the finish line. I wish I had a tractor instead of just a shovel and a wheel barrow! ;o)
Doug, where do you live? If you are close to Kelowna, BC, Canada, I can go help you out a bit as I am recovering from hand injury - I can do most of the work as you can see the recent videos I posted in my YT account.
Is this an abandoned channel, no updates?
Very interesting channel! Are you going to make anymore updates?
Impressive project and efforts !
Checking in today (3/21/21). I've missed your posts. Your wood chip areas should be nicely composted by now, and the roots from the sunflower patch will have composted ... time for a garden/soil update! Hope you and the fam are well and have weathered our pandemic well!
Hello, Really great work!!.,. Would there be a follow up of this green house? ... Looking for how two years did affect the stability of thermal output on the battery, and what about that cool crops you mentioned , did it work? ... Those updates and up-grades on temperature control, were you able to implement?
Regards from Brasil..
Great update and a wonderful build!!! We still chat about your findings and how we can apply some of the knowledge you shared! Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you for following along and all of the encouragement - we do appreciate it!
You are a very good teacher... your work is awesome and inspiring...❤️✝️🇺🇸
Thank you! God bless!
@@StIsidoresFarm Are you guys planning on making any new videos?
@@JasonStewartsStreak We really hope to at some point. Priorities in life have put them on the far back burner for a while. But we really do hope to. Thanks for everyone's patience.
Yo... What updates do you have on the geothermal Greenhouse?
If you don't mind me asking, do you think this system could be used as an off greed cooling/ heating system for a house or at least as a support for them in a house with walls not and not a membrane ? If so, would it need extracting/ pushing fans per each room? Thanks!
Just watched this series and I'm very impressed with what you have done. I would love to get an update on how you've been getting on with it in the last 2 years.
Hi there. I loved your channel but I wondered why you stopped posting ?
Really cool project...
I would suggest adding an aquaponics component to the greenhouse.
In terms of solving the issue of overheating, you wouldnt be able to effectively cool your greenhouse via air based geothermal system in the summer in your specific region...too much humidity and too hot.
- I would argue that the only options would be to install several Roof windows... and a Driver fan above each of the doors in the greenhouse... So the driver fans would operate in the fashion of one blows air in and the other blows air out, which would provide a constant air exchange.. and the roof windows would act as a natural release of hot air buildup... that seems to be the only options which are somewhat practical... Driver fans are an easy install... The roof windows are a bit tricky... not sure how that can be done effectively for the polyfilm greenhouse...
- Another option that you can try is circulating a bit of water through your geothermal pipes, just a bit, maybe at like 15-20% fill so that the pipes have water only covering a small part on the bottom and the air that you are pushing though can be cooled more by water absorbing heat (water is 800 times more dense than air)... think of a water fountain cooling system thats stuck inside the pipe... once winter comes around, you pump out the water from the geo pipes and run it dry...
Again, really cool project... Best of luck!
The water needs to be in the grrenhouse in its gaseous form (water vapour) in order to absorb the heat. When the moist air enter the tubes, it drops to dewpoint and the water vapour condenses out. To change phase from gas to liquid it has to give up the energy it took from the greenhouse to change phase from liquid to gas, The result is warm rain in the tubing, A lb of condensate represents around 1000btu, a greenhouse full of transpiring plants generates a lot of water vapour. Its interlinked, unfavourable temps and humidity in the greenhouse means less transpiration, so less cooling. You can get around this to some extent by using overhead misting to raise the RH% to get the ball rolling. A lot of folks dont realise the plants are an integral part of this system, it doesnt work nearly as well without them..
Great videos, I am planing on the construction of a greenhouse soon, you gave me a lot of ideas, thank you
You're welcome! Thank you for watching.
Thank you for sharing, I watched with interest as you and your family working on the project and enjoyed it. You did good and worked hard, be happy about that! I learned from your experience, thanks again. My interest was finding an affordable method of managing the climate in a greenhouse. Especially important as were thinking about producing a house in the Canadian climate that would produce year round. Please accept my thanks for your video experience.
As winter progresses keep us posted .
Any update on your winter months and how the system worked?
Aquaponics is a great idea! Should do a video on that!
