Keeping the greenhouse warm

bottlehalffull

We've inherited a heater - an eltex I think it is. It uses paraffin.

Where's cheapest to buy paraffin and does anyone have any handy hints.

clarkac

I bought some at B&Q at the weekend - 4 litres about £6, rather expensive! I'm told Shell garages sometimes sell it and also DIY stores.

Davesnave

I would keep it as a reserve for power failures.

Paraffin heaters are OK where there is no way of getting electric to a site, and they are cheap to set up, but otherwise they are old technology and both expensive and difficult to maintain in the long term.

balloo_2

I looked at B&Q thier prices have gone up since last year £6.50 for 4litrs last time I looked, then went to my local Ironmonger (Do they call them Ironmongers anymore?) they sell 2 types of paraffin one that is cheap but if you dont ask they will sell it to you but your heater will smoke the greenhouse out. And a pure one That was £5.50 for 4litrs the paraffin heaters do the job but they don't half stink the greenhouse out. LOL

bottlehalffull

I can think of a couple of hardware shops near me - one's a proper old one so will have to go investigate there.

Compared to electricity though - are they not cheaper?

I guess a thermostatic controlled system would make more sense, but only if it's cheaper overall. (And I got this heater for free ... whereas I'd have to buy an electric one)

ERICS_MUM

Paraffin releases water vapour when it burns so you might need ventilation to avoid excessive condensation which could damage the plants.

Linda :beer:

Davesnave

bottlehalffull wrote: »

Compared to electricity though - are they not cheaper?

I guess a thermostatic controlled system would make more sense, but only if it's cheaper overall. (And I got this heater for free ... whereas I'd have to buy an electric one)

OK, start-up costs for electric are certainly more, but if you set up a decent thermostat, it only comes on at, say, 2 degrees C and goes off a couple of degrees up from there. If you insulate well, it's cheaper long term than something that has to be either 'on' or 'off' from a certain point. How many people fire up their paraffin heaters only to find that the temperature didn't fall below zero?

No issues with extra water vapour, ventilation etc either.

And what if you are away, or forget? A friend of mine had a little get-together, got merry and didn't think to light his heater. Everything was wiped out. That wasn't cheap!:(

Davesnave

An afterthought:

How many of us need a greenhouse heater anyway now that fuel costs are so high? I'm not as keen as I was, and I offset the costs many times over by selling plants.

In my new property, all the most tender plants had to go into the conservatory last winter and that had no heater, just the heat that leaked out of the lounge through the patio doors. Temperatures here hit -15C and there was often ice on the glass, but we lost nothing significant in there.

The cold frame went down to -12C though, but the effect of that was another story!:rotfl:

ERICS_MUM

Another idea that might work for some people, is to have a small cold frame on your patio and run under-soil heating cables (honest, there are such things) from indoors. You would need an electrician to do a very quick connection job, and you would cover the cables with sand then place your pots on top.

This would give you a more cost-effective way (in the longer term) of over-wintering your most delicate or precious plants.


Linda

balloo_2

could a woodburning stove outside and pipes running from that (Simular to Central Heating) but outside in a brick enclosure. could that be done somehow thats cheaper.