There have been some very awesome geothermal greenhouses built to cool those temperatures you would need 300 feet of 12 inch pipe under ground and to be able to move 4 times more air then your moving now. 112 degrees is still very hot for a greenhouse. But I'm sure it works wonders for Germination.
How did you pump water out of the 4inch pipes under ground
thanks for sharing your experiences! Great video!
I scrolled through some of the feedback and didn't see anyone asking this: Have you done a Radon test in the greenhouse? Since you are using an earth battery with perf pipe I would think that could be a concern.
Looks so good brother. Thanks so much for letting us be a small part. One thing I would like to ask. How much power are you using in a 24 hrs? I just ask as I would like to help tho's who will ask me if they can run this with solar.. Love you guys as my brothers and Sisters in Christ. God Bless guys..
Very informative. Thanks for answering those questions.
Enjoyed watching your work. What if you were to divide the Greenhouse in half. Half controlled by the earth battery and the other half uncontrolled, since your battery is under-sized then right size the greenhouse!!
Interesting idea!
Why did you use the pipes that has holes in it? I believe my area has a higher water table than yours so the holes would take up water and this would not allow the air flow through them
I hope you do a follow up asking the very same questions at the end of each season. It would be great to document your findings so other's can learn from your first hand experience. A recommendation to help keep the temp down. A roof vent along the peak would be ideal OR a large vent at the peak of each end wall would help a little. Rollup sides are best. Passive air movement is better than forcing massive amounts of air through large fans. Big fans cost big money and they don't fix poor ventilation. 2nd Recommendation. The earth battery need not be directly below the greenhouse. In your soil maybe it would be better to run the earth tubes external to the greenhouse. You could dig a long trench without serpentine routes, just go out 100' and back to the greenhouse (two to four turns max) and you will increase the cooling substantially. This will remedy the problem with drying out the greenhouse soil jetting air out through the ground. Rj - Beyond Harvest Veganistas
Thank you for the thoughtful comment. Good call about the vents in the peaks vs. fans. Roll up sides is on the long list of "to-dos" with the greenhouse. We just didn't get there yet and had to turn our energies to the garden and other things on the farm. We'll get those in before next summer!
Rj Aquaponics, Your 2nd Recommendation is very interesting. I recently watched this RUclips video ruclips.net/video/ZD_3_gsgsnk/видео.html&ab_channel=KirstenDirksen .If you jump ahead to 10:40 , you will see where Russ says the tubes run 75 feet in one direction + 75 feet in a 2nd direction and is able to use it during the summer and winter.
Yupp, the earth is a huge thermal battery. It makes no difference if you have tubes beneath a greenhouse or not. I like the idea of only have a few turns instead of serpentine with numerous bends.
I wish folks would fit temperature sensors at intervals in these long tubes so they could see just how poorly they perform ;)
@@JohnGuest45 u dont think it works?
Hi, Grate info. Can you explain how you wired in your dwyer pressure switch. The dwyer switch from what i can make out only goes upto 1.4 psi. surly the pressure should be more than this. . The trend pressure switch looks identical but seems cheaper, where i am. Could you exsplain a bit more about this and how you got on with it please
The pressure in the cavity is measured in inches of water (inches water column). The typical inflation pressure is 0.25 in. wc --0.5 in wc. (0.009 psi - 0.018 psi). With 1,4psi the cover would blow up like a balloon and explode, in reality the fixings holding the cover would let go long before it reached that stage ;)
I know I'm very late to the party but the cover is probably not enough if you have hot summers. Considering the investment in the geothermal system it makes sense to invest in a more sophisticated cover and vents. Having dug under the greenhouse, there's very interesting systems using side "chimneys" that connect to the greenhouse underground.
Would love to see a review, on the geothermal greenhouse now that you're bad at running well over two years !
Great update! Was hoping I'd see something from you guys soon. We have roll up sides and wide open doors on our house trying to keep it cool. So far we can keep it at about 5F above ambient on the really hot days without a shade cloth. I do turn on our "cooling" thermostat when the house hits 95F just to hopefully take the edge off. Don't have any great data to back up that it actually does anything, but at the very least I'm banking a little heat. Are you monitoring soil temps? And are your fans on thermostats? I remember you saying that you wanted to thermostatically control them. Our soil at ~2ft down is sitting around 82F, almost too warm for plants (I think I remember someone saying that some plant growth stops when soil temps rise above 85F). Also curious, are you monitoring inlet and outlet temps? At some point are you seeing the soil "saturate" with heat during the day, meaning the delta T between inlet and outlet decreases?
You may need mist sprays from the ceiling or portable humidifiers? Many Green Houses in deserts have these on timers>??
Also I am surprised you do not have any screened panels on ends, sides,both that you can open?
Hello Hello
Do you have an update on how this project has continued over these five years?
I live in Colorado and have been considering such a system.
Thank you and Merry Christmas
He screwed himself over by putting the "battery" beneath the very thing he's trying to keep cool. That heat is going to leech into the clay and go right back into the death trap he built for himself.
You normally run the pipes in soil outside the structure to regulate temp.
You guys did a wonderful job documenting this project. Do you happen to have any info/feedback on the temps it maintained in the winter?
You mentioned that air is coming up and out of cracks in the greenhouse floor. That made me wonder why a perforated pipe was used? Wouldn’t a non perforated pipe perform just as well (or better), because the pipe surface is the temperature of the surrounding soil? Makes me think the perforated pipe would cause the system to perform less efficiently, due to the loss of some of your cooler air through the perforations into the greenhouse floor. Since the system runs most of the time, it’s under positive air pressure most of the time, so air in the surrounding soil never has a chance to enter through the perforations. Also, seems the perforated pipe is the reason there is a drop in air velocity between your air intake and exhaust. Lastly, it seems a non perforated pipe system would help, at least some, with maintaining a higher humidity in the green house. This was a very interesting project. Thanks for sharing it on YT.
Obviously the perforated pipe was a mistake in this whole system from the very beginning...not sure who gave him that information...I think originally he was concerned with creating a greenhouse that heated itself but as we all know and he found out is that heating a greenhouse isn't nearly as difficult as cooling a greenhouse...since there were no updates any more recent than 4 years ago we don't know how the greenhouse maintained warm temperature in the winter which I believe is what he set out to experiment in the first place, but yes of course regular pipe (non-perforated) is usually used for a whole host of reasons
Have you considered installing a desert cooler to increase the humidity level as well as keeping the temperature cooler in the green house during the summer months?
I have a small geothermal greenhouse. I didn't go as deep. Winter it's not as efficient due to the depth but in summer because it's not so deep so the moisture really keeps things cool
When I build a larger one I'll do 2 layers on deep and the other just like 3 feet under the bed.
great project.
I thought it might help to mention that keeping a few full open rain barrels in the green house works great to increase the humidity in the summer
An overhead misting system is far more effective
Such a bummer you guys stopped making videos.
Wondering if you even need the fans to run during the summer?
I would love to see if closing up half of the greenhouse, or making it half the size, improves the summer temps.
Good answers THANKS!
Buddy hope you are all well, I was wondering how things look these days.
Looking into building an EMT greenhouse in my backyard and your video series was by far the best documentary from start to finish (watched it all in one sitting!) My goal is to build a greenhouse that runs off the grid, and I’m hoping to accomplish this with a solar panel feeding a couple deep marine batteries going to an inverter which will power a thermostatically controlled 120v heating element (or two). I’m in CA so we have fairly mild winters.
One thought on your design: I noticed the huge amount of runoff you have in your French drains. Would it be feasible to collect some of that drainage into a holding tank and rig up a system with the necessary pumps to water your greenhouse? If you had an elevation change you could put a holding tank uphill and use a solenoid and gravity to water the plants. Just a thought!
So good to see the climate batteries are in good working order. I have a question for your kind attention.I am living in a hardiness zone 9B where only a few days with temperature below zero. Do you think just with in-house climate battery ( no active heating) can grow tropical fruits all year around?
There is a gentleman in the midwest that has been doing it for years with a slightly more sophisticated version of what we built. Think he is in Nebraska with very cold winters. So yes, it can be done.
St. Isidore's Farm thanks so much for your reply positive approach. yes I have seen his videos and only difference is he is using constant deep ground temperature of 52F. I'm researching on a similar method which can be achieved with series of 20 feet deep manually drilled vertical holes and
tubing system. will keep you posted as project goes.
Can you add one more answer to your mix? I am not concerned about cooling in the daytime but in our area tomatoes will not set fruit due to overnight temps not dropping below 70F Do you think the temp in the hightunnel could stay below 70F at night in the summer? Thanks
Just food for thought. It might be a good idea to use the exhaust air from the GT/EB system to fill your 2 layer poly cavity. Might cut cost of inflation fan and allow the cooling of the environmental barrier. Maybe a few degree difference in inside temps.
How does this system heat in the Winter, then change temperature in the Summer and cool the greenhouse? I am confused about this. Thank you.
Awesome!! Thanks for the update. Have you thought about shutting the 6 inch fans off during the summer?
We do turn them off at night. There is a theory (We stress theory) that you can "charge" the earth battery with heat during the summer and pull the warmth back out of the soil in the winter. We guess the idea is that if the ground temperature remains relatively constant, you can raise that temperature during the summer and use it in the winter. We'll see if it works and let you know if future updates. Thanks for watching!
Yes I read or saw a RUclips video where a way up North they recommend going down one foot underground with your tubes for each month of winter so if you only have three months you'll need three feet if you have eight months then you need to go 8 feet down
Great series 👍 and like some of the recent comments before mine, I would also love to see an update, even if it's a bad one.
Great work and my best wishes! Stay safe ❣️
We're hoping to get one uploaded before too much longer. Thanks for everyone's patience. God bless.
@@StIsidoresFarm , thank you for the response. It's great to hear that you guys are alright 👍
Still waiting on an update?? Do you have another channel?? Site?? etc??
Great videos! Because your soil is sand and below that clay, it's not only a heat and cold bank it's a humidity bank. Sounds like your draining all the humidity ( water ) through the blowers. Can only sustain high humidity if there is moisture left. No humidity less effectiveness in your system. Just add water, but would require some time for it to absorb .my guess.
What's happening in the green house? How did it work in the winter?
What are your night temperatures. ? Thanks for the video, I'm very interested in the subject. After you have some time to learn more of the pros and cons, I would be curious if you would do it again.
Great job on the whole greenhouse construction and related information.
Have you measured or have any concerns on accumulation of radon gases due to the underground perforated pipes?
So have you or someone you know figured out how to cool greenhouse using geothermal and how much power will be required to do so.? I really want to build one and live in hot climate region.
Hey, St Isidore's Farm. First off great work and documentation of a really cool project. Secondly, I would like to give you some advise that may help to increase the circulation of the air through the thermal battery system without having to buy new equipment. You have touched on the importance of thermodynamics and for good reason because those principles are always relevant in systems thinking and design. Advice: Switch the fans from the roof of the greenhouse to the open tubes as close to the cool floor as possible. I advise this because of the properties of the fluid (air). Air is more dense at cooler temperatures than the fluffy less dense hot air that rises. The fans will operate at the same specs. However, by taking advantage of the difference in density due to solely changing the Y position (height) of the fans in your closed greenhouse system, the fans will more move more air molecules (Mass) per same unit of volume of air. This is theoretical and I would be interested to see the before and after in the change of wind speed as well as the temperature gain/ loss due to this simple thermodynamic principle related to density. Frankly stated I think that pushing air from the floor of the greenhouse and letting the greater net negative pressure suck the lighter, hot air from the peak passively would improve the function of your system. Let me know what you think, I wish you the best and keep coming out with more good content.
Thank you!
Yes, pulling air instead of pushing air
What model camera do you use for your videos
You might try a mist system... I had a small greenhouse in Yuma, Arizona... above ground and a mister system helped with cooling and humidity... it worked really well...just a thought ❤️✝️🇺🇸
Well, it's been about 2 years, so would you say you would do it again? If so, would you change anything? Thank you in advance for your answers.
Water in the earth battery will help cool with the evaporative cooling and it also helps with heat transfer between the air and the ground. You don't really want a dry earth battery, because the water helps as long as it is not filling the entire height of the pipe.
The evaporative cooling takes place in the greenhouse, not inside the tubing ;) You want the condensate to drain from the tubes as completely as possible. A tube half full of water will limit the amount of air you can run through the tube, the more air you can run, the better..upto a point.
How did the system work in the winter???
could you reverse the flow to cool the greenhouse? it seems to be to be like a ceiling fan, reverse the flow in winter vs summer.
Great job, I'm in the planning stage of my greenhouse. Looking forward to hear how the winter went. Have you thought about taking the poly film off during the summer? Is it too hard to get on and off on a yearly basis?
Awesome video. It's costly but it worth it. Loved and subbed.
Hey...6yrs later...can we please get an update? I have 1 question...did the pipes fill up with water ever??
Would love to hear how things go in winter
How did fall, winter, and now spring go? I’m currently doing this in my greenhouse and would love to know!
Love your greenhouse. Have you thought about doing any Aquaponics in there?
Thanks for the series, I am trying to figure out the CFM of fans in my system I have installed. I have 550 feet of 4" drainage tile under ground. The fan suppliers has asked what CFM I want and the back pressure on the fans. I was looking for 2 times per hr but your advise was 5 times per hr. The supplier has had issues with the 2 times at 400CFM with the back pressure he fells would be occurring. Did you get the CFM you were expecting or was there back pressure on the fans and air movement.
Sorry for the delay in reply. While our system is working, I think it would work better if we had higher CFM fans, or a lot more of them. Especially as it relates to cooling the greenhouse. We simply can't turn the air over fast enough to use the system as a heat exchanger and cool it.
@@StIsidoresFarm the fan size recommended we got from a supplier is huge about $9500 huge. This is not an option for us, can you let me know the fan size, motor size, length of pipe and CFM out the other side of the pipe. If you could it would help me make educated guess on my system.
Thanks Ed Hughes
@@LTWGH918918
$9500 is way too much for a fan for a system with 550ft of ads unless it was installed as a single 550ft tube with a serpentine layout ;)
It is a single piece, I’ve decided that I need to dig up the ends and make it 3 pieces of 200’. This I hope will help with a air flow.
@@LTWGH918918
That explains it :) 200ft is still way too long for individual tubes. i`d consider digging it up and starting over. From an equal loss viewpoint, you can run 25cfm through 1 x 550ft tube, 132cfm through 3x 183ft tubes, 800cfm through 10x 55ft tubes, 2300cfm through 20x 27ft tubes. You should design the system to move at least 20 greenhouse volumes per hour. With 550ft of tubing, the greenhouse floor area should be around 420sqft, eg: 30x14.
If you need 400cfm to turn the air volume twice an hour, the greenhouse is a lot more than 420sqft and if thats the case you`ll need more than the current 550ft of tubing installed..
Awesome series, thank you so much! Happy 4th of July to you folks:)
You're welcome and thanks for watching!
would like to see your greenhouse performance result before winter, in the mid of cold winter, and in spring.. and when a week of cloudy cold wet winter... those are my most concerned questions..
good info. thanks for sharing.. although so many ppl were doing the same thing.. just that they never really tell us the weak point of the green house.. most of them just talking the positive side...
i want to know the weakness of it.. what it can't overcome..
appreciate it if you do the update of my concerned questions when winter comes..
then we will really know the pro and con of this system..
May God blesses you and family.
thanks
andrew
So whats going on with your greenhouse? Any updates?
Fab ….. any updates. Where did you go?
My GHAT system should work much better, I used an 18 inch culvert attached to 15 X 3 levels of 4 inch irrigation tubing. At the exit and enter points there are 55 gallon drums where a 1000 cfm blower is attached. I have yet to assemble the 20 X 40 greenhouse over it as it is below 0 F here for the past 3 weeks. Will be starting on it next week, BTW I couldn't find that pressure switch so I came here to see what you installed.
I was going to have 3 sides completely enclosed with other construction material other than plastic, because I wanted it to run year around. With a traditional hoop style not sure if the GAHT system can keep it warm enough in winter.
This weekend need to get planting 32,000 onions for transplanting in April, which is in my smaller greenhouse. Need to get the new greenhouse finished and running in 2 weeks for warming up the frozen soil under it. Maybe can have the earliest tomatoes in this area.
A 1000cfm fan for each layer of tubes would give you a better chance of cooling in the summer.